Everyone wants to go off the grid with solar panels and such. But how viable would it be to make your own little coal powered electrical plant in your back yard? Its a simple process, and I live in the middle of nowhere and have access to coal. Thoughts?
Boiler and turbine maintenance is not very DIY. There's too much knowledge and tooling to half ass it, and shit explodes big.
Maybe make a coal slurry and feed it to a diesel engine tuned for it.
How are you gonna source coal? Solar and wind are good for OTG because it's always shining down or blowing through.
>>920582
High-pressure boilers of a size practical for your application are not Amateur Night projects; they're dangerous as fuck and could explode with the force a a thousand suns if not maintained and managed very carefully. Might also involve a permit/license.
Like another anon said it might not be cost effective or easy to source coal. Might be better with a sterling engine that will run off any kind of fuel. Bio, wood, coal, charcoal etc. Probably not very efficient though.
Could always pull out a diesel engine from a car or truck and repurpose it as a diesel generator.
Its actually very easy to source coal. A few towns near me are old coal mining towns, with lots of accessible coal. Some people around here actually use it in their woodstoves, albiet illegally.
>>920590
>There's too much knowledge and tooling to half ass it, and shit explodes big.
This. If you're going to do it, read up on pressure vessel safety standards and keep it somewhere where catastrophic failure won't kill anyone. Like, in a concrete bunker or something. They used to require licenses just to operate this shit back in the day, let alone manufacture it. Internal combustion and the Stirling engine were much safer in comparison.
>>920606
Also this. Stirling engines are cool as fuck and a hell of a lot less dangerous (I hear they were popular alternatives to steam boilers for pumping water up high-rise buildings in the late 19th century, for their safety and simpler licensing and insurance requirements).
http://www.otherpower.com/steamengine.html
>>920630
>used to require licenses just to operate this shit back in the day
In my country they still do, at least when the public are involved.
>>920609
>Some people around here actually use it in their woodstoves, albiet illegally
Fuck the EPA, right up their stupid asses
>>920582
Why not sell the coal and then pay your bills?
That is pretty neat. thanks man.
>>920609
Illegally?
I thought yours was the land of the free?
>>920843
There's free to hold any political, religious, or wtfever opinion without threat of oppression by the state (USA) and there's free to do what the fuck you want to do even if it may result in an explosion big enough to tear down an entire neighborhood and kill dozens of people (Africa). They are not the same thing.
>>920582
Not at all. Coal is expensive and the loss in energy production is huge. That's why we use nuclear power.
You could just find a stream, dam it, and use hydro if coal doesn't work out.
Just don't tell anyone you're fucking with the fish.
