Nice I'm defiantly going to install some mini splits at some point. I've thought about changing my electric dryer for a gas unit at some point. Just because I would not have anything using split phase. Then again a 220 volt hot tub sure sounds nice. ? Even though its a total waste of power.
I’m not allowed to cut the cord in my suburban environment (albeit in the middle of the desert in the same climate as Las Vegas), so my goal is to get the best ROI for as little as possible, while still having a reasonable amount of independence if everything goes sideways. I’ve found it’s pretty easy to deal with 90% of my load 90% of the time. To deal with the other 10% would require like four times the size of system than what I have.
Ding ding ding! winner of the smart post award.
add a wood fired stove and set a saw off to the side. even if its currently looked down upon, when the SHTF and you have a chainsaw a wood stove and firewood, you can heat, cook sterilize and bathe. FTMFW. BTW the chainsaw can be run on a mixture of animal fat and alcohol.
good answer sir, good answer!
I have a battery operated chainsaw which is brilliant power wise & I can charge off my solar panels!!
I am a chainsaw enthusiast. I have been waiting for the batteries to come up a little more in capacity before i commit, but I have been watching the batter ones real close lately. currently i use about 7 meters³ per year to heat on the weekends and the occasional long stay at the cabin. I split using a hydraulic splitter I built from scrap with a 8hp petrol engine, but I have a spare electric motor and a smaller pump that I could change and still use the splitter. it would a lot slower in comparison to the gasoline engine, but I have the parts already stocked.
I know it's off topic, but as an enthusiast what's your opinion on the Einhell Power X-Change 10 inch 18V Cordless Chainsaw model GE-LC 18/25 Li With 3.0 Ah Battery (it's the one I have)
just add a small stove as an emergency backup. even fed with dead fall scraps it can put out a lot of heat during the coldest hours, as well as cook. one of my favorites is deer stew on top of the wood stove. takes about 5 or 8 hours on low heat, but its free, heat and food at the same time. and you can do that bare minimum just off of scraps that fall through the year. That coupled with a geo thermal heat pump and you can heat and cool the house even with a small battery bank. mine is only 30kw (48 volt) and I manage pretty well. never below about 23°c in the coldest months. I only use the heat pump in the spring to dry out the house from humidity, but I could heat the house to about 15°c in the winter even without fire wood. Its all about balance. I just wish I had a good spring or stream next to the house... thats 24/7 power for free, even if its low output.
Shoot I would love to ask you whats best! unfortunately here in japan there is no chance to pretest something prior to buying, so I have been watching the reviews on various forums to try and figure out which one I should start out with... Currently i run Husky gas powered pro level units. (i rebuild blown units from companies that use them daily for work.) so they are cheap for me. but when i make the jump to electric I will be buying new.
100 Kwh is a really large bank, and will run your house for a long time even if you are a power hog. but you will need a large array to keep them charged if you are running them hard. say you get 4 hours of good solar per day, you would need at least 20-25 kw of solar just to charge them and run most of your house at the same time. (these are off the cuff numbers). but if you can afford that big of a battery bank then the peripherals are not that bad as the costs are coming down daily. I bought used panels that were 5 y/o or newer and have 7.2kw here in japan the panels alone would be about 40K usd new, but I spent less than 4k on used panels that were all top tier used <5 years old and removed from houses due to upgrades/new construction etc. etc. Not knowing the costs of panels in your area I cant speak on the cost, but I think if you are diligent you can do it reasonably priced.
