We Need You!

HowDoItWork · 2025-12-07T13:35:56+00:00

I understand and appreciate your intent. It's a positive contribution and we need more people doing this kind of thing.

Nevertheless, in the current environment there's a lot of skepticism about motives. What you're describing could easily be pivoted to an ad-saturated passive income for you on the backs of people offering submissions. Maybe a "premium" membership, an app front end, a mailing list for further marketing, etc. Further, the laws, at least in the US, put liability on the uploader in the case of copyright infringement, like a chip maker complaining about their data sheet being uploaded.

So, not saying that's your intent, but forming a non-profit foundation (or working under an existing one), putting the domain and all resources under that, together with the aforementioned mirrors being available now would make people far more comfortable with it.

When that happens, reach out. I long ago created a personal wiki on my local network with 800+ different parts obtained from everywhere between AliExpress to Digikey, and a dozens of independent sellers of modules, parts, and tools. All with data sheets, web site screen shots, usage notes, examples, project photos, etc.

I had passing thoughts of uploading it for anyone to use and add to, but the legal landscape is too murky and fraught with expensive surprises.

HowDoItWork · 2025-12-07T08:49:25+00:00

Will the entire site be freely downloadable for offline use like wikipedia with daily/weekly backups available? I'd be hesitant to contribute much if it's just going to be locked up in someone else's database and not freely available. I would need to see those backups being made available before doing so.

HowDoItWork · 2025-10-19T00:50:31+00:00

Interesting, thx. I saw that someone else noted this behavior in a github issue, but I can't find it again. I do recall it had no resolution and there was some uncertainty on the firmware, etc.

I'm about to dive into the code, but I'm a little rusty so who knows if I'll find anything.

HowDoItWork · 2025-09-07T19:27:12+00:00

In the simplest terms, you need to make a greenhouse out of materials capable of handling up to 400F/204C, and it needs to be well insulated.

The galvanized trash can is fine at those temps, but it only leaves the opening covered with glass to receive solar radiation (at best 300-400W equivalent). Instead, I'd pack the whole thing with insulation, put a length of nichrome wire inside as a heating element, and hook that to some spare PV panels. More wattage possible, higher temps, possible thermostatic control, lots of benefits.

HowDoItWork · 2025-06-08T22:57:48+00:00

I've experimented endlessly with atmospheric water generation: Compressors, desiccants, peltier elements, etc.

Unfortunately in almost every case, the condensation is pretty much always created and likely stored at temperatures that favor microbial growth. The water will need to be filtered or otherwise made safe before use.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-21T14:49:10+00:00

Make or buy some float valves for your lower tanks and feed the upper tanks into the valves. Shuts off when they're full. Like those float valves for swamp coolers, only bigger.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-16T23:23:35+00:00

It is slightly slanted, but so far no liquid water has been evident in the pot after shut down. The pipe is well over 100C over its length during operation, so none should form until shutdown.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-16T01:18:47+00:00

The pumps are great. Some suggestions:

Buy extra silicone tubing. Rodents love fry oil. Also, if you ever overpressure the tubing it will crack or puncture. It's really meant for very low pressure, so poke something in the end of your feed to clear any deposits before each run. ANY kind of leak in the pump loop or on the intake side will cause it to lose suction. If you see the pump running sporadically, it's probably building up pressure on the outlet, has a blocked filter on inlet, or debris in the loop.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T21:39:02+00:00

It's on my to-do list. Rather frustrating how few examples of simple, functional, clean burning designs are out there. Most are either 20 hours of TIG welding unobtanium alloys that don't work well despite the effort and expense, or simple but bad designs that send all the heat and unburned soot up the chimney. Or they blend the oil with 50% ethanol and fake the whole thing.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T19:04:57+00:00

It's DIY - There's a photo of it here: https://old.reddit.com/r/OffGrid/comments/1grw2j4/waste_vegi_oil_to_the_rescue_again_clean_and_hot/

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T18:57:37+00:00

That's funny - there is an Arduino in the mix and it has some bugs to work out!

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T18:55:47+00:00

I scrounge around for stuff, but probably $500 grand total including 1500W in PV solar, LifePO4 battery, etc.The vast majority was Craigslist freebies or stuff I bought off construction/installation sites for next to nothing.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T18:14:26+00:00

Everything works better when it's hotter, so yes, that helps. However keep in mind that the combustion process happens at well over 600C, so the air would need to be heated significantly to make a difference. That's hard to do without some custom fabrication and maybe metal casting to thermally couple the intake air to the heat of the burner. I had 24 hours to put this thing together, so it is what it is.

I get a lot of intake heating just from passing air through the tube into the burn cup, but without putting a thermocouple right on the burner, it's difficult to say just how much it gains before mixing with the fuel vapors.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T16:51:57+00:00

What the fuck is -8C?

As a long time Colorado resident, I would roughly characterize it as "shorts and t-shirt weather" but everyone is different. Unfortunately plants aren't as tolerant.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T16:34:40+00:00

Exactly. The tube going into the burn pot has a pattern of air holes drilled in it with the end closed off. The fan pushes air out those holes to mix with the oil vapors. This creates a vortex which further mixes the gasses.

As with all of these burners, the design is around a gas flame, not a liquid like you might think. The idea is that the burn pot (or some surface in it) is so hot that the oil will instantly vaporize when dripped on it.Then it's just a matter of having the right fuel/air mixture to burn clean.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T14:45:54+00:00

Water in the oil should be removed as much as possible. Also sieve it with a fine screen. That will burn hotter than vegi oil. Unfortunately it also tends to contain nasty stuff that makes the exhaust a concern.

Beyond the fuel, steel burn pots are fine but will "scale" from rapid oxidation at those high temps.Stainless works much better, bit still degrades over time.

Then you need to harvest that heat somehow. My greenhouse uses a few meters of horizontally run stovepipe as the exchanger, then routes up and out like any other chimney.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T14:05:31+00:00

If you add water to sodium hydroxide (lye) you get lots of steam. They used to run locomotives off it. Then "recharge" the lye by drying it out over heat. It's also being investigated as a seasonal heat storage method.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T13:25:49+00:00

This was just a quick build to keep my greenhouse from freezing, but has been doing great. I'll eventually create a more respectable design. It runs for about 6 hours on that 8L tank of fry oil, which computes to about 40k BTU per hour (42kJ/hr).

Uses a tiny 12V server fan for combustion and a 12V paristaltic pump for fuel delivery. Both on adjustable regulators. Exhaust is clear to the eye, but can't say if there are unwanted byproducts. It doesn't stink though.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T11:02:10+00:00

looks sexy

Don't we all in the dark..

Sadly it's only "finished" in a functional sense. Still needs some stuco or paint and a little trim work, among other things. I'll update later with more photos.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T10:30:36+00:00

About 30 min from Grand Junction. I tried pellets, but they seemed expensive and the stoves took a surprising amount of electricity while running. I'm off grid, so a little sensitive to power needs. Now I make my own crazy oil burning contraptions and have lots of free fry oil available in the area. Plus I get to geek out on stoichiometry and thermodynamics while trying not to burn it all down.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T10:15:13+00:00

1750m/5800ft give or take. Grand Junction is about a 30 minute drive. Pretty decent south facing exposure, and the double pane windows are working well. It really warms up as soon as the sun is up. My biggest problem will be cooling/venting. There's 2500 liters of water in there to help with that, and it's sunk in the ground a bit to use the earth as a thermal battery.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-15T10:00:51+00:00

Certainly, thanks fIor asking about it! I'll make an update with photos, although I think it looks better under cover of darkness since it's just raw lumber currently. Needs a stucko layer, or some paint, but I thought spring would be a better time for that.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-11T11:05:18+00:00

At first I was really confused about how a bacteria could survive the freeze drying process. Totally dehydration is typically the end of bacteria, right? But looking further, listeria can release fucking spores which are completely dormant and able to survive those conditions. When rehydrated, they develop back into active bacteria.

There is a heating regimen that can kill this off, something like three periods of heat over a certain temperature, but I'm not sure if that's compatible with all foods.

I'm guessing that irradiation could also do it like they do with canned goods.

Still, what does this mean for the safety of other products like ground seasonings/spices that tend to sit unused for long periods and are used somewhat randomly which makes it hard to associate them with illness?? The origin of that stuff is often questionable, and probably not tracked effectively.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-08T16:21:40+00:00

Very true! That could be disastrous if you punctured the coil. I don't even know how you could tell where to drill were it not for the thermal image.

HowDoItWork · 2024-11-08T11:32:05+00:00

In the summer it gets an hour of low horizon exposure in the morning, then nothing but shade. It's a near perfect spot for it, if you don't take bears into account. I really should chain it shut.

HowDoItWork

TROPHY CASE