# Need ideas for our soon to be homestead



## Huntinfamily (Aug 14, 2010)

As soon as our two oldest boys leave for college my Wife and I will be moving to our property in SW Virginia ( 3 or so years). Currently we have a barn and about 10 cleared acres, the rest is all woods. We are going to start off living in a travel trailer while we build our small house. Here is where I am asking for advice. We don't want to be tied to the electrical grid, primarily because of the expense of having utility poles and wire run to our property. Our water is fed from a spring and we have already installed a septic. When we first start out we will be on a very strict, tight budget. We plan to heat with wood and are thinking of using propane for cooking, refrigerator, etc. we are thinking either solar or wind power to run our 110v septic,clothes washer, tv and a few lights. Any advice would be welcome. We are new to this and could use input from some of you that are already off grid homesteading.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Since you said you are in SW Virginia.. is your place in flat land, or in a holler somewhere? If you are in a holler, good chance you will be very limited in usable sunlight...

You might want to price solar systems and wind systems as compared to having wire strung.... Neither is cheap, and wind isn't near as efficient as solar when it comes to cost to wattage output ratio...


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## Huntinfamily (Aug 14, 2010)

Thanks simi, part of the land is down in the holler. The rest, like where we are putting the house is on the top of the mountain. Right now we are trying to plan ahead and kick around a few ideas until we come up with the best option for us. I figured posting these ideas and asking for suggestions on here was a pretty good idea because of the wealth of knowledge some of you have.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

DO a wind study BEFORE you go down the road of wind. There is an AltE company in Abingdon,Va. that will put you up a recording wind meter to see if you have a wind site. Most people around here do not. They put one up on a buddy of mine's clear, west facing, high ridge property ( where I was almost SURE he would have a wind site ), and he only average 8mph during Feb-Mar......our traditionally windy months......you need 12.

DO plan your solar site well. Take a compass out on your place and look for south ( or as near as possible ) facing locations for either your roof ( if you plan to roof mount ), or a space to ground mount panels. Assuming you have a good south facing location, then get a Solar Pathfinder ( google it ) and do a site study to make sure you don't have tree shading that will block your panels.

Do both of these before you buy one piece of equipment. A little planning NOW is worth a ton of trying to fix it later.


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## Huntinfamily (Aug 14, 2010)

Thanks TnAndy, like I said we are a few years away from building and am trying to plan things out now. I will check into your recommendations. We are heading up there this spring for a week or so and am now planning on running some of those tests you recommended. My parents are going to be building their house near ours and they will be on the grid so getting grid power to our place may be cheaper than I originally planned but I still would prefer to be off grid as much as possible


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## solidwoods (Dec 23, 2005)

Check out gasification.
It can make hot water or run an engine. They runs on dry materials.
It's quite DIY friendly if you do all your homework and don't try to cut corners. 
Or you can purchase a kit to turn key package from GEK in CA.
jim


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## Gray Wolf (Jan 25, 2013)

We've lived off grid for a few years. It all works just fine - when the sun shines. DO plan on having a generator recharge your batteries when it's cloudy for a week ot two. All the guides let you figure out how many days you can last on battery but they don't say much about generators othernthan sizing.

Where will it be? Our generator shed is about 400 feet from the house. I don't like to listen to it.

How many should you have? At least two. We have 4 at the moment. Two cheap little 3,500 watt ones that we alternate to charge batteries. One 10,00 watt 220 one for welding, weekly water pumping to our gravity tank that feeds the house. And one broke 10,000 watt one that needs a bearing replaced. Even if you buy the best one in the world, it WILL fail. Based on other off-grid people we know - the better the generator - the farther you have to go to get it repaired and the more the parts cost.

Why so many? We are an hour from a town larger than 3,000 people. Tough to quickly replace a generator, at a good price, if one breaks in the middle of winter and you are snowed in. Or sick. Or when you have guests. (Guests use power at an alarming rate.)

Fuel storage?

Wire size to get from generator shed to house?

Remote start/shutdown?

All easy to solve but things, and costs, to factor in.

We love living off grid! Really.


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## Gray Wolf (Jan 25, 2013)

Oh, and change the oil twice as often as recommended.


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## simplegirl (Feb 19, 2006)

I think it would be pretty difficult to do off grid unless you are very committed to it. It very well may not be as expensive to run electricity to your place as you think. Call and get an estimate. They should be able to look at where you are in relation to the closest line and tell you about what it will cost. I would do that first before exploring the off grid options. 

As far as living in a travel trailer, we are actually doing that now on our place. However, we have enclosed it inside a building and are heating with a pellet stove as well as a small electric heater. Both which need more electricity than we could provide with a solar or wind setup in our area. Also, we are finding that the travel trailer takes some getting used to. We can't run much of anything together without throwing the main breaker. A minor inconvenience but still frustrating to have the lights go out on you while you are fixing a meal!! LOL! 

I'm not saying you couldn't do it off grid. There are plenty of people here who do. They are just better men and women than I am!!

Good luck! My best advice is plan, plan, plan. Then you will change the plan a few times before you settle on what is best.


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## ani's ark (May 12, 2012)

Firstly do what you are doing - research! You will really need to learn and understand terminology (amps, volts, AC/DC, wattage, kV hours) and offgrid components like inverters and different battery types, so you can communicate properly with sales and trades people and ask the right questions on important issues and not end up with a dud system or a problem component you cant explain.

Taking into account the cost of installing, maintaining and replacing parts of your system, plus the ongoing cost of gas bottles, I'm not sure off-grid is always good economics - more of a lifestyle choice! 

You learn to reduce your energy use - siphon water from uphill instead of a pump, a ------- on your woodburner to save on your gas bills. Make sure you can cook on the woodburner top - we have lots of soups and stews and potroasts in winter to save on gas use. 

If you can get decent wind on the property, I still recommend a small wind turbine like the AIRX400. We have mostly solar, but the wind turbine is good for winter winds and times when the cloud cover means we dont get enough from the PV panels. The wind turbine also trickles power into the batteries overnight when the panels are giving nothing, so it's useful and comparatively cheap. 
Also get an inverter with a charger rather than a cheaper plain inverter like we did, then you can use your generator to charge up your batteries for those patches of crazy grey days when there is no sun OR wind. It happens here.

Get a deep freezer for your food and keep it outside, full, and running on a timer uses a lot less power than keeping a freezer in the warm house. Then just run a small beer fridge in the house for your milk, defrosting meat, cheese etc. A fridge is a big sucker of power and makes a huge difference in our levels of comfort in summer. 

And one more thing - if you are building and working on your property be aware a lot of bigger power tools will not run on a small off-grid system. And if you have any contractors coming theyll need to run their gear. So a good generator is a must, as stated. Just add that on to the fast increasing bill!

Good luck with your dream! Good planning is the key, ask me how I know 
It is very satisfying to be off grid, and we love it.


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