hmmmmm...I've been thinking about it for awhile now and reckoned I'd troll the blog and see if anyone knows of an old phone booth that can be had. For some reason, I seem to want to add one to my overall plan. I'm only interested in a full booth with folding doors, light and fan. Anyone out there in Texas got one sitting in their garage? I've looked on Ebay and some commercial sites but know I can build one from scratch for less that their asking prices.
Just barely got more clearing done on the north side today. As usual...just too darn hot out there. Gave my friend Pat a hand extracting an old propane fridge from his travel trailer in exchange for getting it to experiment with. That 2 hours of sweaty labor was the highlight of the day and now I got more parts to play with down the road.Guzzled down some after hours iced tea at the GrubShack and met up with Rusty http://ideasandopinions-rusty.blogspot.com/ to give him a Field Lab tour. Hope to make it up to his "mansion in the making" by the end of the week. The day done now - just working on a shopping list for an Alpine run tomorrow. Wish I had range feed on the list but the longhorns have all headed back NW of me. A lone bull (I think it was Sergio) strolled by the other day and I joked with friends that I stuck a note on his horn to give to Benita.
12 comments:
I wouldn't worry about Benita coming back, she is probably just off finding a boy friend and when she is through with him she won't forget a good place with shade, water and food.
I'm thinking a phone booth would make a sweet shower stall.
yes, phone booths do make cool shower stalls. sorry, though- I haven't seen an available one.
Just curious, what's on the list for tomorrow's run to Alpine?
John, that old rv refrigerator is just what I was talk'n bout not long ago. What ever you do, don't start tak'n it apart....it's perfect "as is" for off grid refrigeration. Slip it into a 4" insulated box, ventilated on the back side (top and bottom) and hook that sucker up. No modifications or experiments necessary. Well insulated, it should run a month (or more) on a small propane tank. As mentioned before, the 115 volt heating element draws 325 watts.
Telephone booth?? A few years back, I found a whole yard full. Wanted one, but where ya gonna put a telephone booth in a motorhome??? Good luck on your search. They ain't cheap.
How many longhorns can you squeeze into an old phone booth, anyway?
The propane flame it takes to keep that
fridge running is tiny, smaller than a
dime, I keep having this idea to use a
parabolic reflector to heat the element
instead of propane, I know the focal
point gets as hot as a propane flame but,
not sure of the best way to route it to
the heating element, maybe if it's a long
element disconnect the top of it and run
it through a hole in a small parabolic to
the focal point. The other idea would be
to put a little rocket stove in there in
place of the propane burner, then you could run it on chaparral. Next idea is
to run it on home made methane, I think you said something about aquaponics, you
could grow duckweed or something to decompose into methane. Good luck!
You might check around here in the bust areas of Odessa/Midland--I saw SWB last year in Brownwood going around collecting pay phones because their use has become so obsolete--I have a friend who works for SWB, I'll try to call him and see what he can find.
Big Tex...
keep me posted if you find out any info on the phone booths....I'll be your friend for life.
Absorption Fridge animated gif
http://www.sibir.com/media/1793/anim_absorption.gif
Hey John, Good luck with the phone booth. We were looking for one in the Bflo NY area, and the local phone company had stacks of them. I never did get a price, cuz we found one elsewhere (@ $400). They ain't light, with all that bullet-proof glass, so be ready.
Disassembly is a little tricky, cuz they don't want them phone-booth wranglers walkin away with their stuff, so 'unique' fasteners are used to hold it together...
Regarding a propane flame-powered fridge...
I found an electric one once in the dump, apartment sized, and installed a kerosene lamp for a heater. It worked for about two days, but then died. I think I may have overheated it.
My fantasy was to set up a sun-tracking fresnel lens to focus the sun on it.
Love your blog and wish I had more time to read, absorb, and comment on your "venture in the bush".
I spent a number of years in the telecom industry and one of our vendors sold phone booths.... They are still around and might have the booth you are looking for.
http://www.pacinfo.com/~eps/Used.html
Always looking forward to your next post....
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