sparrowhawk
Christian Prepper
If someone wants to do without electricity then they can have at it. I personally choose to have some comforts that come from having it.
Feast or Famine, The off grid solar dilemma.
- Thread starter Mattb4
- Start date
If someone wants to do without electricity then they can have at it. I personally choose to have some comforts that come from having it.
We did without grid electricity once and the wife and I said never again. Thats why we couldn't understand the first "solar" users we knew since they had to watch everything they did to get thru the night.
Not long after the wife and I got married we rented a house that the previous occupants had left a power bill owed on. We couldn't get the power company to turn it back on in our names. So I bought a 1500watt generator and we lived off that thing for a few months till it was straightened out.
That was almost like not having power since it ran out of gas during the night. Also the carb froze up in cold weather till I figured out I could prop a sheet of plywood on it to trap heat against the carb. Then there was the joy of trying to stay within 1500 watts power usage wise.
Not long after the wife and I got married we rented a house that the previous occupants had left a power bill owed on. We couldn't get the power company to turn it back on in our names. So I bought a 1500watt generator and we lived off that thing for a few months till it was straightened out.
That was almost like not having power since it ran out of gas during the night. Also the carb froze up in cold weather till I figured out I could prop a sheet of plywood on it to trap heat against the carb. Then there was the joy of trying to stay within 1500 watts power usage wise.
SilverbackMP
Solar Addict
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2022
- Messages
- 975
It is, but I don’t wanna. From living on top of a humvee to sea can villages to the over crowded ant colony called Seoul, I like my comforts.
And want a pool for exercising so I don’t kill my already jacked knees and back. And a hot tub for said back.
And my peace to deal with a life wasted serving the industrial military complex/deep state destabilizing and “rebuilding” (build back better? Lol) countries.
All doable off grid. Just takes some thought, money, redundancy, and multiple energy sources.
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robby
Photon Vampire
- Joined
- May 1, 2021
- Messages
- 4,225
At least one thing works in our favor.
The Summer excess power can be used to cool your house down. A small investment in a proper programmable thermostats allows you to really run those AC units down to a super cool temp in the day and then set it to normal at night. The AC compressor uses a lot less battery power at night using this system.
Other than that there is not much else I have found that makes a dent in the normal yearly cycle.
I could add more batteries for the Summer but then they won't get fully charged in the Winter.
That last 20% is just not worth chasing.
The Summer excess power can be used to cool your house down. A small investment in a proper programmable thermostats allows you to really run those AC units down to a super cool temp in the day and then set it to normal at night. The AC compressor uses a lot less battery power at night using this system.
Other than that there is not much else I have found that makes a dent in the normal yearly cycle.
I could add more batteries for the Summer but then they won't get fully charged in the Winter.
That last 20% is just not worth chasing.
I still use my generator for around 100 hours /year. In summer I often have well over 100kwh / day PV input.
I use excess summer power to power my desalination plant, heat water, and run RC aircon. Sometimes in the middle of winter we have enough Sunny days to heat all our water, sometimes we supplement with LPG.
Even if my batteries were 4 times the size I would still occasionally have to run a generator in winter. It makes sense to me to leave the batteries as they are and spend $150/year on diesel.
I use excess summer power to power my desalination plant, heat water, and run RC aircon. Sometimes in the middle of winter we have enough Sunny days to heat all our water, sometimes we supplement with LPG.
Even if my batteries were 4 times the size I would still occasionally have to run a generator in winter. It makes sense to me to leave the batteries as they are and spend $150/year on diesel.
robby
Photon Vampire
- Joined
- May 1, 2021
- Messages
- 4,225
I have the same issue. I could buy 10KWh more of batteries and nullify my grid usage throughout 6 months of the year but for the other six months they will not be charging enough to make a dent in my grid usage.
I Ran the numbers in a spreadsheet and the ROI is just not there to pay for the batteries.
This always make me wonder: why do you need 40kWh/day when trying to go off-grid? I use maybe 2kWh a day to keep the systems running, 5 to 6 with all the bells and whistles in winter. This is a normal house, with running water, flushing toilet, fridge, dishwasher, washer and dryer, etc.
Of course, heating is not done electrically in winter - that's what the wood gasification burner and masonry fireplace is for. In summer, I use my excess solar to process wood (electric tools) for winter use. I also make biodiesel in summer, and don't burn wood (even if it's still cold) from somewhere March onwards because I can use a heat-pump and plain resistive electric water boiler in summer (heat pump cools then).
If you rely purely on electric for heating (even with a heat pump), doing so off-grid in places tat experience real winter is nearly impossible.
Nobodybusiness
Solar Sponge.
Sounds like we had similar careers prior to civilian life.
Different time. Today we are deprived if the smart phone loses signal.
Being of an earlier generation and growing up rural I look at stuff like electricity as a marvel to be cherished. We always turned off lights when leaving a room. Never ran things unless really needed and overall practice conservation.
Nobodybusiness
Solar Sponge.
What do you consider a real winter?
MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
Is that some kind of Magic Dryer? ? Mine uses 5000 watts an hour. That's the only thing left on grid. I'll use a clothes line in a $HTF
MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
Him? Think Artic Circle or nearly ?
That's what I was thinking too. ? My little 120 one uses less then 1500 watts (a little more considering inverter loss). Although takes like 2+ hours to dry a load. It's a washer ventless dryer combo machine. It "recycles" some of the heat by not having vent. It has a disadvantage of having to clean out the lint though as there is any lint screen, but you don't have to transfer your clothes from the washer to dryer!
Nobodybusiness
Solar Sponge.
I ask because I am all electric and use HP forHim? Think Artic Circle or nearly ?
My heat.
Now last December I did have to break out the Generator for a bit because it was so rainy.
It got down to 4F degrees here.
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
It's still almost mind boggling to me that we talk about running AC (heat pumps) off of solar PV like it's commonplace. Two thing have changed big time since I started dabbling with this stuff back in the 90's.
1) Modules used to cost $4/watt and now with a bit of patience you can get ~5kW of brand new modules delivered to your door (or at least the end of your driveway) for less than $2,500. Most people can run everything they need to 90% of the time with around 5kW of PV or less.
2) Mini Splits are a relatively new thing in my world. For less than $1,000, YouTube and the help of a buddy with some HVAC tools most people can cool and heat a substantial part of thier house with an additional 1 KW of PV or less. (granted that's likely an unserviceable throwaway mini split)
edit to fix typos
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MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
Well Upnorth according to his about page is at 63° North, Finland
5kW - wow...
Probably not magic, but I'm guessing just a modern heat-pump dryer like the one below... manual says it draws 645W and dries 4Kg load in just over 1kWh, or 8Kg load with 1.8kWh - so assume it will take 2 to 3 hours.
WTH85222GB | Bosch Heat Pump Tumble Dryer | 8kg | ao.com
This WTH85222GB Bosch heat pump tumble dryer can hold 8kg of laundry and comes with AutoDry tech and SensitiveDrying system that leaves clothes wrinkle-free.
ao.com
MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
Yeah that's what I'd think ... Or Coal Fired ?5kW - wow...
Probably not magic, but I'm guessing just a modern heat-pump dryer like the one below... manual says it draws 645W and dries 4Kg load in just over 1kWh, or 8Kg load with 1.8kWh - so assume it will take 2 to 3 hours.
WTH85222GB | Bosch Heat Pump Tumble Dryer | 8kg | ao.com
This WTH85222GB Bosch heat pump tumble dryer can hold 8kg of laundry and comes with AutoDry tech and SensitiveDrying system that leaves clothes wrinkle-free.
Propane
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