Livin off the Grid

[MD Dog]

A couple of years ago in an attempt to tame my $800 dollar a month heating bills I had a wind turbine installed as well as started looking into a methane generation system. Since then we've installed a whole house composting toilet system wood fired boiler assist units and have plans on installing a small stream water generation plant as well as two more wind turbines this summer. Just wondering if anyone else is into getting free from the utility companies monopolies. 8)

[Sara77]

I would really like to. After paying 1100.00 for 70% of my tank I asked my husband if we could buy a wood stove but he said he won't chop wood. If I trusted myself to use a chainsaw I would do it myself but I act too much like Barney Fife (sp?) when I'm in new situations.
Good for you for switching over though. It makes me happy even when someone else is saving money!

[godisnum1]

If you can get your hands on Les Stroud's (Survivorman) DVD, Off The Grid, it's *very* intuitive when it comes to living self-sufficiently... and he moves his whole family with him. It's pretty neat...

Bran <><

[WindHarvester]

Part 1

[youtube=425,350]wg7EaLIJrBw[/youtube]

[WindHarvester]

Part 2

[youtube=425,350]cZCrP2K5IOM[/youtube]

[WindHarvester]

Part 3

[youtube=425,350]elpPtuj4gvI[/youtube]

[WindHarvester]

Part 4

[youtube=425,350]3x479Nochpw[/youtube]

[WindHarvester]

Part 5

[youtube=425,350]nTTJa-kccS4[/youtube]

[WindHarvester]

Part 6

[youtube=425,350]OO01Sy1yy4s[/youtube]

[WindHarvester]

Part 7

[youtube=425,350]k3KrAEvO2VM[/youtube]

[godisnum1]

Thanks WindHarvester...
I noticed those were on YouTube, but I didn't want to post each video individually, so thanks for taking care of that! :-)

Bran <><

[finderzzs]

I have a water catchment system here on the rainy side of the Big Island Hawaii. Rainwater runs off my roof, through the downspouts and into a catchment tank that looks like a pool with a black cover over it (to prevent algae and keep out foreign stuffs), then a pump pumps it back into the house. Free water!

[transplant]

a site call backwoodshome.com has a lot of good stuff on it ,check some of the links

[Mental Granny]

Looks like a lot of hard work but wel worth it! Congrats on doin it !

[bakergeol]

A couple of years ago in an attempt to tame my $800 dollar a month heating bills I had a wind turbine installed as well as started looking into a methane generation system. Since then we've installed a whole house composting toilet system wood fired boiler assist units and have plans on installing a small stream water generation plant as well as two more wind turbines this summer. Just wondering if anyone else is into getting free from the utility companies monopolies. 8)

MD Dog

Wow $800 a month heating bills! Are you renting Al Gore's vacation home?
Seriously good luck on your energy project.
I live in the suburbs so my heating bill for my home is a fraction of what you pay.
However, I am interested in one of those tankless water heaters.

Good Luck
George

[rockhound]

I have had a tankless water heater for 5 years now. I wouldn't go back to a tank(conventional)
water heater now. As long as you have electricity you never run out of hot water. You can also
get a natural or propane gas one. Very efficient, saves about half off electric wattage.The next step up is solar powered water heaters.They are more expensive,but worth it in the long run.Heated water is the most expensive electric user,other than electric heaters.There are also
some wind turbines that are quite and stable under high winds, although you have to build them.
Solar is good,but expensive. Battery technology is just now coming into 21st century. I have tons
of info, too much to post here. Trying to get self sufficient myself.

[MD Dog]

The Less Stroud Videos started out so promissing. But they soon turned into the same thing as his survival videos. Alto of compromises and shortcuts that may to some people represent off the grid living but still falls short of the true meaning of the words off the grid. For instance the use of propane, (for the fridge) means he still has to pay that utility. And when he's too old to cut his own firewood he'll have to buy it. None the less thank you Godisnum 1 and Windharvester for the vids.

I'm looking at a plan that will eliminate 100% of the costs associated with housing except for the inevitable, Taxes. Because I live in WNY the sky's are too cloudy to make solar a good choice for electrical production. Although I like the fact it comes with no moving parts except for sun tracking which could be done by hand, so the breakdown factor is greatly reduced. But here in WNY it would take ten years to pay back the initial investment. I am going with wind as well as water I have a small stream that cuts through the property as well as a larger river which runs the entire eastern boundary of my land. As for heat we recently had a company lease the lands mineral rights to dig a propane/oil well. Part of that deal includes 20,000 cf of free gas, which will take care of our heat/cooking/hot water needs for the forseeable future. However I like N.A.S.A., like redundancy, so along with our weekly collections of animal dung have also included our whole house composting toilets added to the mix for a methane generation tank as a back up to the propane which BTW is the same thing as methane cept they've added stink to it. I'll probably end up using the methane for electric generation, since even if they decide not to pump gas from our well my understanding from the experts is that the only way they won't pump it is if there's a major discovery that eliminates it as a monetarily viable source for fuel. Even if they don't find enough gas to make it economically feasible for them to pump it it will still be more than enough to supply my needs for along long time, My lawyer, who's a very smart cookie, has it in the contract so that I get the gas no matter what, for at least thirty years.

We're adding more wind turbines this next summer as well as a water turbine in the smaller stream. I'm already in the process of having a lake put in so we can have a cooling system that I don't yet understand put in before summer. It's kinda funny but this spring we're building a shed approximately 12x12 that were gonna call the power house in order to house all the batteries and electrical components.

[MD Dog]

What a lot of people don't stop to consider is the initial cost of the "green" energy and the maintenance costs. When your own power source goes out, you have to fix it yourself at your own expense unless it's under warranty. I've considered getting a wind turbine and solar panels, I'd like to be free of bills - as much as practical - but I don't see this in my near future because of all the costs associated with it. The average lifespan of a the batteries is about 7 years from what I've read, so you have to consider the cost of the unit, the installation costs, the maintenance costs, the battery replacement costs...against the cost of conventional power. And if you have neighbors, you are likely to get some complaints if you have a wind turbine because the blades are often noisy and the towers can fall over in a strong wind or a heavy snow.

Someday somebody is going to devise a wind turbine that works off the exhaust that escapes from roof vents, much like a geyser turns the turbines of a geothermal plant.

If you do it right TT, you save enough money to pay you back for the investment. The new Lithium ION batteries have changed everyones battery concerns. But the cost of upkeep was and is far below the cost for utilities. Avg. cost for me for a reconditioned 24 volt battery was $75-$100 and they last so I'm told 5-7 years. Currently I use eight but will be moving up to 24 this spring/summer. My wind turbine isn't what everyone pictures, it is a new Canadian design that has no tower its actually mounted along the peak of my barn. It actually lays down and kinda looks like a round shark cage with a big auger bit inside. theres also some wing shaped thingies in there too that have something to do with helping capture the wind in any direction as well as limit how fast it will spin. It's been powering my barn and stables for 1 1/2 years now and saved me at least $2000 in electrical costs, which means it will have paid for itself in another 1 1/2 years. BTW this style of turbine is almost silent.

[MD Dog]

I have a water catchment system here on the rainy side of the Big Island Hawaii. Rainwater runs off my roof, through the downspouts and into a catchment tank that looks like a pool with a black cover over it (to prevent algae and keep out foreign stuffs), then a pump pumps it back into the house. Free water!

Thanks for the input finderzzs, I guess living in Hawaii isn't perfect since you guys must be short on fresh drinking water all the time.

[MD Dog]

A couple of years ago in an attempt to tame my $800 dollar a month heating bills I had a wind turbine installed as well as started looking into a methane generation system. Since then we've installed a whole house composting toilet system wood fired boiler assist units and have plans on installing a small stream water generation plant as well as two more wind turbines this summer. Just wondering if anyone else is into getting free from the utility companies monopolies. 8)

MD Dog

Wow $800 a month heating bills! Are you renting Al Gore's vacation home?
Seriously good luck on your energy project.
I live in the suburbs so my heating bill for my home is a fraction of what you pay.
However, I am interested in one of those tankless water heaters.

Good Luck
George

I heat a 5300sqft home as well as parts of my stable are heated. As far as a water heater I like what someone else said here about going with a solar design unless you live in an area like me that gets too many cloudy days. Thanks and good luck to you too