With the pump house online and water running through the system, I must make sure it does not freeze. As if that happened it could cause damage to the lines and cause a huge flood. So keeping the well components above 32F is critical for us. Seems not everyone does this, but the locals around here tell me I should heat my pump house. So I think its a good idea to follow their advise.
I was going to run a light bulb for heat, but decided a personal space heater would be a more efficient option. It uses 200 watts and the brand is a Lasko MyHeat model.
It does not have any kind of thermostat, I only found the ones with higher wattage had that feature. So I bought a power switch controlled by a thermostat.
The settings only allow it to go down to 40F. But honestly that is probably a good temperature to try to keep. Do not want to get that close to freezing if possible.
Got it all set up, and placed a hygrometer near by to see what the room temperature gets down to. As the next day after installing this we would get a freezing morning. Sure enough the heater came on around 5am and ran for about 2 hours until the temps came up outside. Looking at the hygrometer it got down to 37F in the pump house. Not bad, if it gets much lower I may need to raise the settings on the thermostat to kick it on sooner. Or get a more powerful heater. But with so much insulation we may be fine. We will need to see how the winter treats us, as its only got down to the high 20s. And deep into winter it will get much colder than that, possibly in the single digits.
Heating the building where the batteries are should be more easy running my miners. I got both of them going during the autumn, hopefully we get enough solar in the winter to run both to. But I would think I can run at least one. That should hopefully keep the building temps above 45F when the Pytes battery bank heaters kick on. I would rather use energy to power the miners, generating excess heat. Rather than running the battery bank heaters. It will all be a balance, saving enough power in the 15kwh battery bank to power the pump house heaters. But also use the miners enough to heat the building the batteries are in. Should be interesting to see how it all plays out this winter. I can always add more solar panels and batteries if need be. But for now the 7kw I peak at is doing me pretty good.
The garlic has started to emerge, great to see them coming up. Soon it will stop growing as the weather gets colder. And then next year the pump house will really prove it self watering over an acre of garlic on a regular basis when the weather is not favorable. But living in the Southeast its possible we mostly meet our needs based on local rains. But having this pump house will cover us between any dry spells we encounter.
The insulation I see in the walls and ceiling should really help! And space heater should do the job of keeping it from freezing in this insulated space. There are no windows in the pump house, right?
Indeed I think it will help out quite a bit. We really went heavy on insulation for this pump house.
Nope, no windows.
You could move your bitcoin mining rig there...
Hehe yeah but I would need to get internet out there.
Good call. Heating the pump house is smart.
Thanks, I think so too.
It was always surprising to me when I learned that a lot of people heat their pump house just with a 100 watt bulb that they leave on all the time. In our old house I had to buy some of that heat tape that you plug in and wrap around the pipes to keep them from freezing. We got really lucky that we never had one burst. We did have to have the water meter replaced once or twice because the bottom plate blew out.
Yeah I hard about using a light bulb too. But I feel like using a personal heater is more efficient. Oh cool. I will need to look into that heat tape.
You are probably right. Those new infrared heaters are a lot safer than they used to be a lot more efficient.
The effort it takes to ensure the pump system stays warm and safe is truly remarkable; it truly demonstrates dedication! May this winter be a smooth one, the system run smoothly, and the anticipated harvest and energy yields come in smoothly.
Thanks, I do hope it all works out.
Nice, that garlic is looking great!
Those miners should help keep things warm for sure while they are running, but that heat pump is a must have. The last thing you need are frozen pipes and a flood the next day. Been there once, done that, and never again! lol
I hope you won't need more panels and batteries as they aren't cheap, but it is less expensive that fixing a plumbing nightmare. That's for sure!
Yeah they are coming up nicely. Hah yeah frozen pipes are no fun, and indeed we shall see how it all plays out over the next year.
I really admire how you plan everything out for winter! It’s interesting how even a small heater can make such a big difference
Ah thanks, lots of responsibility out on the farm.
you're idea is really great and i can tell that you are very smart.
and the garlic you planted has already sprouted, yay I hope it doesn't get damaged in the winter and good luck with your watering.
Thank you, yeah I do hope the garlic does fine. Last years did went without being covered so I think we will be okay through the winter.
If you want to use the lowest amount of power to keep your pipes from freezing, I suggest heat tape. I use it on our pump house here in NY, and it has worked well in temps down to -20. If I remember right, an 8' strip only draws 34 watts when powered on.
Oh cool. I will look into that stuff.. thanks
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