Nice, neat, tidy little solutions all wrapped up with a bow

The Husband and I have had a few discussions lately on THE PERFECT SOLUTION. It's like this whole off-grid dream/adventure has been a big flaming question, a wondering, a searching, if it really is possible. And if so, what's THE BEST-est, EASIEST, MOST BUDGET FRIENDLIEST, PERFECT-est way to go. I feel this overwhelming urge to resolve the off-grid, non-petrol-as-possible puzzle. No, not just an overwhelming urge, but more like an insatiable craving. Man, some good chocolate sounds divine. Anyway. I feel like anyone should be able to walk into to her local net-zero home dealer and check off the weather zone, number of family members, and ba-zzz, ba-zzz, ba-zzz, there you go, a nice, neat, tidy little solution all tied up with a bow: the net-zero of all net-zero buildings with non-toxic sealants and adhesives and the most budget-friendly, convenient, meeting all of your off-grid energy needs, including indulgent soaks in a tub of hot water topped off with a thick layer of soft, silky bubbles scented with natural plant essences, homes one could ever be comfortable in til the day she dies. And nary a firewood hauling broken nail and draft to suffer. Well, as they say, hindsight is 20/20, and I've been seeing different off-grid, non-petrol solutions.

What we would have done differently system wise and why?

#1 - Insulation, insulation, insulation, and sealing. I mention it here because it affects the systems performance.

#2 - Outdoor Boiler in lieu of the Masonry Heaters. Pause for Startled Gasp! Shocking, scandalous. I LOVE my heaters. My heater mason was a dream to work with. The heaters do what they are supposed and do it well. You absolutely can heat a house with them. BUT, here's why I'd go with the Outdoor Boiler instead:

a - Hot water and convenience. With an Outdoor Boiler, I could heat both the cabin AND the garden shed AND have PLENTY of hot water AND only deal with firing just the Outdoor Boiler.

That said, the Outdoor Boilers are not as efficient and are nasty, smokey, dirty. My sister and brother-in-law have their outdoor boiler banked into the ground. Love that idea as a solution to make it more efficient. I don't know if there's a cleaner burning option available, but I would opt for that.

b - Wood stove. The only thing that the Masonry Heater isn't good at is a cold night out of the blue. They're like a big ship and it takes time to heat up the mass before it starts heating the space. So, maybe I'd want a wood stove to handle the chillies that pop up now and then.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Remember, during the cabin remodel, things didn't get taken care of the way they should have, specifically, insulation and sealing. (Yes, I already mentioned that but I canNOT stress the importance of a good envelope.)

#3 - Solar hot water for the Summer. This is assuming the system will work. This would give me the Summer off from messing around with firewood. AND with outdoor boilers being nasty, smokey, dirty - in the Summer the windows are open. (Well, at least we try to keep them open. That's another post.)

#4 - Solar - yes. I'd keep that the way we've got it.

#5 - Wind turbine. Again assuming this would work as advertised.

And there you have it. The nice, neat, tidy, little solution all wrapped up with a bow. Of course, results may vary. Wink. UHG. Sorry. This is based on two people in a location where Winter can be mean and the remodel was botched.

Let's Party!

Photo credit xedos4
photo source

Heavy sigh. (Sorry. Bear with me here for a little please.) Living off-grid, I keep an eye on the weather. It's really no big deal as I've lived out in the country for decades and have watched the weather and planned accordingly for the purpose of making hay and keeping my horse dry, cool or warm, fly-free, safe, and happy. So, I saw we had rain coming. You may recall from a previous post, The Secret Cabin was taking on water during our last rain. Now, I am as tired of cleaning up after everyone else's messes as you probably are hearing about it. I think The Husband should take my Lady Smith away for awhile. Probably my tow strap and Jeep too. And the fireplace toolset. Shit, anything held in an anger induced, white-knuckle grip can be used as a weapon. At least the stripes are vertical and slimming. Anyway, The Husband must own the heaviest ladder on the planet. I drug it out and around the cabin caulking the living daylights out of the over priced windows and doors that Dudenas Contracting butchered. They *ucked up the opening sizes in the concrete block foundation walls for the Garden Level windows and doors and had to hack the douglas fir trim off of them to get them to fit the openings. Then they put some crap 2x4's up around them. Then they did a half-butt (I'm really trying to watch my potty mouth here) job caulking. Yes, I realize caulking is a maintenance item that a homeowner should schedule once a year, however, I could tell there were spots that were never caulked. Another heavy sigh. Additionally, the crap 2x4's shrunk and twisted making new gaps. Like I said, I caulked the daylights out of every thing. It's not a big deal but The Husband was down state for his work week and I feared caulking myself to the cabin and being stuck there for two days until he got home from work. It was touch and go for a while there, but I'm proud to report that I neither got stuck to the cabin nor have a bright red caulk gun attached to my hand that I have to carry around wherever I go. Life is good. Then it rained the next day and The Secret Cabin began taking on water again. Time to move on to the next suspicious spot. There's a door on the Main Level above the leaking Garden Level door. The Husband is here and he's going to drag his heavy ladder out and caulk the daylights out of that door. In conclusion, I'm super bummed. We killed our piggy bank on this place and we've got this big FUBAR'd mess. The Husband keeps reassuring me that we can fix it. Um, shouldn't have to, beep-beep-beep over uncomplimentary pronoun referring to guilty contractor. Another heavy sigh. Did I mention I'm really, really bummed. (Now, the good part.) So, I've decided we should have a PARTY! Nothing like a BIG PARTY! to lift the spirits. Your's truly, back in the day, was a SUPER Secretary with a big, bright, blazing S on her blouse with a shiny cape fluttering in her wake as she dashed around at super human speeds in skirt, heels, and constantly running tights producing wheelbarrows full of proposals, scopes of work, specifications, and legal documents. In addition to working for architects, engineers, industrial contractors, and lawyers; I also worked for a meeting and convention planning company. While I don't think I'm planning an event for 2500 or calling Hollywood to hire a star (sorry), it is time to fall back on all those planning skills once again. The BIG PARTY! plans are to be part of SOLAR TOUR 2012! And the crowd goes WILD! I know. Exciting. I'm shooting for the moon here. I'll need to start the paperwork for the Wind Turbine project. In light of the starved piggy bank laying on it's back with it's little split hooved feet in the air, I will gratefully, humbly accept and appreciate (and advertise the heck out of) any wind turbine manufacturer that would like to help out with providing a turbine. (Come on, let's show everyone it works. You know you want to. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.) I want to raise the tower and turbine and bring the turbine on line during the tour. Squeal of OMG delight, how exciting is that?! Can't you just picture a crowd of people, all with hotdogs in hand, following the turbine going up and twirling as if they're watching a tennis match. Happy gasp! I plan on making a HUGE event out of it with select contractors and suppliers on site with local radio and news coverage. (No pushing, no shoving, just email me if you want in.) Additionally, this town is all about tourism. Beginning 2013, we will be part of that tourism opening our home for tours and talks on off-grid living and green building. I will also be available for speaking engagements at other locations. (We SO would have loved to talk to others living off-grid in prep for our off-grid adventure.) Stay tuned for details, your invite, and to save the date! La, la, la, let's get this party started.... (ooo, singing is NOT part of my skill set)

Kicking back for the Summer

About two weeks ago, we kicked back the angle of the PV array (refer to blog header photo for former angle) to catch more sun both earlier and later in the day. We're usually floating by 10:30 in the morning. Summertime and the living is easy.

Playing with the sun

and gate. It was another beautiful and sunny day. I felt rested and ready to "get 'r dun". Armed with my cheat sheets, I headed out to the cabin. This time I couldn't get the gate open. The Jeep is skinny and goes through the snow pretty well so I was able to squeeze it through the smaller than usual gate opening. Some one else also thought our property was good for snow shoeing too and left tracks across our property. I'm hoping that doesn't continue when we get moved in full time because we enjoy the privacy our property offers and we want to continue enjoying it. We don't want to be sitting in our living room having a glass a wine in front of the fire with Barry White playing softly in the background to have the moment spoiled by someone bopping by a window. And we're definitely not sharing our wine. Plus, Diesel, my horse, tends to be very territorial. He goes a bit crazy whenever someone comes onto our property at the Ohio farm. He starts prancing over to where the person or people are wondering around only to be stopped by the fence and snorts at them. By the looks on the faces of the alleged invader, the horse can be rather intimidating. To be honest, I'm not sure what he'd do if he ever got out of the pasture. We joke that he's our "guard pony." Trespassers: Diesel on duty. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Now, for those that have been waiting on the edge of their seats to witness the transition of someone who has always been on grid to life off grid, here we go. After following the steps listed on my cheat sheet, I plugged the vacuum into the outlet. I looked at all the numbers and lights on the inverter (pictured above), charge controllers, and system control panel. Then I turned the vacuum on and ran back to look at all the numbers and lights again. Next, I did some actual vacuuming. Then I ran to look at all the numbers and lights yet again. I couldn't help but feel like I hit the jackpot in a Vegas casino or something with all those lights and numbers. Vacuuming is definitely more fun in an off grid home.

And for my final trick of the evening, I ended up hanging from the gate. After squeezing the Jeep through the narrow opening, I tried to swing the gate open more. I shook it. It didn't move. I shook it harder. The only thing that moved was my hair and my eyeballs. I shook it even harder. It gave way, followed by both my feet and legs and there I hung like a monkey. It's moments like that you hope the neighbors aren't watching, armed with a video camera and a padded envelope made out to America's Funniest Videos.

Solar Training for the Lady of the Cabin

I guess all that snow shoeing, drift scaling, snow shoe boarding, and playing with the gate yesterday was a little more than I was used to as I was really exhausted today. To the point of not feeling very well. The tractor did all the work with the driveway clearing; I just kind of aim so I don't think that was an issue. As much as I don't like sitting out a day of sunshine, I did. I feel bad when I don't get much done. I did cook, take a nap, and got some solar training. The Man loves his manuals. There must be eight manuals for the solar system. Thankfully, he was able to give me the "cliff notes" version. I now know the electricity flows from the panels into the house and through the charge controllers, batteries, inverter, and finally, into the subpanel. I created a cheat sheet on how to power up the system and power it back down. First of all, there is a box on the pole that the panels are on. We have eight panels. There are two groups of four panels. One is named PV1 and the other is PV2. The breakers for PV1 and PV2 in this box on the pole are flipped on. Next, in the mechanical room in the cabin, in the distribution box (pictured above), PV1 and PV2 disconnect breakers are flipped on (pictured above). Then the breakers for Charge Controller 1 and Charge Controller 2 are flipped on (pictured above). Inverter 1 disconnect gets flipped on. The inverter then gets turned on (it's to the left of the distribution panel). Inverter 1 Out breaker gets flipped on (in the distribution panel). Now the juice is flowing to the subpanel. The subpanel is just your basic, every day, on-grid household breaker box. The service disconnect breaker is on. Right now there is just one outlet in the entire cabin and it's at the subpanel. Turning the system off is just doing the above steps in reverse order. I am also trying to get into the habit of standing to the right of the breakers that I'm throwing while using my left hand to throw them. In the unlikely event that the breakers blow (can you tell I've recently flown), they are supposed to blow to the left which would be away from my left hand and my body. DISCLAIMER: These are the directions for OUR system; the procedure could be different for different systems. Please be safe and refer to your own encyclopedic set of manuals.

Not as ugly as I thought

I was seriously concerned and dreading what putting up a PV array would do for my visual senses. I mean, I have almost caused The Husband's soul to leave his body with my occasional and very sudden out bursts of, "OMIGODDESS THAT'S UGLY!" upon witnessing some sort of horrific visual assault upon my overtly sensitive aesthetic senses. You know how you see really bad behavior from kids and you're just like, "no way in hell am I going down that road." People say, "Oh, it's different when they're your own." Nope, not buying it. Misery loves company and you can't fool me. Well, this "when they're your own" philosophy must apply to solar panels. I was surprised by own reaction, or lack of reaction, when I first moved my hand down from over my eyes just a smidge. When my stomach didn't wrench, I moved my hand away from my face the rest of the way. "Hmm. oh, wow, OMIGODDESS, THAT IS SO FRICKIN' COOL!" I'm still not buying what I think is a misleading advertising campaign for having kids thing though.

System specs *Geek alert*

So The Husband was raised by and in a pack of engineers. Sometimes, I think it would have been easier to deal with him if it had been a pack of wolves. Communication with an extreme right brainer is what I imagine things were like for those around Helen Keller before the water pump break through. Here's what The Husband told his family about what we're doing in The Secret Cabin but be forewarned there's lots of "Geek Speak."

We plan to heat the cabin with 2 masonry heaters, one in the basement, and one on the main floor. They will be stacked on top of each other. Masonry heaters work by lighting a wood fire in the heater, which burns for about 1 1/2 hours. The fire burns very hot (no creosote due to the high temperatures). After the fire goes out, the heater continues to radiate heat for the next 24 hours or so because the large masonry mass which absorbed heat from the fire is gradually releasing it. In the downstairs heater, it will also have a water pipe going thru it, and that is how we will heat our water during 9 months out of the year. The remaining 3 months, we are either going to use solar hot water or the smallest electric on demand water heater we can find. Cellular service is almost nonexistent. If you stand in the loft and hold the cell phone to your head just right, you can get a signal. So the plan is to buy a cellular base station that I can hook an external antenna up to, and aim the antenna at the cell phone tower. It should work. For electricity, we are going to be off grid. I have a solar system sitting in the barn in Gibsonburg, just waiting to go up to Calumet. I have 8 Evergreen 205 watt panel, for a little over 1.6Kw worth of power. With the almost 2 hours worth of sun per day predicted up in Calumet during the winter (the worst time for sun), we should be producing about 3Kwh of power per day, or about 90Kwh per month. These panels will be attached to the top of an 8 inch pole. The electricity from the panels will be wired for about 90 volts DC and go to 2 Xantrex mppt charge controllers, which charge the batteries via outputting the best voltage and amperage for the batteries. This may change several times a minute, depending on clouds, time of day, etc. I have 12 Concorde AGM 2 volt batteries, that are about 950 amps apiece. Each battery weighs about 100 pounds, so the total battery bank is about 1200 pounds. The batteries will be wired for 24 volts. Theoretically, depending how much electricity Bheki uses, the batteries should last 3-6 days with no sunlight before they get down to about 50 percent charged. The more you discharge the batteries, the more you shorten the lifespan of the batteries. You really really try not to discharge the batteries below 50 percent. The batteries should last at least 8 years, hopefully closer to 15 before they need replacing. The solar panels should last at least 25 years, if not longer. So we have electricity sitting in the batteries. At this point, the battery output goes into a Xantrex 4024 inverter. This inverter puts out 4000 watts and 240 volts. The inverter output will be wired into a regular service panel (breaker box) in the house. At that point, all the wiring in the house is the same as any other house. It will run a submersible pump, lights, tv, computer, refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine, and possibly, in the summer a very small electric heater (the smallest on demand point of use water heaters pull about 3500 watts, so they are close to the limits of the inverter). Do I expect to save money by being off grid and not using any propane or natural gas? No, I think it actually costs more to do things this way. We may never reach the point where we save more than we spent on the systems. But by the same token, you could say any money you spend on a car that has more than the bare necessities is not financially smart, yet I do it. I use a computer that costs more than comparable computers. I guess my philosophy is I vote with my money, and I am voting for this lifestyle. I didn't mean to get into philosophy, sorry. I spec'd out the system myself, and plan to install the system myself. I took an installers class at Owens a couple of years ago. It was very informative. If anybody is curious, the photovoltaic system cost about $20,000, minus a tax credit of about 6,000 for a total of $14,000 out of pocket. If you figure a 25 year lifespan on the system with 1 battery change, that would be about 680/year or 57 dollars a month, assuming the inverter or charge controllers do not need any maintenance.

Schew. As an additional note here to what The Husband's listed as expenses, the initial quote to bring electric back from the road was $8000. When all was said and done, it was expected that it would be higher than $8,000. Do I feel a panic attack coming on when I see the numbers? Yes. Would I do it this way all over again? Yes. Am I claiming that everyone can afford this? Hell no. It pinches, hurts, and leaves a little bruise. But, what if from the time I got my very first apartment, I had matched my electric bill and put it in my piggy bank? At least this way, FOR US, we're "walking OUR walk," we've paid our future electric bills in advance, we have physical property to show for it, and well, when the grid goes down, we don't.