For those of you truly wanting to live off grid

Ok now I got ya. the dehydrators and smokers are the power hogs so clip that stuff gotcha.

 

I have eaten many waffles made on the old time fire fired waffle irons, and they are fantastic. Problem is finding them. I would buy one in a heartbeat if I could find one in really good condition and the price was right..

Thank-you G-Man

Melbo, I have two back up elect generators now. One is a 7k rv type twin Kholer almost new, which I am considering converting from gas to propane, and the other is a very old Robin Wisconsin 3.5 k that still works like a dream.

 

I'm getting a smoker that is wood fired, so I'm not above using that for my smoking needs. I could use the wood stove for my jerky it is just awhole lot hareder to do a ground meat jerky on a stove that it is harder to regulate the heat in a wood fired stove than a smoker.I like to go low and really slow with my jerky, and once you have a wood cook stove fired up from breakfast or whenever it's hard to get it back down to 175 degrees.

 

Baby Steps

We have been moving toward off-grid for about three years now. First we got rid of the electric stove and water heater and replaced with LP gas. Then we replace the Central Heat with room gas heaters and a fireplace insert in the front room. Last summer ripped up all the carpet and replace with real wood floors. The original floors in our home are from 1926 and had been poorly repaired or replaced over the years. This allows us to sweep the floors and not need a vacuum cleaner. This also add an extra layer on the floor to aid in heat conservation. We got rid of the electric dryer and have gone over to an old fashion clothes line with an indoor unit as bad weather back up.
This summer we replaced the old single plane windows with energy efficient windows, added 3/4 dense cell insulation to the outside of the house and recovered it with the existing vinyl siding and then blew insulation into the attic. all this was done for under $3000 by using smart buying and abusing...I mean USING..friends as a labor pool. After Christmas we are purchasing a LP frig and then, hopefully will be installing solar panel next summer.
We have discussed "Going Solar" for over four years and have carefully modified our lifestyles to help us go over to solar. Will it work? let you know this summer. Anyone that thinks that this is an overnight process has either a hell of a lot of money and has not thought through the process.

Just my 2 cents on that

Be Blessed, Be Vigilant
Gafarmboy
If you can not protect what you own, you won't own it long.

 

I have managed to do quite well with the simplest and cheapest forms of PV power. I only have 2 of the 3 panel amorphous ( el cheapo types) panels and 2 automotive batteries. I have several wood stoves, and propane fired stoves and a heater. I almost never use my generator's, a Coleman 1850 watt and we also have a 4000 watt Generac. I found it's really important to have good insulation, so I have used a lot of the 1 1/2" foam panels. With all the "free" firewood, the biggest problem remains to be gasoline to run the chainsaws. Local sources were recently contaminated...not good!
Water is still a concern, as we have to haul every drop in right now. Eventually we will have at least 6 blue silcon panels, and some 8-12 marine deep cycle batteries. Right now I can easily run my smallest 400-800 watt invertor, but my 2000-4000 will only run about 30 seconds on the batteries I have, before it all shuts down. I use ONLY solar yard lamps with the rechargeable AA batteries, for my lighting. So far I have used them for over a year and they still work great. ( of course they are all used ONLY intermittently)
All laundry is done by hand with a 5 gallon bucket and plunger, and for the larger items, sleeping bags, blankets, comforters, etc, I have some large buckets with rope handles. No dryers, all SOLAR! (Rope and clothes pins!)
I had to turn down a couple that wanted to come and "sit" on my land to be "caretakers". They wanted me to give them 5 acres, or a 99 year lease, and have an 8 foot diameter fire pit. They are illegal where I am. We are going to set up chicken coops, and rabbit hutches for meat. Some have "had" free range chickens and the coyotes loved them!
Now about goats...since I worked on a sheep ranch one summer when I was young, I still can't be around sheep (I hate mutton) an do not like the smell of sheep or of goats. A lot of people prefer them, and I can see where they may be handy, just not for me. Right now, there are a lot of wild critters to choose from. That may change quickly! (nothing good lasts forever!)
I am some 15 miles from the nearest town (population is -400) by road, and the roads are virtually non-existant. Weather up there dictates all travel.
The nearest person to me is over 4 1/2 miles away, and they have to come uphill to get to my area. I am in a horseshoe shaped semi-circle. It has 2 large mountain peaks at the entrance, and has a large canyon at the rear. Unless you have an all terrian vehicle, high clearance, and are very careful, you cannot gain access. 1 road in and 1 road out. Unless you have a helicopter and there's no place to land one. Trees are very dense, but small in stature. No more that 12-16 feet tall, but some are quite large at the base. Many rabbits and birds use them in the winters.

 

DragonFly, I just bought 4 used Kyrocera 125 watt panels for $225.00 ea. They are about 3 years old, and are working like a champ. Around here these kinds of deals generally come up the most in the spring time. That is when the "would be " surviveilost all run back to the valley after buring up all their resources trying to survive a winter up here. Speaking of which it is just getting readdy to dump on us now. If you watch any solar stores and get freindly with the sales staff, you can maybe get them to give you a call when something comes along you may need. Got a call last week and was told there was an outback 60 am charge controller , used for sale for
$400.00 I made an offer on it for $325.00 and brought it home. They are fantastic as you can use 24 volt panels, and it will convert the power back to 12 volt and also increase the output. These deals do come up.

 

My biggest problem is going back and forth all the time, between the land up north and back in the valley ( of despair). I have to live here to get things purchased and then take them to storage ( can't trust the locals anymore!) or I can gamble and try to keep them safe in one of my trailers up there.
There are a lot of people I'd like to get to know up there, but when I'm running all the time, it's been a hit and miss proposition at best!
Unfortunately there were some "great deals" recently on some solar panels....I'm glad I missed out on that one, they turned out to be stolen!
A lot of that is going on right now! I know for a fact that a so called "caretaker" I happen to know "ALL TOO WELL", is now in posession of a stolen propane refirgerator! ( taken only 300 feet away from a neighbors residence!) Seems his just quit and he needed a new one...like the "water heater" that also was taken, since his was bad!
Nice folks up there!
I NEED a lot of barbed wire and some bad dogs!

 

I am not sure on how to answer that one Dragonfly. I have all my solar and my neighbors solar so, unless you really want a lot of problems, and if your in the wrong frame of mind (like a thief) You really want to pass my by. Much easier pickens for the thief type . But in your case, finding someone to really take care of your place is going to be very tough. Prehaps, you could find a small family say grandma and grandpa who are now homeless in Phoenix and would like a free place to sleep would help some. Not sure, and you are the only one who can determine this. But would for sure consider haveing them run throughl the phoenix pd or S.O. before I would even show them my place let alone let them live there. I would definately look for an older couple though. Things may work out a letter better for you in that respect.

 

I really wanna live off the grid, at least electricity wise, because it's so expensive, and 2 or 3 summers ago when we got it shut off for 3 months due to billing issues, I found it's quite possible to live without electricity and still accomplish the same critical things(preserving food, hot water, laundry, cooking, heating, lights, etc) just in a different way.

 

So, I am presuming that you want to live without any electricity ? Or do you find an interest in solar/wind ?

 

I know how much living without electricity sucks. My wife and I had to do without it not to long after I had my heart attack........ This is while we still lived in Oklahoma and I wished to god that I had had a portable setup anyhow as it would at least run a tv and a fan. In Iowa we don't need to worry about that right now as electricity is still somewhat cheap, and we can afford the bill but if be all end all its bye bye cable first. But still for the time being untill we can get our place out in the country, I would like to have a powerenz 2000 portable solar system so we could run a Heater
and a light or two maybe the laptops. Just as a just in case type scenario.

 

@Nadja I would like a solar/wind setup.
@Disciple What really bothers is that the reason we got it shut off is that in winter, the meter reader didn't even bother reading the meter, and apparently just guessed at power usuage, and the bill that time was $400, which we couldn't afford. I have my doubts about our bills from the time we moved here til we got it shut off because it had been in my mother's name, and after a couple months after it got shut off, I decided to apply as a new customer in my own name, figuring the worst they could do is say no and we continued the way we had been, and I got approved, and our power bills now are about 30% of what they had been. Granted I'm not big on wasting electricity since then, but still...
@BTPost That's what a solar guy we talked to here said, it's not cost efficient to switch from a utility company to being our own 'power company'. But I don't trust the power company here, for reasons mentioned above. And my mother provides the bulk of the household income(I've made at best $1000 this year), and her health isn't much better than mine, and if something happens to her, I won't be able to afford electricity anyways.