Building ideas for off grid

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Also helps the plastic tank from degrading in the sun.
I went fancier around the house, used wine barrels. Still learning from mistakes on those. When I get them figured out, I’ll post a thread.
Cool. We have about 5 wine barrels in our shop, left over from the previous owner who thought he was some fancy wine maker. haha.
I was hoping I could use those somehow as well.
 
Cool. We have about 5 wine barrels in our shop, left over from the previous owner who thought he was some fancy wine maker. haha.
I was hoping I could use those somehow as well.
Biggest issue is drying out and shrinkage of the wood as you use it for watering plants.
So far my thoughts of helping with that is painting the inside with Flex Seal. 8754ECE1-0D53-4147-9EEB-CA4940EBE02D.jpeg
 
Yeah, we were planning on building up above for the main house. We also considered building the living area on the shop initially, and still are thinking about that. There is a house that is visible from the road - we have an easement through their property - when driving up the driveway, you can see their massive 4000 sq foot custom home. Hoping they are bait first. (that sounds terrible) Haha
do you have a link to thermal imaging systems? This is definitely where we both lack in expertise unfortunately. We have lots of gun power and ammo, but would like to set something up a little bit more defensively.
As a stopgap, you should consider a portable solar generator--maybe $3,000.00--that could provide 1 or 2 kilowatts consistantly. It isn't much, but it could give you lights, rechargable 'D' batteries, computers, playing a DVD, and plenty else . . . probably even a small, D.C. thermoelectric fridge, which could be used to preserve insulin, vaccines, and the serum that's used for dermal T.B. tests. You could probably also store various pit viper antivenoms in the same fridge . . . if appropriate for your area.

It might even have enough juice to power a water pump for a pressured shower (although not running anything else), and so forth.

See below:
https://duckduckgo.com/y.js?ad_prov...D5B7D5D9463931EB34B845CE16279&ID=DevEx,5794.1
This does not require an electrician to rewire the whole house. You can just run the apprppriate protected extension cords, if I'm not mistaken (I could be wrong, but this thing was made for RV camping in remote areas . . . among other things).
 
Biggest issue is drying out and shrinkage of the wood as you use it for watering plants.
So far my thoughts of helping with that is painting the inside with Flex Seal. View attachment 14247
Nice! I'll show the hubby

@Kevin L good idea. We do have a propane one and several diesel/gas, but not solar. I will definitely look into that. Thank you!
 
Nice! I'll show the hubby

@Kevin L good idea. We do have a propane one and several diesel/gas, but not solar. I will definitely look into that. Thank you!
Anytime. I'm working out details and plans (idea and research stage) to see how feasible this would be for my prepping resources.

I want a wine-cooler for keeping room-temperature meds at a constant 58°F and 20% humidity temperature so that they'll last longer in the extreme Florida heat.

I will also have a laptop, a D.C. refrigerator and/or a chest freezer (perhaps with two systems instead of just one), and maybe a few other things--and not neccesarily all appliances and electronics running all at the same time.

I could ration and rotate electrical stuff as needed in a reserved, disciplined manner with these solar generators, but I still have some reservations that I'm trying to work out.
 
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Anytime. I'm working out details and plans (idea and research stage) to see how feasible this would be for my prepping resources.

I want a wine-cooler for keeping room-temperature meds at a constant 58% and 20% humidity temperature so that they'll last longer in the extreme Florida heat.

I will also have a laptop, a D.C. refrigerator and/or a chest freezer (perhaps with two systems instead of just one), and maybe a few other things--and not neccesarily all appliances and electronics running all at the same time.

I could ration and rotate electrical stuff as needed in a reserved, disciplined manner with these solar generators, but I still have some reservations that I'm trying to work out.
We used to have a refrigerator we got from my hubby's clinic - they used it to store vaccines and the like, but then upgraded so we were able to buy it for a great price. I'm kicking myself now that we sold it when we moved.
No matter what we do, it's going to be a huge lifestyle change. We are going from a very large, 6 bedroom house with an awesome basement to living in our RV for awhile. I think I'm going to need several wine coolers for all the drinking I will do (kidding of course) - but I want to be as prepared as possible to try and minimize frustrations.
 
Good point. Yeah, I'm still younger than 77 :D
My father in law is 85 (almost 86), still lives in his home In MT. Last winter was the first year he hired someone else to do snow removal.
I'm not sure how to get around the snow removal bit. I love the trees and the PNW. Probably only other place I could stand to be would be somewhere like Costa Rica. Its really too bad that my old place in CA got so built up. Growing season was fantastic, good weather, and did not have to consider snow removal lol (wouldn't want to live there anymore though).

Well, you can get around a lot of snow removal problems with a smart house design. I know, I have made all the mistakes. Big one, don't put the deck or patio where the roof can shed snow on it. Put the wood stove vent pipe high on the roof so the snow does not slide down and knock it off. Never skimp on wood stove size or heating capacity--over do that. Also, if you have to have a smog device in the stove, rip it out completely first thing. Have a place, garage or car port or sheltered location for the vehicle(s) so you don't begin the shoveling day by shoveling off the car or truck. Buy the biggest snow blower you can. Makes sure you have a water drain out to remove the water from the house if you go away. Have underground facets for outside water supply so they can be closed up and will not freeze. Back up generator is a must. Four wheel drive is a must.
 
Well, you can get around a lot of snow removal problems with a smart house design. I know, I have made all the mistakes. Big one, don't put the deck or patio where the roof can shed snow on it. Put the wood stove vent pipe high on the roof so the snow does not slide down and knock it off. Never skimp on wood stove size or heating capacity--over do that. Also, if you have to have a smog device in the stove, rip it out completely first thing. Have a place, garage or car port or sheltered location for the vehicle(s) so you don't begin the shoveling day by shoveling off the car or truck. Buy the biggest snow blower you can. Makes sure you have a water drain out to remove the water from the house if you go away. Have underground facets for outside water supply so they can be closed up and will not freeze. Back up generator is a must. Four wheel drive is a must.
Good advice. From the Eastener side of my name, depends on the type of your snow, a tractor with 3pt plow or bucket may better than a blower. The eskimos have 27 names for snow and there are 27 types of snow At least.
 
Thank you, and you are correct, our neighbor is on grid - we have thought about that as well. $70k to trench the line in, and more to run the line, so we are looking at almost $100k to get power in. Power outages are common due to weather, so I think having battery and generator would be safer. The rates have skyrocketed as well.
One of the other things I wanted to look into was a wood stove to heat the pipes and water as back up. So many things to consider :D


I didn't realize it would cost anywhere near that much. In that case the money would probably be better spent on an upgraded solar system with backups.
 
We live 100% off grid. I put up solar with an auto start diesel generator. This setup powers the house, shop and fur shed. Our battery bank is lead acid batteries. The only maintenance that we do is monthly top off the water and clean the battery cables. In the fall I treat the diesel in the bulk tank with anti gell or 50/50 stove oil and off road diesel. The battery bank, inverter, generator, etc are all housed inside a purpose built building. I keep about 350 gallons of diesel for the generator in 2 tanks. Plus 350 gallons of premium non-ethanol gasoline.
There is nothing "off grid" about our house, it looks like a conventional house design. We heat with wood, but we also have a propane forced air furnace for backup. When we go anywhere during winter we set the thermostat for 61 degs so the house is warm when we return home. We run 2 refrigerators and 2 chest freezers off our system. I've got my generator programed to start automatically when the battery voltage drops below 23.8 volts.
Our well is a quarter mile from the house, so its on its own generator. I just installed a 12 kw propane generator and a 250 gallon tank. The tank also feeds the heater inside the pump house.
We're 2 miles off the county road and our nearest neighbor is 4 miles away. I have a total of about 3 miles of road, some areas are steep, to plow in winter. We get 4 - 6 feet of snow here. For clearing snow I use a 4 wheel drive tractor with a 10 foot wide snow plow on the front and an 8 foot wide blade on the rear with chains on all 4 wheels. I also use a 72 inch wide snow blower, with a 24 hp engine, mounted on our side by side, which has tracks. For around the house I use a 3 stage walk behind snow blower with tracks and an ATV with a snow plow. Each building has a snow shovel and a bucket of snow melt by the front door.
Our barn has its own 6.5 kw generator. We dont use it much because we seldom go to the barn after dark.
I've got an 8.5 kw generator plus another 12 kw generator for backups. Always have backup generators for everything. If our well pump generator goes down i have 2 other generators to replace it. Same for our house.
 
We live 100% off grid. I put up solar with an auto start diesel generator. This setup powers the house, shop and fur shed. Our battery bank is lead acid batteries. The only maintenance that we do is monthly top off the water and clean the battery cables. In the fall I treat the diesel in the bulk tank with anti gell or 50/50 stove oil and off road diesel. The battery bank, inverter, generator, etc are all housed inside a purpose built building. I keep about 350 gallons of diesel for the generator in 2 tanks. Plus 350 gallons of premium non-ethanol gasoline.
There is nothing "off grid" about our house, it looks like a conventional house design. We heat with wood, but we also have a propane forced air furnace for backup. When we go anywhere during winter we set the thermostat for 61 degs so the house is warm when we return home. We run 2 refrigerators and 2 chest freezers off our system. I've got my generator programed to start automatically when the battery voltage drops below 23.8 volts.
Our well is a quarter mile from the house, so its on its own generator. I just installed a 12 kw propane generator and a 250 gallon tank. The tank also feeds the heater inside the pump house.
We're 2 miles off the county road and our nearest neighbor is 4 miles away. I have a total of about 3 miles of road, some areas are steep, to plow in winter. We get 4 - 6 feet of snow here. For clearing snow I use a 4 wheel drive tractor with a 10 foot wide snow plow on the front and an 8 foot wide blade on the rear with chains on all 4 wheels. I also use a 72 inch wide snow blower, with a 24 hp engine, mounted on our side by side, which has tracks. For around the house I use a 3 stage walk behind snow blower with tracks and an ATV with a snow plow. Each building has a snow shovel and a bucket of snow melt by the front door.
Our barn has its own 6.5 kw generator. We dont use it much because we seldom go to the barn after dark.
I've got an 8.5 kw generator plus another 12 kw generator for backups. Always have backup generators for everything. If our well pump generator goes down i have 2 other generators to replace it. Same for our house.
Sounds very expensive. I've been trying to find a slow speed Lister diesel engine generator, which has a reputation of beening able to last for 25 years if it's maintained properly . . . but it seems like they've stopped making them.
 
Sounds very expensive. I've been trying to find a slow speed Lister diesel engine generator, which has a reputation of beening able to last for 25 years if it's maintained properly . . . but it seems like they've stopped making them.
The Lister is a good engine. You might be able to find a used one and rebuild it, if you can find parts for it.
Yes, our system was pretty expensive even with me doing most of the work. The tax credits helped a lot though. At our location we didn't have any other option than solar. I would like to add a wind generator next year. We get a lot of wind during fall, winter and spring when sunshine is limited.
 
We are in the planning stages for building on our property and want to be completely off grid. Looking at solar and wind power, well/septic (scheduled for spring).
Also planning on building a shop, root cellar, good garden space/orchard, chicken coop, dog area, greenhouse and summer kitchen for canning/cooking.
Any thoughts on must haves for those of you who already live off grid? I am thinking we need a battery room close by (or part of) the house. Would also like to have a cold room/pantry and gun safe built in the house. Thinking the cold room should be a basement.
We are planning on building a small guest house first to live in (anywhere from 800-1000 sq feet) and then a larger home (about 2500 sq feet) in a couple of years. I am planning that my mom will likely need to come live with me once my dad passes.
Still in the beginning stages here. Thanks in advance.
Make sure the battery room is seperate from house and well ventilated!!!
 
That is alot of money for the septic system, especially since they are pretty easy to build. You will want a tractor/backhoe for your property, so I would buy one and do the system myself, to pay for it. Give THAT a long consideration over a glass of wine. Do a little research; the digging is the most expensive part. 1250g tank for a 4 BD house, not that big, not that many runs.
 
For the septic system for the new building at the BOL, we just rented a small trackhoe and did it ourselves. I say "we" but really it was my new nephew-in-law that ran the trackhoe.
We were skeptical of him at first but he's turning out to be a great addition to the extended family, LOL.
 

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