Kris Harbour’s timber-frame 8.4kWp PV ground mount

[nowty]

Wow, really impressed he made his own fence posts and laser cut metalwork.

Mine was a bit easier, using fence post spikes, fence posts and galvanised coach screws.
Bracing against the existing fence made it even easier.


A few deck boards later and its now a ladder store, not a ground mount, honest.


Been working fine for over 8 years now.

[Joeboy]

Wow, really impressed he made his own fence posts and laser cut metalwork.

Mine was a bit easier, using fence post spikes, fence posts and galvanised coach screws.
Bracing against the existing fence made it even easier.


A few deck boards later and its now a ladder store, not a ground mount, honest.


Been working fine for over 8 years now.

I was impressed by the solar powered plasma table and the way he finished the concrete footings. Can be reused if the verticals ever rot out. I didn't see which if any timber preserver he used. I still have above ground frame timber that is perfect after 20 years thanks to a green cuprinol preserver. Honestly, zero degradation and they have been reused so I've seen the cut x sections.

It's the process of repeated wetting/drying over years that causes the rot. One state or the other and they are fine but not both.

Felled and milled his own timber, that's the dream eh?

[Mr Gus]

Thanks for the clarification OGB, by the end of video #1 i'd guessed he was offgridder & building craftsman (in wood buildings)!?

Doubtless soon be will add a couple of sidings to the storage areas which hardly necessitates another video, but good to watch through to completion.
Doubtless no rare as rhs HS2 timber involved ..a good thing & a smaller footprint multi modal design.

The chicken shed & other panels confirmed it, he certainly avoids the sticking plaster approach.
(Off to Google slurry tanking paint as waterproofer)

[nowty]

I was impressed by the solar powered plasma table and the way he finished the concrete footings. Can be reused if the verticals ever rot out. I didn't see which if any timber preserver he used. I still have above ground frame timber that is perfect after 20 years thanks to a green cuprinol preserver. Honestly, zero degradation and they have been reused so I've seen the cut x sections.

It's the process of repeated wetting/drying over years that causes the rot. One state or the other and they are fine but not both.

Felled and milled his own timber, that's the dream eh?

I always use pressure treated tantalised wood, then apply at least two generous coats of my own wood preservative mixture.


Its 2 parts decking oil, 2 parts decking sealer and 1 part wood preservative, all spirit based (which is becoming harder to find). I mix it all together in a builders bucket and refill the the original canisters. When I put my original fence up, I worked out that this extra treatment cost nearly as much again as my fence panels.

[ALAN/ALAN D]

Here is another wood built system on a roof. To store water.

https://interestingengineering.com/vide ... er-battery

He uses all the water pumped storage to charge his mobile phone.

[nowty]

Here is another wood built system on a roof. To store water.

https://interestingengineering.com/vide ... er-battery

He uses all the water pumped storage to charge his mobile phone.

I thought about going down that crazy road many years back, when you could do DIY Hydro on FITs at quite a high rate but not DIY Solar on FITs. So I thought, what if I used DIY solar to pump the water into my redundant cold water tank in the loft and then release it when required. As the energy for the hydro would still be from a renewable source, I thought it might be legal.

But on working out how much volume of water you need to store, it was a non starter.

[Oldgreybeard]

First time I’ve noticed this thread. At first sight that structure looks beautiful but all those metal joints are utterly unnecessary. Maybe he’s trying to keep his local blacksmith in business?

He has his own solar powered CNC plasma cutter to make the metal parts so for him it probably made complete sense to add the steel plates to the joints to strengthen them up a bit. They may be overkill, but he has learned from experience that in his exposed and fairly wet location in Wales things need to be over-built when compared to something that may survive in suburbia. His first ground mount PV system was on its last legs when he built that one, with posts that had rooted out after just a few years. His first wind turbine pretty much exploded in a storm so his new one is a fair bit stronger.

Not sure I can list all his achievements here and do them justice, but he's built a timber, solar heated, outdoor shower building, a home made wind turbine, installed a micro hydro system, two PV systems (the system at the start of this is his second), a roundhouse earth bag workshop, a timber greenhouse, an earth bag round house to live in, some really beautiful carved wood projects, like a Welsh harp for his girlfriend, and is clearly an individual that just gets on and does stuff rather than buy it. Practically everything on his off grid smallholding has been built with his own hands, mostly using materials that have grown on his own land. That extends to the food he eats, he grows a wide range of food crops, keeps livestock (for which he built a home made post driver to make the fences) and is pretty close to being self-sufficient.

[Oldgreybeard]

Just been watching more of his videos and spotted that he made one covering how they live and the work he's done to build their off-grid, self-sufficient, smallholding. Worth a watch, and interesting to see that this video has got over 9 million views, whereas most of his videos get way less views.

[billi]

Well , as said a very interesting and talented person ,who can present him self very well,

But i still think , its not a simple nor an economic structure for a ground mount PV idea

For sure , if it would have been called a Shed with PV roof ontop, that would make sense to me , or shelter for animals

When my first PV panels arrived in Ireland about 15 years ago , small array only 1.6 kw at a price of 10 times of those in the video ....

I still can laugh about that effort about digging holes , make concrete footings for a timbertructure of 2 tons of wood 4-5 inch strong . ...... i just hammered in 2 inch galvanized pipe in the ground and went from there .... no where i have seen ground mount PV Ideas with an try to built from wood , beside some individual ideas .

[Oldgreybeard]

Well , as said a very interesting and talented person ,who can present him self very well,

But i still think , its not a simple nor an economic structure for a ground mount PV idea

For sure , if it would have been called a Shed with PV roof ontop, that would make sense to me , or shelter for animals

When my first PV panels arrived in Ireland about 15 years ago , small array only 1.6 kw at a price of 10 times of those in the video ....

I still can laugh about that effort about digging holes , make concrete footings for a timbertructure of 2 tons of wood 4-5 inch strong . ...... i just hammered in 2 inch galvanized pipe in the ground and went from there .... no where i have seen ground mount PV Ideas with an try to built from wood , beside some individual ideas .

Bear in mind that he is high up in the Welsh hills in a very exposed location. His first wind turbine failed after a period of 50mph to 60mph winds, and it's not unusual in his videos to see the turbine furling because of high winds whilst he is still working on the buildings. The windage on those panels in his very exposed location is going to be way higher than in most places.

How many here have achieved even 10% of this young man's efforts in their lifetime? Not sure I understand the desire expressed here to just criticise rather than commend him for his efforts and committent to living a low impact life.