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diy solar

Going off Grid in Western NC (Lansing 28643)

watchdoc

Solar Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 23, 2022
Messages
259
We own 3 1/2 acres on the North Fork of the New River in Lansing NC. Blue Ridge energy has terrible net metering policies and they want $15+ grand to run power about 800' and install a pole with a transformer. I would rather put that money towards an off grid system. Would love to hear some suggestions. I have some ideas but I don't know if it's feasible. My budget for the off grid power system would be around 50 grand before incentives.

1400-1800 sq ft house will be divided into 3 zones. Master bedroom zone, Guest bedroom zone, Great room/kitchen zone) We figure it will just be the wife and I 90% of the time but we have lots of friends and family.

15kw solar system (would prefer a semi premium panel like REC, Panasonic, LG. Can't afford Sunpower and would like to avoid cheap panels without a labor warranty and high degradation rates)
30kw of rack mount server batteries (Probably SOK or EG4)
12-15kw Hybird Solar inverter with PV input, EV charging, generator input, and well pump compatibility (I'm not chained to a brand at this point but reliability is a priority, would really like bidrectional EV charging as well like the F150 Lightning offers)

Heating/ HVAC
1 Large decorative but functional wood stove in the great room (glass doors and a nice blower)
1 dual head cold climate heat pump air conditioner in the bedrooms (probably Mitsuibishi H2i but need to find out what local dealers will install and service)
2 propane wall insert heaters for the bathrooms

*still need to figure out cooling the great room. May have to resort to a more expensive ducted and zoned unit. Hoping to use some passive cooling in the great room.

Water heating
On demand propane water heater unless I can figure out another way to heat water off grid in a cold climate

Cooking/Kitchen
Propane stove or induction cook top
microwave and air fryer
energy star small chest freezer
energy star Fridge with standard Top freezer
propane clothes dryer

Misc
garage door opener
internet router
all LED lighting
3 Televisions (probably energy star Roku Tv's... No cable boxes)
Propane backup generator
ceiling fans (1 in each bedroom and 2 in great room)
deep well pump (suggestions?)
dishwasher


Any suggestions would be appreciated. Wondering if this is actually doable without being a total headache.
 
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I’m in the Charlotte area, so not too terribly far from Lansing. Let me know if you need assistance.
Powering the minis in such a wooded area, could be an issue. How large a clearing do you have? How far is the tree line?
You are going to need a high ground mount or a tall rooftop to mount enough solar to feed it all. 15K does give you a lot of leeway, but if solar production doesn’t start before mid morning, it can limit charge recovery, so plan on extra solar, and extra battery bank.
 
There are no tree obstuctions anywhere near the homesite. Phoenix mountain delays the sunrise a bit but then it's full sun all day. I have plenty of room to ground mount or roof mount although roof mount would get me up a lil higher to catch the morning sun. Lansing gets a fair amount of snow so I would need to be able to clean the panels in winter. I attached a couple shots looking across the river at our land towards the east.
 

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Any suggestions would be appreciated. Wondering if this is actually doable without being a total headache.
Mountains of SC here.
1800 sqft, we used a Fujitsu 36-K btu mini split but used an air handler and ducted out to our rooms, very happy with it.
We have 2 x 6 exterior walls with spray foam for good insulation value!
We installed a Navion tankless propane water heater, propane stove/oven to save on batteries drain. Installed fireplace that uses propane logs for now but CAN burn wood if needed.....
Installed Bosch W/D both 240V and dryer is a heat pump dryer, more energy efficient.
Used a Grunfus deep well ( 500 ft deep here) pump to fill a 500 gal holding tank in our well room with a second shallow well pump to supply the pressure tank that sends water to house. Keeps your deep well pump from cycling to often.....if you have a deep well..?
We also bought appliances that used as few KWh as possible as well. Of course needs versus KWh usage is relative.
Just a few things we did for our set up.
 
Mountains of SC here.
1800 sqft, we used a Fujitsu 36-K btu mini split but used an air handler and ducted out to our rooms, very happy with it.
We have 2 x 6 exterior walls with spray foam for good insulation value!
We installed a Navion tankless propane water heater, propane stove/oven to save on batteries drain. Installed fireplace that uses propane logs for now but CAN burn wood if needed.....
Installed Bosch W/D both 240V and dryer is a heat pump dryer, more energy efficient.
Used a Grunfus deep well ( 500 ft deep here) pump to fill a 500 gal holding tank in our well room with a second shallow well pump to supply the pressure tank that sends water to house. Keeps your deep well pump from cycling to often.....if you have a deep well..?
We also bought appliances that used as few KWh as possible as well. Of course needs versus KWh usage is relative.
Just a few things we did for our set up.
How much solar and how much battery do you have? What inverters? Wow, 36k btu seems huge but I like the ducted idea. Do you have just one outside unit? What is a well room? would Like to know more about your well setup. Ours could end up being several hundred feet deep.
 
How much solar and how much battery do you have? What inverters? Wow, 36k btu seems huge but I like the ducted idea. Do you have just one outside unit? What is a well room? would Like to know more about your well setup. Ours could end up being several hundred feet deep.
36K is on the larger side of minisplit tech, but I’ve installed plenty of 48 and 60K units.
Ducted is great for distribution, but you lose efficiency with ductwork unless it is all in conditioned space.
I like the ceiling cassette units.
Whatever you choose, get an inverter driven compressor, not just a PSC rotary unit.
 
How much solar and how much battery do you have? What inverters? Wow, 36k btu seems huge but I like the ducted idea. Do you have just one outside unit? What is a well room? would Like to know more about your well setup. Ours could end up being several hundred feet deep.
51 Q-cell 330W panels roof mounted.
2 X Sol-Ark 12k first gen units.
Using 4-AGM batteries for temp power as were not living there full time, yet...
But do have a 4p16s LiFePo4 batteries setup with Batrium BMS that will be connected real soon.
Yes just one 36-K outdoor unit.
Our well room is where all my water/well equipment is housed with the exception of the well and deep well pump. The 500 gallon water tank gets water from the deep well pump, feeds the pressure tank from a smaller shallow well pump. However this allows us tho have about 4-500 gallons of water at surface if any thing goes wrong. I’ll have to post pictures later.
Our tankless water heater is in that room as well.


Ducted is great for distribution, but you lose efficiency with ductwork unless it is all in conditioned space.
I like the ceiling cassette units.
Whatever you choose, get an inverter driven compressor, not just a PSC rotary unit.
Yes, flex duct is less efficient than hard pipe but it was to costly. However our outter “shell” (walls and roof) is all spray foam, so even the attic is very controlled and comfortable even on the hot days we’ve had lately. So hopefully that loss is at a minimum.
Yes, our Fujitsu is inverter compressor and so is our LG fridge.
 
would Like to know more about your well setup. Ours could end up being several hundred feet deep.
Our well room setup:
Opposing walls in the room. Holding tank, shallow pump and pressure tank on one side and our filtration system and tankless water heater on the other wall.
 

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Is your well room in the basement of your house or in a different building
 
Is your well room in the basement of your house or in a different building
It’s at the house, in a 12 x 12 shedded room on the back side of the house.
It still a long run of pex to get the house, but this tankless water heater has a recirculating feature that we will utilize what we are there full-time.
 
It’s at the house, in a 12 x 12 shedded room on the back side of the house.
It still a long run of pex to get the house, but this tankless water heater has a recirculating feature that we will utilize what we are there full-time.
I plan to have a mechanical room in the basement of our house, would that work?
 
I plan to have a mechanical room in the basement of our house, would that work?
I’m sure it would as long as you plan everything out. Our mechanical room and our well room are two separate rooms. My solar system and batteries are in a separate room by themselves.
So if you’re gonna have a mechanical room and bring your water indoor like I have, I would make sure the two are on opposite ends because you wouldn’t want any water to get anywhere near your battery system or electronics.
Another concern with having them in the same room would be humidity control, please keep that in mind. Our well room is not heated or cooled but we do have a ceiling fan that circulates the air 24/7.
Some people may disagree with this, but one option that we are experimenting with to keep our battery usage to a minimum at night, is putting appliances on timers so they go off at certain times.
Ex: We have a sealed crawlspace with a dehumidifier, I have it on a timer to come on at 9 AM and go off at 6 PM and everything works great there. We also have a upright freezer and fridge that is on a timer as well and only operates during daytime hours. So far it works well as long as you have it really full of food or frozen items (food,water) so there is a lot of thermal mass in there to account for the hours that it is off at night.
Some people may disagree with doing that but so far we think it works well for us but we are in the very early stages of trying timers on appliances.
 
It’s at the house, in a 12 x 12 shedded room on the back side of the house.
It still a long run of pex to get the house, but this tankless water heater has a recirculating feature that we will utilize what we are there full-time.
Sounds like I have lots more planning to do!
 
I’m sure it would as long as you plan everything out. Our mechanical room and our well room are two separate rooms. My solar system and batteries are in a separate room by themselves.
So if you’re gonna have a mechanical room and bring your water indoor like I have, I would make sure the two are on opposite ends because you wouldn’t want any water to get anywhere near your battery system or electronics.
Another concern with having them in the same room would be humidity control, please keep that in mind. Our well room is not heated or cooled but we do have a ceiling fan that circulates the air 24/7.
Some people may disagree with this, but one option that we are experimenting with to keep our battery usage to a minimum at night, is putting appliances on timers so they go off at certain times.
Ex: We have a sealed crawlspace with a dehumidifier, I have it on a timer to come on at 9 AM and go off at 6 PM and everything works great there. We also have a upright freezer and fridge that is on a timer as well and only operates during daytime hours. So far it works well as long as you have it really full of food or frozen items (food,water) so there is a lot of thermal mass in there to account for the hours that it is off at night.
Some people may disagree with doing that but so far we think it works well for us but we are in the very early stages of trying timers on appliances.
Which appliances do you put timers on and which ones have the most potential to save nighttime energy?

So our mountain house is gonna be a two story brick ranch style with a full basement and slab floor. The basement will be 3 zones (just like the upstairs). I’m a Virgo so everything has to be symmetrical so if you are facing the house, the basement will have a garage on the left, and garage on the right, and an apartment in the middle we plan to use like a guest house.

What do you think about putting the water setup in the back of one garage and the solar setup in the back of the other garage? That puts them on opposite sides of the house. One garage will be for cars and EVs and the other garage will be for tractor, Side by side, kayaks, and lawn crap. The car garage would have the solar stuff in the back for birectional EVs charging.
 
Wow. That’s a lot of controllers and inverters there. It looks like your wiring is far undersized for the inverters there.
Also, your banks should be far better connected.
Can you provide some far better details?
What size wire would you use?
How far better would you connect the banks?
Thanky
 
We own 3 1/2 acres on the North Fork of the New River in Lansing NC. Blue Ridge energy has terrible net metering policies and they want $15+ grand to run power about 800' and install a pole with a transformer. I would rather put that money towards an off grid system. Would love to hear some suggestions. I have some ideas but I don't know if it's feasible. My budget for the off grid power system would be around 50 grand before incentives.

1400-1800 sq ft house will be divided into 3 zones. Master bedroom zone, Guest bedroom zone, Great room/kitchen zone) We figure it will just be the wife and I 90% of the time but we have lots of friends and family.

15kw solar system (would prefer a semi premium panel like REC, Panasonic, LG. Can't afford Sunpower and would like to avoid cheap panels without a labor warranty and high degradation rates)
30kw of rack mount server batteries (Probably SOK or EG4)
12-15kw Hybird Solar inverter with PV input, EV charging, generator input, and well pump compatibility (I'm not chained to a brand at this point but reliability is a priority, would really like bidrectional EV charging as well like the F150 Lightning offers)

Heating/ HVAC
1 Large decorative but functional wood stove in the great room (glass doors and a nice blower)
1 dual head cold climate heat pump air conditioner in the bedrooms (probably Mitsuibishi H2i but need to find out what local dealers will install and service)
2 propane wall insert heaters for the bathrooms

*still need to figure out cooling the great room. May have to resort to a more expensive ducted and zoned unit. Hoping to use some passive cooling in the great room.

Water heating
On demand propane water heater unless I can figure out another way to heat water off grid in a cold climate

Cooking/Kitchen
Propane stove or induction cook top
microwave and air fryer
energy star small chest freezer
energy star Fridge with standard Top freezer
propane clothes dryer

Misc
garage door opener
internet router
all LED lighting
3 Televisions (probably energy star Roku Tv's... No cable boxes)
Propane backup generator
ceiling fans (1 in each bedroom and 2 in great room)
deep well pump (suggestions?)
dishwasher


Any suggestions would be appreciated. Wondering if this is actually doable without being a total headache.
I love your statement .

“Any suggestions would be appreciated. Wondering if this is actually doable without being a total headache..”

I’m very familiar with your location...a stones throw away.

FIRST , unless your Gona “ operate rogue,“ or simply hire a big company to do everything , you need to investigate what the inspections dept WILL let you do , or require you to do. Do not underestimate this in NC. I have been here many decades so do your homework first .. it’s not like it was 30 or 40 years ago.

They will determine most of what your uncertain about doing. Once you rule out what you cant do or can’t afford to do,the rest will be much easier to plan.

SECONDLY , invest in ibuprofen stocks , as up here in the mountains in the best case it will be a challenge .. even if money is not of a concern ..

You have a wonderful idea and vision, I wish you luck… if I were younger I would think on your scale of system.

The good news is ,your not near Boone or Asheville...
 
Which appliances do you put timers on and which ones have the most potential to save nighttime energy?

So our mountain house is gonna be a two story brick ranch style with a full basement and slab floor. The basement will be 3 zones (just like the upstairs). I’m a Virgo so everything has to be symmetrical so if you are facing the house, the basement will have a garage on the left, and garage on the right, and an apartment in the middle we plan to use like a guest house.

What do you think about putting the water setup in the back of one garage and the solar setup in the back of the other garage? That puts them on opposite sides of the house. One garage will be for cars and EVs and the other garage will be for tractor, Side by side, kayaks, and lawn crap. The car garage would have the solar stuff in the back for birectional EVs charging.
Well I’m not sure which appliances will use the most energy, but in our case we are just limiting the freezer (9am to 9pm, Crawl Space dehumidifier (9am to 6 pm) and the kitchen fridge (7am to midnight), Based on the hours we desire for each of appliance.
For example I have a 1953 model original general electric refrigerator that is still running. So it pulls a lot of power but it is something I love because it’s a nostalgic piece that’s original and still running for 70 years. So we have it on a timer to run from 9 AM to 6 PM as it is in the garage just to keep some cold drinks and excess storage.

Realistically it’s whatever works best for you and suits your application. If you’re building brand new from scratch it’s very good to plan all the stuff out ahead of time. You would be amazed sometimes how much things change no matter how much planning goes into a project like this.
I would agree that keeping the indoor water supply and well set up opposite the solar mechanical room is best no matter how far apart they are! I do think they need to be separated.
Just a recommendation from my experience, wherever your solar set up and the batteries are located, I would highly recommend that area be conditioned just as the house. Our mechanical room is heated and cooled so that the humidity and temperature is the same as the living space.

I’ll second what @Jim H says:
FIRST , unless your gonna “ operate rogue,“ or simply hire a big company to do everything , you need to investigate what the inspections dept WILL let you do , or require you to do. Do not underestimate this in NC. I have been here many decades so do your homework first .. it’s not like it was 30 or 40 years ago.

They will determine most of what your uncertain about doing. Once you rule out what you cant do or can’t afford to do,the rest will be much easier to plan.
I do not live in North Carolina, but the area where I live, some counties are sticklers for going by the book of codes. You definitely want to check what your county requires when it comes to the NEC code dealing with electrical and solar requirements.There are a few threads on here talking about the 2020 NEC codes which basically seems to say you we’re not able to DIY your own battery set up. I do not know specifics and I cannot clarify, only can tell you what I’ve read.
So I agree with Jim, your best bet is to see what the county you live in will let you do. Perhaps it’s best to do all of your solar and inverter set up through county codes. If you were looking at building your own DIY battery set up like a lot of people on this forum have and are currently doing I might suggest this; get the smallest UL listed battery that code will let you have under the code to pass inspection. Once all the codes are passed and inspections done, then if you’re going to DIY your battery set up or make changes to the system, It’s probably best to do it afterwards.
 
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