₦airaland Forum

earthrealm:
&bigrovar, whats the size of ur solar array?..i see u hv only 2 units 12v battery..and your load appears tobe even more than mine

nice point gents.
part of the problem was the fridge, hving a 130w energy nameplate, but clocking in at 190w on a wattmeter, it was while trouble shooting that i made that discovery...the extra 60w x 8.5hrs is over 500w lost daily, i initially tot my consumption was about os less than 2kwh, based on the 130w x 8hrs + the other small loads, thus with my 7kwh daily generation, i hv 5kwh to feed the battery bank.

am considering this option of programming the fridge to run at night, thus hving all the energy produced during the day go towards charging the batts. has anyone tried this unconventional approach,
i have 6 x 250watts 24v panels on a 60amp epsolar CC, i dont thinki can add an additional 500w to the panel bank, as that may exceed the rating of the CC, n upgrading the CC to 80amps isnt a viable option now..based on funds.
will take the fridge offline for 3 - 5days and allow the batterys to be fully charged, may adopt this strategy at 2wk intervals till funds are available to do more/the weather improves.

i also hv a desulphator hooked permanently to the system

I have a 1.83kw array attached to the battery. The array are divided into 2. First array at 960w is facing true south and ground mounted. The second array is 880w and facing West and mounted on the roof. But arrays are connected to separate controllers and paralleled to the two batteries. The second array facing west allows me to at more advantage of the post 1pm sun at which point the south facing panel is no longer at pick. The opportunity loads of freezer and fridge ensures that the battery never gets beyond the limited bulk current of 27A. Rest is used up by the house. With the 2 batteries cycles at 30% did. They get to absorption by 11am even on an overcast day. On a very cloudy day it might be 2pm before hitting absorption.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
You may be right! GeorgeD1 said the same of his Fusion series inverter - I recall the ones I had all beeping alarms above 15v per 12v battery - again this was a long time ago so I could be wrong or there may be differences between them.

With all these said even I may be looking to a Su-Kam type inverter for my replacement as it seems they are capable of withstanding equalization - their perceived inability to handle high voltages was the reason I never considered them for my replacement inverter in the first place.

Sukam inverters are rock solid. they are a bit unappreciated on this part mostly due to their low charge rate and uninspiring looks. The truth is in terms of durability, ruggedness and support, they put all the chinese inverters to shame. They are more efficient and more reliable. My 1.6kv had an idle load of 26w. They also have features that strikes out some of the premium brands. The only down side is the low charge rate which are often not more than 17A for the top end brand and 14A for the low end brand.

mank1234:
Hello gurus in the house. I had a discussion with a friend on keeping fridge on timer or not. Here is his opinion.

He said that given adequate battery bank to last night load, that it is better to leave your fridge on 24/7 for the following reasons:
1) normal power consumption when fridge has reached its optimum temperature is lower compared to defrosting input when temperature has gone up.
2) it goes off and on when temperature is maintained and the off period is very long at night since nobody is using it.
3) that he has used watt meter to measure and observed that, especially in this rainy season, his consumption is lower without timer than with timer.

Is this possible?

This is true.. the longer a refrigerator is on the less power it uses. Mine usually starts by using from about 150w and gradually settles to 100w in about an hour of use. The downside is nothing replaces using your fridge and freezers as opportunity loads when your array has enough power to charge your battery and left over would be used to power the hungry appliances like fridge and freezers. That way you power them with "Free energy"

If you do not have that type of setup and also lack a timer, it might be best to leave freezer on at night. It would drain less energy during the day and also because generally house load tend to reduce once its bed time.. .ie TV and all indoor lights would have been off. It would help with the battery rate of discharge which would also be lesser. However I still tend to advise against it because it would still exert more load on your battery than it should handle.

earthrealm:
thnks for the extensive explanations, guess the batts are undercharged.
the setup is in the villa, miles away from me/anybody who can perform the extensive tests wch can give a truer picture.
guess i wud hv to reduce the load on the system to maybe give the batta fighting chance in this cloudy weather.
its totally offgrid, no phcn.
4 x 12v 220ah mecury fla batt, 1.5kva 24v luminous inverter, 60amp epsolar CC


loads
190w fridge [130w energy name plate, but wattmeter says 190w...lol] runs for 8hrs daily
30w sec flood light runs for 11hrs daily.
about 8 x 18w bulbs......used at night say 6pm to 10pm
70w tv and 70w fan used intermittently, say 8hrs combined total daily [worst case scenario]

1500w panel..max harvest i hv ever recorded is 7.3kwh.
in this rainy season..average btw 3kwh n 4kwh

ahaha...i think i hv seen the problem.. with this bad weather, and the fridge +sec light beeing on timer switch...the batt is being drained below acceptable levels, its a rudimentary system n no tech savvy person around to monitor or effect intelligent load shedding.
need to reduce the fridge run time to 5hrs or4 hrs daily to allow the batts hv some charge, until the weather improves

Bro, your system load is too much your PV. Try trimming down the light bulbs get 5w efficient LED bulbs, you can talk to JUO he has some insanely efficient led bulbs, get rechargeable fans.. it would reduce the 70w to about 15w and you can use 10w efficient light bulbs for the security lights

NiyiOmoIyunade:
In my experience No it cannot - as the high voltage alarm on Su-Kam and other indian inverters is set around 15v for 12v, 30v for 24v & 60v for 48v nominal systems. Since you will be equalizing above 15v per 12v battery the inverter would start beeping and go into overload and shutoff and perhaps get damaged from prolonged exposure.

What you can do is to switch off the battery MCB aka breaker at the back of the inverter and then the inverter will have no clue what is going on and stay happy . Be sure to switch off the battery breaker and not the one for the mains - you can then engage bypass on the inverter to use PHCN/Gen direct during the equalization period.

I hear tell that Microtek (another indian type inverter) can both equalize batteries as well as withstand high voltages - the jury is out on that though as I never tested it.

Again new designs may have overcome this limit but last I checked what I said above is the status.

This is not true. My sukam falcon plus could take an equalization charge of 31v without issues and I used it for over a year before selling it off to get something bigger. The same is with the 3KVA+ inverter models

NiyiOmoIyunade:
The symptoms you describe for voltage look like the classic signs of loss of battery capacity/beginning of battery failure.

First confirm if your batteries have been getting a full charge at the end of everyday ... if so then ......

Do you have access to an hydrometer? - a good one can be bought relatively cheap - let the batteries charge fully then rest for 2 hours and then check the specific gravity of each cell - you should be reading SG between 1.260 and 1.300 for a healthy cell.

Next perform a deep discharge load test on the batteries - if you have access to a load tester good else run your inverter normally or put on extra loads within the inverter limit of course till you start getting the low battery alarm - quickly measure each battery's voltage at this point - most likely you will see one or two batteries with voltage much lower than the others - these are the troublesome ones you need to focus attention on. In any event any battery reading below 10.5v under load is definitely suspicious and should be queried further.

If you identify any batteries with any cell having low SG below 1.260 after full charge or low voltage below 10.5v under load then fill up each cell within the battery with enough distilled water to cover the plates (don't overfill else the water will boil out) then charge fully again and then after a full charge perform equalization at 15.5volts per cell for 2-4 hours - then monitor performance again.

Contrary to conventional wisdom - 29.4v boost i.e. 12.7v per 12v battery may not be sufficient to keep your flooded batteries happy. Higher charge voltages are required especially with solar applications when you may not get sufficient power into the batteries to ensure a full charge daily.

Please perform these checks and revert back with the outcome - if the batteries come back to life then consider raising your boost voltage to 30 to 30.4volts max - better yet set the boost voltage based off your SG readings - the higher your SGs the higher the ideal boost voltage required.

Above all your batteries should be getting a daily full charge and not discharged below 50% DoD to have a healthy and long life - if this is not happening you may need to upsize solar array or CC or get external charger to supplement or reduce the loads you run - basically any adjustments required to get a regular full charge and stay within 50% DoD

Totally agree with all the above except the part in bold. charging a battery with an absorption voltage over that recommended by the manufacturer will wear out the plates quicker. Remember you still have to factor in temperature compensation. I think the best thing is to design your offgrid system to be circled at around 30% depth of discharge. The advantage of doing this is 2 fold. 1 you stress the battery less hence prolong the usable life, 2 its easy to replace what was used from the battery if discharge is 30% of dod. In a place like Nigeria, The size of your battery discharge should closely align with the size of what generate from your panels. Again this is where efficient load comes in. An efficient load allows you discharge your battery at a rate where you can even get more from the battery than specified, and it allows you to do more with less. I have 2 Mercury tubular battery and this powers the whole house 24 hours a day (including raining season) yet the most I have discharged them is 45% dod. usual daily discharge cycle is at between 25-35% dod. This allows my battery to get to float every single day sine I started using them.

My loads include a Deep freezer of 165L, a medium sized fridge all running from a minimum of 9-3 (during raining season) and 7-5 in the dry season. 42 inch led tv, home theater PC, and 1200w sound system, over 10 lighting points and 3 fans, occasional washing machine, blender.

When you work on making your loads efficient (which is in the long run cheaper than generating elecricity) you will not struggle to charge your battery and solar would be enjoyable.

earthrealm:
So had a chance to pop into villa .
The setup up there aint doing too well.
After the last watering ops 3months ago..1 of the cells in my 220ah mecury fla batt did not go down.others went down.its still at max while others are already below halfway...any idea how to sol e this?

2ndly the batt voltage jumps too rapidly.
It was 22.4v by dawn..even tripped off b4 day break..but as soon as sunlight came up as little as 2amps from the cc..it rapidly jumped to 25.7v within 10mins..and less than 2hrs later its already 27v.

Am suspecting the rise in voltage is due to the cc setting.cos boost is at 29.4v..while float is 27.6v

Like someone noted those batteries have been allowed to go below the safe zone over and over again for their own good. I also suspect that they have been left in a cycle of under charging for so long some might have lost the ability to do a full charge. fully agree with the suggestions from NiyiOmoIyunade

johnson232:
Even if u are renting it out, human beings will still rent it, not animals. So if a building is bad for u structurally or anyone, one should rectify it as we are living in structures built by others where ever we are...
But the truth is there is absolutely nothing wrong with your building, any architect will agree with me that 6" blocks are use for buildings of your size, u even have money for using 9 inches blocks. As long as it is a bungalow, structurally your building is absolutely sound. Nothing to fear.
As regards the head beam, if u have money, it is good, it will help to reduce the roof load & also help chain your building, since your lintel wasn't a chained one. But if u don't have enough money, u can still roof, roofing for two bedroom bungalow isn't much, your building can withstand it.
In all, your building is perfectly okay, it is a bungalow & a small one.

Thanks brother Johnson. I think you misread the first part of my question. I was actually asking about the building integrity so as to determine its fit for human habitation be it myself, family or a tenant. I did not mean to infer renting it out once the response is to the negative. Thanks for the advise.

EgunMogaji:
I was lambasted on here for being a "1 brick a year" builder because I was taking my time and ensuring that things were done my way thus only working on site when I was physically in the country to oversee.

If I were you I would finish this structure with minimal fanfare as in finishing, etc and then sell it off. Or better yet rent it off. I don't think the house is unsafe, for a bungalow, but it'snot what you want. You'll always second guess your self.

Then start off a new build but this time with you as the General Contractor.

Good luck.

Thanks alot for the advise bro. That is exactly my plan. Yet even for renting out. I just wanted to know if laying 6 inch blocks on 9 would have any structural effect whatsoever in future.

Floor plan attached

Hi guys. This is a bit of a long one:

So I have been away (hustling and stuff) and decided to build a low budget functional house for my family and stop the house rent which is becoming a drain. I decided to build on a 50 by 50 plot of land. A basic 2 bedroom bungalow.

I did very basic floor plan (see attached) to allow for enough space for rooms and a packing space which can take 2 cars. I used this tool http://www.sweethome3d.com/ for my floor plan.

Due to my busy schedule, I left the supervision with my brother since he had experience in construction. He hired the technicians and hands for the project while I provided money.

They took the project to lintel level when I came back to inspect it. Unfortunately I was very unhappy with what I saw. Here are my concerns


1) Against my instruction, my brother still went on to mix 9 inches with 6 inches for the outter walls. I told him to use 9 inches for the outter walls of the house all through and reserve the 6inches for the house. This was not done instead 9 inches blocks was used up to window level and 6 inches used to lintel level. I fear that this might affect the structural integrity of the house in future, since the house was designed not to have pillers and DPC was not used in the 3 course foundation.

2) I halted the roofing of the house because the carpenter recommended I use head course which is a casting done round the house 2 courses after the lintel. Is this really necessary?


My brother said the style of laying 6inch blocks on 9inch was fine since I wont be doing parapet and the soil was dry and good and " people do it alot without issues" but am not sold.

Is they any remedy to this before roofing? please gurus in the house. I would appreciate your take. I have attached pictures of the property in its current state.

GeorgeD1:
now, for my vote of thanks:

juo is the man of the moment!

it has really been a very tortuous journey for me. i set out looking for the best and most economical way to replace my
tristar mppt-60 which obviously was undersized for my solar array and i searched in a number of places, contacted
quite a few sources both here and outside the forum and ended up disappointed. i noticed that most sellers still carry prices
of items calculated at an exchange rate of 450 to 550 naira to the dollar. over seven months after dollar has reduced to 365
naira and below, these peeps choose to bury their heads in the sand and pretend not to be aware of the current realities.
in comes juo the life saver! here was i chatting with this unassuming seller on this thread via watsapp and narrating
my ordeal to him and the next thing i knew he was already making arrangements to get me a midnite solar classic 150 at an
incredibly mouth-watering price. initially i thought it was all a joke until i got that much anticipated call from him telling me
that my cc was ready for collection. at the end of the day when i compared what i paid to the amount that a popular online
store is selling their midnite, i just shake my head in disbelief.

not only has juo proven to be a reliable guy to deal with, he has always been consistently delivering quality products at
unbelievably low prices and this successful deal adds another feather to his cap.

Thanks for this review. It adds to the heap of knowledge on here. I have always suspected the midnight classic is indeed the lion king of offgrid charge controllers due to its legendary status among offgriders. I remember reading somewhere that they and Outback are a branch from the same tree and their founders it was who pioneered the concept of MPPT solar controllers.

About JUO. He is the most understated Underestimated unassuming seller in this part. I remembered one time one of my controllers went lemon and even though it was under warranty and a replacement was on the way from the manufacturers, the time lapse meant I would be without solar insurance policy for close to 3 weeks. This happened on a saturday, I called JUO explained to him my situation and informed him of my need to have a new controller the next day in Abuja... The fact that I had the controller in my hands is not the exceptional part, it is that JUO sent the controller even though I explained to him my tight financial state and the fact that he might not be paid until much latter. BY sunday evening I was taking delivery of the charge controller and crisis was averted.

Just recently procured 4 Front Access AGM batteries from from him for a neighbour, The price he offered those batteries was so mouth watering, I give him 20K back for the boys. My neigbour called me last night to thank me for the batteries. Said they are working better than what he expected.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
I know you asked specifically for advice about a new energy efficient TV to buy, but I would say you should first sit down and do the math - even an energy efficient TV would consume some watts at the larger screen sizes - say your Plasma is peak 300w consumption and the latest equivalent energy saving OLED is 100w - is a 200w energy saving worth spending 500k to 1million naira on?

If you ran your TV for say 8 hours daily, then you save 200w * 8hours = 1.6kwhr - that is about 70% of the useable power in a good 12v 200ah battery.

Consider doing an energy audit - you might find other power guzzlers you could shave off e.g. fridges and freezers don't really need to run 24/7 so you could put them on a timer overnight OR if you have solar there might be scope for some optimization if you invite a professional to audit your system - with a midpoint spend of 500k,instead of a new TV, you could easily purchase 6pieces 300w Tier 2 panels and have change left for cabling and installation fees OR you could easily purchase 4pieces new 12v 200ah batteries with at least 8kwhr useable power in them OR you could pay your Nepa bills for more than one year OR fuel your generator for at least one year as well.

If however your mind is made up or you just need to have that new OLED TV then by all means go ahead, the outlay is justified by getting your heart's desires but not necessarily the short run energy savings that may accrue - this is especially true if you are using any Renewable Energy power source where your upfront costs are already sunk.

My brother, the difference between a plasma and led in terms of power consumption is night and day. I know a friend whose 42 Inch plasma consumes over 400w. Mine consumes 20w (18w on ijebu mode) the 380w difference less than what I use to power my house at full load (which includes a freezer, fridge, Tv, some fans, lights etc. I started my offgrid journey with 2 240w panels and they did serve me because of efficiency I built into the system. I do understand your point on sunk cost and high cost of changing appliances. But remember, to conserve electricity is cheaper than to generate it.

You don't have to buy an Oled, you can always get LED, it is very efficient and the 1080p is quite good (How many 1080p content are even out there, how many channels on DSTV are 1080p, less than 10%) it would take a long long time before 4k content becomes mainstream. If you sell you plasma and use the net gains to buy an LED it is worth is. Tv is one of most used items in your home. its not unusual to expect to use it for 10 hours in a day. 10 * 300 = 3000wh, that is 3kwh in a day just to run Television.

life707:
In Jos where I stay, even when there is no rain, there will be no sunshine for up to 3days, so for most of us that live off grid, we use two systems with an automatic change over running a 14/10hr shifts.

The rationale is to rest one set and get better charging while the other set manages d little daylight to power the house.
We observed that no matter how many kwatts of PV u have, as long as d system runs for 24hrs, during this period, the battery drains faster because the depth of charge is not sufficient to make the batteries float.

Thus necessitating two system up.

The PV I bought from you were to augment my second system.

With ur 7kw system, a split into 4.5kw and 2.5kw will be helpful.
U will be surprise what the 2.5kw system can do at night when it has all the time to charge all day with little sunlight and settle before coming on to take over from the 4.5kw system that charges and work at the same time during the day.

Just thought to share my experience.

I have been toying with this idea (in my head) seems a great now that am reading your implementation. It's a nice way to expand especially someone like me who wants to increase overall system capacity without falling into the danger of mixing batteries.

I just need to setup a smaller night mode system which is used for relative light night load and turned off during the day where it does only charging. While the main system runs opportunity loads during the day and goes off at night. This would be an efficient way and even ensure shallow discharge of batteries.

jazzman2:
Hi Bigrovar,
Will increasing your PV production capacity help your situation? Like doubling or tripling ur current PV capacity?

Regards

won't be as efficient as diversifying to something like wind. over sizing should have it's limits especially considering the really tough months are July-August. if you overtly oversize your PV beyond your load, your system would be under utilised for the most part of the year

Kai, Sun is literally not smiling in my neck of wood. I had to roar the Gen back to live last night no thanks to 3 days of diabolically dark clouds. I had to cut down on powerful loads like fridge and freezer hence my turning on the gen before all frozen food go to waste. I think it is time we really look to diversify our source of renewable energy and start to look into Wind Turbine as an addition complementary to solar. especially for times like these and also to help with night load. For am just looking for a 600w wind turbine setup. Even if I can get 200w from it from an average day wind is a win for me because that should be more than enough to power the freezer and cover the night load (at all at all na him bad)

anyone here has any experience with wind turbine generators?

Saipro:
You know, I'd say you're on to something. Perhaps it's time to stop encouraging complacency and mediocrity. Help would still be rendered if the request is sincere with showing of committment but if all you're after is to patch up an existing system, I'd go with bigrovar and suggest you get a professional. No more free lunch. Well, there's free lunch at the table but you first have to make your way to the table.

We're talking high current systems here. People could really get hurt. Or worse.

Exactly. many of us here came on as complete Jambites. But we was ready to learn and went to great effort. Bros nothing is free. I know how much I spent on calls and data watching youtube videos, calling tracking down and calling experienced hands on here to pick their brains. All in quest of knowledge. Many are not ready for all that, they just want to throw their problem over the fence and expect a one line solution. When you commit to helping by asking for basic information or asking them to perform basic task. They just go silence. For those people get a pro.. we have many here. If you want knowledge and want to do with your hands. Then roll your sleeve and be ready to learn. No free lunch here. but we have recipe on how to prepare a great meal. If you want fast food, enter MrBiggs

Barezzi:
Errr seems you slept off bro
Abeg update...

egbon no dey waste time.

efuro:
Truly You have been away for long to know the thread is not what it use to be. "No free knowledge again" so I hear. Anyway sha! some of us know & appreciate passionate ones like you.

More blessings!

I don't know anyone who has come here seeking knowledge and has left empty handed. Its just that of late we have seen less DIY people and more of people who just want their system to just "work" without putting in the needed time to make it work. DIY is not for everyone and it is not easy, if it were everyone would be doing it. It takes time patience and lots of learning which most are not ready to do. What people do here nowadays is problem dump. Dump their solar problems here and expect people to fix them often time they provide very little information. Its hard enough trouble shooting a problem from post from a forum. whats worse is trouble shooting without little to work with. In most cases the best thing for some persons is to seek professional assistance. If you are not ready to read and learn and get your hands dirty. DIY is not for you.

bixton:
Except you want to use your roof space for some somewhat sort you don't need it.
I'm guessing you're concerned about free air flow within the living areas in your apartment.
If your windows are positioned rightly for proper cross ventilation you can also increase the height of your headroom. That is, if you're doing 3 blocks after lintel add an extra block on it.
You can add the air vents on your roof to compliment air flow too.

Making it 4 blocks after lintel?
Like Mr EgunMogaji I would add a vent to the gable and roof eaves. And yes my concern is reducing heat build up in the attic which is usually transferred to the living area.

EgunMogaji:
No, in my opinion.

First, the Nigerian roof system is not air proof as it is based on how they install it. So air still escapes.

Second, I think a gable or eave vent would be better if you must have a vent.

.

Not a construction expert in any way. But casual observation of many roof construction in Nigeria. It's hard to notice any air vent. The recent parapet trend even makes situ worse as I can not see how hot air build up can be vented out of the roof attic other than through the attic outlet (man hole) which in most cases can be found in the living quarters. The lack of a way to vent the roof allows hot air built up in the attic to radiate down to the house increasing home temperature especially during the hot dry season.

I think I will go with the gable and eave vent. Thanks for the information.

Hi guys. In at the lintel stage of my 2 bed room house. Was wondering what are the best way to achieve roof attic ventilation. My goal is to reduce heat from the sun by venting out hour air build up in the roof attic. Would appreciate ideas from experience hands here.

One of the things am considering is a roof wind turbine vent. To help vent out the hot air. Does this make sense?

ITbomb:
I for one I'm not a fan of sliding windows.

They are just bad for privacy, you can't let fresh air in without exposing your inner room.

But since louvers are becoming archaic, I decided to get something modern but similar

The type you can open either up or down, full or half, one on top, one below

@op, I suggest you consider these ones, forget louvers

Name of the windows in the picture. Are those casement? It seems they open in words. Also do they solve the issue of ventilation?

ITbomb:
I for one I'm not a fan of sliding windows.

They are just bad for privacy, you can't let fresh air in without exposing your inner room.

But since louvers are becoming archaic, I decided to get something modern but similar

The type you can open either up or down, full or half, one on top, one below

@op, I suggest you consider these ones, forget louvers

Archaic is pretty much why it's nolonger in use. Has taste shifted in the late 80s and early 90s to the then fancy sliding windows frames. Sliding windows became the aspirational type of windows for most new home owners. This lead to a drop in demand for louvers especially in the upper to mid range market. The market responded and only poor quality louvers were imported to meet the lowest end of the market.

Louvers can be very elegant and fancy. Just won't find the good ones in NG market. Just the razz poorly constructed cheap ones.

Mologi:
aestheticism also relies on genuine civilization to remain attractive...

what is happening is that people are dumping louvers because new ones are available.

However, it all boils down to choice.

We agree. My point is just that the new taste is technologically inferior in all ways. Majority of people who live in closely built up areas especially on the ground floor have their sliding windows permanently shut or covered with curtain. Defeating the purpose of having windows in the first place. Despite the heat and humidity you can only use 50% of your windows space and 0% when it rains. How is this progress?

eezeribe:
You can as well use mud in the building and thatch for the roofing... There are cooler than conventional blocks and Zinc/Aluminium...
You would think this should be the most used materials in building Nigerian houses due to the hot tropical climate... But no this is not the case.
So please if you know where fine baked mud and thatch are sold in large quantity,please inform the Op.

Your attempt at sarcasm falls flat when you consider that yes. Nigeria ought to have moved on from how we construct houses. We ought to be building our homes in line with out climate and easily available resources. Our fore fathers in this regards were the wiser. They built houses with good thermal insulation, using materials around them. This is why it is hard find people homeless before the white man came.

Today Technology has allowed us to improve on what our forefathers did. It's called hydraulically compressed bricks which uses just lateraite and 5%,cement to make inter locking bricks that can reduce the cost of construction by over 30%. It removes the reliant on cement and mortal. It also great thermal insulation from cold and heat. My friends who live in houses built with hydraform bricks don't even have AC in their house even in the hot season. Again one would think that such a technology would be popular in Nigeria. But ask around. Very very few people know about it. And skills set for it is very scares. Before starting my project. Everyone of my civil engineering friends had heard nothing about hydraform. The result is we continue to rely on cement when the tech to allow us built cheaper better cooler houses is already there.

Mologi:
I guess it's because we are in 2017 and you are still in 1934......

How does this even make sense. Are we suppose to progress or retrogress. How is any of the windows tech we use now better than louvers windows in terms of efficiency, better ventilation and privacy. Aesthetics can be argued but it's about taste.

greatnaija01:
i use it till now o. and many use it o.... so do not generalize just because u live in a certain enclave of society..

Like I said. It's in use, but mostly by people on a budget.. Virtually all up market and not so up market houses in the last 15 years at least in major Nigerian cities I have been to (Lagos abuja PH) use anything but louvers for windows. A far cry from the 80s and early 90s. Louvers are not offered as a low end window for people on a budget hence making it hard to find quality well produced louvers in the market. If you or anyone has a link to where I can buy good quality louvers. Please drop it here.

Hi guys. I am about to start a small house project. For this I intend to make the house functional and as efficient as possible. Although intend to use traditional building materials like blocks. I do intend to have the house have functionality over aesthetics as much as possible.

One area which has bothered me is the inability to find *quality* louvers window frames. Without a doubt. Louvers are the best window frames for a tropical climate like Nigeria. It allows for 100% ventilation allowing you to use the total window space for ventilation. When it rains you can still enjoy ventilation by adjusting the tilt of the windows so that air can come in but the rain stays out. This is something which can't be achieved by either a casement or sliding window which is the fancy now a days.

Lastly louvers provide the best privacy for the home sliding windows which has to be left close or have your windows covered by curtains. To prevent visibility from outside. Louvers allows u to fit the lower side of the windows with translucent non see through glass which can be tilted to prevent anyone from seeing inside while at the same time allowing air to come in.

With all these advantages of louvers. One would think that it's the default windows in Nigerian homes. Alas reverse is the case. Louvers has virtually disappeared from the market. Only place u find them are old houses or very poor neighborhoods. In the market due to lack of demand from up scaled buyers. The only type of louvers in the market are of extreme poor quality.

I wonder why such a useful functional low cost technology got replaced by an inefficient expensive and frankly IMHO less elegant solution.

If anyone sells quality louvers windows frame kindly leave a message here. I need them badly.

Daboomb:
The man is ill, he handed over to his deputy so he can rest, yet you guys say that is not enough!
What manner of rest is it again, than being in Hospital for the past few months or should he go and rest in heaven?
Why dont you just come out openly that what you really want is a "change of Govt" so you can achieve, that which you lost at the polls?
Na waa for you "People-Deceiving-People" (PDP) folks o!
This hypocrisy stinks to high heavens and to think that most of you lost your voice in the last six years before Buhari came to office?



As far as you are concerned, Buhari is responsible for all the woes of this country!
That is most unfair.
This is where "Me and You" defer.

Okay, l agree with you: We have a lot of problems and we should not "hide them and pretend all is well".
And l also agree that you were responding to another post.

But you should also agree that using Buhari's health situation to buttress your point was not very good.
All the Problems of Nigeria that you highlighted are true and you will also agree with me that THEY ARE CAUSED BY CORRUPTION.

If we both agree with the above, then we should also agree that though Buhari is not a "saint" but he is by far the only Nigerian leader that has shown "any attempt" to even tackle corruption:
1.) from insisting that all Ministries" and Govt Agencies should stop the usual "finish the budget allocation on Dec 31, irrespective of what you do with it"...instead, Buhari instituted the Single Treasury Account, whereby though the money is budgeted but if not spent, it must be returned to the treasury!
It also ensures that ALL INCOMES and EXPENDITURES of the Govt goes to/through a Single Govt Account. You can only imagine the effect of this when you realise that some Govt Agencies have up to 48 HIDDEN BANK ACCOUNTS! Where only the D.G, head of Finance and maybe another caucus members knows about.

2.) It is only Buhari that has boldly challenged Corruption, even refusing the New vehicles he was given and saying "Since the old ones used by Jonathan are still working, he would continue to use them".
he also sold-off some of the fleets of Aircrafts acquired by previous Govt, reducing the number to 4, from around fifteen!

3.) He is the only one who made "Corrupt Judges", as powerful and almighty as they are, to know that they are not completely untouchable

4.) He was the only one who could touch "the high and mighty thieves" in our system though the EFCC needs to be more pro-active, less noisy and use "scientific evidence/methods" to mail criminals.

I can go on and on but my Wife has just issued a fatwa on me, to come to bed right now!

It is for these reasons that "they got to him" very quickly and he has to be hospitalised.
Just think about the number of criminals that would shout hallelujah, if Buhari were to die today!

Now, he did all these, took all the "bullets" for the sake of our country.
How does it now feel that it is the "same we" that will ridicule him everywhere by passing such snide remarks, about his health?
Do you think Buahri loves being in the U.K while his tenor, which he has fought for, and lost three times in the past, is wasted or used on his behalf, by another person (though his assistant)?
Dont you know that Buhari will love nothing more than to leave a lasting legacy (like J. J. Rawlings) in Nigeria, now that he is nearing his end, as a result of old age?

Do you not think that Buahri will rather be in his "other room" with Aisha, than be in a cold London hospital?
Buhari has always been a healthy man with spartan lifestyle so, for him to have undergone a few blood transfusion is an indication that he was "reborn" and his system was completely destroyed.

What the man needs is our prayers, even when we see to our chagrin that the Evil doers have kind of succeeded.
A lot of things are happening today that we all felt disappointed ..in the CHANGE we voted for but we all know that if Buhari was to be "sound and healthy", majority of these things would never happen. Who born Monkey?

In summary Sir, l am sorry if l offended you, l am also not a politician though l take absolute interest in the success of my country and her well-being.
Just imagine, that we had to dig-deep to a retired, 73yr old man, (after searching everywhere and found none that could effect the desired change) to come to our rescue!
What does that say about the level of decadence amongst our younger ones?
Kidnapping and looting everywhere!

Buhari that took office in 2015 is no longer the same person we see now, he has been weakened but is it Saraki that we want to use as replacement? God forbid!
Even a weakened Buhari (playing at the background, with Prof. Osinbajo doing the heavy lifting for him and on his behalf) is still preferable to all the thieves l see around, circling like vultures, waiting to pounce.

Let us not face each other, our common enemies are in the Senate, the Governors, Ministers, public servants who take bribe, Police, e.t.c.
I will reserve my anger for those ones.

Between me and YOU, its a good, firm handshake.

Jesus Christ. Please this is a thread about building. There is a political section where you can knock youself out on Buhari and any political issues. It's ironic that you guys come here to talk about failings in the Nigerian nation and of government yet the irony of disrupting a thread with disruptive post and the fact that doing that means u are doing the exact thing you are accusing govt of. People come here to learn and read about building a house not to see about politics. Please please and please enough of all this diversion. Some good person here is talking about roof. Let us the opportunity to follow that conversation.