The Press-Dispatch

A-12 Wednesday, December 18, 2013 The Press-Dispatch Froehle wants to generate more energy than he consumes By Andy Heuring A rural Petersburg man doesn't want to be off grid, but he wants to use less power than he generates. "I don't want to have a utility bill," said Chuck Froehle. A Boy Scout leader for decades, Froehle has long been interested in conservation. As Scout leader, Froehle has been preaching conservation to scouts for years. However, he tells them it is up to the individual to make choices to lower their consumption. One of the demonstrations he shows Scouts is an electric meter hooked up to a set of receptacles. He plugs in different types of lighting to show the difference between their electric consumption. He tells them to go home and turn electricity then it will reduce pollution." In recent years, he has started looking at simple ways to use less electricity with the ultimate goal of not having an electric bill. Right now, he has a 100 watt solar panel outside his house's bay window. The panel is wired to a deep cycle battery similar to one used on a golf cart or boat. That battery powers his dining room light, where he does much of his reading. It also runs a power strip where he runs small things such as his electric razor, a small vacuum cleaner and other electrical items. "Yesterday is the first time my battery ran all the way down. We had three straight cloudy days," said Froehle. He said that is why he doesn't want to get off the grid. "If you get off the grid and you have four or five cloudy days in the winter then you are in trouble. I want to be on the grid so if I need it, it is there." He has been heating his house with a wood burner since 1982. "I wear long underwear around the house so I keep it cooler than most people. I live here by myself so I can get An electric meter attached away with some to a receptacle and light sockthings most famet is used by Froehle to demonilies wouldn't strate how much power different want to do withtypes of lights and electric deout." vices use. To assist his wood burner, he everything in the house on has a solar heater. It is probaand look at the electric me- bly one of the best examples ter and how fast the dial is of the simple kinds of things spinning and then turn ev- he does to reduce the elecerything off and look at it. tric usage. "I tell them if they want The solar heater is someto make a difference in pol- thing into which he and lution then they need to cut friend Steve Willis were back their consumption. We looking. Willis built it out of have to have power plants, soft drink cans. It basically but if we choose to use less is nine stacks of 12-ounce aluminum soft drink cans wide and 11 cans high. Froehle said the cans have the bottoms cut out, but the top of each of the cans just has the pull tab pulled open, so the opening in the top of the can is smaller than the opening in the bottom of the can. He explained this causes the air being drawn through them to move more slowly. The cans are painted flat black. When the sun shines on it, it heats the air. The cans are in a wood case with a hole in the bottom. One side is covered by glass. "It is really supposed to be outside, but Steve didn't want to cut a hole in his house and neither did I so, we just set it up to be put in the window." The device, when in direct sunshine, produces a warm draft that comes out the top at a temperature of more than 100 degrees. On Tuesday evening, it was giving off 106 degrees. The room temperature was 66 degrees. "The highest temperature I have seen coming out the top is 112 degrees," said Froehle. "It has no moving parts. It is something that won't wear out and was so simple and cheap to make." He said he has seen on the internet a woman in Iowa who has a "solar furnace" that is eight feet tall and 24-feet wide. She has it outside and blows air through it, and into a ventilation system in her house and then uses a cold air return. "She heats her whole house with it on sunny days." Froehle's next project is to build a windmill with which he can generate electricity. He already had an inverter that will send power back into the grid, actually spinning his electric meter backwards. "I don't want to try and make money doing it. I would like to get neutral." Froehle said he read about making a windmill out of a treadmill. "I have had three treadmills donated to me by friends since I started talking about it." Chuck Froehle sits in a bay window holding a small solar panel he uses when camping to power small electrical devices. It is his buddy, Lilly's favorite place to lie in the sun and look outside, or sleep. He also has three TV antennas to mount them on. "I want to see how one will work and then I would like to try and get one or two more." His other immediate project is to get a water pre-heater. "I read about one-third of a family's power consumption is heating water." He said he wants to keep a water heater so on cold cloudy days he will still have hot water. "It is really a pre-heater. He said the water is preheated and then run into the water heater." "I'm curious about how it works," said Froehle of numerous projects. He likes to take things apart and figure out how they worked. "When I was a kid, we had a neighbor who was a shade tree fix it guy. He would take things apart and fix them. I hung out with him and I always admired him." He isn't just curious about new technology, but what worked in the past. Froehle said he has studied things pioneers did to survive. "They had crock pots," said Froehle. He explained people moving west on wagon trains used a pre-electricity version of a crock pot. They would partially cook a meal in a dutch oven in the morning before they started their day's journey. They would take the hot dutch oven and put it in a large wooden box filled with prairie grass to keep it stable and insulated. Froehle said when they arrived where they were going after a long day's journey they didn't have to cook Chuck Froehle shows the back side of a solar heater that uses aluminum soft drink cans painted black to heat his living room. totAl DISCouNtS All New In-Stock 2013s 1 INVoICe $ oVer 1 INVoICe $ on select new vehicles limited supply remains All New In-Stock 2014s on select new vehicles Financing Available NeW 2013 gmC terrAiN SLe 32 MPG, Chrome Accents, Rear Parking Camera & More! 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