030 Sand Batteries And Rocket Stoves

[@davefroman4700]

The easiest sand battery you can make? Is with an old electric oven. All you need to ensure is that the bottom element is still functioning. Put 3-4 solar panels wired in series for 750-800 watts and then just take the positive and negative from either side of the array and hook that to the bottom element in the stove directly. Use some self tapping screws and washers to close the front up permanently. Remove the top element that has the oven vent under it, and fill the oven with dry sand.

[@davidcain5756]

Robert, I've been building Rocket stoves/mass heaters for close to 20 years, the second build (2006) was using a sand battery under a queen size bed. Even when outdoor temps fell to 17deg F, -8deg C, the 350sq ft off grid cabin stayed toasty through the night, and didn't need a blanket.

[@steveffuksake]

Hi, I live in a van,how long does the sand hold it's heat for.

[@davidcain5756]

That's going to be dependent on a few factors ie... how much sand, configuration of same, space insulation and heat in/out. My home sand battery (120 k) is still warm to the touch after 8hrs.@@steveffuksake

[@mightyconker3903]

@stephendutton4222 depends on the temp. Have you looked into vevor deisel heaters?

[@krishampton8163]

​@stephendutton4222 I would think the shear weight of the sand would negate any benefits for van life, the main drawback of using thermal mass is that it's not very mobile.

[@the_natrix9959]

Perhaps a small system (small stove, 2in pipe) split between the vehicle down pipe and a used oil burner. Storing the mass underneath the vehicle can be attained, although a non intuitive form factor and insulation layer, plus corrosion layer. You would have to modify the unibody (perforations) for routing as well. Doable, but not easy. Unless you just plop a diy furnace in the back within a protective enclosure and back door access 😅. Vibration and movement may be the largest challenge for safe operation.🎉

[@goldcountryruss7035]

If you use round river rocks instead of sand, you will not need a heat exchange device to harvest the heat. Simply blow air in and remove hot air as necessary. The round rocks will store the same amount of heat per pound as sand, but it enables air flow with minimal back pressure.

[@BJL2142]

Good idea, somewhat lower density, I'd make a "screen" and test in and out airflow temps and attach to the side of a sand battery, pulling heat and working as intended

[@SundogbuildersNet]

Heat transfer to the medium will also be slower. Less surface area to the heat exchanger on account of the spaces between the gravel. This is also true with sand, where little clay can be added to fill the spaces and bond them together in a chunk.

[@jprice1122]

River rock “can” be dangerous to heat up. If they have somehow retained any water in the matrix the water will expand and blow the rock apart. Rare but it can happen.

[@ryanjamesloyd6733]

Makes me wonder about metal bb's, how they would do. or perhaps little ceramic sandblasting beads?

[@kirkfrahm1252]

Whatever you use, Never seal it

[@mikewurlitzer5217]

Had you blocked off the Rocket stove pipe you would have increased the length of time the sand would remain hot. As it was, you had a major thermosyphon going on after the fire was out.

[@Aussiehomestead1965]

I am by no means a professional welder or never will I pick on anyones welding but one trick i learnt by trial and error is to put the stick into the stick welder and bend it at about a 30 degree angle and It makes striking an arc easier and stops your metal looking like a porcupine with stuck welding rods all over It 😂. Hope that helps anyone starting out.

[@kk-rc6dw]

Scratch it like a match preferably in the weld path then back to the start of the weld.

[@victoryfirst2878]

Very informative video Robert. I am pouring sand in cinder block for the thermal mass right now as winter is on its way. Thank you for showing everyone these projects are something that can be done by anyone who wants to make themselves a little more self-sufficient. The J B high temperature epoxy is really asking for trouble. Arc welding is the only safe and proven way to weld any rocket stove. SAFETY IS JOB ONE, PERIOD !!!

[@DaveHojo]

It's worth noting that while sand is inexpensive in a simple sense, the monstrous sand mining industry is fraught with global implications. I don't say that to be a contrarian to the idea of sand batteries as I fully endorse the technology. I think it's worth highlighting that a non-trivial segments of sand mining externalizes costs to marginalized communities and reeks havoc on ecosystems as a way to keep it "cheap."

[@willowgalan2942]

thank you for bringing this up its important to always build as ethically as we can! another commenter mentioned flint as an alternative to sand because of how flint is a particular blight to farmers?

[@IN-FINITE_WISDOM]

You don't need round sand (the sand that is used in building) there are massive parts of the world that are Deserts and that sand will work just fine While being plenty eco friendly

[@das250250]

Because you are a chemist mate ,I've always been fascinated by the chemicals they use on those weld sticks to make a controllable arc molten metal..pretty incredible considering the chaos at the weld moment. You could easily do a video on how they designed the welding stick

[@mightyconker3903]

Flux. You can use borax. They use stuff that gives off inert gases to protect the weld from oxygen

[@breaking_bear]

One of my favorite videos you've done this year! So happy you got into welding and it's so much fun to watch welding projects that have real-life applications, especially in the winter season. Thanks!

[@dinosaur0073]

Thank you, Robert.... Water is a big issue in my country. We tried immigrant but didn't work. Now, we are back and searching for solutions. Your videos are helping me to reach into solutions....That's is all occupying my mind. Thank you again. 😊

[@UFZ7482]

I love your sand battery work.

[@poorman-trending]

Not to get too technical, but with A/C there is also reactance that comes into play and potential for the radiative resistance of the wire to turn some of the input energy into radio waves. In an antenna this is good but something like this you want the radiation resistance low and the loss resistance high. At 50 or 60 hz it doesn’t have a huge effect as it does at higher frequencies but it is something that can be optimised for in the design of the heating element.

[@jmgalaxytab2325]

I remember quite vividly the last time I burned the soles of my feet walking on the hot sand of the beach... So theoretically, if you live in a house on a beach, you could collect the hot sand at the end of each day to power up your house during the night, dump the sand back on the beach in the morning and do that over and over again. Good news for people living in deserts 😋

[@daveh6356]

Pretty impressed by the Peltier generator - even if it's milliwatts, it should still be able to drive the microcontroller and make some airflow to recover heat in a power outage. I was thinking gravel/air thermal battery as heat extraction from pipes in sand has a low surface area - probably not enough to provide hot water on demand. It would be good to see these options as other YT channels come unstuck at the point of heat extraction.

[@jim9337]

Well folks have paid due respect for your ingenious projects, so I will simply say "Thank You" for taking the time to share your knowledge with us. I have the parts required, but have been just dragging my feet. After watching this I am going to have to get off my duff, and pull the welder out. Usually this time of year in Northern Central British Columbia it's about -15-20 c at least, This year is much warmer, so working out side is not to bad. Thanks again for the knowledge, and encouragement. Merry Christmas.

[@BetaThings]

So the fractal capacitor network captures atmospheric power and dumps it into a sand battery? This is sounding like the people's power grid. Good on you

[@TheSRDR79]

plus channel have a video about a better way to get more power from atmospheric power (antena to the ground & swiching rellay to collaps antena's static rezonanse in summary)

[@BetaThings]

@@TheSRDR79 whoa! Can you link that vid?

[@derrickreid475]

Consider wax as a heat battery. Mixing the two is being used now and apparently very effective . I seem to remember wax is 16 times more effective then concrete , 3 times more then water in heat retention. The key is keeping it out of the 400 degree range placement. I'm building a rocket mass batch system using the bell system and hoping to find the sweet spot (400 degree )area to place these cans of wax , sand mix at the bottom of the bell or in a chamber built within that is safe.

[@chasbader]

Tell us more about that 400 degree range. There isn't a lot of info on using paraffin as a heat storage medium. I seem to recall a video where someone used paraffin in conjunction with a wood stove, but that seems super risky to me.

[@mightyconker3903]

Phase change materials ftw

[@firefox5926]

0:22 learnt this one many moons ago with my coffee tin forges .. best way to put out your charcoal fire without getting it wet and having to Wat for it to dry out to relight .. pour a bucket of sand thru it and boy howdy..... i cant believe i just wrote that.... any ways gets alot hotter that you would thing it would lol would recommend finer beach sand over the courses stuff tho .... flows better over the charcoal and out the bottom

[@phillee2814]

One great advantage of using a sand battery to store the heat is that it makes a great insulator for some of the very high-efficiency, very safe, electrical batteries (like liquid sodium or sodium-sulphur) which have far greater (for some, like lead or magnesium-antimony, infinite) recharge cycles but need very high temperatures to work. Putting such batteries into a large volume of sand allows for the heat to be stored in the sand and electricity to be stored in the electrical portion in the middle of the sand, meaning no inefficient conversion is needed to turn stored heat into electricity for all the peripheral uses like communications, refrigeration, entertainment, computing, lighting and home automation. The best of these technologies outperform pumped water storage in both efficiency and immediacy of response to demand. As for resistance wire, if the right ones are chosen, the temperature coefficient of resistance will increase the resistance enough with temperature to avoid local overheating and concentrate the heat into the coolest parts of the sand.

[@EfficientEnergyTransformations]

You may want to take a look at Kuznetsov stove. Likely the most efficient stove. It can be build in any forms and in any size, as long as the basic thermodynamic principles are being preserved, when constructed.

[@kennedy67951]

Robert Murray I just adore your work and your videos mate. I have learned so much over the your watching you do your thing sir. Robert thank you so very much for sharing your vast knowledge with me. It’s appreciated by me anyway.

[@naturesmoments1297]

Quite a few videos on how to extract heat from diesel heater (Vevor) exhausts, it makes a lot of sense as the heat being lost is not insignificant - best idea so far seems to be the EGR cooler from HDi diesel (EGR COOLER 1618R4) cars although a sand battery might be another option, cheers

[@ryanjamesloyd6733]

A thing I've been pondering, is how to put a heat engine on a heater exhaust to extract all the heat that's lost up the chimney- both getting it to do work (charging things, or running a supplemental resistance heater), and putting the cold side in the house, so you get the heat where you wanted it Anyway. it just seemed like it might be a way to get more bang for your heating fuel buck.

[@DavidJohnson-tx3wj]

Have you explored a rocket mass heater? The heat is scavenged before it goes up the chimney. and there is no issues with creasote, it is all burned in the intense heat of the RMH.

[@SundogbuildersNet]

Oh boy.. as a long time Rocket Mass Heater builder, ive got a lot to cringe about here. First, very cool! I always appreciate your work . Now, the 1-2-4 proportion is an ideal that "always works" but the proportions can be fudged for reasons. The full explanation is long and full of qualifiers. ;) One of my main objections to how you put this together is that you're taking heat directly from the combustion process. This lowers the temperature inside the combustion unit, reducing its efficiency by a large margin. Best practice is to take heat from AFTER the combustion process, I.E. after the riser. Of course this will make a much taller device but there is a workaround. My second objection: inside a well running RS, temperatures can rise to 1000° C, which in combination with excess O2 will burn the carbon out of your steel rather quickly. What you'll get is a pile of shards that was once a steel combustion unit. Those little 4 inch cookers are fine if they're NOT insulated or (in this case) surrounded in sand. Best practices (again), use refractory material for the combustion unit, whenever possible.

[@tomnugent2148]

I've binge watched dozens and dozens of your videos at a time and your subjects are right up my alley. I was wondering if broken glass would be a good storage medium because I know the route and schedule of the trash collection truck. So I usually can find something to do experiments with for nothing just time and and a drive around the neighborhood. So much glass ends up in the landfill, wether its a window or broken dishes or a broken water glass. Would it retain heat as good as sand . And would it be better if you keep flat pieces stacked whole sideways or vertical or smashed up into small pcs maybe using a cement mixer with some rocks with the glass. I wouldn't want to guess how many millions of tons of glass that doesn't get recycled and ends up buried in the ground

[@justinw1765]

Flat pieces stacked would be better than crushed, because there is a lot of air contained in between small crushed up pieces, and air doesn't store energy well. But probably wouldn't make that much difference for home use. I've heard that a lot of glass gets crushed and mixed into asphalt for making roads.

[@jonathanking6546]

They actually make bottle crushers for bars and such that makes sand fine enough that it doesn’t cut you. The other person mentioned that flat glass is a better insulator, I’m not sure but you could use flat glass and use sand to fill in the gaps. I want to get a bottle crusher and fill sand bags with pipes in between so I have sand battery walls in my house that I’m going to build. The pipes will be heated by solar water heaters.

[@justinw1765]

@@jonathanking6546 No, I said that flat panes of glass will have less air, which is good, because air is an insulator and doesn't hold onto heat well. So the less air you have, the better.

[@maranmarantakeiteazie]

Fantastic Rob - The biomeiler is an alternative approach using mass, but with the help of microbes to make heat as opposed to fire/electricity. The benifit is that you don't sand. Many thanks again.

[@Afro3461]

It strikes me that even the major energy companies must be fully aware that their monopoly on energy is in inevitable danger of being lost in the near future because of the potential use of very cheap, self sufficient and highly reliable power systems, such as the inevitable use of sand batteries eventually comes to fruition, and that they will in the meantime, become unfortunately even more susceptible to using every excuse they can find to justify their profiteering tactics as much as possible before they deservedly lose their greedy monopolising grip on all our energy resources!

[@dogdazetravellergarrett1367]

Really like your personality and easy to understand presentation 😎👍👍👍

[@harrymuurling2742]

Question, why you not use it to heat it for a water heater standard in houses because it will save people lots of money through the energy bill ?

[@rommelfcc]

Robert, I thought you might haved a copper coil connected to the pipe outlets, and used it for a water heat exchange, Looking I little cold, dress your baby in insulation 😊 And attach a cooking plate for a bbq 😋 Good job on the sand battery rocket stove 🎉🥳🔥💖 Now make a send battery connect to a solar vacuum tube heater 🎉🎉🎉

[@danieldewindt3919]

Yet another 😃 grate informative movie 🍿 🎥

[@nigelsutton9073]

Rather than sand, flint is also a bane of farmers lives and can be picked up relatively easily, certainly on the small scale.

[@SumNumber]

Interesting stuff . Peltiers are really awesome and the uses are incredible. :O)

[@agritech802]

Nice one Rob, thanks for sharing 👍

[@sonofeloah]

I have already been working on this type of system. But, being on a fixed income, resources need to be of recycled materials that not only cut the cost of building the unit, but alsi means that you are better likelyhood to find replacement naterials to recycle as opposed to new items that you buy and say a prolonged grid down either due to natural causes or a man made economic collapse. So, as I've already been using "sand" mixing into cement to make concrete, I am now storing up a resource that I can get plenty of "sand" from. Folks might be wondering why I have my sand in quotation and that is because it is recycled from a source that sand was used to make that resource. Glass. Crushed glass is sand if crushed into small enough granules. And anyu broken glass I come upon, I collect up and store away for future use. Yes, a proper heat storage is large for the home and greenhouses and requires a lot of sand. Yet glass is thrown away on a daily basis and is easy to collect and store. Now and then crush it up and store it in a bin of some sort so it takes up less space. If you are mindful about it, then it is easy to gather what you need and more. Remember, to buy sand is going up as fuel/transportation costs are going up. It costs me nothing to bring home some broken glass someone is or has discarded. After all, if it is on my way to wherever I am going anyway, then the cost is in the going to and from where I need to go and thus for a minute of my time to pick it up, it is otherwise free.

[@DavidPaulNewtonScott]

Apart from everything I just said if you go to a builders merchant and get some iron oxide cement pigment it and add it you will improve the thermal conductivity.

[@fransjebik8554]

❤ Thank you very much!

[@NotXboxiie]

I had teachers... many of them... i thought they were very bad at their job... you are proving me right. They were condescendant and didn't look like they were happy with their lives. Except maybe for that music teacher.

[@markrainford1219]

Probably because they are teaching the exact same thing day in, day out, year in, year out. Their whole working life. Imagine.

[@Spiritman597]

I friggin love it mate, you are awesome

[@clickbaitnumberone1403]

Pretty amazing, one could dig a hole in the garden, put some Insulation and sand with a copper spiral streamed water and thats it, even a new business probably, really great one it is.

[@markrainford1219]

You would only be able to get the sand to 100 centigrade with water though. Maybe a tad more if it was pressurised.

[@clickbaitnumberone1403]

@@markrainford1219 Yea but you might take any other fluid

[@livingladolcevita7318]

was wondering as I have a couple of storage heaters left over and still in place could I power them up from say a couple of 400W solar panels, DC and yes I know they probably won't get as hot if they were powered from the mains but they might be warm enough.

[@Tassie-Devil]

Just one person mentioned old hot water cylinders. I'm thinking (for the money-conscious DiYer): * Get an old cylinder off your local internet market place. People are still getting rid of old units, some even have copper inners! Sometimes available for free, just to get it off the owner's hands. * Get an old vehicle radiator from a wrecker, install into the middle of the cylinder before filling with sand * Alternatively, people are always throwing out cheap oil radiator/heaters, some are quite small * Cylinders already come with very good insulation AND many of the better ones have an insulated hole designed for a heating element to be inserted and replaced, with a view to preventing electrolytic degeneration of an element immersed in water. With one of these you could experiment indefinitely with different resistive elements, different wattages, different resistances to suit your solar or other electrical energy you are wanting to store. * The radiator (either vehicular or heater-type) already has fins designed for effective heat-exchange. If still 100% liquid-proof, it would provide a secondary option for pumping heat INTO the sand-battery (say hot oil heat-exchange from another source). At the very least, a small computer-fan could force air through the radiator (surrounded by hot sand) at whatever speed desired (perhaps even run from a Peltier device if you wish). Any small leaks in the radiator certainly wouldn't affect its use as an air-driven heat exchange.

[@zafod101]

Hi Rob, you can buy black sand I was wondering if a solar powered sand battery could be made from this especially if a concentrator lens is used or maybe mirrors 👍

[@sjhorton1184]

Use the lens from an old rear projection TV if you can still find one. Cheap and large Fresnel lens.

[@nitcat1]

Home hot water heaters eventually leak water and get replaced. Why not fill the old tank with sand and turn it into a battery? I’m going to watch for one to try this.

[@davidjones8680]

We replaced our super insulated stainless steel 150 litre water heating tank when it started to leak. I will dig it out and give it a go.

[@jamest.5001]

Anyone looking to do a bit of welding, I have large welders, but needed to get a few welds in a area with only 120 v , Amazon had a tiny welder, stick/arc it was hers in less than two days. It's 120/240v and was less than $60 with the few $$$ I had off, it worked really well for what it was. Very capable for what it is, the show box welders as long as they can be returned, I'd get one. If it lasts 5-6 projects. It's worth it. Buy one look at the reviews, if it atleast works , give it a try, be sure if can be returned!

[@ianbatterson2331]

This guy really needs a tv show!

[@leighmurrell5494]

All very interesting. Thanks.

[@cheifreal]

I was running beads with arc welder and using a torch at 6 years old. It is easy once ya can just get started.

[@CatsWithShoes]

should look into the projects done by paul wheaton and the permies folks on racket mass heaters, they build large heating stoves using j-tubes and long exhaust systems routed through clay, daub, or pebbles to burn wood super cleanly and create a lot of radiant heat and stored heat (via the mass).

[@mikaelfransson3658]

To mix a Rocket stove with a sandbattery I think is real smart solution for with a wirl around the pipe a big surface can get heated up and slovly provide heat to the room! /Mikael PS. Do not be square just be rund and jolly 😂! DS.

[@dremaboy777]

Nice. Very good stuff 👍🏽

[@awesomedee5421]

I've never heard of that 1-2-4 ratio for rocket stove. I've built a bunch and I think the important aspect is the 4 or longer is better, and that the dia opening is the same as dia flue. I think if you built a rocket stove with a different ratio like 2-1-4 or something would see equal performance.

[@SundogbuildersNet]

The 1/2/4 ratio is considered t to be ideal and it is. Having said that, it's not an absolute. The horizontal, "burn tunnel" can be shorter without consequence but not a lot longer. If you're not drafting down to a bench or something, then the riser can be shorter.

[@SundogbuildersNet]

A higher feed creates, effectively, a shorter riser. The difference in height is what's important.

[@theojilderts9729]

We use tichelheather Burn till 1100.degrees celsius..and stay warm for12 or 24 hours ..

[@gulumayroz]

Just discovered you guys today...and i really appreciate your quality ❤️🙏🌈👍

[@BrookDrummpb]

Have you considered one or more fans on the exhaust pipe to scavenge the airflow for electricity? Many of your videos are singular ideas. Have you thought about combining several ideas into one machine? Like sand battery, wind, solar, battery bank, water heater, rocket stove, radiant heating, water heater… fresnel lens, steam, generator, sterling, oven for cooking. An open source multi-prong approach is largely achievable for diy. A smoke microcontroller could monitor the most efficient combo for weather conditions and seasonal loads. It could track usage as well to adapt for energy capture. This more complex vision could be approached in logical stages and slowly build upon itself. The efficiency of any single approach would find an overall median efficiency, and provide redundancy. I’m always baffled by the silver bullet approach- seeking the one ring to rule them all. While a broader approach may unlock a wider adoption- works anywhere , just add or subtract various elements for your region.

[@user-bubstech]

And air-conditioning run fridge freezer with heat wood burner and also wood gas from wood burner and run a engine 🚂 or genarators charge battery banks if winter or low as a back up source and run a thunderstorm genetator on all that so only exhaust gas from burning wood and running engine is O2 clean air out hydrocarbon and other gas in so you putting out cleaner air after than the air that went in burning waste outside like this and no toxic waste goes in ground or the air how could government and all the lies about CO2 causing global warming when we cooling to ice age mini one and pole flip magnetic reversal and sun spots cronal mass injection and the dust cosmic and when the earth flips 90 digress and we have 2 mile high waves amd flood and wind earthquakes volcanoes and and solar storms high current in the earth and sun radiation amd no power from all the grid going down burning out ttansformers that will take over 2 years to get back food clean water heat soil or grow because soil will be Frozen this all coming soon global Plus there are plans do do high altitude nuclear emp over us that will burn the grid same way no power no water I'm going to do a well and make a hand pump also and evem wind and another good one is electric motor genarator up high geared and with about 40kg weight on pull it up on a disc on the motor geard and use high curent loads charge batterys etc because higher current the harder the motor gen is to turn the slower it falls so 30 meters high would last few hours geared 40 turns to one say also run lights fast to pull and alot energy out gravity can also be a good way to store the energy cheap like a damb but solid the gen can also use another ratio to pull the weight depending on input will chose ratio gear box and it store longer than sand if battery electric hope he does this be good episode

[@firefox5926]

9:47 you can also use it to heat air .. all you have to do is pour the sand out from a decent height and as it falls each grain separates further from those around it and the air rushing between it saps its heat away and because of the huge surface area of all those grains it transfers that heat very very quickly if you have an old industrial chimney or maybe a shot tower around that would be ideal conveyor the sane up let it fall let it heat the air in the chimney let it rise up thru a turbine then out the top and wallah silicosis for all uh i mean power for all

[@kadmow]

Sang's ability to insulate, due to terrible thermal flow rate, is also a great property - adding a water coil into the sand battery gives a useful source of flash steam (low grade) for exchange with the environment. Using an adequate sizing to maintain envelope temperatures to "manageable" increases usefulmess - don't worry, Austrian /Bavarian mass heaters were there already... Thanks to geopolitics and social hysteria, we are in the "forever crisis" - and markets will expand to infinity (or so it seems)... Australia has lots of iron ore - haematite - of various grades (geared to mine and export at scale), which can have a life as sand battery media - and can easily be converted to iron after it is no longer needed.

[@DavidPaulNewtonScott]

Yes and Feolite invented in Australia is fused heamatite used in off peak storage heaters.

[@JiffyHand]

Very interesting just wondering what type of sand can be used can play sand be used

[@stevefrancis4949]

I'd use all wind solar and rain fuel to heat a sand battery, then have a sterling engine and maybe a flywheel battery for electricity can also have all your wonderful scavenging ideas

[@mattias99475]

Thermal mass storage reminds me about insulation, and homemade STARLITE. I believe it should be as insulating against hot sand as against an open flame right?

[@justinw1765]

Not unless you first expose it to an open flame. A big part of what makes it so insulating is the carbon foam that develops as it is exposed to open flame.

[@mattias99475]

@justinw1765 Yes, of course. After it's charred it seems extremely insulating for a thin piece of material nonetheless. If it's actually as insulating against non-flame heat I can't understand why carbon films or mats hasn't replaced glass or stone fiber wool yet.

[@hengis73]

Wonder if you could walk us through the effiiency map of this rig as it stands. its possibly a useful way of showing further engineering skills

[@Nico-vh1qp]

Like red sand is practically given away and it's a way to clean up that waste product.

[@zafod101]

Hi Rob, could you use a copper central heating tank as a sand battery as you can fit a heater easily and it already has a coil of copper pipe fitted for water or hot air, maybe even paint the tank black and use solar. All the best Chris😊

[@gabrielsierra6890]

THis is how the Sioux people used to cook; They got rocks red hot and then poured into cookers made out of Bison stomachs.

[@markrainford1219]

Yummy, Bison Siouxp.

[@philliplopez8745]

Welding is a practice, you are only as good as your last bead !

[@paulaubin510]

I've watched the video about a gentleman that lives in Alaska. He has done a large bulk battery system. He believes he will only burn 1 cord wood all winter to offset the battery

[@caretakerfochr3834]

I want to create a space heater for my shed that will be formed from a clip-lid 44 gallon drum filled with sand that will sit on a pallet to better distribute the weight (and keep the heat off my wood floor. I'll feed it with a solar panel and I like the idea of using a kettle element as the heater. I'll set the element in the bottom of the drum. I am just wondering how to go about the power feed. I'm thinking of setting a metal flange in the middle of the drum base to accept the element but could use some suggestions how I could make the electrical connection without shorting or melting the insulation. Is a Plaster of Paris plug a way to go or is there something better (cement perhaps)? I will of course have the unit temperature controlled. I have no need for hundreds of degrees but something say 40C-ish would be dandy on a cold winter day.

[@justinw1765]

If you got enough sun to run solar panels, it is actually more efficient to convert that Solar energy directly into heat. And you can build larger structures outside. Personally, if my yard/property got plenty of sun, I would build two solar heat collectors--an immediate heater, and then one with a "battery" (sand, paraffin oil or wax, etc), so that when night came, would still get some warmth. Just pipe the hot hair in through windows. I haven't done this, simply because my property has too many trees/too much shade. The few areas that get a decent amount of sun was too far away from the house.

[@michaelboyle4231]

The Korean used underfloor sand battery to heat their homes for thousands of years known as ondol and some still use this method to this very day using sand and sandstone and clay floors with channels of clay bricks and very small fire at one end just below ground level and a chimney at other end of house. The hot air from the fire flows along clay brick channels with layers of sand on the bottom and sandstone and clay floor layout across the clay brick channels the hot air heating up the sand and bricks and sandstone and clay floor. When fire went out the heat would still be flowing from the underground floor channels up through the floor for up to 8 hours afterwards. These homes known as HANOK/ ondol homes.

[@francoisrobillard3164]

im into building rv's ,using a rocket stove and a water heating element in a sand battery could make a nice alternative to a more draining heating system .rocket stove could power it when batteries are down or when we parked somewnere. question is would the electricity from it would be enough to power a fan to distribute the heat?

[@johnbarry8185]

Hey Rob, what do you think about using sand in a vacuum heat tube? Do you think it would it be better to use sand to surround the copper tube, or copper scrubbing pads, or nothing, or what?

[@peterxyz3541]

I heard England has some food crisis thing, trying to import out-of-season fruit post Brexit. I thought of Sand Battery for extending growing season of greenhouses

[@samuelvoss9381]

Has anyone done any work combining a sand battery with a parabolic solar reflector?

[@MikeKeesler]

Old satellite dishes work really well for this, but you have to make a small sand battery to collect the sun's rays, then use copper tubing with oil or a high temperature medium to transfer the solar heat that you've collected and transfer it to a larger battery, because you can't get a large enough sand battery on the end of your support struts to store the energy you collect. It would be too heavy.

[@hartleyhubbard3827]

lol...."it's dirt, hence, i'ts dirt cheap." lol

[@easyspeak101]

Awesome channel.. Love to know your thoughts on smudge pots.. real extreme.. tho 👍

[@DavidPaulNewtonScott]

Regarding insulation cinder toffee overcooked now you have a really cheap foam carbon.

[@offgridwanabe]

Yes Cave man economics is back I still have a chance to make something useful.

[@hobomaster6237]

this guys a born teacher professor

[@revmsj]

I’m with the gas company. My boss wanted me to contact you and assure you that we are going to need that tank back now…🙄🤨

[@judyofthewoods]

Wouldn't clay subsoil be a good substitute for sand? It could be dried to be used in freestanding batteries or, if part of a building, dug up and replaced after waterproof tanking was put into the pit with some heat-proof insulation between it and the clay. The clay can dry out in situ.

[@SundogbuildersNet]

Generally speaking, the heavier the material, the higher its thermal mass. Dug soil tends to be less mass than sand but it will work. You can wet that clay soil and pack it tight to improve mass. Add sand to it and it will become sculptable (also will increase mass) essentially cob but without the straw.

[@edwardgwozdz8866]

Rob sounds great only 1 question if you run a copper coil in the sand battery that can get to 500 C and you run water in the coil will it not fllash into steam or what else can you use

[@Teknopottu]

Good question.

[@firefox5926]

0:58 or if your old school a brick in the fireplace to heat it up and then ...after wrapping it in something you dont might getting sooty you can put it in your bed to warm it up

[@nickrobertson9533]

So this may seem like an odd question but could I use the elements from a toaster in a sand battery without any extra coating? I was thinking of using this with omniballs to possibly warm my small green house over the coming winter.

[@caretakerfochr3834]

I've seen people using electric stove elements. The one in an oven is large and square so might work well in a suitably sized battery.

[@nickrobertson9533]

@@renosimpson9611 I would love to see your idea, it seems like I would use it in this project.

[@nickrobertson9533]

Well batteries are another issue, but in Canada here we mostly always have wind and it seems like no electrical conversion is required. Actually many items seem to be able to be run directly, simply they run depending on the amount of power put in like a dimmer switch.

[@mikeconnery4652]

Nice easy idea

[@robinburkey2466]

Please could you expound on the topic of using the chloride salt as a heat storage mechanism?

[@benjaminfoley919]

How well would this translate to a sterling engine?

[@djdrwatson]

A guy called *lee jones* here on KZbin uses a sand battery in his home. He does the burn outside then brings it inside once it has got up to temperature.

[@NoahNobody]

I was just imagining this setup while watching the video. Thanks.

[@smitcher]

Yeah I’ve watched that video. Gets a fair amount of heat from it too…

[@kerrryschultz2904]

Why not create longer risers for the rocket stove chimney, feed tube, and air inlet. Connect the chimney rise to a proper chimney and bury the whole works deep in the sand. The rocket stove would burn very clean because of the fire heat air triangle. After a burn you should then cap or restrict the air so it doesn't syphon all the heat up the chimney. In the 1970's they would build insulated boxes or sometimes use the entire foundation area to receive heat. In the case of the insulated box which would be in the basement, an insulated lid would be cracked just enough to allow heat to escape. And by adjusting the opening would adjust for the heat required.

[@plantpotpeople]

Love it.

[@abhainnbeag]

Thinking of placing a 5kw dolar panel array on the roof supplying heating elements in a sand battery, any tips on how to size this thing would be appreciated

[@jasonhamilton5756]

If you use rock and drill it you can put your exhaust gas through the stone and not have to worry about moisture like you do with sand and gravel or even concrete. Just saying, why make a container when a stone slab is already solid and very thermally stable because of the forces that made it.

[@wmffmw1854]

Your Peltier device is a diode you can cause heat to flow bidirectionally if you reverse the polarity of the DC current. Just make sure the voltage and current are regulated.

[@originsdecoded3508]

to whom ever is reading this, no matter what method you choose for your energy production, any worthy sufficient system with enough capacity for output will require a considerable amount of investment money. So focus first on finding ways to stop living paycheck to paycheck and make enough money to be able to consider playing around with alternative energy options. The first priority is make lots of money, the more money you have the more options you will have, the more options you have, the more freedom to choose what ever you want in life.

[@djfmitv]

a bone and a question for yer: First which supermarkets are selling £5 for kettles as struggling to find one below £30, and Second, could it be possible and/or economic to take the heat that would normally be radiated out from a fridge/freezer compressor pump and turn it into useful stored energy using sand batteries for keeping the house warm?

[@justtinkering6713]

If sand is a good way to store heat, why does it get cold at night in the desert? Or does it?

[@Howie672]

Thanks, how long did your 12v sand battery to reach 200deg?

[@Red9GearHeads]

We love ya Rob!!! I wonder if you could do a real world heating exercise with zeolite?

[@Kevin-px3gk]

Yes got that kicking around well perhaps ingenus to say simplisit y places...

[@das250250]

Question. How did you convert 16.7 MJ to 4.6kwh? Was that a Peltier conversion?

[@EctoMorpheus]

Divide by 3.6, because of an hour having 3600 seconds

[@f1partisan160]

Would crushed glass added to the sand increase its storage capacity ?

[@FlakeyPM]

Why would you use sand when concrete stores 6x as much heat?

[@StubbyPhillips]

How about instead of decorative fake logs in a gas fireplace you stack a few sections of railroad track? They absorb some of the heat that would normally go up the chimney and continue to radiate for a while after the flame goes out. Or maybe a big anvil or whatever...