Living Our Dream

Shed Project: Solar Vent Fan

Wauchula, FL - Events of Friday, March 17 to Monday, March 20, 2017

A while back, one of the co-op members wrote a newsletter article describing a solar vent fan he built for his shed. His article had a few photos and a brief description of his setup, and he said anyone who was interested in building a similar fan could contact him for more info.

Even in winter, the sheds can get quite warm when they are closed up sitting in the hot Florida sun, so Paul thought having a vent fan sounded like a good idea. Paul talked to the fellow who wrote the article and got info on the installation including a parts list for most of the components. Paul ordered the parts from Amazon a few weeks ago. When the parts came in, he did some tests prior to starting the installation. He checked voltage output of the panel with the panel sitting at various angles to the sun and he tested the fans. Afterward, he tweaked the original design a bit and ordered a few additional parts that came in early last week.

With the gravel walkway complete, Paul started working on the solar fan setup last Friday. The design uses 4 computer fans blowing out the shed's gable vent. Outside air will be drawn in through smaller vents Paul installed down near the floor on three sides of the shed.

Gable vent

A number of years ago, Paul tried using a computer fan for cooling the overhead compartment that housed the DVR in the motor home we used to have, but the sleeve bearings of the inexpensive fan failed and began to squeal after only a couple of months. The new fans have hydro-dynamic (fluid) bearings with a claimed life of 300,000 hours, which equals 34 years, so the fans could theoretically outlast the shed itself.

Computer fans with hydro-dynamic bearings

On the inside of the shed, the gable vent is conveniently framed by support members for the shed wall and roof, so Paul used those supports to help form a plenum for the fans. Paul completed the plenum with a piece of ¼" plywood with 4 round openings in which to mount the fans.

Inside of vent surrounded by support members

¼" plywood installed for mounting the fans

The next step was to mount the 20 watt solar panel on the side of the shed roof that faces south. It was a little scary drilling mounting holes in the roof, but it had to be done. Paul caulked all the holes very carefully.

Solar panel

On the inside, the wire from the solar panel connects to the fans through an adjustable DC voltage regulator. The solar panel puts out almost 22 volts in full sun, and according to the manufacturer, the 12-volt fans can operate at a continuous voltage of up to 13.2 volts. Therefore, Paul set the voltage regulator to 13.0 volts.

Completed solar fan setup

The total cost for the solar fan setup was around $130 and includes 4 fans, a 20-watt solar panel, mounting brackets for the solar panel, an adjustable voltage regulator, and miscellaneous screws, wire and connectors. The fans seem to be fairly effective because the temperature inside the shed doesn't seem to be nearly as hot as it was previously. Over the next several days, Paul will be conducting some experiments with a thermometer inside the shed with the fans turned off and with the fans turned on to get a better idea of how effective the fans really are.

After Paul finalized the installation of the fans late on Monday morning, he had an afternoon appointment for his annual eye exam over in Sebring. When he got back to the rig, we decided to go to Giovann's Main Street Kitchen in Wauchula and have pizza for lupper. We had a 12" pizza with sausage and mushrooms ($7.99 plus $.50 each for the two toppings). This time instead of a bunch of garlic bread, we had side side salads ($2.99 each) and just a couple of slices of garlic bread to go with the salads. Everything was yummy as usual.

Margery with our pizza

Stay tuned for our next update.

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Site Project: Gravel Walkway

Wauchula, FL - Events of Wednesday, March 8 to Tuesday, March 14, 2017

It's been two weeks since our last post. We have been busy, but a lot of what we have been doing involves daily life here at the co-op and isn't very newsworthy.

We have gotten much more involved at the co-op than we ever did at Blueberry Hill. There are two reasons for that. First, Blueberry Hill has over 400 sites, and it was easy to be anonymous there. The co-op has only 126 member-owned sites, so everybody pretty much knows everybody else. Second, since we own a share of the co-op, we care about it. We want it to flourish and do well, so we have gotten drawn into attending meetings to keep abreast of what is going on and what changes are in the works.

One of the things that has been keeping Margery busy is the co-op newsletter. The person who was doing the newsletter decided to run for the Board of Directors at the annual meeting of the membership back in February (she won), so Margery volunteered to take over as editor. The newsletter editor is responsible for laying out the newsletter, printing it, and distributing email copies. She attends quite a few meetings of the various co-op committees to better understand what is being done by those committees so she can do a good job of editing newsletter articles.

Paul has been busy, too. He was already working on the Building and Improvements Committee when he was invited to a Landscape Committee meeting a few weeks ago. He ended up being elected co-chairman of the Landscape Committee. Most of the work of that committee is done for this year, but there are still a few things that need to be done in preparation for next fall. Paul has also been working on projects around our site. We have written about several in past posts, and there is another one described later in this post.

Another thing that occupies our time is running errands. Some are to pick up materials for projects, and some, like the one we took to Bradenton last Wednesday, are to shop for essentials. We stopped at Sam's Club in Bradenton to pick up a few grocery items then went a couple of exits north on I-75 to the Premium Outlet Ellenton to look for new shoes for both of us and for Margery to check out a couple of clothing stores. Anna Maria Oyster Bar is located on the other side of the interstate from the mall so we stopped for lupper after finishing our shopping.

Anna Maria Oyster Bar

Anna Maria Oyster Bar in Ellenton has outdoor seating, but we usually eat inside because it's usually either too cool, too windy, or both. The weather was very pleasant this time so we decided to eat outside. There is a medium sized lake behind the restaurant, and we have seen a 4 or 5-foot alligator along the bank before, and it was there again this time. There is a fence part way up the bank so the 'gator can't get up to the restaurant area.

'Gator sunning itself along the bank of the lake behind the restaurant

Margery had a fried clam strip basket ($8.99) with cole slaw and onion straws ($1.50 additional) for her sides, and Paul had a fried fish basket with cole slaw and boiled red potatoes ($8.99). Since it was before 3:00, Paul could have had all-you-can-eat fish basket for $1 more, but the four pieces that came with the regular meal were plenty.

Paul with his fish and chips

Paul started working on adding a gravel walkway in front of the shed shortly after we moved the RV over onto the new concrete several weeks ago. The first thing he did was to create a small pad in front of the step using some concrete pavers he found stashed under the old shed. Then a little over a week ago, he outlined the perimeter of the area with treated 2x4s.

Gravel area outlined with treated 2x4s

When the 2x4 perimeter was complete, Paul sprayed the walkway area with Roundup to kill all the grass and weeds. On Monday, Paul raked out the remnants of the plant material.

On Tuesday, Paul ran up to Walmart in Wauchula and got 24 bags of pea gravel. After covering the walkway area with heavy-duty landscape fabric, he started spreading the gravel.

Pouring out the gravel

Leveling the gravel

Finished walkway

We also picked up some sod at a nursery over in Sebring. Paul used it to fill in along the edges of our new concrete and to patch some bare spots behind the rig adjacent to the new gravel walkway. We'll be watering the sod daily in the hope it will take hold by the time we leave in the spring and fill in even more over the summer.

It's nice to have clean gravel by the shed to walk on in place of the weeds and bare sand that used to get tracked everywhere. The gravel continues around the side and rear of the shed to provide a buffer to protect the lattice skirting from weed whackers and to prevent rain from splashing sand up onto the shed. The two uprights at the right side of the shed are treated 4x4s covered with PVC fence post material and are there to help protect the shed from the riding mowers. The one near the door is also provides a convenient place to attach a bungee to hold the door open when Paul is working outside.

With the gravel walkway complete, Paul moved on to yet another project. We'll tell you about it in our next post.

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

Wauchula, FL - Events of Monday, February 27 to Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Last Monday, the contractor came and removed the forms from our concrete as planned, but it would still be several more days before the concrete was hard enough to move the trailer onto it. We finally moved it the following Monday. Wow! We now have a big space between the shed and the trailer. The next two photos show the space before and after.

Narrow space before moving the 5th wheel

A lot more room after

Around the middle of last week, our friends, Mike and Peggy, arrived at the co-op to rent one of the sites in the rental pool. They are from Maine and are spending part of the winter in Florida. They stopped at the co-op to visit us and to visit other friends nearby in Punta Gorda and in Sarasota.

On Saturday, Mike and Peggy took us to dinner at Giovanni's in Wauchula. They both had Veal Marsala ($14.99), Margery had Eggplant Parmesan ($9.99), and Paul had Chicken Napoli ($12.99), which is chicken stuffed with ham and Mozzarella cheese topped with mushrooms and Alfredo sauce. All dinners come with garlic bread, pasta, and salad bar. Mike and Peggy said their veal was good, and Paul really liked his chicken. Unfortunately, Margery was a little disappointed with her eggplant because is was served deep-dish-style, which made the eggplant very mushy.

Monday was a day to celebrate Mardi Gras at the co-op with a happy hour of potluck hors d'oeuvres at the clubhouse followed by live music and dancing. The celebration was originally supposed to be a more extensive, two-day event that also included a golf cart parade and a dinner; but there were so many people in the RV park down with the flu, they decided to abbreviate things a bit. We went for the hors d'oeuvres and stayed for a few minutes of the entertainment before heading back to the 5th wheel.

The two of us at the Mardi Gras celebration

On Tuesday, we had a couple of errands to run over in Sebring. We thought that was a good excuse to go to Dee's Place for lunch, and we invited Mike and Peggy to go along. Mike and Margery had a Philly cheese steak ($6.09), Peggy had a turkey club ($7.09), and Paul had a half-pound cheese burger ($7.59).

We must have all been hungry because before we had even ordered, someone mentioned pizza. Dee's doesn't have pizza, but Giovanni's does. Before we knew it, we were making plans to go to Giovanni's for dinner for pizza, and it had to be that night because Mike and Peggy were leaving the following day.

Since we ate out for lunch, we went to dinner a little later than usual. Consequently, the restaurant was pretty crowded when we got there, and we had about a 15 or 20-minute wait for a table. There is a little park next to Giovanni's so we sat at a picnic table and chatted while we waited.

The name of the town of Wauchula comes from the Indian name for the Sandhill Crane, so it is only appropriate the park would have a fountain featuring sculptures of a pair of Sandhill Cranes.

Fountain featuring sculptures of a pair of Sandhill Cranes

Even though we are only about 100 miles farther south from where we used to spend winters in Bushnell, this part of Florida has a good many more exotic, tropical plants. A good example of that was the Bird of Paradise in the park next to Giovanni's. The plant was huge and was loaded with blooms.

Bird of Paradise plant

When we finally got our table, each couple ordered a 12" pizza ($7.99 plus $.50 for each topping). Mike and Peggy were both sensible and had salads to go along with their pizza, but we had garlic bread. Pizza and garlic bread isn't exactly a low-carb meal, but we (especially Paul) really love the garlic bread at Giovanni's. After dinner, we headed back to the co-op, said our good-byes to Mike and Peggy, and settled in for an evening of TV.

In addition to the exotic flowers in the park next to Giovanni's, we have been enjoying flowers of our own. We bought a potted Gerber Daisy shortly after we got back to Florida after Christmas. It's been sitting on our patio blooming continuously in spite of a few cool nights down near freezing back in January.

Gerber Daisy

We had planted several clumps of Amaryllis on our site at Blueberry Hill. Last fall when we moved to Wauchula, we dug up one of the clumps, brought it to Wauchula, and planted it under our pygmy date palms. The Amaryllis are now blooming.

Orange Amaryllis

A week or so ago, we bought a bright orange-red Hibiscus to plant in front of the our shed. Paul finally got it planted on Wednesday. It will eventually get 5 to 8' tall and provide a little shade from the afternoon sun for the shed window.

Hibiscus planted in front of shed

Closeup of orange-red Hibiscus flower

We plan to fill in beside the Hibiscus with a few perennials. We're having trouble deciding what to plant so it may not be until next year.

We had a good time visiting with Mike and Peggy, we got to eat out several times (including twice in one day), we enjoyed the Mardi Gras celebration at the co-op, and we got a few things done around our site. That's about it for now. See you next time.