Friday was a near perfect day, nice enough that when I needed to go to town after lunch, I rode the four-wheeler.

October 21, 2017 - Saturday

55 degrees/cloudy/breezy

Pentoga Road

Friday was a mixed bag of action in and around Pentoga Road. With temperatures in the low 70's, it was too nice of a day to stay inside.

I was in town shortly after 8 to help Yooper Brother Mark finish his garage door.

Other than some trim, it was nearing completion by the time I left at mid morning. I knew Sargie wouldn't be home Friday night until 9:30 and I wanted to see her before she left.

My original intent was to finish raking/blowing the leaves from the yard, but for some reason, I got started working on the passive solar unit that helps heat the shop during the winter months.

It's worked well for the past two winters. In some cases, too well. The temperature got hot enough inside to melt some of the styrofoam insulation towards the top.

There was nothing to do but open it up and  replace that which was bad.

Mississippi Brother Garry and I built the original passive solar heater two years ago while they were visiting. Though the original design worked, I believe the unit could provide even more heat.

A side note: Air from the floor of the shop is pulled through tubes into the bottom of the frame by a fan. Warmed by the sun, it travels through the heater before it is blown back into the shop from the top of the unit by a second fan.

I pulled out the interior frame, added aluminum screen to what was already there, then mounted the huge panel on an angle with the bottom towards the outside and the top tilted in.

The tilt will force the air to flow through the screens rather than along them creating friction and forcing the air to absorb more heat from the sun's light.

I took a break to go to town for more caulking and flat black paint. The small blue four wheeler hasn't been ridden for any distance this summer so I decided to take it to get some fresh gas flowing through the carburetor. 

Other than feel every bump in the trail, the twenty mile (round trip) ride was wonderful. The old Yamaha, an '87 model, was manufactured before  struts and shocks became standard equipment on ATV's. It runs like a clock, but can be rather harsh on the rider.

Back home, I made a corporate decision and decided to add air tubes to the solar unit under the screen to further cause the air to flow more slowly.

What to use? Hmmm.

Thank goodness I'd not thrown out any cans from last Labor Day's celebration. I needed twenty-two cans. I had exactly twenty-four empties in the recycle bag.

The first thing was to drill a hole in the bottom of each.

With light aluminum, it wasn't the easiest thing to do. As you can see, my finger got in the way more than once.

I then connected two together with heavy duct tape and spray painted them flat black.

I found that the Stoh's/Bush Light combination made the best fit.

The final step was to mount the newly made tubes just above the air intakes, but below the screens.

I'm guardedly optimistic that this new concoction of screens and cans will provide the maximum amount of warmth. 

It was almost dark before I finished putting the heater back together. Since Sargie wasn't due home until 9:30, I had plenty of time to run the vacuum over the rugs and sweep the rest of the floors.

I put brat patties on the grill for supper last night along with squash. It was easy to heat up once Sargie arrived home.

Poor Sargie has a cold and I think it's traveled into her chest. Thankfully, she's off today so hopefully, the downtime will allow her to rest and begin to recover.

I'm going to work on the fan system for the solar heater inside the shop. Later, I want to move the rest of the patio furniture to the storage container for the winter months. With highs forecast in the low 40's this next week, snow won't be far behind.

But first, it's time to pour another cup of coffee and listen to the news while I wait for the sun to come up.

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...