Mglass,

There's a place right off Murf. Rd just north of fesslers. Right behind Vogley and Todd body shop, believe it's diesel power,

here it is,

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um...e-results&cd=1

We use them quite a bit for work and that's usually where I get my additive for my truck. Good guys. I checked with them about testing some injectors I got off ebay for the awful jaw dropping price of $20, yes....all 6, will be my donar sticks for some edge nozzles. Anyhow, they had a good price on testing the injectors, still ain't done it yet though.

On a personal note, I have found out that in a few weeks I will no longer be driving to Nashville for work, nor will I be bouncing in that rough ridin' F550. My backside will appreciate that!! 54,000 miles and that seat in that Ford has not given in one bit. Still hard as a piece of granite. I honesty believe that seat in the ford will outlast the truck and still be firm!!! I'm transferring or trading with a guy in our franklin shop. He's wanting to be a field service/road guy and I don't.....basically, so our paperwork has been approved and we'll be swapping around soon. He actually lives north of Nashville anyhow and drives by the store where I work and I live south and drive by the store where he works...so it'll work out better. I'll be back in the shop...thank goodness, set schedule and all which means more time for my projects and powder coating!!!

Hey, if you guys run across any hot water heaters, prefer used/old, not working and most importantly.......FREE I am looking for two 80 gallon or 120 gallon hot water heaters for a project I am starting, no not BB-Q grilles. If you locate one see if you can't grab it and I'll come get it from you. This is getting long so I'll end it, but I'll explain my hot water heater project later.

 

shawn, are you going to be making Biodiesel from home?

 

I'd like to make some at home, the diesel prices are getting painful. Gas goes down and diesel stays the same, then gas goes up and so does diesel.....again. I was watching a program on the science channel the other night and they converted a ford bus thing to run on straight veggie oil. Mounted a seperate tank in the back with a heater, a dual filter system under the bus thing and ran it into the fuel line with another inline filter. Then they had a toggle switch on the dash for switching over after they started on diesel. Looked simple enough and we have a Mcy D's and a Chinese place in town.

I'll put that on hold though, told my wife the other day I'm gonna do something about our electric bill starting this year. I am researching homemade wind turbines and figuring out how to get on the grid. Wife said, if we don't use any of the electric companies power and make more than we need what happens. I said I believe they send you a check. She said, "won't they get mad?". Told her I could'nt care what they think.

But, that is gonna take more research and learning so my first "Green" project of the year and hope to have it up and running by summer time is a Solar hot water heater. I have a great spot on the hill behind my house that will collect a ton of sunlight and points due south with no shade to interfere. So I'm on the hunt for two old 80-120 gallon hot water heaters so I can get the tanks out of them to start building.

I read that the savings are something like $1100 per year and 4000 watts(I believe is what they said) depending on the size of the family, water usage etc. With 5 in my household and 2 girls and 1 woman....hot water is very important. They said the hot water can reach 180 degrees, so my electric hot water heater will serve as another storage tank. Oh yeah, and then there is the $750 tax credit for doing something like that. So my goal is to keep the build costs under $750 and it'll pay for itself in the first year.


I've seen some homemade jobs that go on the roof of your house also, but you have to think about how much water storage your gonna have due to the weight. They used no pumps, just what they called Thermosiphon where the hot water rises to the top because it is less dense than the cold water. Told my wife this is why I can let my day job be boring as far as not challenging my mind, I can come home and learn this stuff and put it to work and challenge myself like never before. It's fun!!!

 

Wow Shawn, sounds like your getting this figured out! Sounds interesting.
Good Luck with it!

 

Shawn, I know you are having fun... But have you considered a tankless water heater? or even point of source heaters (small tankless units at each faucet)? They superheat the water as it passes through and ONLY when it passes through. The big costs of a water heater is that it must maintain the temp ALL the time, so that you can have the water when you want.
I know it's selfish, but i'm only green when it benefits me finacially. Usually it will cost you more than you save (by a lot). That being said, when I do eventually build my own house, I will make it better insulated and have a tankless heater along with a few other things, because those things will pay for themselves over time. But usually the cost of solar energy when you think about batteries and the collection board, they need to be replaced and aren't cheap enough to make sence.... YET.

Edit: after reading my post I decided it needed one of these

 

Hey Dodgeguy71, were you driving from Mt Pleasant to Nashville everyday?? That is a hike!! I work in Nashville, and I know on a rainy day it can take me 1 -2 hours to go from Spring Hill to Nashville! Franklin will be a little better for ya though!

 

hey shawn, there was a solar water heater featured on ABC's home makeover tonight

 

Yeah, the solar water heater which I plan to keep under my $750 which I am pretty sure I can get back on a tax credit....so no real out of pocket. No batteries on this rig, Glass, which I am saving from peoples old doors that they let me haul away for free. Tinfoil will be great to line the inside with and I also have a good collection of mirrors, also for free. I thought about the point of.....yeah, those hot water heaters, but I don't have gas in the house(appliance gas) and the thought of wiring up three of those in electric versions...if they have them is not something I want to do, I can do....just don't want to. Plus....I can't flick my nose at the electric company.

The wind turbine, yeah I read about batteries and thought.."batteries are expensive". That's why I'll hold off on that until I figure out how to get on the grid and locate myself a good power generator. I acually might have something in the basement, 240V AC @1800 rpm something like 25/50 amp output and forgot the watt rating. It's a hoss, came off a generator at work Plus, like you said, I'm having fun really makes me think and have found myself sitting over these motors and generators just tinkering and playing around for hours, just thinking.

Dave, yep, drive from Mt.Pleasant to downtown Nashville everyday. 63-65 miles each way. The place that stinks is Peytonsville rd in the morning, especially if you get there around 6:35 or later, then your stuck. Then in the evening it's the highway 96 nightmare cause people still can read and figure out that the right two lanes end and the sooner you get over the better it'll be. Nope, they just keep on running down the far right lane and expect you to let them in like, "oops, I did'nt know the lane ended"

That's the part I will be happy to miss!!!! No more highway 96 bottleneck!! Plus our shop in Franklin is open air, more country. We have one good smell across from our shop in Nashville, it's Mr.Burger and the guys at work say they are good burgers, they smell awesome, just have not had one yet. The other smells......I care not to recall at my home. Then the sirens, funeral processions and on and on and on......the noise!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! Yeah, be glad not to have to see downtown Nashville again!!!

 

Shawn, I say get a biodiesel converted 6b generator for your house! maybe a p-pump so you can run more junk like waste motor oil without worrying. Then run a heat exchaner and a 190* thermostat to get your hot water... think it'd work? to help it heat you could run 5-6 1 inch exhaust pipes through the holding tank to keep the temp up ) have fun!

 

The only problem there is I'd be wanting to make more horsepower and lots of black smoke....even with the veg!!!

 

Finally got a truck to replace my old 03 yesterday. 97 3500 flatbed 5spd. Wasn't really lookin for another 12 valve but I knew the girl who had this one. It was bout 8 mi from the house so I figured why not! That was a big plus. One of the best thing of all . . . it had a full tank of fuel!! lol

 

That's worth a ton of money in itself!!! A full tank of fuel that is.

 

That's great deerguy, now you have something to haul all of the parts for the pulling truck, both broken parts and replacement parts

 

Oh boy, I just got real busy. Sister called today said they had a welding project for me at their site and need it done asap so they can build some stairs and start doing the interior on this site. So talking about what we need to do and she says, "oh by the way you got the bid on the staircase job as well". So my next few weeks...you know the saying, "busy as a one legged man in a butt whoopin contest". He ain't got nothing on me. Plannin on doing the job after the meet, they need to pour pads for the stairs, the steel company needs time to shear/cut steel.

It's good though, I seem to be the in guy now for their boss. He just tells them get ahold of your steel guy and make it happen. I've been waitin and trying for 10 or more years to hopefully get something going for myself. Funny thing is I never give in, keep on trying. Even while I work for someone else and they throw me their peanuts I'm thinking about my own thing. Heck, I was at a job yesterday and they were gonna throw out this large amount of steel they did not need. I asked if I could pick it up and they said yes. So I went and got it today....for free. Sister's job needs a piece that I picked up, 8 foot long by 8" I-beam. Sold it to her for the bargain basement price of $60.

Yep, the little train that could. I may still be tryin when I've got one foot in the grave and the other is a followin', but ain't nobody gonna tell me I did not try hard enough!!

 

Congrats on the 2 jobs there Shawn. I know you like to keep busy!
Any reply on the clutch parts? Maybe that'll work out for you too! I picked up the DTR cards tonight, they look good. The print is sorta small but everyone here is younger than I am. (better eyesight) Me need to try and meet up sometime this week, I can give you most of the cards then.