What Talented, Capable and Willing TimeBankers!

From Fran: David responded to my email on Monday morning, and we made arrangements for him to come to my house on Tuesday night. David was able to fix 2 of my bicycles; one bicycle had a flat tire and the other bicycle had a de-railer problem. David is very knowledgeable about bicycles and had the tools needed to fix the bicycles the same night that he came to my house to see the bicycles. I would highly recommend David to perform bicycle repairs!

From Laura: I had a plumbing issue (clogged sink). I put out a request for someone who might know how to snake the drain. I received a quick response from Birgit, a time banker with a plethora of handy-woman skills. She arrived, tools in hand, and not only quickly fixed my issue, but taught me the skills to do it myself next time! Now I'm thrilled with the help I received and empowered for the next time.

From Carla: I asked for a ride to the Wayne R5 Train Station, so that I could get to Narberth for a dentist appointment and visit with my mom. I had a number of positive responses which was great! I chose a new member to do the exchange with to help get her going with the time bank.

From Erin: I requested a babysitter for two hours to watch my 5 month old so that I could do some yard work without having to worry about him. I received one call and two email responses! This was my first request, so I was glad to see such interest. I ended up receiving the services only 3 days after my request posted. Michelle was able to provide the service and showed up exactly when she said she would. The baby seemed to enjoy having someone new to play with, and I was able to get everything I wanted to done

From Nick: Penny had called me because her house felt cold, especially when southeast winds were blowing.

I suggested adding a $2K 8'x8'x36' double-film 10-mil polycarbonate low-mass isolated sunspace (13 4'x8' argon-inflated 2x4 panels) with a clear corrugated Dynaglas roof over the south wall with a passive plastic film damper over a hole at the top of the south wall and a foam board damper over a hole at the bottom with a $76 2-watt damper actuator and an $89 self-tuning proportional damper controller. The damper might move for 5 seconds every 10 minutes, using 2Wx5s/600s = 16.7 mW to move 8KBtu/h/(3.41Btu/h/W) = 2346 watts of heat with a COP of 2346/0.0167 = 138,002, vs a heat pump with a COP of 3 :-)

The sunspace would help Penny feel warmer and give her a place to start plants (she's an avid gardener) and give her 3 cats a place to play and poop and increase her net electrical income. Right now she sells and buys equal numbers of green and black electrons at 28 and 13 cents/kWh.

A new house might have less thermal mass, with a large unpressurized heat storage tank and a car radiator near the floor with its intake connected to a vertical duct on the inside of the south wall to another hole to the top of the sunspace and its outlet connected to another hole to the bottom of the sunspace. When the house is warm enough, the radiator heats the tank water using its 12V fans (20 watts in series.) When the house is too cool at night, another motorized damper on a vertical axis on the side of the duct swings open to expose the radiator inlet and outlet to house air and the radiator heats the house with the tank. A 13-gallon plastic pipe coil in the tank preheats water for showers.

From Margo: I had to do a quick turn-around on a mailing for the Lyre Association, and five people responded to my request for help stuffing, labeling, and stamping large envelopes to send a publication out to US and international members. I took up three people's offers of help, and we completed the main job in 1 hour & 15 minutes! Then Michelle drove me to the post office, where I bought additional postage and, with Michelle's help, finished the mailing.