On Wednesday morning, I stopped at the Farmers Market to pick up a large cabbage. There was a vendor selling modest sized giant cabbages. On Saturday, there were some 16+ pounders but today, she happened to be weighing and labeling a 12 pounder when I showed up. That was probably enough. It was only $5.50. I probably should have taken a picture of the cabbage on the rear rack of the Ural but didn't think about it at the time. Today, I shredded the cabbage and layered it with carrots, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves with some salt in my stoneware crock. I found a
recipe on the Internet for a version of "Russian sauerkraut" that only has to sit for three days. After that, you can freeze it or can it. I'll see how it turns out before I try to make more.
Our domestic hot water is heated by running water through a copper coil inside of our boiler used for heating the house. Last week, I pumped some acid through the copper coil to clean out the calcium deposits that were limiting flow and I started to hear air bubbles inside of the boiler. Bad news. That means that the copper coil has some small pin holes allowing water from the coil to slowly leak into the boiler. Parts for this 40+ year old boiler are pretty much unavailable. The most cost effective solution is an indirect-fired water heater. Here is a cutaway of the 45 gallon model that I picked up locally.
Water from the boiler is pumped through the coil inside the water heater and this heats up the water inside of the tank. The insulation should help the hot water stay hot. I looked at tankless water heaters but the only option is propane since, unfortunately, there is no natural gas available. The propane cost estimates that I received were on the order of $150/month. A bit too much.
There is plenty of natural gas in the north slope of Alaska but the politicians and special interest groups have been fighting about how to transport the gas and where to transport it to.
Hmmm homemade sauerkraut. A few years ago my boss made some and also some Kimchi, they both turned out pretty good. Have you made it before?
ReplyDeleteI've made both in the past but not recently. The last batch of sauerkraut came out great but it spent weeks in the crock. The kimchi usually came from a packaged spice mix (this was pre-Internet).
DeleteBummer about the heating issue Richard, what if you got a propane tank onsite and bought in bulk? Next time you buy a giant cabbage....a pic would be nice.
ReplyDeleteThe estimate is for a several hundred gallon tank installed at the house. I will try and get a picture of the giant cabbage on the rig next time...
DeleteAren't you supposed to go out and hack down trees and stuff while fending off hungry bears and elk? Propane sounds a bit pansy, just like us down here.
ReplyDeleteThe tree hacking may be next week. Now I'm trying to make room for my indirect-fired water heater. The bears aren't very hungry at this time of year…
DeleteCalcium build up is the bane of our domestic hot water system and associated appliances. It fouls the water heater every few years requiring a cleanout and usually a lower element replacement. Clogs valves for the dishwasher, toilets, shower and more. I probably should install a water softener but then you feel slimey in the shower...
ReplyDeleteWe used to have a heat exchanger like yours in our boiler to pre-heat the domestic hot water. It finally failed and we had the same issue getting a replacement. So we bypassed the thing. Last winter we replaced the boiler and now heat with natural gas instead of oil. What a difference in cost. Wow.
I really need to add a water softener as well. Our water is really borderline as far as needing one but it would really help. I hope we get natural gas one of these days. It really makes living in Fairbanks expensive not having it...
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