Nine Years of Off-Grid Living, by C.P.

People have often asked me over the last nine years, “Haven’t you had to give up living a ‘normal’ life?”  My response has evolved into, “Define normal?”.

My off grid experience started in 1998 when my wife and I purchased out homestead property which was 1.5 miles from the closest power line.  We had previously purchased a propane generator (10 KW) and had planned on using it as a backup generator for times when the power went out, (which is frequent in the area we purchased our property) but we never imagined the costs of having power run to our property would be what was quoted to us.

The decision to go totally off grid was made when the local power company quoted us a cost of $16,000 to run the poles to our property.  Six hundred dollars per pole, thirty poles minimum to cover the 1.5 miles, “thanks but no thanks”, was our reply.  Hence we decided to go off grid and we have never regretted it since.

One has to accept the fact that going off grid does require a life style change.  Unless one is independently wealthy with a bottomless pocketbook, there are a minimum of four things which you must accept in my opinion.

1.  The use of heat pumps and air conditioning is out.
2.  Forget about using electric ranges.
3.  Forget about using electric hot water heaters.
4. The two biggest users of electricity will be the refrigerator/freezer and the well pump if you have one.

The four items above does not mean that you cannot be environmentally comfortable, or cook your food or have hot water.  It does mean that you have to adjust your life style and change how you will accomplish those items.

After much study we decided upon a log home design using 6” x 12′ logs and using 6” insulated panels in the roof for insulation.  Total square footage of the house is 1,296 square feet on 1.5 levels.  Our heating system consists of a Kitchen Queen wood cooking stove.  This stove was selected because it not only is a cook stove but will heat up to 1,500 square feet.  We do have a propane gas range that is also used.   The range model we have uses a spark ignition system and not a glow bar.  This is especially important for the oven operation since with a glow bar, “juice” is constantly used when the oven is in operation.  (Reference number 2 above).  Using the wood stove requires an average of two cords of wood a year and bread sure does taste better baked in a wood stove.

Out electrical system consists of the following, and has been updated as our requirements have changed:

6 – BP 160 watt panels – mounted on roof
4 – ISOFOTON 150 watt panels – mounted on side of house
2 – BP 170 watt panels  mounted on roof

1,900 watts total

All these panels are 24 volt DC  panels and are wired for a 48 volt DC system.   Total amps DC = 39.58.

Outback Power systems combiner boxes are used to feed a Outback Power Solar charge controller, which feeds through a Xantrex DC disconnect.  Sixteen Trojan T-105 batteries wired in series and parallel provides for a 48 volt DC battery bank with a total of 440 amp hours of storage.  The life span of a well maintained battery bank system, keeping them clean, never letting the charge level fall below 50%, keeping the lead acid battery water level correct, is five to six years.  (We have just recently changed out our battery bank for new batteries).  This is the greatest recurring costs associated with the system.

The battery feeds a Xantrex 4048 sine wave  inverter (stay away from modified sine wave)  which inverts the 48 volts DC to 110 AC feeding a standard Square D breaker panel.  From the panel, the house is wired per code.

Our well that was drilled is 470 feet deep.  Luckily, the static water level is at 90 feet.  To provide sufficient reservoir, we placed our 1.5 hp 220 volt, three wire pump at 360 feet.  We choose a three wire pump because  with a two wire pump all the electronics are in the pump and if something malfunctions, the pump must be pulled.  With a three pump, the electronic control box is above ground and can be repaired/replaced with little problem.  The 220 volt pump does require a step up transformer to take the 110 volt to 220 volt.  Important in our system in that the transformer is wired after the pump switch.  This ensures that the transformer is not “pulling” a constant ghost load but only when the pump needs to be turned on.

Solar power charges most effectively when the sun is shining fully.  Our average daily use is 70 amp hours daily. This big use items include:

1.  Average of one load of washing a day. (A Staber model washing machine is used.  Can be safely used with an inverter)
2. 16.5 cubic foot frost free refrigerator.  (We initially started out with a propane refrigerator, did an excellent job keeping things cold but after five years of use the small size, 9 cubic feet became an issue.  We went with an Energy Star refrigerator and purchased four ISOFOTON panels to cover the additional electrical usage).
3. 9.0 Cubic foot Energy Star rated freezer. (We purchased two BP170 watt panels to cover the additional electrical usage)
4. Well pump

Our present solar power system consists of:

6 – BP 160 watt panels – mounted on roof
4 – ISOFOTON 150 watt panels – mounted on side of house
2 – BP 170 watt panels  mounted on roof

1,900 watts total, generates an average of 120 amp hours on a good day of sunshine.  To cover the days when it is overcast, snowing, or raining, we have our previously purchased generator (10 KW) that is automatically controlled by the inverter to provide power and charge the batteries, as required. 

Hot water is handled by the use of an on-demand propane hot water heater.  We have a Tagaki brand that will provide up to eight gallons per minute of hot water and uses propane only when the hot water faucet is turned on.  This coming spring, a home built auxiliary solar hot water system will be put in place to augment the on-demand hot water heater.  The greatest advantage to the on-demand system is we have never run out of hot water–even when doing laundry and washing dishes at the same time.  The output is great enough that we could install a dishwasher if we wanted to.

As previously stated, the well pump is one of the biggest users of electricity and ways must be used to limit its use.  One of the best ways to reduce the usage off grid is to use lower water flush toilets.  The ones we use require only 1.2 gallons per flush.  Also scheduling laundry days to when the backup generator is running helps immensely since there is excess capacity when the generator is running.

I am constantly asked about costs.  “How much did all this run you”.   A fair enough question.  This is the breakdown as of November 2011.

As you can see, the total costs have been $16,390.  This includes having to replace the battery bank at a cost of $2,500 in March of 2009. 

Based on data from the local power company, below is the average monthly light bill for a 1,300 square foot home.

Based on  nine years (108 months) we are $458 in the black and do not have a monthly expense of $156 for electricity.  This enables us to invest in other preparations.

Is total off grid living for everyone?  An emphatic NO!  We are fortunate to live in an area that air conditioning is not a requirement.  Still, think back to when you were growing up.  Very few families I knew had air conditioning, we all used fans.  The fans made it much more comfortable. 

I must emphasize that all wiring in our home meets the current electrical code.  To do otherwise is foolishness.  Every part of the system we use, was done be myself and my wife.  (Luckily my brother in law is a licensed electrical contractor to keep my straight). 

We are so satisfied with our off grid system that even if the power company offered to hook us up to the grid for free, we would refuse.  In nine years we have not had a power failure, even during the worst winters of the past two years. 

Up-front planning and a desire to become more self-sufficient is a strong driving force to going off-grid.  Do your homework and you may find out it will work for you.