The Millicent Chronicles; two foot roof raise, big tailgate

[Elliot Naess]

Originally Posted by Seeria

A zillion ideas and instructions on water heating by the lovely sun
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Wa ... sed%20Loop

Yes, fabulous information there!

This resembles what I mentioned earlier:


The site says this is 150 feet of 1" pipe. By my earlier calculation, that makes for six gallons.

[tfdfyrman]

I have never quite understood the whole radiant water heater idea. It seems to me it would only be effective for a few hours a day In ideal conditions. No? I mean you have to park your skoolie in the sun, which most people try to avoid in order to keep the rest of the bus cool. It would take a couple of hours of direct sun light to get optimal temps. And once the line capacity is used up, you have to wait for more sun. That is, if the sun is still available. Am I way off base here or it that about it?

[Seeria]

In all my various RVs we've always used solar to heat 5gln buckets/bladders to do our showers and what not. Heating time and temp varies. If it is cloudy, but 70+ you'll get a lukewarm water come high point of day (1-4pm). If it is 80 and sunny you are bound to get water too dang hot.

For me it boils down to not having to rely on electronic devices. Less battery drain, less propane used, the happier I am. Yeah, it takes a wee bit more work but it also makes me more aware of what I am doing, how much I am consuming, and frankly, I enjoy the process of self-effeciency. Except when I'm sick. Then I really wish I had a maid or a handy man to do my bidding.

That 150' tubing is an idea we might go with ourselves this time around. Great for summer but I can see how it would cool down faster than a big bucket. With the rocket heater for colder weather we would be heating water through that (still researching designs) during winter. Hoping to stay in Northern Cali for the winters 2011 onward. Hate Arizona. Texas. Florida. Okay, hate the south.

[Elliot Naess]

Tfdfyrman, you are correct! It is a compromise, based on personal preferences. Seeria explains it better than I could have said it myself.

I'll add that the shower in Millicent gets the most use during the one week of the Burning Man Art Festival in the Nevada desert in late summer. No shortage of sunshine and ambient heat there! Well... in the mornings, yes. But that changes very quickly when the sun comes up.

I do have a backup planned: A couple of years ago I purchased a small electric water heater; the kind you install in-line just before the shower head. I have not installed it yet, but I suppose I'll get around to it eventually. The idea is that this heater can be powered by my generator in a pinch, to take the worst chill off the water.

[Griff]

I got one of these: http://www.zodi.com/web-content/Consume ... hower.html
to supplement passive solar hot water heating (mine's a model # 6187, pretty much like the 6189 shown on the link above). I got mine on ebay for $75.

[Elliot Naess]

I like that idea. Quieter and cheaper than a generator! Could probably incorporate the burner in the existing plumbing. But I think I would locate the burner outside the bus for safety.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Elliot Naess

...Could probably incorporate the burner in the existing plumbing. But I think I would locate the burner outside the bus for safety.

Ultimately, it will be mounted by my gas stove so I can use the stove vent fan to vent excess heat. They (Zodi) have versions that can be heated by the stove itself ( http://www.zodi.com/web-content/Consume ... hower.html ), but I got this one much cheaper and am fairly confident I can easily convert it to utilize my stove top as the heat source.

I don't feel that it is any more dangerous in the bus than my gas stove, with the exception of the fact that I can't keep an eye on it while showering. If it catches the bus interior on fire while showering, my first warning will be a lack of shower water due to a melted hose, heh! (...and I have a fire extinguisher located near by between the shower and the stove area....just in case...)

[tfdfyrman]

What about a combination system? Hot water heaters work off a thermostat right? So run the solar water line through the hot water heater. If the water coming in is 90+ degrees then the heater will run very little. Then once you run out of hot water, the heater takes over. That makes more since to me than strictly solar. I can appreciate not being reliant on man made energy but I also like to be comfortable when I'm camping and traveling.

Keep up the good work!!

Chad

[Redbear]

Originally Posted by tfdfyrman

What about a combination system? Hot water heaters work off a thermostat right? So run the solar water line through the hot water heater. If the water coming in is 90+ degrees then the heater will run very little. Then once you run out of hot water, the heater takes over. That makes more since to me than strictly solar. I can appreciate not being reliant on man made energy but I also like to be comfortable when I'm camping and traveling.

Keep up the good work!!

Chad

That set up is not uncommon in off-grid homes. But look at the specifications for the heaters. Some are designed to take pre-heated water, others are rated for cold-water inputs only. Though I suppose you could feed pre-heated water to those also, at your own risk.

The thing that gets me is, some of the cold-water only units require no electricity and no pilot. They appear to use the water flow to generate power to ignite the propane. The pre-heated input units I've seen advertised either require power or a standing pilot. It seems that someone is missing a good niche market for the low-impact, high-efficiency users.

[Elliot Naess]

Update:

Had the injection pump "turned up". Oh, yes.

With the tachometer and pyrometer finally installed, I arranged with our very own Nevrenufhp to adjust Millicent's "fuel plate" and governor springs. The "fuel plate" serves as an internal throttle stop, limiting maximum power. Dale slid it all the way forward, which gives maximum power with the existing parts. He also tightened the governor springs two clicks, which allows the engine to rev just a little bit higher without doing any harm.

The result is -- to coin a phrase (not) -- that Millicent "came alive". No more struggling to maintain 55 MPH in rolling terrain. And climbed the Grapevine Grade at 40 MPH.

Since some of you must ask.... I took a run at top speed on level ground, and called it good with 66 MPH at around 2600 RPMs.

Exhaust temperature climbed above the recommended 900 F max (post turbo) a couple of times, but nothing blew up even when I touched 1000. Easy enough to keep it below 900 though. Now that I have the tach, I can downshift manually around 40 MPH or even higher, and hit 3rd gear at "healthy" yet safe revs.

Photos when I finish the "cosmetic" part of the gauge installation.

[newtoskool]

Is the fuel plate something common on all the engines or just certain makes?

Originally Posted by Elliot Naess

Update:

Had the injection pump "turned up". Oh, yes.

With the tachometer and pyrometer finally installed, I arranged with our very own Nevrenufhp to adjust Millicent's "fuel plate" and governor springs. The "fuel plate" serves as an internal throttle stop, limiting maximum power. Dale slid it all the way forward, which gives maximum power with the existing parts. He also tightened the governor springs two clicks, which allows the engine to rev just a little bit higher without doing any harm.

The result is -- to coin a phrase (not) -- that Millicent "came alive". No more struggling to maintain 55 MPH in rolling terrain. And climbed the Grapevine Grade at 40 MPH.

Since some of you must ask.... I took a run at top speed on level ground, and called it good with 66 MPH at around 2600 RPMs.

Exhaust temperature climbed above the recommended 900 F max (post turbo) a couple of times, but nothing blew up even when I touched 1000. Easy enough to keep it below 900 though. Now that I have the tach, I can downshift manually around 40 MPH or even higher, and hit 3rd gear at "healthy" yet safe revs.

Photos when I finish the "cosmetic" part of the gauge installation.

[Elliot Naess]

So far as I know, this type of "fuel plate" is unique to the Bosch P7100 injection pump. I believe this pump is used on at least a couple of makes of engines, but far from all.

On the Cummins 5.9 engine, like mine, I believe this pump first appeared in buses in 1992, and in Dodge pickups in 1994.

The man to tell you is Nevrenufhp, who is on this board and also has his own web site with tons of this information.

[nevrenufhp]

Originally Posted by newtoskool

Is the fuel plate something common on all the engines or just certain makes?

Tell us what cha got(engine make and year), and we can tell you what pump it likely has on it.

[Elliot Naess]

Oh, by the way.... I fixed the fuel gauge. It had nothing to do with having run out of fuel last November. It was simply that the float on the sending unit had cracked and sunk. That is, it had fuel inside it. Commercial Speedometer in Sacramento sold me a new float. End of problem.

Other news.... I just drove 1200 miles with no trailer and a light load, and I kept it below 55. Yet the fuel milage was below 10. I suspect the four "hoops" I installed on the roof. Added up, it's like I'm pushing a six inch wide plank thru the air -- or as if I had raised the roof six more inches. I think I'll make them removable before the next trip.

[Now... somebody is going to say "That's because you turned up the power.". But I don't think so. You burn more fuel only when you USE the extra available power. Most of the trip was flat, and I drove those long stretches slower than usual. So I think it is something else. I do need a new air filter.]

[Elliot Naess]

Racked up another 1200 or more miles with a trip to Oregon. Sure runs better after the injection pump modifications, but having to back off the power when the pyrometer reaches 900 F is a nuisance. The guy I talked to at Isspro Gauges some time back felt that 1050 would be safe, but I'd hate to discover he was wrong.

On the other hand, having a tach is a godsend on downgrades. I now know when I can safely downshift manually to 3rd, and then I use the trucker's stab breaking method: let it roll up to 2.600 RPMs, brake firmly down to 2.200, let it roll to 2.600, repeat. This is what the air brake manufacturers teach these days, and my experience with 18-wheelers bears it out. No brake smoke on Ashland Grade this trip! Before I installed the tach, I was worried about over-reving and used the foot brake too much.

But... we just barely made it home without a roadside breakdown! The last few times we started her, there was a loud squealing noise like a slipping fan belt. And that may have been the noise, but the cause turned out to be more serious, and could have stranded us on the side of the road.
Turns out, Millicent uses a common "standard duty" General Motors CS-130 alternator, and these are notoriously prone to rear bearing failure. So... the next morning I opened the dog house and inspected the fan belt -- and watched the alternator rear bearing balls all roll out and onto the ground. For the grand finale, the outer race fell out also. It was a lot like a Roadrunner cartoon -- with Wyle E. Coyote watching his clever invention disintegrate in his lap.

So if you have the CS-130 you might want to replace yours with a fresh one now. Tons of info on the interweb -- just google CS-130 alternator. The CS-144 is much better and may fit.

Having now replaced the alternator, I stand by my judgement that a front-engine flat-nose bus should be at the very bottom of your shopping list. No room to work in there. If Millicent should somehow evaporate, I would replace her with a shorter pusher and a longer trailer.

Other than that, Millicent is serving us very well. Burning Man next.

EDIT: Add photos from the Kinetic Sculpture Race in Corvallis Oregon a week ago.





I'm in the left front seat.

[M1031]

Waiting for the "new" paint job pics....... I'm dying of curiosity provided the computer.... doesn't give me any grief....

[nevrenufhp]

That's right where I grew up, just about a mile from the Willamette River up by Albany. At least you didnt have a true breakdown and need a tow truck.

[Elliot Naess]

We are still planning paint in connection with Burning Man, yes.

I'd move to Corvallis in a heartbeat if I could afford it. Towards Philomath -- out of the flood plain. I already have more wonderful friends up there than I have here!

[nevrenufhp]

I still do. I'm heading up there on Friday for 10 days.

[Stuff]

awesome pictures!