l00semarble
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2022
- Messages
- 150
I’m building a house from the ground up in Costa Rica which will be off grid with grid back up. I’m going to do a very high-quality system with basically all Victron maybe even Victron batteries as I am Victron dealer and get good pricing.
I have every choice in front of me for how the house is built and wired, voltages used, what appliances are chosen, light fixtures etc. I’m working on a load spreadsheet ans PDR I have some data from my current home there and some other similar homes. The home will be a luxury jungle villa at 1,500 ft elevation - very open to nature w/ very little HVAC needed but some storage spaces will be
dehumidified and we will put mini splits in the 4 bedrooms just in case someone has to knock down the humidity to sleep. I’m not asking for specific system design advice but rather general pitfalls.
What are the things that people don’t think about ahead of time that come up later or those things that “if I had it to do over again” .
For example there was recently a thread about a high efficiency front load washer that had inrush spikes back and forth due to the way the motor reverses. I would never have thought to consider this type of machine a special challenge for off grid.
Cook with induction or propane?
Passive rooftop water heater or several small instant heaters?
Pool pump choice/programming?
Lighting?
Smart home stuff?
Frig/freezer choices?
I have every choice in front of me for how the house is built and wired, voltages used, what appliances are chosen, light fixtures etc. I’m working on a load spreadsheet ans PDR I have some data from my current home there and some other similar homes. The home will be a luxury jungle villa at 1,500 ft elevation - very open to nature w/ very little HVAC needed but some storage spaces will be
dehumidified and we will put mini splits in the 4 bedrooms just in case someone has to knock down the humidity to sleep. I’m not asking for specific system design advice but rather general pitfalls.
What are the things that people don’t think about ahead of time that come up later or those things that “if I had it to do over again” .
For example there was recently a thread about a high efficiency front load washer that had inrush spikes back and forth due to the way the motor reverses. I would never have thought to consider this type of machine a special challenge for off grid.
Cook with induction or propane?
Passive rooftop water heater or several small instant heaters?
Pool pump choice/programming?
Lighting?
Smart home stuff?
Frig/freezer choices?