Running From an Angel

     This race was meant to keep me running through the holidays. I guess that it worked, at least a little. After running 54.8 miles the last week of October (causing knee pain) followed by pleurisy in November (1 week off and pain that finally went away in mid-December) with weak training in November (9 runs for 75.4 miles) and December (11 runs for 60.5 miles), having gained over 10 pounds, I hoped that I could meet my original goal of averaging 10-minute miles.     I had run 10-minute miles in my final weeks of training so I could figure out what my heart would be doing for 10 minute miles (without elevation change). My heart rate monitor was a bit wacky the first two miles (showing max HR as 220 and average HR as 180) but seemed pretty reliable after that. By the time it was all over, my average HR was 167 and the max that I saw was 186. My split time was 2:10:45 and the second half time was 2:05:05 - my first negative split! My official time was 4:15:49.94, 33rd overall out of 80, 4th or 5th in my division (it depends on whether the top runners overall stay in the division...) and I feel pretty good about the whole thing.
     I normally use Jeri Dawn's iPod, since it's smaller than mine, and I normally listen to my "Odio" playlist, or my "Exercise" playlist. I had debated whether or not to listen to my "Christmas" playlist, but didn't take the time to put it on her iPod. It turns out that she deleted whatever playlist I had added, so I ran to her "Mix" playlist. It was actually quite enjoyable to listen to a fresh lineup of music. Some songs I had never heard, during some songs I caught myself moving to the music (something that's actually quite difficult for someone with no rhythm) and often times I caught myself singing outloud (wasting precious energy - so I started lip syncing instead), but I enjoyed listening to my wife's music. This is the first time that I've ever run for more than four hours. I used to wonder what marathoners thought about while running for so long. Now that I've trained for and run three marathons, I still wonder what they think about... If it weren't for the music, I don't know what I'd do.     My brother Travis was supposed to run too, but apparently a torn meniscus causes the strongest man alive to succumb to his wife's desires and he hasn't run for a while. So I went down with my mom! We had a great time chatting, fretting (Darrin texted everyone saying he had syphilis - we didn't know the truth for a few hours) eating at Wolfgang Puck's at the Venetian again and staying at Nanna Emerson's (my mom's friend's mom.)     In spite of the crazy wind, the ups and downs, and the few specatators (my mom was the greatest) it was a great experience. Calico Racing puts on a great event, the aid stations were great, the food wonderful and the run was challenging. It is one I may go back to!

Solar Air Heater Results

     Here are the promised results - kind of. For a few hours in the middle of the day, the thermocouple measuring the temperature of the air coming in the house didn't return a reading. I suspect that this is due to the fact that I never soldered them, so as it got warmer and warmer, the two wires separated. I'm going to solder the thermocouple today and take some more readings. I assumed that temperature stayed at least as high as right before it quit reading. I think it's a fairly safe assumption since when it did start reading again it was within a degree or two of when it stopped.
     I also think that the temperature is way too high. I'm sure that I am losing heat to the environment so I plan on installing another snap disc sensor to control three more fans. I'll have these fans turn on when the air entering the house exceeds 110°F and turn off when it drops below 90°F, just like the fans in the heaters. I'll install these at the air intake in the house, hoping that the additional air flow will keep the temperature of the heaters and duct work lower, but increase the overall temperature in the house. I also plan on monitoring the temperature in the room where all the air blows.
     My wife turned the heater off yesterday at 10:40am and back on after 4:00pm. That's one fifth of the day. I hope that correlates with at least one fifth of my gas bill. We'll see...

Solar Air Heater - Project Complete

     They're done! They're installed! They're running right now! What else is there to say?
     The scaffolding lifts them off the ground six feet. This should get me about two hours more of run time per day. I wanted to use one more set of scaffolding to get them up higher but I'm not sure it's worth the risk. If we have wind like we did November 20th, I doubt these will survive being as high as they are. This picture was taken before I finished ducting them to the house - minor detail that DIYers will notice, so I thought I'd mention it...
     Tomorrow I'll post the heating results from today - temperature in versus temperature out. In a month or so, I'll post the $aving$ realized for November/December - with one unit installed temporarily for half the time and three units installed for the other half of the time.
     The actual costs (not including taxes) for building each unit are posted below.

Project: Tagged

     This is supposed to be a project site - dedicated to whatever my whims may be. At this moment, I've been tasked with a project that, though I didn't come up with it on my own, I feel a little compelled to complete it in the spirit of Blogdom. JEN (THIS IS HER PAGE) has tagged me and now I have abide by the following...

Here are the rules:
1. link to the person who tagged you.
2. post the rules on your blog.
3. write six random things about yourself.
4. tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Random things about me:
     1. I love Nike - something that started probably in Jr. High or High School, but became a little more overwhelming while I was in Argentina. It has nothing to do with their apparel, spokespeople, or anything like that, I just love "Just Do It." Sure, there have been times in my life when I've come up with "reasons" for not doing something, but winning (Victory - Nike Athena, Goddess of) doesn't come from excuses, it comes from doing. Whether it be in peaceful competition (life) or war (death), I vow to be a doer (even if on the inside I think I'm a thinker...)
     2. I hate speaking in any organized fashion. It makes me sick to my stomach for weeks at a time. It was hardly tolerable on my mission and hasn't gotten any better. The year before I left for Argentina, I bore my testimony in Church every month, hoping that I would get over the 'dread' of speaking - it didn't work. The last time I was asked to give a talk in Church, it went well, until the following week when the ulcer pains moved from the upper left quadrant of my stomach to the lower right quadrant of my belly and I had to have my appendix removed. It's strange though, if I don't have to talk, I'll talk 'til long after you've quit listening - as long as nothing was assigned.
     3. I look up to each of my brothers. I don't know specifically what it is about each one, but I admire them deeply and am inspired by them.
     4. Deep down, even though I know it doesn't make any sense, I think I'm invincible. I'm not talking about being able to do stupid things and get away with it. I've always been a little more timid about going out on a limb risking physical harm - I've always wanted a family to take care of and you can't do that with a broken back. And I know that after thinking through something logically and deciding that it can be done, I can do it. But that's not what I'm talking about either. I'm talking about a burning spirit, a yearning inside to keep going, a driving force that cannot be stopped by whatever may come in life.
     5. Christmastime is my favorite 3 months of the year!
     6. There are things in life that I once found enjoyable that I gave up so I could have something that means so much to me. I like video games as much as the next person. I like watching basketball, football, Law and Order, CSI, etc. We don't have any TV reception right now and haven't for years. I enjoy golfing, but haven't been for years. My wife wasn't into those things when we got married and my three girls aren't into any of those things yet. So, life passes me by, people talk about sports, television shows, whatever. I just listen and think of the time I've spent with my family and know that someday I'll still have them.
     7. 6 isn't enough and I could go on (remember #2 - randomness isn't really like an assigned topic...)

     Now, to make this easier on myself, I've noticed that most blogs include husband/wife combos, so I'm tagging

1. David McKellar
2. Brian Tingey
3. BJ McKellar
4. Darwin Parker
5. Travis McKellar
6. Darrin McKellar - even though he doesn't have one - maybe mom can help

Another Solar Air Heater Update

     I wish this were the last update on this project, but nothing goes quite the way that it is planned. I have had one heater temporarily installed for the past week with promising results. Temperatures coming out of the vent in the house have ranged between 90°F and 158°F between 10:10am and 4:00pm. I think that the time giving off heat will increase by around an hour by lifting them off the ground as originally planned. There seems to be plenty of sunlight by 9:00am but the current location is still in the shadows. Also, it is shaded by the garage around 4:00. I look forward to installing the scaffolding that will get them around 10 feet higher.     I completed another unit this weekend, but haven't installed it - I want to have the next two installed without doing any temporary ducting. We'll see what the week brings.
     So I guess, it's time for an explanation. After the main structure, insulation, and air channels comes snap-disc sensor (a bi-metal disc that will turn the fan on at 110°F and off at 90°) and the heat transferring surface. The sensor is installed near the top with the wiring exiting out the side running down to the fan. Then, starting at the air intake, I covered the channels with heavy duty kitchen aluminum foil. I fixed it in place with staples, then after getting each piece in place, I went back lining all edges with wire that I stapled in place with an air gun. Well, almost all edges. I missed one and now there is a visible gap in the heating surface.
     Then I placed 1x2 all the way around the outside edge to create another insulating air gap and to get the total depth close enough to the width of my steel studs.      I put the extruded polycarbonate on top, lined the sides with 1" rigid foam and screwed the steel studs to the sides.     Naturally, the second unit turned out a little better than the first, practice makes perfect - I suspect if I build a hundred more of these, I'll be making some amazing heaters...

How I lost $5000

     Here is a short story on how I lost $5000. http://www.yourcachevalley.com/2008/11/10/5000-in-the-bag-and-i-lost-it
    I hope you enjoy it.

Solar Air Heater Update

     Well, I guess that it's about time for a solar air heater update. I've actually made time in the last week to work on them, so, after 7 hours of work, there is visible progress. It's always exciting to see the images in my head becoming reality in the shop (1-car garage that I'd never park a car it but it will never fall down so I can replace it either...)
     To start, I attached a 0.25"x4'x8' piece of moisture resistant plywood to a 1"x4'x8' piece of R-tech insulation foam board with 2x2s on the opposite side. The plywood is for strength and structure to attach fans and ducting to. The foam is to insulate the warmed air from the exterior air temperature.     The next step was adding double foil, double bubble on top of the R-tech insulation. There are two reasons for this - one, added insulation with minimal thickness - I'm using metal studs to "encase" the outer edges and they're a finite depth of 3.625", and two, I'm not sure if the R-tech insulation boards can handle the heat that I hope will be inside these heaters - I suspect that they won't melt, but just in case...     After that, I installed the 2x2s that channel the air in a serpentine fashion so that it can collect enough energy to overcome any heat loss in the ducting and still feel warm as it blows in to the house.     I've actually already cut the holes for the air intake and exhaust but don't have a photo of that.
     This may all look a little haphazard, but it's actually sort of well thought out. There are calculations that need to be done based on the square footage of the collector and the altitude (to compensate for air density differences) to determine the channel's cross sectional area for optimal heat transfer. Based on Logan's altitude and a collector that is 4'x8', I needed a cross section of 15.22 square inches. With the 2x2s around the outside and creating the channel, the air-gap between them is 10.25". 2x2s are 1.5"x1.5" so the channels' cross sectional area is 10.25" * 1.5" = 15.375 square inches - close enough.
     I'll post a detailed list of the costs later, but so far it looks like each will cost around $175 to make - significantly less than smaller units I've seen during my research that sell for over $1,700. By the way, there are three of these, so I won't be able to recover my costs this winter since my heating bills for November 15th through May 15th total around $510 and that includes water. But I think they will accomplish one thing that will make it all worth it - Jeri Dawn shouldn't freeze this winter - the past three years, the thermostat has been set at 66°F during the day and between 57 and 61°F at night. We should be able to keep the temperature just above Travis and Crystal's subarctic apartment and do it without spending more than last year. After all, the goal wasn't just to save a little money, it was a fun project (that is being funded by a bonus from my awesome job) that will make us more comfortable without giving all our money to Questar Gas! I'll keep you posted.