Newsflash

It's a very strange time for us at the moment at Alledal Gård.

We've been here in Sweden for over 4 years, and during that time we have had some down moments, but mainly we've had a wonderful time trying to make a success of our little farm in Skåne. I have no regrets about coming to Sweden in the summer of 2006.

Now, I'm afraid, the end is nigh, and we are shutting down the farm. Over the last few weeks the chickens, ducks, and geese have found new homes, and hopefully in the next few days the goats will have new homes too. By the end of 2010 Alledal Gård will no longer be an active farm.

We've had some wonderful successes with the yellow ducks and the chickens particularly, and have found it to be incredibly rewarding. And for me personally, a fantastic way to switch off when I come back from work on my main job.

This is the beginning of a new chapter for us, and hopefully over the coming months we'll be able to share more of our plans for the future. If you've followed us over the years, many thanks, and I hope that we've brought some pleasure to you from our little corner of the Swedish countryside. 

 

 


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Installing intelligent controls Print
Written by Stephen Baines   
Sunday, 16 December 2007
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The latest step we've taken to try and control our energy usage, and to also make the home more comfortable, is to install an intelligent building management system. A little over the top? Maybe... but it's already proving its worth!

 

Building management systems are typically installed in larger buildings, and in part look after the heating systems. These can be quite costly items, but over a buildings lifetime they will easily save their cost in energy savings and maintenance costs. For a house, these are a little overkill, but sometimes the controllers can be picked up quite cheaply second hand, as sites replace older hardware with more modern hardware. Even 10-15 year old controllers are more clever than the usual home central heating system.

The first step was to replace the thermostatic valves with radiator valve actuators. These do the opening and closing of the radiator valves, but use a servo motor and a control signal to tell them when to open and close.

Radiator Valve Actuator



Last Updated ( Sunday, 16 December 2007 )
 
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