# New laboratory for Gustavus



## Anonymous (Jan 13, 2010)

Purchased this Quonset yesterday afternoon for $500.00 now to dismantle it a re erect it on our acreage.

Measures 32" x 60", haven't got a measurement for height yet, but I think that I could use a forklift inside.


----------



## Irons (Jan 13, 2010)

My wife and I have a name for those: Canadian Missile Silos. 8)


----------



## ander (Jan 13, 2010)

Irons said:


> My wife and I have a name for those: Canadian Missile Silos. 8)


 :lol:


----------



## Noxx (Jan 13, 2010)

Nice find indeed! 

Do we, Canada, have missiles anyway ?


----------



## 4metals (Jan 13, 2010)

Can you insulate and heat that thing cost effectively?


----------



## Anonymous (Jan 13, 2010)

4metals said:


> Can you insulate and heat that thing cost effectively?



Yes I think it can be heated economically, when the Quonset gets re erected onto the new slab it's going to have hot water heat in the floor, I have a brand new Columbia KWO Waste Oil Boiler 350,000 btu and no shortage of waste oil.

We could not use the Columbia boiler on this residential lot we are living on presently, but the acreage with a business license will qualify the boiler for use, the boiler will heat the shop, house and small greenhouse. 

Our country lot is 16 acres we're planning a small greenhouse, growing some nursery stock on part of the land with some alfalfa on another part.

I'm going to modify a New Holland baler that will then make miniature bales in high demand with apartment dwellers with hay burning pets.

Best Regards
G


----------



## 4metals (Jan 13, 2010)

Can metal outbuildings be effectively insulated? I have a metal garage, not as big as yours but 18 x 20 and I checked out blowing the foam on the interior walls and it is incredibly expensive. It would be nice to have a building kept warm enough to house a small refinery, especially in the parts of the country where the ground is white for 6 months. 

Are you planning a hood for a little acid work?


----------



## Palladium (Jan 13, 2010)

I had a friend who has one of those what i call Gomer pyle buildings.  

He insulated it for nearly nothing and it stays warmmmm. He builds metal buildings for a living and got the scraps for nearly nothing. But then again even if you bought it , it is not that expensive.

He used rolls of faced blanket insulation which comes in 6' 8' and 10 feet wide rolls. He then attached the insulation to the metal by using weld pins and a Pinspotter for fastening the insulation. Of course we were all in the construction trades and had access to the equipment, but finding someone with the right tools is not hard if you look around your town.

http://www.northwaysmachinery.com/productdisplay.asp?cat=141


----------



## Anonymous (Jan 14, 2010)

4metals said:


> Can metal outbuildings be effectively insulated? I have a metal garage, not as big as yours but 18 x 20 and I checked out blowing the foam on the interior walls and it is incredibly expensive. It would be nice to have a building kept warm enough to house a small refinery, especially in the parts of the country where the ground is white for 6 months.
> 
> Are you planning a hood for a little acid work?



4metals a building with straight up walls, what Palladium suggested above is a great idea, weld on pins to hold the insulation on, if you have Quonset type walls blow on is your best bet or you could add interior studs to follow the contour of the walls - insulate with glass or cellulose . 

My double garage he in Birnie had 2 x 4 walls I added another 2" strip permitting a full 6" of insulation, removed and framed in one door and put in a insulated slider for the remaining door. It freezes to the ground, but the shop is toasty warm using a small wood heater.

Most of the guys here in Manitoba use an electric hot water heater, not really a boiler to heat the water for in floor heat, my last shop was 26ft x 60 with a 10 ft ceiling and hot water heat fired by a natural gas boiler salvaged from a demolition.

If you have the height from your ceiling to your current floor you will never regret adding in floor heat, just add a light coat of concrete to cover the tubeing.

I have a bad back, working on a heated floor is like therapy.h

Yes there is going to be a fume hood, not for refining, but for my home foundry, 

I have my 1 ounce gold button from e-scrap and have pretty much exhausted my supplies of computer scrap and have abandoned home refining, have a question which I will post in another section on the forum about silver contacts. 

Regards
G


----------



## Anonymous (Jan 15, 2010)

Irons said:


> My wife and I have a name for those: Canadian Missile Silos. 8)



Thats funny Irons as my research from google tells me that the Quonset Hut was a US invention, during WWII. My hut is a variation using laminated wood arches with tin roofing.

Arch style steel buildings, otherwise known as Quonset huts, were named for the town of Quonset, Rhode Island, the site of the U.S. Naval base where these steel sheds were constructed during World War II. These steel sheds provide unbelievable strength as the rounded shape of their corrugated arch is one of the strongest structures in architecture; they have been proven to withstand hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and heavy snow. 

Without beams or trusses, steel sheds offer 100 percent usable space and are ideal for uses as diverse as grain storage, backyard workshops, and airplane hangars. Model sizes range from 20 to 80 feet in width and come in unlimited lengths.

Best Regards
G


----------



## Irons (Jan 15, 2010)

Just some friendly humor. Whenever we drive through Canada, we play a game to see who can spot the missile silos. We live about 2 hours from the border and enjoy day trips and weekend excursions into the Maritimes.

Best Regards.


----------



## Anonymous (Jan 20, 2010)

A neighbor has a similar sized Quonset heated with a homemade hot water heater. The shop is 32 x 48 ft, 4 loops in the floor, monthly heating cost for cold Manitoba winters $250.00 per month.

The Quonset is insulated and paneled inside however I did note that the big overhead door is not sealed properly on this building.

The brass on the left hand side has adjustable valves so that you can restrict the water flow, generally 4 liters per minute per loop.

The hot water heater shown in the picture has two 4500 watt elements, one small Grundfos circulation pump.


Two years ago I purchased a brand new Columbia waste oil fired hot water boiler rated at 350,000 btu's with the additional coil for hot water on demand. Never been fired. this boiler is going to heat my shop, house and greenhouse.

http://www.columbiaboiler.com/waste_oil/KWO/


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Jan 20, 2010)

That's not a bad looking setup there. And he heats the whole building with that. I see he has a shock absorber for an expansion tank. I don't see a temperature and pressure relief valve or any kind of makeup water supply.


----------



## Anonymous (Jan 20, 2010)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> That's not a bad looking setup there. And he heats the whole building with that. I see he has a shock absorber for an expansion tank. I don't see a temperature and pressure relief valve or any kind of makeup water supply.



Your most observant Barren Realms 007 on the fact there is no make up water supply nor any pressure relief valves present in the system. One correction, what your calling a shock absorber is actually an inverted coke bottle with the bottom cut out.

The carpenters shop 40 x 100 ft has the same style water heater with three 4500 watt elements, the third located where the coke bottle is from the posted picture. The building is much newer with better doors and windows. When I have a chance to get a picture of his set up, will ;post it to this thread.

The carpenter shop owner heats this 40 x 100 ft building, power tools, one barn and the house with independent hot water heaters for $500.00 per month, he is on the installment plan and may receive a refund at the end of each billing season.

A friend in town heats hos shop with a wood heater in addition his homemade hot water heater on a Hobbs hour meter. Bills heater is a nice unit that he made from stainless. I'll snap some pictures tomorrow of Bill's unit while I'm in the big city.


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Jan 20, 2010)

ROFLMAO  

A coke bottle, that is funny. I didn't catch that till you said what it was.

The other pictures would be good to see.


----------



## Anonymous (Jan 21, 2010)

The carpenters shop is 40 x 100 ft, heated by the home made hot water heater shown below. The heater has 3 x 4500 watt elements. This shop is toasty warm.


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Jan 21, 2010)

That is a nice looking job. I bet it runs him out of that place. Looks like 16 zones on that thing, about 250 sq. ft. per zone. Looks like he has it balanced out too.

I might have sized my headers up to 1-1/4" pipe. Maybe put a couple of zone thermostats to save costs. At least he has a water level indicator on that thing. Still no T&P valve. Or make up water. 8)


----------



## Anonymous (Mar 30, 2010)

When I purchased the Quonset hut I got first dibs on the scrap laying about, there were 3 huge transformers each weighing 1000 lbs that had about 400 lbs of number 1 copper in each. 

Under the pile of copper wire some weired transformers rated at 7100 amps for 1/2 sec, approximately 40 lbs of copper in each, there are two coils, the outer coils have copper wire about 1/2" or larger in diameter. I gather that these were an early type of lightning arrestor.

Was offered $1.75 per lb for my copper locally, which I turned down. I'm on a new adventure and it needs funding.

Some of you are aware of my Massey 35 tractor project with the Perkins diesel that has not run in 18 years. Plus I run a Mitsubishi turbo diesel and a International with a DT360 diesel on waste vegetable oil. Thought it was time to learn how to rebuild my own pumps and injectors.

For those wishing to calibrate their own injectors here's a good starting point a DIY pop tester.http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=224334

Injection pumps are a bit more complicated, you need a motorized test bench which you can change rotation as required for the pump your working on then be able to control the rpm for fine tunning the pump. Finally found a use for my 5 hp DC motor..


----------



## Palladium (Mar 30, 2010)

I pulled an old tractor backhoe out of the grass a couple of years ago. It had so must rust in the lines and tank that even after flushing it we still got trash in the Injector pump. I had to pull the pump of and clean the trash out of it several times over the first 24 hours of running. It was a real pain in the butt. But run good after that. I must have taken that pump apart 10 times all together. Then i bought a used one and it was bad. So i bought a rebuild kit and did it myself. They are not hard just make sure you have a diagram and pay close attention to details such as markings on the cam. The injectors are timed by the injector pump. Even getting it a couple of degrees off can have serious hp issues under full load stress. That want show with a pressure test, all the pressure test will tell you is if you have enough pressure to open the injector, which needs to be checked to. It should be a good learning experience. It was for me. My brother use to build high performance nascar engines. I love that stuff. I got a little 305 Chevy i'm playing with now.


----------



## Anonymous (Apr 6, 2010)

Well I don't have to worry about meeting my end of April deadline for having the Quonset removed anymore, the building burnt to the ground this afternoon. The fire somehow managed to catch the old farm house 400 ft across the yard - both a pile of ashes.

The owner was coming out later this week to burn some brush piles and the old house, so no damage to the pocket book on that count.

Paid $500.00 for the building and first dibbs on the scrap, there was $3500.00 in scrap copper, $200.00 for the aluminum roofing and another $100.00 for some scrap farm equipment which the scrap dealer is going to pick up. Now to find another building, preferably a metal one.

How the fire started, where the pile of transformers and copper wire were the ground was still frozen when I got the bulk of it out, this afternoon set fire the the dead grass to see if there would be more wire hiding. My greed has cost me my building.


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 6, 2010)

Palladium said:


> I pulled an old tractor backhoe out of the grass a couple of years ago. It had so must rust in the lines and tank that even after flushing it we still got trash in the Injector pump. I had to pull the pump of and clean the trash out of it several times over the first 24 hours of running. It was a real pain in the butt. But run good after that. I must have taken that pump apart 10 times all together. Then i bought a used one and it was bad. So i bought a rebuild kit and did it myself. They are not hard just make sure you have a diagram and pay close attention to details such as markings on the cam. The injectors are timed by the injector pump. Even getting it a couple of degrees off can have serious hp issues under full load stress. That want show with a pressure test, all the pressure test will tell you is if you have enough pressure to open the injector, which needs to be checked to. It should be a good learning experience. It was for me. My brother use to build high performance nascar engines. I love that stuff. I got a little 305 Chevy i'm playing with now.



If you like NASCAR you might like these links.

http://cars.talkzilla.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=49
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=3206


----------



## Palladium (Apr 6, 2010)

Ouch :!:


----------



## Palladium (Apr 6, 2010)

I like engines. I hate NASCAR ! 
Being from the south that's a sin. At least if you hear my brother tell it.


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 6, 2010)

gustavus said:


> Well I don't have to worry about meeting my end of April deadline for having the Quonset removed anymore, the building burnt to the ground this afternoon. The fire somehow managed to catch the old farm house 400 ft across the yard - both a pile of ashes.
> 
> The owner was coming out later this week to burn some brush piles and the old house, so no damage to the pocket book on that count.
> 
> ...



Sorry for your loss, I was looking forward to see what you made of this.


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 6, 2010)

Palladium said:


> I like engines. I hate NASCAR !
> Being from the south that's a sin. At least if you hear my brother tell it.



No say it aint true. I'll have to agree with your brother. Unless he is a JR fan.


----------

