PPrepper knowledge! Alternative power and solutions

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

Detailed pressure and temperature requirements for Freeze drying:

 

High pressure setpoint should be below the 4.58 Torr.(0.08PSI) Typical freeze drying pressure is .1 to .2 torr(0.002 to 0.005 PSI) but as long as you are below the 4.58 torr it will work!

 

Low pressure setpoint should be as low as is practical for your pump. This will extend the run time to get down to that low point, but will rest the pump as long as possible while pressure rebuilds. Just don't want a pressure that your pump struggles to maintain, pick a point it goes to and maintains easily.(even the little 69.99 harbor freight pump is supposed to pull down to 0.001 psi(75 microns)

 

As far as temp, should be fairly automatic since the pressure stays low, room temp is fine, but if you want to install the heater just to be sure, and to speed the process I don't see anything over 100 C or so would be useful.

 

On freezing temp if your food is too cold, it wont sublimate or release the water as a gas. Temps much below 0c will require much lower pressure to sublimate and will work the pump harder if not make it impossible for the pump to get low enough for sublimation. I say freeze it in a seprate freezer to about -5C or so, have everything ready and trayed, and toss it in and get the pressure down asap. After that temp dont much matter, other than adding heat to help speed the process.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Wheel Horse 3D

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

Heres a schematic i did up at one point for the general layout and control circuits for the freeze dry system. The text at the side should be corrected"untill pump stays OFF longer than off timer setting" the hot plate should have been on for an hour or 2 without the pump kicking on. Thats when the timer should kick the system A/C off and signal DONE!

Edited May 11, 2021 by Wheel Horse 3D

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

I apologize for all the varied pressure units Torr,Pascal,PSI,ATM,Bar,micron dunno why one pressure unit isnt good enough for all uses!

Edited May 11, 2021 by Wheel Horse 3D

[posifour11 723]

@DennisThornton good to see a fellow bcusa member here. I haven't been active there in a while due to life throwing me a curveball. But, I intend to get back to it as I have been here. 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

41 minutes ago, posifour11 said:

@DennisThornton good to see a fellow bcusa member here. I haven't been active there in a while due to life throwing me a curveball. But, I intend to get back to it as I have been here. 

I'm mostly a reader there and not even that the last few months but I did appreciate lots of comments and intend to get back soon. 

Life does throw curves sometimes!  I'm bouncing back from one right now!

I practiced living out of my truck a bit last summer to first snow fall with a hammock setup.  This spring in a backpack tent but I'll be going back to hammocking as the weather warms a bit.  I try to keep all necessities in my truck but I intend to work on a bugout bag shortly.  I have a travel trailer setup for 12 volts and the house has the bulk of long term foods and water.  Generators and fuels for a somewhat extended term.  I feel a need to boost the fuels.  I suppose the main focus is to be able to live comfortably in the house if all heck broke loose, out of the truck if a fire or storm took the house, and that bugout bag if such took the truck too.  A good bit of knowledge and some practice has to go along with everything and that is time consuming for sure.  But I find all of it delightful!

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

I love my hammocks! Nothin better for comfort out in the bush..or in the yard! Lol

Made my own by sewing a sleeve into pth ends of some material and running a ziptie through and adding some cordage.

[DennisThornton 4,769]

5 minutes ago, Wheel Horse 3D said:

I love my hammocks! Nothin better for comfort out in the bush..or in the yard! Lol

Made my own by sewing a sleeve into pth ends of some material and running a ziptie through and adding some cordage.

I've read about and thought about making my own but I've got a couple more to try and I'm admiring some big brand names.  Really need netting around here from early spring, starting soon and until early fall.  Not sure I posses the skills for that.

But I do enjoy sleeping in them!  Surprisingly comfortable, especially now that I have a big pee bottle!

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

10 minutes ago, DennisThornton said:

.  Really need netting around here 

I went and bought some inexpensive sheer curtains, sewed em together into a kinda tube with draw strings at either end. Just slide over my hammock and ridgeline,  pull it up and down (fwd and back) to get in and out, and cinch the end when youre staying put!

[posifour11 723]

I can't wait to find the hammock I bought. 🤣 It's been a couple years a move, then a divorce. I'll find it someday. It was a grand trunk double with a net. I've never slept in one. 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

5 minutes ago, Wheel Horse 3D said:

I went and bought some inexpensive sheer curtains, sewed em together into a kinda tube with draw strings at either end. Just slide over my hammock and ridgeline,  pull it up and down (fwd and back) to get in and out, and cinch the end when youre staying put!

Chuckle!  I bought the same in blue at a yardsale!  Didn't get as far as you did though!  I also bought a army surplus net for a cot setup.  Lots of netting to make about whatever I'd want or drape in over a ridgeline for the hammock.  I did appreciate my zip around net on the hammock I used last season but after several nights I woke up with a start all tangled up in it!  The net to bottom seams split and dumped me half out and half still in.  Had to calm down in the middle of a dark night, try to figure out where I and everything else was and work my my out of it!  I cut the screen off and saved the bottom!

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

Great campfire story!

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

4 minutes ago, posifour11 said:

I can't wait to find the hammock I bought. 🤣 It's been a couple years a move, then a divorce. I'll find it someday. It was a grand trunk double with a net. I've never slept in 

,ya get a chance look up "the perfect hang" tells ya a bunch of hammick pointers abount angles, sleeping position etc. but ive always wondered about those Tentsile triangular tree tents.

[DennisThornton 4,769]

3 minutes ago, posifour11 said:

I can't wait to find the hammock I bought. 🤣 It's been a couple years a move, then a divorce. I'll find it someday. It was a grand trunk double with a net. I've never slept in one. 

Did the move and divorce thing twenty years ago.  Saying goodbye to the second now but she's moving, not me.  Looking forward to having a life again!

I think you will like the hammock!  Never liked the ground when it was crawling too!  Don't might when the bugs aren't running around but unless there a really nice mattress pad, which I have, a hammock is way more comfortable and lightweight!

Best of luck with getting things back you way you want.  I've got a lot to get done around here but I'm still going to fish, hunt and camp when not fixing and using Wheel Horses!  I live right in the Adirondacks!  I can't help it!

[posifour11 723]

2 minutes ago, Wheel Horse 3D said:

,ya get a chance look up "the perfect hang" tells ya a bunch of hammick pointers abount angles, sleeping position etc. but ive always wondered about those Tentsile triangular tree tents.

I think I've read it... Maybe. I was on hammock forums when I had the free time and was looking forward to it. I need to slowly work back into things. 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

5 minutes ago, Wheel Horse 3D said:

,ya get a chance look up "the perfect hang" tells ya a bunch of hammick pointers abount angles, sleeping position etc. but ive always wondered about those Tentsile triangular tree tents.

Bought it!  It's amazing how much there is to know about camping and survival!  I've started a library!  And then there's the hours of online not including the YouTubes!

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

Lol I started out like most kids of my era, dad taught me everything any eagle scout would know and then some!(still have a full scout library), grew up in Appalachia(have the full foxfire set) joined the army, got all that training, became an armorer, rapel instructor, combat medic, and Arctic survival instructor in addition to my regular MOS, then became a Ham and added all that box of tricks, now getting more into the mechanical side of things!

And as a kid I read encyclopedias for fun and can scan at abt 1800 words per minute, soo the internet is a HUGE resource for me!

Edited May 12, 2021 by Wheel Horse 3D

[posifour11 723]

2 minutes ago, DennisThornton said:

Did the move and divorce thing twenty years ago.  Saying goodbye to the second now but she's moving, not me.  Looking forward to having a life again!

I think you will like the hammock!  Never liked the ground when it was crawling too!  Don't might when the bugs aren't running around but unless there a really nice mattress pad, which I have, a hammock is way more comfortable and lightweight!

Best of luck with getting things back you way you want.  I've got a lot to get done around here but I'm still going to fish, hunt and camp when not fixing and using Wheel Horses!  I live right in the Adirondacks!  I can't help it!

Long story short- we moved here after my dad died a few years ago. Still haven't unpacked from that, really. Two big storage sheds full of stuff. She changed, I didn't. She moved, I didn't. 

I've slept in/on just about anything thanks to Uncle Sam. I still have a couple cots.😁 My back doesn't allow me to think about camping much, but I really miss it. 

 

I live in the perfect place to hunt, fish and camp. But, I'm just now getting the will to take care of the house and land. I'm slowly working back into it. I live in the Ozarks. I can't help it either. 🤣

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

Yeah, wih my Army back, a hammock is really the only thing keeps me camping!

[posifour11 723]

3 minutes ago, Wheel Horse 3D said:

Lol I started out like most kids of my era, dad taught me everything any eagle scout would know and then some!(still have a full scout library), grew up in Appalachia(have the full foxfire set) joined the army, got all that training, became an armorer, rapel instructor, combat medic, and Arctic survival instructor in addition to my regular MOS, then became a Ham and added all that box of tricks, now getting more into the mechanical side of things!

And as a kid I read encyclopedias for fun and can scan at abt 1800 words per minute, soo the internet is a HUGE resource for me!

You're a super ninja! I was a mechanic. I can rebuild a 6.2 diesel or a 400 turbo from memory, answer a phone and unf&@$ something one of my mechanics did. Other than that, the army taught me to endure ignorance and stupid with a straight face. Now, I just endure my life on my VA (can't be in the army anymore) welfare/disability. 

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

Fortunately, got my divorces outta the way years ago, and have recouped and found a keeper(boy those exes wish theyd hung around now!)

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

1 minute ago, posifour11 said:

You're a super ninja! I was a mechanic. I can rebuild a 6.2 diesel or a 400 turbo from memory, answer a phone and unf&@$ something one of my mechanics did. Other than that, the army taught me to endure ignorance and stupid with a straight face. Now, I just endure my life on my VA (can't be in the army anymore) welfare/disability. 

Dude I was a signal guy, and mechanics divin under trucks and gettin diesel all over in 60 plus below and 4ft of snow is just badass! Much respect man, mechs always got a phone call home from my crew!

[posifour11 723]

3 minutes ago, Wheel Horse 3D said:

Dude I was a signal guy, and mechanics divin under trucks and gettin diesel all over in 60 plus below and 4ft of snow is just badass! Much respect man, mechs always got a phone call home from my crew!

I was reserve most of my time. But, I wish I'd taken advantage of all the extra classes I was offered. My unit only had so much money for classes so I passed them off to the kids after a while. I wish I'd done air assault and sapper when I was asked for by name, but I let the kids do it if they were willing. 

 

The army changed a lot during my time. A machanic became an afterthought. 

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

Never went to air assault, but i climbed and rapeled in Alaska and knew so much more than the air assault guys i got to be the instructor and tower guy any time a unit went to go play on the tower at Richardson! Lol

[DennisThornton 4,769]

6 minutes ago, posifour11 said:

Long story short- we moved here after my dad died a few years ago. Still haven't unpacked from that, really. Two big storage sheds full of stuff. She changed, I didn't. She moved, I didn't. 

I've slept in/on just about anything thanks to Uncle Sam. I still have a couple cots.😁 My back doesn't allow me to think about camping much, but I really miss it. 

 

I live in the perfect place to hunt, fish and camp. But, I'm just now getting the will to take care of the house and land. I'm slowly working back into it. I live in the Ozarks. I can't help it either. 🤣

Gal and I got along wonderfully for several years and then she changed.  Had some reasons I suppose...  Her brother, then Father and shortly later Mother died!  Thought I was there for all of it and I tried everything but I think her mental and physical illnesses and alcohol just became more than she or I knew how to cope with.  She shared her hell with me and perhaps someone would have done better but I and others didn't know what to do but I tried for years and some pretty tough ones too!  But now, she's leaving and I'm sighing in relief.  Too bad, but I have nothing left to give or to deal with her so time to move on.  Looking forward to it.  To having a life again!  And getting to multiple buildings of stuff in storage too!  Lots of stuff put on hold for years!  

 

Hang in there!  You and I are among many, some right here on this forum.  I'm done looking at the past and now look forward to what I hope are the best years to come!  Yours too I hope!

 

I think one can camp in comfort with some help with transportation.  Wouldn't call my 31ft travel trailer camping but some might.  I intend to setup my truck with a tent extention to camp in comfort with warm weather and even in cold within the truck cap with my new diesel 12v heater!  I'd think most anyone's back could enjoy a hammock!

[DennisThornton 4,769]

31 minutes ago, Wheel Horse 3D said:

Lol I started out like most kids of my era, dad taught me everything any eagle scout would know and then some!(still have a full scout library), grew up in Appalachia(have the full foxfire set) joined the army, got all that training, became an armorer, rapel instructor, combat medic, and Arctic survival instructor in addition to my regular MOS, then became a Ham and added all that box of tricks, now getting more into the mechanical side of things!

And as a kid I read encyclopedias for fun and can scan at abt 1800 words per minute, soo the internet is a HUGE resource for me!

Ahhh!  Foxfire!  There's an encyclopedia!