"How to get your home fully off the grid for $5,000"
I am a long time subscriber (and enjoy your videos) and someone who wants to get off-grid. However you may want to remove that little tidbit from your site and YouTube description because I haven't seen you show this and I don't see how it can be done. Simple calculations show it can easily be $10,000 to $20,000 to get off the grid reasonably.
As the price of solar panels drop, it is becoming more affordable, but it is still expensive. A simple 400 watt setup for me would cost me at least $1,500. That is just for the parts. 400 watts (in reality more like 250-300 watts) is not much. I could get by with it due to my lifestyle but most people would always be running out of power and would need at least double or triple that amount ($3,000-$5,000).
For water, the materials for a rainwater collection system can run a few hundred dollars or more. A few thousand if you plan on making the rainwater safe to drink (unless you plan to manually filter it). Well drilling would cost quite a bit and not suitable everywhere.
For heat, I have yet to find a wood stove in my area for less than $500. The pipes for said wood stove will cost me about $1,500. Inspections and permits are extra of course.
For cooling, there is no way to run more than maybe a tiny window AC unit on a small solar setup and it would be really hard on the batteries. It would difficult to just run box fans for ventilation. In some areas of the country, you basically need AC for a large part of the year. To support such, you need a lot more panels and a lot more batteries and a bigger inverter (several thousand dollars right there).
If one is VERY frugal and have plenty of time, they can save SOME money getting off grid but I see it to be nearly impossible to do it for less than $5,000. $5,000 might be enough to buy a 200-400 watt solar panel system with batteries and an inverter, the wires, hardware, and get a very basic rainwater catchment system. Not including land, home, or anything else. This is why I am suggesting you change the "How to get your home fully off the grid for $5,000" as I have yet to see any evidence of being able to do such. Prove me wrong as I do want to get off grid.
On a side note, it would be nice to see more videos on getting off the grid for less. Things like buying "broken" solar cells and turning them into working panels and the output of such (I think you had a video similar to this long ago but times have changed and a new one might be beneficial), building wind turbines from easily obtainable materials, proper wiring of an off grid solar/wind electrical system, rainwater catchment setup and materials needed, so on and so forth.
From my research, rainwater can be dangerous to consume so must be filtered. It must be protected from sunlight to keep things from growing in it. Treatment with chlorine can be beneficial as well. For solar, you may also want to go over ways to conserve electricity to make a small solar panel system go further. All little things but could be useful to people like me who are on grid and want off but don't have much money to work with.
Concerning "getting fully off the grid for $5,000"
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OutOfPlaceNinja
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 3:37 pm
- Location: USA
Re: Concerning "getting fully off the grid for $5,000"
The entire last two years have been all about me experimenting and trying various ideas out in order to finish research for my book.
All the projects and experiments are pointed in that direction.
The book will not involve building or buying a house or camper as some think. It will not include custom sewage systems beyond the simple composting toilet which I built in the camper and then again in the RV.
A simple solar setup like mine can be put together for just a couple thousand dollars. Toss in a few hundred as you quote for the rain water collection. Build a composting toilet. You are off the grid.
This is a very over simplified summary of course but all my videos in the past two years cover all the projects leading up to me finishing the book.
For $5,000 you can get your home off the grid. But it requires a lifestyle change and some adjustments in the home. How you use your power. How much you use. How to save energy. And much more.
All the projects and experiments are pointed in that direction.
The book will not involve building or buying a house or camper as some think. It will not include custom sewage systems beyond the simple composting toilet which I built in the camper and then again in the RV.
A simple solar setup like mine can be put together for just a couple thousand dollars. Toss in a few hundred as you quote for the rain water collection. Build a composting toilet. You are off the grid.
This is a very over simplified summary of course but all my videos in the past two years cover all the projects leading up to me finishing the book.
For $5,000 you can get your home off the grid. But it requires a lifestyle change and some adjustments in the home. How you use your power. How much you use. How to save energy. And much more.