Did you purchase this from American Tower or AT&T? I'm assuming this is an old Long Lines site. If it was, was the tower still in place? I've been looking into these, but as some may think you can't buy them from the government for a dollar. The average price I've been seeing are upwards of 600K. Were the gen sets still in place? Look forward to hearing more about your "bunker".
If you had a 6000sqft Nuclear Bunker, what would you do with it?
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Bunker Family
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It is an AT&T L3 Long Lines bunker and it does have a radio tower. No it wasn't a dollar but I also didn't pay 600k.
Yes, the diesel generator was still in place but I don't think it's worth trying to use for the following reasons:
1. Diesel generator in the bunker is a potential carbon monoxide poisoning issue.
2. It's way more power than we'd need. 200+KW
3. We looked into reselling it and nobody wanted it. I figure there's a reason for that.
4. I don't know how to get it running again (although I could probably figure it out eventually).
We are leaning towards solar and Edison Batteries.
Edison Batteries (Nickel Iron) are interesting. They are large, expensive and you need to vent them because they create hydrogen, but unlike lithium, you can drain them completely without damaging them and they can last forever with a little maintenance.
I've also been looking into Direct-From-PV solar water heating, which is an interesting topic in and of itself. You would be hooking up your water heater elements directly to the solar panels. Since batteries are the most expensive part of a solar array, Direct-From-PV saves you a ton. The water heater hear seems to be very efficient. I check on it randomly throughout the day and see if I can hear the elements on and the only time I do hear them is right after someone showers. I think that if I add a thermostatic mixing valve, I can turn up the heat on the tank and maintain a nice heat even at night (or if we have to modify our showering times to the time of the sun, we could do that too). Like I said, it's a fun project!
Thanks for your question.
CO2 scrubbing can be accomplished with a variety of bases such as alkali metal hydroxides, oxides and hydrides. Lye will absorb CO2 and produce baking soda. The chemicals are easy to get, but properly implementing them is a bit trickier. Look into rebreather diving systems for a small scale crash course into the workings of it.
Big tower? Do you have your amateur radio license yet?
The solar heating situation... What about eliminating the PV aspect all together? The best solar panels barely hit 45% efficiency and decent single layer residential panels are lucky to hit 28%. The Germans (who also make high end multi layer PV panels) make glass tubes with a low reflection coating. A copper pipe (perhaps coated with something dark) is placed in the center of the glass tube and the air between them is evacuated creating a transparent yet insulated system. This linear assembly is placed in the focal point of a trough reflector. DIY, you can skip the glass tube and go cheap. Get some heavy plywood, a square and a string, that will get you a parabola, cut that out. Make several of these to be used as a form to support a thin panelling to take the parabolic surface, then the surface of that is covered with adhesive mylar sheeting for the mirrored surface. A diy solar tracker would not be very hard either.
Big tower? Do you have your amateur radio license yet?
The solar heating situation... What about eliminating the PV aspect all together? The best solar panels barely hit 45% efficiency and decent single layer residential panels are lucky to hit 28%. The Germans (who also make high end multi layer PV panels) make glass tubes with a low reflection coating. A copper pipe (perhaps coated with something dark) is placed in the center of the glass tube and the air between them is evacuated creating a transparent yet insulated system. This linear assembly is placed in the focal point of a trough reflector. DIY, you can skip the glass tube and go cheap. Get some heavy plywood, a square and a string, that will get you a parabola, cut that out. Make several of these to be used as a form to support a thin panelling to take the parabolic surface, then the surface of that is covered with adhesive mylar sheeting for the mirrored surface. A diy solar tracker would not be very hard either.
[QUOTE="Bunker Family, post: 229280, member: 5580"
Edison Batteries (Nickel Iron) are interesting. They are large, expensive and you need to vent them because they create hydrogen, but unlike lithium, you can drain them completely without damaging them and they can last forever with a little maintenance.
[/QUOTE]
I have used Edison Batteries for years as a back up power source for my amateur radios among other things. Probably the perfect back up power source for my needs.
Edison Batteries (Nickel Iron) are interesting. They are large, expensive and you need to vent them because they create hydrogen, but unlike lithium, you can drain them completely without damaging them and they can last forever with a little maintenance.
[/QUOTE]
I have used Edison Batteries for years as a back up power source for my amateur radios among other things. Probably the perfect back up power source for my needs.
Do you have any information on who to contact to obtain one of these facilities, we have an abandoned one near us that we are trying to get info on for our Ham Radio clubhouse and facility!!!
