# Show Me Yours And I'll Show You Mine:)



## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

My husband and I are coming up on our 3 year anniversary of building our off grid berm home. We are now in the stages where we can tweak and hopefully perfect what we have done.

I would love to see pictures of other off grid homes/cabins/shops. Please post what you have and the equipment you use. I think this could be very helpful for people interested in going off grid.


Here is a picture looking at the front of our berm house. We still need to paint.











From the hill in the back:











We have a 1620 watt 12 volt system and 1540 amp hours of batteries...we need to add more batteries. Right now we are producing more electric than we can use or store....this is not a bad thing, lol.


We have twelve 135 watt Kyocera 12 volt panels, two Outback 80 amp charge controllers, one Outback 12 volt inverter, fourteen 6 volt golf cart batteries and a back up Honda generator which is only used for pumping our well water into an underground storage tank. My husband did the installation. Our system works flawlessly. 

When my husband designed our system he wanted to have 2 redundant systems so that if something happened to one we would still have power from the other. We also went with two larger charge controllers for future upgrading which we are now in the process of doing.



Please tell us about your sytems no matter how big or small.


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## oldasrocks (Oct 27, 2006)

I'm so jealous.


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

oldasrocks said:


> I'm so jealous.


Sorry...I didn't mean to make you or anyone jealous. I am really interested in what people have done as far as solar.


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## oldasrocks (Oct 27, 2006)

NO need to be sorry. We just need to borrow your hubby for a while.

I haven't done anything with solar but used to heat my geodesic dome house in Colorado with a solar water system. With homebuilt panels, hot water pumps, 300 gallon of storage in the basement, and all the sensors we were able to heat the house all winter with very little backup on the 2 or 3 cloudy spells. We did this for 8 yrs.


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## NorCalChicks (Dec 7, 2007)

oldasrocks said:


> NO need to be sorry. We just need to borrow your hubby for a while.


Us too! :grin:

We live off the grid in Nevada's Spring Mountain Range. Unfortunately we only have our well running off Solar power right now. The rest of the house runs off of a bank of 32 12volt golf cart batteries, which are charged with a Wackenhut generator. The previous owner did put in a tower for a turbine and we couldn't live in a sunnier spot, so Solar and possibly wind power are definitely in our near future plans. Other than the solar well we do have a gray water reclamation system which diverts all the gray water from the house into a tank to be used for irrigation.

A berm house would be totally cool - what is your square footage? Our place is a typical ranch style. My profession is in Architecture and I have been designing a totally Green house, sure would love to build it someday!

Our place:







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## SocialAnarchist (Mar 23, 2011)

Hello Lisa,

I have read your little adventure on the other site.

Your system may work but how about you tell the whole story? Like the number of times you reconfigured everything. It wasn't a single perfectly designed and installed system, you had much trial and error. Sharing that learning curve would probably be more beneficial than trying to make people believe you designed and installed a perfect system the first time.


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

SocialAnarchist said:


> Hello Lisa,
> 
> I have read your little adventure on the other site.
> 
> Your system may work but how about you tell the whole story? Like the number of times you reconfigured everything. It wasn't a single perfectly designed and installed system, you had much trial and error. Sharing that learning curve would probably be more beneficial than trying to make people believe you designed and installed a perfect system the first time.


You are absolutely right and we never hid any of our mistakes. Most people do. I don't think anyone on this planet can do something like this for the first time with no experience and get it right, lol. I wish someone had done a "real" story for me when we built, lol.


So if everyone would like to see how long it took us and all the work that my husband and I did you can go to:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/tennessee/359683-going-off-grid-east-tennessee.html


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

NorCalChicks said:


> Us too! :grin:
> 
> We live off the grid in Nevada's Spring Mountain Range. Unfortunately we only have our well running off Solar power right now. The rest of the house runs off of a bank of 32 12volt golf cart batteries, which are charged with a Wackenhut generator. The previous owner did put in a tower for a turbine and we couldn't live in a sunnier spot, so Solar and possibly wind power are definitely in our near future plans. Other than the solar well we do have a gray water reclamation system which diverts all the gray water from the house into a tank to be used for irrigation.
> 
> ...



Thank you for sharing. It is a very nice home and a beautiful spot.

Are you living there now? How many panels do you think you will have? Neat gray water system.


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## tkrabec (Mar 12, 2003)

nu2solar said:


> You are absolutely right and we never hid any of our mistakes. Most people do. I don't think anyone on this planet can do something like this for the first time with no experience and get it right, lol. I wish someone had done a "real" story for me when we built, lol.
> 
> 
> So if everyone would like to see how long it took us and all the work that my husband and I did you can go to:
> ...


I thought that house looked familiar! although greener.

I looked at the city-data site last month, and I'm impressed with the build. 

On the solar side I've done nothing, I'm a slacker.


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## NorCalChicks (Dec 7, 2007)

Thanks! Yes, we've been living here for 3 years now. We are thinking we need between 8 and 12 panels depending on their wattage. We are planning to buy 2 pair at a time over a few months....if we could keep the stupid generator from breaking down! :hair


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## SocialAnarchist (Mar 23, 2011)

I just shake my head at the people that think this is a wonderful thing. To me it is a man made cave that could never have been built if life safety fire building codes were in place.

To each their own I guess but I won't be joining the cheerleaders at City-Data or here for this.


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## lonelytree (Feb 28, 2008)

SocialAnarchist said:


> I just shake my head at the people that think this is a wonderful thing. To me it is a man made cave that could never have been built if life safety fire building codes were in place.
> 
> To each their own I guess but I won't be joining the cheerleaders at City-Data or here for this.


Please explain why you believe that the earth berm home is unsafe? I would rather endure a tornado in one of them than in a stick built home.


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## SocialAnarchist (Mar 23, 2011)

lonelytree said:


> Please explain why you believe that the earth berm home is unsafe? I would rather endure a tornado in one of them than in a stick built home.


Places that have adopted life safety fire codes recognize that bedrooms need 2 means of egress incase one is blocked by the fire. There is no secondary egress from the bedrooms, there is no installed fire protectioin system (sprinklers) that may buy them time to get out the only egress points at the front of the building.

The roof and front of the building are stick built and are no more structurally safe than a complete stick built home in a tornado.

Look, here it is in a nutshell. If they like it great.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

Not off grid, but here's mine:




















Local buddy of mine's off grid place we're building him. He has no power or water available to him, so it's solar with gen/backup and roof water stored in 4,000 gallons of storage.














































Mounted the solar last week and got it fired up yesterday.


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

NorCalChicks said:


> Thanks! Yes, we've been living here for 3 years now. We are thinking we need between 8 and 12 panels depending on their wattage. We are planning to buy 2 pair at a time over a few months....if we could keep the stupid generator from breaking down! :hair


Good luck with your generator.


*TnAndy*- Nice place. Thanks for sharing. Good luck to your off grid friend. Amazing views.


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## lonelytree (Feb 28, 2008)

SocialAnarchist said:


> Places that have adopted life safety fire codes recognize that bedrooms need 2 means of egress incase one is blocked by the fire. There is no secondary egress from the bedrooms, there is no installed fire protectioin system (sprinklers) that may buy them time to get out the only egress points at the front of the building.
> 
> The roof and front of the building are stick built and are no more structurally safe than a complete stick built home in a tornado.
> 
> Look, here it is in a nutshell. If they like it great. But it is no great advance in design, it is not visually pleasing to look at, and any chance at eco- friendlyness is decimated by that hideously long black top driveway and parking lot.


Maybe the plans and materials list is on another thread. I cannot tell what the front wall or roof are made of in the pictures. It could be straw or cement. I do not see roll down metal doors for over the French doors for when bad weather comes around. I do not understand why there is not a rear exit even if just a flight of stairs to the parking area.

I don't really see a need for sprinkler systems except in garage, utility rooms and possibly the kitchen and this would depend on the materials used.


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

lonelytree said:


> Maybe the plans and materials list is on another thread. I cannot tell what the front wall or roof are made of in the pictures. It could be straw or cement. I do not see roll down metal doors for over the French doors for when bad weather comes around. I do not understand why there is not a rear exit even if just a flight of stairs to the parking area.
> 
> I don't really see a need for sprinkler systems except in garage, utility rooms and possibly the kitchen and this would depend on the materials used.



Yes the whole story is on another link:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/tennessee/359683-going-off-grid-east-tennessee.html

The sides and back of the house are 10 foot tall walls with poured concrete. The house has spray foam insulation. The front is 2x6 wood construction. The sliding glass doors are our entrance and exit. We do have panels to go over in case of an emergency which we have never seen happen in our 15 years in this area.

Underground homes and a lot of berm houses don't have rear exits. We can get out through the back of the house through the ceiling which is made of ceiling tile instead of sheetrock. We do have smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors and also fire extinguishers for safety.

As far as a sprinkler system, in 45 years I have never seen a house with one of those. Only commercial buildings.

Our house is not for everyone but it suits us. I like the freedom of living here and not having so many rules and regulations to have to abide by.


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## Tarheel (Jan 24, 2010)

Quote -
*Local buddy of mine's off grid place we're building him. He has no power or water available to him, so it's solar with gen/backup and roof water stored in 4,000 gallons of storage.*

TnAndy, when you get a chance give us a run down on equipment (solar) that you installed for him. I have been watching your thread on another forum about the house. Good looking place ! It must be nice to have friends with deep pockets. :happy0035:


Nu2solar: sorry for the thread drift but it goes along with your question, I love to know what equipment people are using.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

Tarheel:

Put 6-245w Solarworld panels on the roof, for a 1470w nominal system. Panels are wired in strings of three ( about 90v ), that run to a pair of breakers in a Midnite combiner box mounted on the outside wall right next to those two windows in the pic ( box not in pic...conduit/wire hanging beside it right then )

Used Unirac S-5 mini clips that clip right on the seams of the standing seam metal roof ( no additional racking required ).....but you have to mount the panels as shown, in "landscape" mode. 

Wire from the combiner box (#6) runs down to the basement, where the batteries/equipment are located.

He bought 8--400amp/hr 6 volt Deka L-16's at the local battery dealer, and we wired them in 2 strings of 4 each, for a 24v 800amp/hr bank.

The inverter/etc is an Outback Flexpower One panel.....everything comes in on a metal "board", you simply mount the wall bracket and hang the whole thing on the wall, then run your PV wires in, battery wires, and 120vAC out.....real sweet simple to work with. This is an Outback pic...I forgot to take my camera back yesterday when I was hooking it up.










We spec'ed a 3500w inverter ( he really doesn't need 240v for anything, so we're keeping it all 120v.....he has a nice Kubota diesel genset if he does need 240 for something, also as a backup to the solar ). Panel has an 80amp Flexmax charge controller ( will give him some room to expand to more panels if he finds these aren't enough ), a Mate, Hub, and an Outback battery monitor all built on the board.

Install took 2 days....he already had the PV wires run from upstairs, and the 120v line to his panel, so all I had to do was "plug n' play".


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

Tarheel said:


> Quote -
> 
> Nu2solar: sorry for the thread drift but it goes along with your question, I love to know what equipment people are using.


No problem. That's why I started this thread.....to see what others have done and what they are using.

*TnAndy-* Thanks for the details.


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## Tarheel (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanks Andy !

Sweet system and home site.

As my dad use to say- "If you can't go first class, wait till you can."


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## SocialAnarchist (Mar 23, 2011)

Residential sprinkles have been in use for decades and are mandated in many communities across the nation. The cost to install sprinklers in the average home is well under $2k, you know, the cost of a good entertainment center. Except this $2k may just save your life and home. My comment about sprinklers in this specific instance was made in reference to buying time to get out the only true exits at the sliding doors.

The ceiling escape hatch will simply not work in a fire situation. The ceiling temperature will be several hundred degrees if not well over a thousand degrees and any attempt to pass though that will end in serious burns or even death. Let alone the fact that all the smoke and poisonous gasses accumulate at the ceiling and sometimes all it takes is one breath of them to incapacitate you.

Lack of building codes does not mean you have to build something substandard to the commonly accepted life safety codes. The saddest part of building things like this is if there is a fire people expect the fire department to come there and rescue them inside from inside a structure with not even the minimum of life safety built in.


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

^^^

Thank you for your concern. Don't worry...I don't expect help from the government, firefighters, or police. I will take full responsibility for my actions and not sue anyone for my own choices. I like my freedoms and I prefer to keep it that way. Maybe more people should do that...just saying.


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## SocialAnarchist (Mar 23, 2011)

nu2solar said:


> ^^^
> 
> Thank you for your concern. Don't worry...I don't expect help from the government, firefighters, or police. I will take full responsibility for my actions and not sue anyone for my own choices. I like my freedoms and I prefer to keep it that way. Maybe more people should do that...just saying.


What happens if you have vistors? Grandchildren? Can you guarantee that their survivors won't sue? See it is all well and good to live how YOU want to and assume risks for YOURSELF, but as soon as you introduce others into the mix you assume responsibility for THEIR SAFETY and the living free as you want to goes right out the window, well if you had any.

When I have overnight guests at my home I discuss what to do in an emergency with them before they retire for the night. I do assume the responsibilty for their safety while they are under my roof.

I like my freedoms too, but not enough to ignore commonly accepted life safety standards in my home.


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## roachhill (Jul 8, 2009)

Isn't social anarchy the opposite of wanting the government to determine the details of everyones day to day life. Honestly if they are satisfied it's safe enough for them then that's good enough. My grandpa has lived for many decades in a very similar house and it's worked out great. I get upset at people who think the Feds should decide how much risk is to much. They stick us with stupid rules like badly designed airbags, mandatory seatbelt use and helmet laws. Then they decide smoking is so dangerous they can fix the problem by adding huge taxes. Now they've moved on to deciding being fat is to dangerous so they want to crack down on your choice of fattening foods. Then of course there's those dangerous raw milk and fresh bread sellers they can't allow. What's next maybe they should lower the speed limit to 30 mph or better yet ban cars. Perhaps people shouldn't be allowed to skydive or rock climb or even hike in the woods. All are dangerous. The point is it's no ones buisness if your not hurting anyone else. Life is dangerous no one makes it out alive to try to make it safe would lose the point of living it.


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## SocialAnarchist (Mar 23, 2011)

roachhill said:


> Isn't social anarchy the opposite of wanting the government to determine the details of everyones day to day life. Honestly if they are satisfied it's safe enough for them then that's good enough. My grandpa has lived for many decades in a very similar house and it's worked out great. I get upset at people who think the Feds should decide how much risk is to much. They stick us with stupid rules like badly designed airbags, mandatory seatbelt use and helmet laws. Then they decide smoking is so dangerous they can fix the problem by adding huge taxes. Now they've moved on to deciding being fat is to dangerous so they want to crack down on your choice of fattening foods. Then of course there's those dangerous raw milk and fresh bread sellers they can't allow. What's next maybe they should lower the speed limit to 30 mph or better yet ban cars. Perhaps people shouldn't be allowed to skydive or rock climb or even hike in the woods. All are dangerous. The point is it's no ones buisness if your not hurting anyone else. Life is dangerous no one makes it out alive to try to make it safe would lose the point of living it.


Incredibly ludicrous off topic argument that proves nothing.

Look, would you defend a movie theater owner that built a theater with one door? Would you defend a high rise building owne who only put in one staiway? Would you defend a school building with only one exit? Why not? Shouldn't business owners or the government have the same freedom to design buildings as they see fit and not be bound by some life safety code?

See, it is all well and good to preach freedom, and that you should be able to live as you want, but again, as soon as you introduce visitors or children into the mix it is no longer about YOU it becomes about THEM. I am apalled at people who feel they should be allowed to build dangerous buildings and then hide behind some ludicrous thought of individual freedom. Especially when I know what will happen if a fire or some other tragedy befalls that property owner. They will blame the responders for the bad that happens, despite the hollow remarks they make before hand.

As long as no one else is staying in this building then the fact of individual freedom pertains, it no longer has any meaning if anyone is allowed to stay overnight in that same building.

Just to be clear, if this is how they want to live and they make the risks clear to any ADULT guests and they accept those risks then fine. Children cannot be expected to undrerstand nor accept those risks.


SocialAnarchist has less to do with government and more to do with the flow of society. But I guess you can interpret it anyway you like.


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## roachhill (Jul 8, 2009)

Anarchism- the political philosophy that considers the state undesirable, unnecessary and harmful. Seems pretty straightforward as an attack on government structure. 
It's silly to argue that use of private property for individual use should fall under the same govn regulations as buildings open to the public. We have areas here not served by government sevices and people choose to take the risk of living without a fire dept. That is their right to take such risks even if they have children. The Government is not a nanny for the American people but people have decided they are. I think whether individuals have the choice to subject themselves to risk isn't so far off point from the topic you started, certainly way off the original topic of sharing what you've built.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Well on that illuminating note lets give this thread a break. Feel free to carry on the topic in General Chat.


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