Yep ... thinking about starting with a giant Normal / SHTF switch to pull high amp, rarely used appliances from grid so that the family doesn't have to think about any of this, nor even be affected by it in "Normal," then, you know, when China collapses (as it's quite close to) and the world sinks into a massive depression (not so certain on what happens to us WHEN China collapses, but I definitely don't want to be caught with my, er, grid down) and we're in survival mode (Texas hunted all the deer here to extinction in the Great Depression, so its not like there isn't precedence for this), we'll be set with electricity, just A LOT more conscience of what we're doing with it as a family. Thus, new objectives, new strategy, new technical solution based on discovered reality of tech capabilities. And, all still fun to put together. (Kind of dreading hoofing up to my roof 32 times though with 60 lbs in hand ...)
Switch to Grid Due to Inverter Overload
- Thread starter Aten
- Start date
Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
We are all in transition and historically all great powers have gone through cycles. My parents survived the Great Depression. I am preparing myself for less dependency on the grid and hope we don't repeat the 1930's.
This is less about great powers than it is about the entire world power structure changing, a transiton I believe far bigger than the Great Depression: the End of the folks that brought us that debacle ... make what you want of this ... https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=china+rivers+running+red&iax=images&ia=images
Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
My parents survived the Great Depression but not old age. That is my challenge.
Ah, interesting. Do a duckduckgo search on Mr. Oxygen. You might live longer than you think ...
WYtreasure
It's not happy hour, I'm just like this.
So how about a "Clothes Line"?
Maybe a switch to power either the dryer or the water heater but not both at the same time. You shower while the wife sleeps. LOL
scottvanv in post 18 you mention "no change of lifestyle should the grid go down". I think it is much less expensive to build a system that meets your needs after you have decided to compromise a bit. Many folks want it all now, and pay dearly for that luxury.
Just a couple thoughts I figured I would share.
Uh, nevermind.The heat pump clothes dryers (3-4A) take 2.5 hours to dry a load, according to Consumer Reports, and my wife would absolutely kill me. (I'm not sure if she EVER has the dryer off. Including warming PJs for the kids for bedtime.)
So ... for now ... unless I come up with something else, I think I'll be wiring only the dryer straight to the grid, then sending her the bill!!
Maybe a switch to power either the dryer or the water heater but not both at the same time. You shower while the wife sleeps. LOL
scottvanv in post 18 you mention "no change of lifestyle should the grid go down". I think it is much less expensive to build a system that meets your needs after you have decided to compromise a bit. Many folks want it all now, and pay dearly for that luxury.
Just a couple thoughts I figured I would share.
Yep, see post #21 ... macro-level analysis said I could have it all, pretty cheaply, but not the case once I did the detailed analysis. Now that my water heater is hybrid, and likely my dryer soon, the rest of my high amperage, rarely used devices will probably account for only a couple percent of my overall power usage. Absolutely not worth spending thousands upgrading my system to handle. Better strategy is to just wire those to the grid for when used, and have a big SHTF switch to run those through the solar, but training the family that we need to be very conscious of what gets used when ...
WYtreasure
It's not happy hour, I'm just like this.
Nice
