Did you purchase this from American Tower or AT&T? I'm assuming this is an old Long Lines site. If it was, was the tower still in place? I've been looking into these, but as some may think you can't buy them from the government for a dollar. The average price I've been seeing are upwards of 600K. Were the gen sets still in place? Look forward to hearing more about your "bunker".
It is an AT&T L3 Long Lines bunker and it does have a radio tower. No it wasn't a dollar but I also didn't pay 600k.
Yes, the diesel generator was still in place but I don't think it's worth trying to use for the following reasons:
1. Diesel generator in the bunker is a potential carbon monoxide poisoning issue.
2. It's way more power than we'd need. 200+KW
3. We looked into reselling it and nobody wanted it. I figure there's a reason for that.
4. I don't know how to get it running again (although I could probably figure it out eventually).
We are leaning towards solar and Edison Batteries.
Edison Batteries (Nickel Iron) are interesting. They are large, expensive and you need to vent them because they create hydrogen, but unlike lithium, you can drain them completely without damaging them and they can last forever with a little maintenance.
I've also been looking into Direct-From-PV solar water heating, which is an interesting topic in and of itself. You would be hooking up your water heater elements directly to the solar panels. Since batteries are the most expensive part of a solar array, Direct-From-PV saves you a ton. The water heater hear seems to be very efficient. I check on it randomly throughout the day and see if I can hear the elements on and the only time I do hear them is right after someone showers. I think that if I add a thermostatic mixing valve, I can turn up the heat on the tank and maintain a nice heat even at night (or if we have to modify our showering times to the time of the sun, we could do that too). Like I said, it's a fun project!
Thanks for your question.