Cons of going off grid?

[Goboatingnow]

Some of us like to do things with our lives and not trapped on a boat confined by the square footage our boat is. Yeah you can hop on land time to time wherever walk around and that's it. Which that in itself is limitation of how far you go if you can't get transportation. You must not be in the US, instead of county inspectors you would have US Coast Guard that can board anytime for inspection going by ABYC's and their requirements.

Not in the US. But have boated there CG can board to inspect mandatory safety. But ABYC have no legal standing. I used to live in US ( Philadelphia )

Outside the US nobody bother you.

Square area is overrated !!

 

[Ozark Tinkering]

Easy, someone owns the land next to you whether they live there or not.

Cons of going off grid, I got a good one for those really far out off grid. You end up with trailer trash living near you running generators all the time, trashing the place, uncontrolled animals running around and abandoned travel trailers. So bad the city folks who do contracting work won't even come out.

I can only suggest you move away from our common property line if you don't like the our raucous. Free country and all... I see by your geo-tag you like to hug the edges.

 

[Weldman]

I can only suggest you move away from our common property line if you don't like the our raucous. Free country and all... I see by your geo-tag you like to hug the edges.

My geo-tag you actually believe that's where I am at In the land of make believe, don't believe in everything you see.

What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.

– Harry Houdini

Believe me they aren't nowhere near me cause in the land of the free I bought up all the land between us and them with BLM to border on some sides to boot.

 

[Ozark Tinkering]

Believe me they aren't nowhere near me cause in the land of the free I bought up all the land between us and them with BLM to border on some sides to boot.

Just you and the Duttons eh?

 

[wattmatters]

in fire prone area I don't have to worry about wildfires started by arcing lines or fallen power lines.

Not sure what the environmental conditions are like where you are, but here fires can travel hundreds of kilometres. It doesn't need a local power pole to cause a fire which can threaten us. The fires which threatened us in 2019 started about 90km away.

 

[robby]

Forgive me. But I never understand the attraction of fully off-grid. I can understand people wanting to have largely independent power generation but the not have the backup of the grid is nuts.

Here we have no legal requirement to connect to the grid ( and property taxes amount to $120 a year ! ) if you do connect to the grid , ie have a meter the daily standing charge is about the equivalent of $50 a month even if you consume nothing, you can terminate your contract and disconnect for a small disconnection fee.

Water and sewerage where available are covered by general taxation and therefore free at the point of supply.

Everytime i run thd numbers for a substantial PV system the payback is 12 + years. I’ve never stayed in the same house that long !!!! . Solar is great where you can’t access the grid outside of that I struggle to see justification.

In 8 years I’ve suffered one grid failure 3 hours one Saturday, living of grid when I was a boy was not unusual , it was called “ being poor “

As an aside having lived in the US , it’s not the land of the free at all. It’s one of the most rule bound bureaucratic societies I’ve ever lived in. ( with more police then any other place I’ve lived ) I agree something needs to change. It was worse then Germany and they have a rule for everything !!

Nothing is worst than Germany and the UK when it comes to rules
You are right in that Solar is not for everyone. If you have reliable power at 10 cents a KWh you are pretty much flushing you money down the toilet on Solar if your looking for ROI.
If your looking at long term energy security or are just trying to do your part to fight climate change then it still makes sense no matter what your utility charges.

The world is so interconnected now that nothing is certain.
Ask someone in Germany in 2021 if they could ever imagine and Energy shortage and they would say no, we have Nord Stream 2 coming on line and very shortly we will have even more fuel at cheaper prices.
Last night I was watching BBC news and Germans are busy collecting Firewood for the coming winter. The less bright ones are stocking up on Space Heaters.

 

[Weldman]

Not sure what the environmental conditions are like where you are, but here fires can travel hundreds of kilometres. It doesn't need a local power pole to cause a fire which can threaten us. The fires which threatened us in 2019 started about 90km away.

Yes true, but gives me time to crank up the machinery and start a firebreak. My machinery can only plow around 4 kph to 8 kph which is way slower than any wildfire typically can go. We had one within 16 km from here last year and I was looking for an exit cause I didn't have the machinery then. No one came and knocked on the door, wasn't no news reports, nothing blared over the radio, only way I found out was scouting with a drone and there was active crew fighting it.

 

[wattmatters]

Yes true, but gives me time to crank up the machinery and start a firebreak.

Yeah, wildfires are scary. Some big kit you have there!

In the big fire season of 2019-20 here, we were just sitting on evacuation watch. Air so smoke-filled visibility was a couple of hundred feet. We had burned debris scatted all through the yard - carried by the winds for many miles ahead of the burn front.

Car packed ready to get the F outta Dodge. Fortunately it didn't quite reach us. We also have a bag and an esky (cooler box) which have some essential grab and go items in case we get caught without much warning and need to skedaddle.

That fire season was astonishingly bad. It was classed as a megafire. 55,000 square miles (143,000 sq km) burned. That's equivalent to the total land area of Iowa or New York state.

Of course in the two years since we've had record rainfall and floods.

Last year my neighbour decided to do a burn pile. No big deal, pretty common here in Winter. That evening I hear a massive "BOOM". Holy crap what was that? I go down there to see a raging fire about 80 feet high with large burning embers flying up and landing on sheds, his house, and floating across to our place. The goose had poured fuel all over his burn pile, wanted a quick burn. Spent the next 2 hours watching every burning ember and tracking where it was landing while he was trying to stop his shed burning down with a garden hose.

 

[SilverbackMP]

Yeah, wildfires are scary. Some big kit you have there!

In the big fire season of 2019-20 here, we were just sitting on evacuation watch. Air so smoke-filled visibility was a couple of hundred feet. We had burned debris scatted all through the yard - carried by the winds for many miles ahead of the burn front.

Car packed ready to get the F outta Dodge. Fortunately it didn't quite reach us. We also have a bag and an esky (cooler box) which have some essential grab and go items in case we get caught without much warning and need to skedaddle.

That fire season was astonishingly bad. It was classed as a megafire. 55,000 square miles (143,000 sq km) burned. That's equivalent to the total land area of Iowa or New York state.

Of course in the two years since we've had record rainfall and floods.

Last year my neighbour decided to do a burn pile. No big deal, pretty common here in Winter. That evening I hear a massive "BOOM". Holy crap what was that? I go down there to see a raging fire about 80 feet high with large burning embers flying up and landing on sheds, his house, and floating across to our place. The goose had poured fuel all over his burn pile, wanted a quick burn. Spent the next 2 hours watching every burning ember and tracking where it was landing while he was trying to stop his shed burning down with a garden hose.

Been thinking of investing in a PTO powered high pressure water pump (have a pond close and a Perkins powered Massey 65 gathering dust ).

Mostly for irrigation, but it would make a dandy fire suppression rig too. At the very least to run some larger sprayers to wet the ground.

Would probably be like a pimple on an elephant for you guys out west though.

 

[wattmatters]

Would probably be like a pimple on an elephant for you guys out west though.

I'm down under. Yeah staying to fight is never recommended here unless it's an absolute last resort. Some do it but frankly, evacuating is the sensible option, provided the option is still available, which is why choosing to go earlier rather than later is better. In some cases there is no safe route out.

 

[SilverbackMP]

I'm down under. Yeah staying to fight is never recommended here unless it's an absolute last resort. Some do it but frankly, evacuating is the sensible option, provided the option is still available, which is why choosing to go earlier rather than later is better. In some cases there is no safe route out.

I’m on the western edge of the US midwest (Missouri). We normally don’t get huge fires, it’s mostly pasture fires during drought years.

Tractor started one across the road several years back and then jumped over threatened my parents house. Volunteer fire fighters got it put out though.

 

[Ozark Tinkering]

My geo-tag you actually believe that's where I am at In the land of make believe, don't believe in everything you see.

Well if you aren't at least 13 years old you should not be on this website.

Tractor started one across the road several years back and then jumped over threatened my parents house.

 

[Weldman]

Well if you aren't at least 13 years old you should not be on this website.

Why, you afraid at such young age I might know something you don't?

 

[Goboatingnow]

Nothing is worst than Germany and the UK when it comes to rules
You are right in that Solar is not for everyone. If you have reliable power at 10 cents a KWh you are pretty much flushing you money down the toilet on Solar if your looking for ROI.
If your looking at long term energy security or are just trying to do your part to fight climate change then it still makes sense no matter what your utility charges.

The world is so interconnected now that nothing is certain.
Ask someone in Germany in 2021 if they could ever imagine and Energy shortage and they would say no, we have Nord Stream 2 coming on line and very shortly we will have even more fuel at cheaper prices.
Last night I was watching BBC news and Germans are busy collecting Firewood for the coming winter. The less bright ones are stocking up on Space Heaters.

The Germans are paying a very heavy price for getting into bed with Russia. That lesson is now cost then 2-3 billion a year in a rearmament policy. !

I heat my house with cheap local wood €150 for the winter 6 months