# Solar/propane/wood cookstove.



## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

I'll get to the point. I'm considering a home that is solar with a propane stove for summer and a wood cookstove for the winter.

I'm trying to figure out ways to use the least amount of electricity as possible.

Right now, ON grid we have the following:
Drip coffeemaker, microwave, toaster oven, electric oven.

I'm wondering if the best counterparts would be:
Electric kettle+press (then put coffee in a thermos), small toaster, small microwave.

Would it be more efficient to use the toaster oven to cook versus propane stove, versus microwave? Or would a small toaster make the most sense?

I hope this question makes sense and/or someone can point me in the direction of some sort of calculator to try to figure this out - or advice from those who actually live in an all-solar place..

Thanks.


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## Gray Wolf (Jan 25, 2013)

Anything that makes heat is using a significant amount of power. More heat = more usage. Long duration use = more usage. 

We live off grid and use electric appliances. Toaster, coffee pot, mixer, hair dryer, microvave use power but are only run for short periods of time. We have this kind of appliances. 

We do not have crock pots, toaster ovens, stoves, grills etc etc that use lots of power and run for a long time.

We do laundry and minimal ironing on sunny afternoons when the battery bank is fully charged.


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

Succinct. I overthink (can you tell?)

Thank you!


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## Gray Wolf (Jan 25, 2013)

Living off-grid kind of requires overthinking!

We use propane for all cooking, instant hot water heater, clothes dryer, backup furnaces, and one refrigerator. 

Batteries have a finite number of times they can be discharged - depending on how deep they are discharged, when they are 100% full, etc. Our usage is influenced by the state of charge, time of day, and weather forecast. Fully charged, on a sunny afternoon and we're up for almost anything. 75% charged on a winter night with clouds innthe forecast for tomorrow, not so much. You just need to be aware of the big picture. Keep overthinking.

Take a look at our place at: offgrid150.simpl.com to see how 'normally' a person can live off-grid. (We're only selling so we can move into a retirement community. Off-grid works!)


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

We have a small wood cook stove inside in the winter, outside under the lean to screened kitchen, 3/4 of the year. Same chimney same wall. We don't drink coffee but you can use an old style coffee pot. Toast in the oven. We don't cook much when it is hot, though. We only have 12 volt off grid power....James


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## K.B. (Sep 7, 2012)

An older style option for the coffee is a percolater:

http://non-electric.lehmans.com/hardware/Coffee Percolator

I've heard good things about cold french press set-ups, too.

Switching to tea (homegrown herbal) is even easier, which is what we have done.


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