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Off grid ideas

cubanito

cubanito

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Real Person
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Is anyone in trying to be more off grid, save on utilities or be less dependent on the system? Maybe we can exchange some ideas?
I am trying to reduce attic heat load while redoing the roof. Found this reflective vapor barrier instead of tar paper types, that drops the attic temp by more than 30 deg. So far seems to be 5 deg over outside temp.
A black roof is the worst heat absorber. Around here most are almost black. I wonder why..
Little stuff like that would help to reduce AC load / reduce power use.
Maybe some of you do other things to generate power or garden efficiently.
So many things we can do and learn..
 
We've got off-grid electricity, and had a generator die a few months ago. I had to either increase generation or reduce load for the winter. We finally got around to replacing a fridge-freezer and chest freezer with modern appliances as low-draw as we could find, just a standalone fridge and a chest freezer, both substantially larger than our old ones. Would have halved our power consumption from refrigeration and dropped our total power consumption by about a third. Some modern appliances are great, if you do your research and find the right ones.
 
Here with the weather being rubbish approx 9 months of the year you really notice a difference with A+ appliances and electricity consumption.Ideally would have a gennie or solar power even..but the solar wouldnt go very far with the said climate: (.Wellwater and adequate insulation to reduce heating bills,around half the time I heat with wood anyway.And dream of warmer countries haha.
 
Solar would still work, you just need a larger number of panels, careful alignment, and wiring them in series rather than parallel with a good mppt charge controller (lets them start working even in poor light). This is feasible today since solar panel prices are so low due to massive production volumes in China, they're now one of the cheaper parts of the system. You couldn't achieve it on a British townhouse but could make it work in the country.
 
The weather is rubbish....everything sounds way cooler when the English say it. I listen to a podcast called the History of England mostly so I can hear the broadcaster's accent and speech patterns.
 
FH,Ive had to do a lot of things by myself but your reply sounded like Hebrew to me lol..Apart from the cheap Chinese parts bit: )
 
This is a lot more than you asked but, like you said, "share ideas". I'm not off grid but looked into a lot of it. There are some tricks and caveats. One major caveat is that in some States/Counties, it is actually ILLEGAL to be disconnected from a major utility. So, you'll always be grid-tied in those locales, even if you're producing 120% of your demand, you know, "for your safety and well-being".

The first step for anyone should always be, get more efficient first! If you're bleeding electrons all over the place, you'll waste time and money designing a system that's bigger than you need. If you improve your efficiency first, you also have the immediate benefit of spending less money on the front end, thereby accelerating your time frame of going off grid.

Light-colored roofing will decrease summer cooling costs, but may (my speculation with no data points) have the inverse problem of increased winter heating costs.

The most important insulation is between the attic and the living area of the house. I borrowed a thermal imager from work and took a look around my house one summer and found multiple places where heat was bleeding into the house from the attic. Never would have known without that. A cheap ($25 USD) temp sensor gun will also work, just not as cool.

Solar-powered, automatic attic fans are a great way to reduce thermal loading in the house.

If you use an evaporative (swamp) cooler, you know that you should have a window open to vent the air right? A few years ago, I kept the windows closed, but opened the attic access panel. The air from the cooler, would go through the house first, then into the attic to cool it down. There was a noticeable difference in the house temp and the swamp cooler cycled much more often (meaning less on-time).

Utilize any state or federal grants that may (still?) be available to help offset the costs of energy-efficient appliances or a solar system.

If you can't afford a system sized to your current demands, design one that can be done in progressive phases. One popular system design that specializes in this is Enphase. They are small, individual inverters for each panel instead of one large inverter for a whole array.

One of the biggest household power sappers is the fridge/freezer (F/F):
  • One trick I found online was using a chest freezer as a fridge instead. The systems and insulation are usually more efficient and use less electricity than their counterparts. Example here.
  • In general, chests are better than stand-ups because your cold air doesn't get "dumped" on the floor when you open them.
  • Keep F/Fs near or at capacity, even if it's just bottles of water. The less air, the less temp loss when opening the door and less energy needed to regain set point.
  • If possible, get units with, or attach, an alarm that goes off when the door has been open for a period of time. I lost a full freezer one time when i somehow, for some reason, left the lid open. It was two days later before i realized it.
  • Try to avoid storing F/Fs in hot areas, like garages. Places that are already pre-cooled (inside a house) or have a natural draft, if outside, would be better.
  • Keep the condenser coils clean. Maybe schedule 1/month and then extend longer if you find that too often.
 
If you live in a cold climate, put the freezer outside.
Wives don't like the idea of chest fridges I have found... Modern efficient upright fridges can be almost as efficient as a chest fridge and more convenient, just look very hard at the efficiency ratings and get a fridge only, not a fridge-freezer. Samsung and Haier have the best fridges for this purpose I hsve found.
in some States/Counties, it is actually ILLEGAL to be disconnected from a major utility
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That is very unusual, mainly only applies in the "land of the free" where everyone is more enslaved than almost anywhere else in the world...
 
ZecAustin said:
Turn off the air conditioning. Its the first step.
Click to expand...

NetWatchR said:
hey hey hey. let's not get crazy now. ;)
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My dad used to always tell me that our houses today aren't designed to be without air conditioning -- there is not enough air flow. He would argue with anyone that if we went back to how they were designed 100 years ago we would find it much easier to go without that modern convenience. I don't remember everything he said, but it had to do with the amount of windows, the placement of the house (no windows on the SE side, unless you are Samuel, Sarah, and our other friends from south of the equator), and even newer things like central house fans. The house I currently live in has almost no air flow, even when the small number of windows that open are opened. Try being in that without A/C in the humid southeastern US summer. Zec, I know you know what I mean.
 
Here in the mountains (actually, on a mesa at 9000' in a valley in the mountains) of southern Colorado, we've been utterly, totally off-grid for quite a few years at this point. Not so much as a single wire, cable, or connected pipe within several miles.

We are almost 100% solar (which works very well in our climate), with solar hot water heat as well, and we're expanding that hopefully this summer for the greenhouse and aquaponics (Tilapia, and a much longer - MAYBE year-round - growing season). Even the phone only works via a 60' ham tower and a Wilson cell repeater.

No A/C needed, of course, and we have a very high-efficiency (compressor switch) refrig/freezer which only draws about 400W, with a nice duty cycle. Given all LED lighting, we can get by on a 4KW inverter, which handles the pump-start loads but otherwise is never even close to capacity. (I can run the welder via a generator... ) We have (had) a 400W wind turbine, which is a nice complement for storms and short winter days, but is a MUCH more failure-prone (as indeed it did, needs bearings again) supplement.

About 4KW of panels (and they're cheaper now than they were) is adequate here; I have another 1200W to put up this summer, once I get the racking structure in place. Lead acid batteries (yuk) are the true "achilles heel" and need to be overcharged ("absorption cycle" it's called, and it's hard when the days are short) for decent life. If money was no object, I'd now go with the Olde Edison Nickel-Iron (NiFe) technology, which beats it in EVERY way, except initial cost. ;)

I don't miss the grid (or the potential for EMP/cyber/etc-related failures) at all. This way we're set for what seems to be "on the near horizon" anyway...
 
aineo said:
My dad used to always tell me that our houses today aren't designed to be without air conditioning -- there is not enough air flow. He would argue with anyone that if we went back to how they were designed 100 years ago we would find it much easier to go without that modern convenience. I don't remember everything he said, but it had to do with the amount of windows, the placement of the house (no windows on the SE side, unless you are Samuel, Sarah, and our other friends from south of the equator), and even newer things like central house fans. The house I currently live in has almost no air flow, even when the small number of windows that open are opened. Try being in that without A/C in the humid southeastern US summer. Zec, I know you know what I mean.
Click to expand...

The main answer for that is double hung windows ( where the top sash can be lowered). Modern single hung windows only allow the air in the bottom half of the room to be circulated leaving the hot air in. Double hung windows have a locking feature that allows you to lower the top sash about 2 inches You can leave your windows gapped for circulation all night as you sleep without security worries.
 
@Mark C, you have a very similar setup to ourselves, just a fraction larger. We've got a 3kw inverter, 2kw of panels, and that's almost entirely adequate with some occasional generator use. But we don't have a water pump to run. The batteries are our problem also, and I wish I could get NiFe, I've been looking for a source for years, but the only way I could get them would be to direct import from China, and I never have the cash for that when my latest set of lead acids packs up and needs replacing.
 
Mark C said:
Here in the mountains (actually, on a mesa at 9000' in a valley in the mountains) of southern Colorado, we've been utterly, totally off-grid for quite a few years at this point. Not so much as a single wire, cable, or connected pipe within several miles.

We are almost 100% solar (which works very well in our climate), with solar hot water heat as well, and we're expanding that hopefully this summer for the greenhouse and aquaponics (Tilapia, and a much longer - MAYBE year-round - growing season). Even the phone only works via a 60' ham tower and a Wilson cell repeater.

No A/C needed, of course, and we have a very high-efficiency (compressor switch) refrig/freezer which only draws about 400W, with a nice duty cycle. Given all LED lighting, we can get by on a 4KW inverter, which handles the pump-start loads but otherwise is never even close to capacity. (I can run the welder via a generator... ) We have (had) a 400W wind turbine, which is a nice complement for storms and short winter days, but is a MUCH more failure-prone (as indeed it did, needs bearings again) supplement.

About 4KW of panels (and they're cheaper now than they were) is adequate here; I have another 1200W to put up this summer, once I get the racking structure in place. Lead acid batteries (yuk) are the true "achilles heel" and need to be overcharged ("absorption cycle" it's called, and it's hard when the days are short) for decent life. If money was no object, I'd now go with the Olde Edison Nickel-Iron (NiFe) technology, which beats it in EVERY way, except initial cost. ;)

I don't miss the grid (or the potential for EMP/cyber/etc-related failures) at all. This way we're set for what seems to be "on the near horizon" anyway...
Click to expand...

Wait...what....who's this? Sputter sputter harrumph! You just walk in here and start talking!? How long has it been since you've posted? Mumble mumble not right! Grumble grumble unconscionable grumble grumble. Should at least say hello mumble grumble mumble grumble pretend to be embarrassed harrumph mumble grumble.
 
Once upon a time, I was a 'token messianic' here, as a Sabbath keeper -- teacher of "Torah as Written" -- and became persona non grata... (isn't that what Yahushua told us anyway?)

I'm happy to see that over time things appear to have changed. Meanwhile, though, I added new ministry responsibilities (Hebrew Nation Radio, our own small local fellowship, Shabbat Shalom Mesa, which has a much larger on-line presence -- Paltalk this evening, erev shabbat services, live teachings tomorrow, etc -- "Walking Torah with Shabbat Shalom Mesa, for those that are interested, WayToZion.org, www.markniwot.com, and so on...) and just plain got out of the habit of looking here.

It didn't help that I either forgot the password over time, or it expired when the new format here came up.

Hello...
 
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