More Morso mods...

[Squirrely]

Very nice looking house. I have to say your energy prices must be much higher there than they are for us here. We average about $210 a month in a 100 year old wood sided 2200 sqft Victorian with original windows. That is with public sewer and well water.

Everything in California is expensive!
Electricity is 17 cents per kWh base rate, and water is $8 per 100cu ft (750 gal.) base rate, and the higher tiers for wasting either are punitively exponential.

California real estate is also sky high. There's nothing for sale in our neighborhood under seven figures. Which is why we bought raw land and built ourselves. It's a way cheaper outside the box alternative to buying. By acting as your own designer, real estate developer, banker, general contractor, trade laborer, and real estate agent, it's possible to produce a decent product at a wholesale price which is a mere fraction of the retail cost paid by the typical end user. Our original investment plus our labor quintupled our equity because we reaped all of the profits normally paid to others in the production pipeline, from initial concept to finished project.

 

[bholler]

By acting as your own designer, real estate developer, banker, general contractor, trade laborer, and real estate agent, it's possible to produce a finished product at a wholesale price which is a mere fraction of the retail cost paid by the typical end user. Our original investment plus our labor quintupled our equity.

That is the same everywhere but I am sure it is amplified in your area. I prefer to buy cheap run down places and rehab them in this area that is more cost effective here you can buy houses on 1/4 acre lots or so in town for $50k to $100k depending on the town and condition some go for even less than that. I am currently looking at buying a new house 1 1970s 1200 sq ft ranch on 4 acres with 7000 sq ft in 3 big outbuildings for $165k But I am sure it is totally different for you.

 

[RobbieB]

Oh yeah. Here the dirt is expensive and we have a lot of what are known as "zero lot line" developments. Which means 5 feet to the fence, the legal minimum and "zero" more. You can spit on your neighbors house from yours.

I bought mine used and has a "standard" size lot, 15 feet to the fence. So I have a 1400 sq-ft house on a 7000 sq-ft lot. I am blessed -

 

[Squirrely]

Oh yeah. Here the dirt is expensive and we have a lot of what are known as "zero lot line" developments. Which means 5 feet to the fence, the legal minimum and "zero" more. You can spit on your neighbors house from yours.

I bought mine used and has a "standard" size lot, 15 feet to the fence. So I have a 1400 sq-ft house on a 7000 sq-ft lot. I am blessed -

Hey, we're just about the same situation as you with the 5'/15' setbacks. We went two story to keep a small footprint so as to maximize setbacks.The 12k sq ft lot had been for sale for many years with no takers because the previous owner was unable to get a building permit on it and by law had to disclose that fact to any potential buyer. We have relatives in the Central Valley. There's good fertile growing land there because it used to be the bottom of an ancient sea.

 

[Squirrely]

That is the same everywhere but I am sure it is amplified in your area. I prefer to buy cheap run down places and rehab them in this area that is more cost effective here you can buy houses on 1/4 acre lots or so in town for $50k to $100k depending on the town and condition some go for even less than that. I am currently looking at buying a new house 1 1970s 1200 sq ft ranch on 4 acres with 7000 sq ft in 3 big outbuildings for $165k But I am sure it is totally different for you.

Yes it's different here... however, what is the same is that you make the best of what you have wherever you are.

 

[jetsam]

I feel that if you can see another house from your house from your house, that house is uncomfortably close and it is time to move to a nicer place.

 

[bholler]

I feel that if you can see another house from your house from your house, that house is uncomfortably close and it is time to move to a nicer place.

I dont know i have fantastic neighbours the kids go over and play with theirs all the time and we look out for each other. That is one thing that will be missed greatly if we do move.

 

[RobbieB]

I live in a tract house on a busy 4 lane main east-west city road with a speed limit of 40.

I have a porch swing and we like to sit and swing and drink cocktails and watch the world go by.

 

[Squirrely]

I feel that if you can see another house from your house from your house, that house is uncomfortably close and it is time to move to a nicer place.

Trees can help to mitigate closeness. While three other houses are line of sight to ours and an average of about 50 feet away, they're pretty much obscured by foliage.

 

[Squirrely]

When I started reading about pyrolysis, I was surprised to learn a couple things. (I know this isn't what begreen was talking about, but it's interesting stuff.)

1) Wood fire ignition is possible at temperatures of
170°F and maybe lower.

2) Steam pipes passing through wood floors used to be a common cause of house fires, back when steam heat was common.

https://www.doctorfire.com/low_temp_wood1.pdf

Made me take a closer look at my setup, and also understand why UL calls a 100°F rise in wood temperature dangerous.

I did a test last night by burning the stove 700-750 degrees for a few hours while leaving the wood underneath untouched exactly as it was in the picture at about an inch and a half from the heatshield at its closest point.

The heat shield is shiny metal which throws off the laser thermometer making it read really low so I've been sampling the temps directly from the cast iron bottom and asuming the shield gets about as hot. So while the shield reads 76 degrees, the bottom got up to 131 degrees maximum. Feeling the shield by hand indicates it's obviously hotter than the 76 reading indicated but not so hot that I couldn't leave my hand on it for a long time.

The results of the test are the wood reached a maximum temperature of 108 degrees at its closest point to the shield.

I checked the parts diagram on the QFire Discovery series which stacks wood under the stove and they use a corrugated heat shield to mitigate the radiated heat so it can remain stacked there safely.

 

[Squirrely]

My latest project is installing a tertiary air control...







This is a mock up of the basic concept just to see how it operates. The finished control will have a spring on the pivot to hold it's position regardless of where it's set, a coat of BBQ black paint, and a knob for easy access . Won't be testing this any time soon, as it was 105 degrees yesterday and 100 degrees today!

Installed a spring in the pivot to keep the control wherever it's set.



...and trimmed the plate to better fit the opening.



Greg

 

[Squirrely]

Finished painting the control plate and attaching the knob...





It now has fine control over the aperture from fully open to fully closed.


Greg