Off the Grid Living. What it takes from my point of view.

Anything off grid. Energy, waste management, water supply, housing, whatever.
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offthegridinok
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Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:26 pm

Off the Grid Living. What it takes from my point of view.

Post by offthegridinok » Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:59 pm

Off the Grid Living.
By definition is to be un attached from electrical (utility from public sources).

Well each person that lives off grid has their own opinion, In my case I am not attached to any public utilities at all (other than my cell phone (comms are important) voice and data.

I will give you a brief description of my setup then go into the real reason I am posting this. Our home is made out of a 12 x 40 portable building. We have solar for power, wood for heat (propane backup).We can cook on the wood stove but we will have propane stove for the hotter months. We haul our water in from different places until I can finish digging our hand dug well. We use a home made composting toilette. We collect rain water and our grey water (sink, shower) to use to water the garden and plants. We burn all the trash that can be burnt to use the ash in the compost. The other trash we take off to recycle or use public dumpsters. Once we retire from the road then we we have farm animals to help our lifestyle. We are doing all the finish work ourselves.

Now to the real reason I am posting this. Off grid life is a GREAT BIG CHANGE in your lifestyle. Many people think it will be easy and fail at it. When you are use to getting out of bed the heat or AC is on and you run over and flip on the light to every place you go in your home then turn on the TV, then start up the microwave to heat up your left over coffee then start up the coffee maker just to start off your day.
All of that takes electricity and in a off grid life you have to be SUPER aware of what electricity you use. You have to change all your habits. Another example is most people take a 10 to 20 minute long shower, this takes about 20 to 40 gallons of water and you must heat half the water. Again you have to change your thinking and habits. There are many other considerations and I will cover them in later post.

Dont get me wrong I believe anyone who wants to go off grid can if they know what to expect prior to changing their lifestyle. I suggest to people that want to go off grid to simplify the life they are living. Create good habits by turning off lights, unplugging items that draw power when not in use. Take showers to conserve water and power. Example tuen on water, get the temp right then get wet and turn off the water, soap up then turn water back on and rinse. This is very basic, we do allow for a hollywood shower every now and again (leave the water running) but we know this causes us to have to go get more water sooner. Our home right now has no shower so we have to go and shower at the truckstop 14 miles away and yes we turn the water on and off. We hope to resolve this the next time we are home.

We have a you tube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/OurOffGridSolarCabin that we try and update. Check it out if you want.

Practice makes perfect and while your thinking and designing your off grid life practice how you will live. This will only benefit you more.

If you have comments or questions please feel free. I will try to respond as best I can.

We live a very simple life and it has put more money back in our pockets. We found that we dont need 2000 sq ft home to be happy.

Thanks for reading and God Bless.

techman
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Re: Off the Grid Living. What it takes from my point of vie

Post by techman » Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:36 pm

It is good to hear from someone else who is living off the grid. It is a huge lifestyle change, for sure.

I am using my own homemade solar panels. Right now I only have about 300 watts total. I do not have enough for a fridge. I cannot yet run a shower, so I use a tub of water to bathe with. I collect rain water for bathing and cooking. You can filter the rain water to drink as well.

Hopefully this summer I will be finishing my huge swimming pool filter conversion. This will filter water for drinking.

Thanks for posting. I look forward to hearing more.

offthegridinok
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Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:26 pm

Re: Off the Grid Living. What it takes from my point of vie

Post by offthegridinok » Sat Feb 23, 2013 2:31 pm

Hot water has gotten much easier and cheaper. http://www.amazon.com/Eccotemp-FVI-12-L ... d_sim_hi_1 is a great unit. they have many different sizes and using a small 12 volt pump from tractor supply will get you plenty of pressure to have a nice shower. Tractor Supply has a 15 and 25 gallon tank with a built on pump from 80 dollars to 140 dollars. very economical for a short term fix or even a long term depending on how you put it in your system.

We use a 15 gallon for kitchen and a 25 gallon for the shower at this time. We will feed them from our storgage tank out side by gravity flow and a float valve. Low costing water supply.

Just had to add that in. Once we get a well complete then we will use the small tanks and pumps as a backup system.

We like a lot of redundancy.

Hope this helps with your ideas on a shower.

techman
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Re: Off the Grid Living. What it takes from my point of vie

Post by techman » Mon Feb 25, 2013 7:11 pm

Thanks. I have seen those propane hot water heaters for off grid living. I have considered getting one, but then you are tied to the energy companies again.

I have also considered the tractor supply water tanks as well, but I am on a very tight budget. I have been using salvaged camper parts when I can.

My ultimate goal is to use solar and wood for hot water heating. Solar is perfect for summer and wood for colder or cloudy days.

Redundancy is very good.

offthegridinok
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Re: Off the Grid Living. What it takes from my point of vie

Post by offthegridinok » Mon Feb 25, 2013 7:40 pm

We will use solar hotwater heater and storage when I get it built. But when I can use the propane tank from my grill for quick hot water then for 12 dollars to fill tank its very economical. We have researched running pipping through the wood stove but I havent found it very cheap to do.

Once we have the basics fully operational then we can research more and change to other means to heat water with.

I feel as many Off the Grid people feel that using propane is a clean fuel and since most of us go get it when we need it then its not being hooked to a utility service. We only use the 20 pound bottles so we can get it at a local feed store. I dont think you can be 100% free of comercial energy since we are not going back to horse and buggy.
I think realistically fuel for the vehicle, the tractor and propane for grilling and showering and backup heat would not be considered still attached to the grid. (95% of my off grid friends all use a little fuel oil in some shape or form).

The tractor supply 15 gallon tank with pump is 85 dollars and the 25 gallon tank with pump is 135. The pumps normally cost 85 themselves for the ones on the tank. Then you can use the same pump on your other water containers. Its sweet since it will cut off when you dont use it and on when needed, water flow triggers it. The most economical way I have found for a 12 volt pump. Gravity fed water we tried and well it didnt work to good for pressure in the sink or hose. Great for watering plants.

Hope this helps.

techman
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Re: Off the Grid Living. What it takes from my point of vie

Post by techman » Wed Feb 27, 2013 10:04 am

Yes, of course, I also use propane. I feel that as long as there are no cables or pipes coming to your home, then you are off the grid. Propane is my backup heater for cold or lazy days when I dont want to build up a fire. I use propane for cooking as well. Why not.

You can wrap copper tubing around your fireplace chimney pipe and run it to a hot water storage tank. The water should flow on its own as it heats up and into the tank. Cold water then flows back up the lines and around the chimney pipe to be heated. That is pretty cheap, I think.

I was looking at the tractor supply tanks. Arent they the ones for ATV use? I wonder if they are food grade plastic. That was my only concern when looking at them. I agree, the water pump alone is worth it. I have two spare water pumps and a water tank from gutting out old campers that were way beyond repair. That gives me about 50 gallons of water storage. After the thaw, I will dig a cistern and put 50 gallon plastic barrels under the ground for more rain water storage. Right now I can fill a 50 gallon drum in a single rain storm. I have seen it fill up on ten minutes. The rest is wasted.

And, if I have guests, I can go through 50 gallons in a month easy. Alone I use about 30 gallons per month. But that includes container bathing with water heated on the stove. I have not been taking showers yet due to lack of water supply. So I have been living VERY sparing on the water. Although in summer I can drink a gallon a day easy.

I want to make a water recirculation system for my shower. Heat up some water and run it to the shower head. Then down into a filter and back through the system. Dump it all when you are done showering and heat up clean water for next time. Maybe I can shower with 2 gallons of water then. That is my theory anyway.

offthegridinok
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Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:26 pm

Re: Off the Grid Living. What it takes from my point of vie

Post by offthegridinok » Mon Mar 04, 2013 11:00 pm

The Tractor Supply Tanks we have been using for about 3 years. When we bought them we washed them out and bleached them. They have never had any alge or mold startup. About once a month we will wash them with a little bleach before we fill them, give them a good rinse. The pumps will give you plenty of pressure to shower with. We use them to shower with. What I did was install a small ball valve on the up spout so I dont have to adjust the water every time I turn it off. We turn it on get wet then turn it off, soap up and all then turn it on to rinse. usually less than 3 gallons of water per person. We use the small 15 gallon tank to shower with and fill it with rain water to shower with. The Instant on water heater gets the water hot enough to make it sanitary. We use the 25 gallon tank in the sinks with only fresh water to cook and drink.
We capture all the water from the sinks and shower in our grey water holding barrels and use it to water the plants. It can be filtered to bath with but I havent invested in that type of filter system yet.
We will be getting a 500 to 1200 gallon tank to put on a trailer to go and get water for storage and use until we can get the well right. But thats a few months away.

We are working on the solar system mainly at this point plus trying to finish the inside of the cabin. We just got 2 more 250 watt panels and new Charge controller and breakers and fuses. We had to save hard for that. With this will will have plenty of electricity to fully power our home. That will be a great relief.

Take a look around your area and see if you can find the blue 55 gallon drums. We are finding them for 2 to 4 dollars a piece. They make great water storage and with your stream you can fill them fast and use them to shower with. Also be able to collect your grey water in them also.

God Bless and hope this helped you get new ideas and clear up a few things.

techman
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Re: Off the Grid Living. What it takes from my point of vie

Post by techman » Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:05 pm

Yes, thank you for the updates.

The 55 gal blue drums cost about $12 - 15 around here. I am saving up for a run in to Conn to get some. Its the only place I found so far.

Now you have me wanting one of those propane hot water heaters. Oh, how nice it would be to have a hot shower again. I am bathing in the sink using the camping method. Fill up a container with hot water and use a cup to rinse your hair and a washcloth to bathe with.

I still need to redo my rain water collector since I moved to a new place. I had to leave the long 40 foot metal sheets behind. Had no way to bring them to my new location. Sad. They were so perfect for me. Now I am hand carrying 1 gallon jugs of water to my camper each day. Not easy, but its a start.

My solar panels got hurt in the winter and are running at about 50% capacity. That is half of then are damaged and need to be repaired. My batteries have also failed so I am shopping for new ones right now.

Thanks for the updates. Keep them coming please. I am happy to hear from others.

offthegridinok
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Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:26 pm

Re: Off the Grid Living. What it takes from my point of vie

Post by offthegridinok » Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:47 pm

Does your panels have a diode on them to stop back voltage from the CC and batteries? Does your charge controller have a equalization setting? Are you drawing your batteries down more than 50%? All these things can shorten the life of the batteries and no protection diode on the panels will kill them if you have voltage returning to them.

Walmart has some great deep cycle marine batteries with 109 amp hours for 72 dollars. 12 volt batteries. Cant beat that price for new batteries. they need core or pay 15 extra dollars.

The propane instant on http://www.amazon.com/Eccotemp-L5-Porta ... 70-8411047 thats one of the cheaper ones.

Conn? were are you located. We have family in NH. I was stationed in ME long time ago.

techman
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Re: Off the Grid Living. What it takes from my point of vie

Post by techman » Thu Mar 14, 2013 12:27 pm

I have a diode on the end of each solar panel before they all join together at the charge controller. I have a homemade charge controller with no float setting. But the charging currents from my homemade solar panels were always low in the last couple hours of the evening, sort of like a float charge.

I am getting a professional solar charge controller asap. Looking right now. I will be showing it on my youtube channel when I get it.

I am in Upstate NY.

PM me your location. Maybe we can meet up some time.

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