What's the base system setup I'm missing ? I'm aware of how intermodal systems work. Some available ideas about how solar works . Past batteries which is the failure every time. What is a build able layout everyone Needs to know ? Assuming the end of the world, what would you want people to know about ?
I have a house near the sea and I'm looking into setting up an off-grid water system.
I'd need around 500-1,000 L/day of fresh water, primarily for household use. Ideally, I'd like a desalination method that doesn't rely on fuel and uses as little electricity as possible.
What would be the most practical setup for this?
I'd also be interested in hearing from anyone who has actually built or operated an off-grid desalination system at this scale.
I am following some youtube channels from people who are offgrid and I don’t understand how they make money.
There is a guy with family of 4-5 kids and a wife, he drives few hours to get supplies. He pays for fuel, propan, toilet paper, jam, milk…
He maybe can earn via youtube, but what about other 99% of people?
edit:
thanks. This was quick :) as I assumed, most of you do have regular job/income.
Title basically, wife and I are building a passive, 100% offgrid house in the Colorado Mountains. (~6kft elevation, so mid mountains)
House will be ICF crawlspace underneath - is it better to bury the cistern tank under the house or externally next to the house?
Plan for now is to fill cistern by truck, but eventually we'd like to get the well that came with the property back up and running.
We just moved onto a pretty remote off-grid property in Washington, surrounded by National Forest. We’ve had some lightning in the area recently, and wildfire is probably the thing I’m most nervous about right now.
There’s obviously a massive amount I could do long-term, but I’m trying to prioritize the easiest, most cost-effective things that actually make a meaningful difference right away.
If you moved onto a property like this tomorrow, what would be the top 3 things you’d tackle first?
I’m thinking things like:
The property is about 60 acres, so clearing everything obviously isn’t realistic. I’m more interested in where my time and money have the highest impact in the first few weeks, especially around the cabin, shops, propane, generators, solar/electrical equipment, and access roads.
Would really appreciate advice from people who actually live off-grid or in high wildfire-risk areas. What did you do first, and what do you wish you had done sooner?
live offgrid, dogs started barking just now. Wondering if I should be weary, lots of forest fires nearby have animals migrating. I'm sure it could just be a bird. But if anyone knows that animal sound and could put me at ease, I'd be appreciative
We are living in a 40 foot shipping container while we build the main house and the afternoon sun hitting the steel roof is absolutely roasting us. I finally admitted defeat and ordered a split system heat pump so my dogs don't get sick from the heat. I chose a costway ecoguard 18000 btu 21 seer2 mini split because the running amps on the inverter look low enough for my 5000w system to actually handle. If you use electric climate control in a converted shipping container, how much did heavily insulating the ceiling actually reduce the run times of your compressor?
Hi! I have been going round and round about what to (sub legally) put onto a piece of land I own. My neighbors are great, they've all done the same thing in order to be able to enjoy their space and have built their own houses over time, so they will tolerate me doing something not too obnoxious.
I am a teacher with no cash, so I finally found a shed kit through cottagekits.com that I could build there myself with some friend help, without putting in all the things-- a road, sewer electric, etc, to use sparingly for the next few years.
I have about $2000 or so to spend. Does anyone else have ideas? Thank you in advance!
I wonder what kind of improvement people found to be most useful to them after going off grid.
We are living in a 40 foot shipping container while we build the main house and the afternoon sun hitting the steel roof is absolutely roasting us. I finally admitted defeat and ordered a split system heat pump so my dogs don't get sick from the heat. I chose a costway ecoguard 18000 btu 21 seer2 mini split because the running amps on the inverter look low enough for my 5000w system to actually handle. If you use electric climate control in a converted shipping container, how much did heavily insulating the ceiling actually reduce the run times of your compressor?
TL;DR What are your experiences (good and bad) of dry cabins? (Ours would be a summer getaway.)
My husband and I are planning to build a dry cabin. I want to go dry for various reasons (much lower cost in my area in terms of septic, well, building, and development fees; ease of closing up/leaving it unoccupied; lower maintenance; it's for summer use only; etc.).
It will be rustic but powered and cosy. We will use marine foot pumps in the kitchen and bathroom sinks, an incinerating toilet indoors and an outhouse, a shower bag outside if needed, and have roughed in a storage room where we can keep 5 gallon bottles of water. Laundry and showers are 25 min away by car, municipal water refill is 15 min away, and private lake is across the street (I have deeded access to use, but couldn't bring water up to my place).
I'm excited but my husband is getting cold feet. I think it will be a great way to simplify and relax, he's worried we'll regret not springing for the extra ($100k+!) to plumb. FWIW, we are very outdoorsy and enjoy camping (including in the back country).
You don't see plumbing-free cabins (outside of Alaska) talked about much, and I'm curious if folks can share their experiences of this type of getaway? Am I kidding myself, or is he being too pessimistic? All of our friends and family think this is nuts.
So, I’m going to finally put in a sandpoint well, but for a little less than conventional reason…. I’m looking to put one in to flood a spot in my pasture that “normally “ floods so I can duck hunt it. Just a small area, less than 1/4 acre. Also looking at being able to water livestock in this paddock.
I’d love to do solar as there is no access to electricity in the back of my pasture.
First, I have unlimited access to 12 volt, deep cycle batteries.
Second, I bought a 2” sandpoint that was on clearance at my local hardware store for $35. Going to get it drove in in the next few weeks.
What solar panels and 12 volt pump would everyone recommend?
I’m picturing having the panels charge the batteries (probably 2-4), then pump run however many hours it can to keep my area flooded.
Thought? Ideas? Advice? Criticism? Let’s hear it!!
I'm very interested in your experiences!
- Could you tell me where you're located (roughly),
- What makes you happy about your place
&
- What your struggles are, especially in the last years, with the changing climate.
Love to hear from you!
It's said that over time, off-grid inverters break down easily (as in, they don't work properly and need more maintenance). Is this true?
Mine holds 50. I'd owned the thing for six years before it occurred to me that it is also the largest single container of drinking water on the property.
FEMA lists it first among in-home emergency water sources, and most tanks are 40 gallons or more. The catch is you have to kill the power or the gas before you drain it, and let it cool, or you'll wreck the element and scald yourself doing it.
The rest of the list is smaller but adds up. The pipes themselves hold a few gallons: open the highest faucet in the house to let air in, then drain from the lowest. Ice cubes in the freezer. The toilet tank, meaning the upper part, as long as nobody has dropped one of those blue cleaner pucks in it.
What is explicitly off the list is the part I found useful, because some of it looks fine. Not radiators. Not a hot water boiler used for heating. Not waterbeds, pools, or spas. Those all carry additives or corrosion you cannot boil out, and boiling concentrates them rather than removing them.
I put all of this into an offline reference app I built called Outlast, since none of it is any use on a page you cannot load. It cites the agency behind every article: https://BigBalli.com/Outlast/
What I still cannot decide is bookkeeping. Do you count the heater toward your stored water number, or keep it as a separate reserve you only touch when the jugs are gone?
Has anyone used a 0% APR card to build then massively pay it all back with rent savings?
Short story:
I can't get a loan. The rent is too high. Already tried.
My rough cost thus far is 40-50k. Can pay down $17k a year on it.
Had anyone done this before? It's all preliminary and getting costs so far.
It feels a bit dangerous, but there's families getting 1 million dollar homes and could get fired tomorrow. Plenty of jobs in Ohio is shtf scenario.
P. S. I already have the land.
Edit: I have 80k in credit cards I could use with 22% APR. Obviously screw that. Almost 800 credit score. You can't get a loan when they see almost 40% or so in rent.
After I move tho with zero debt. An extra $1430/month is practically rich in Appalachian Ohio with no wife or kids.
Seems hard to pass up tbh.
Just bought 40 acres of desert land. What should I do first?
Probably a bit of a silly question since they serve somewhat different purposes, but if I already have a solar generator that I can use to power my microwave or oven during an outage, do I need to buy a solar oven as well? Seems like solar ovens are EXTREMELY reliant on the sun being out and take a much longer time to slowly cook the food, but they also aren't power hogs like a solar generator would be during an outage if I wanted to cook some food. Thoughts?
I have bought 1.8 acres for our 3 bedroom 2 bath mobile home, 4 of us living in it. Despite being only 8 miles from a city of 13,000 and several eating places, they require a water well. It's ridiculous if you ask me, but there you have it. Even worse, all the wells in the area are around 400 ft deep, with an exception here and there.
I'm considering setting up a system based on hauling in water. I have a conventional full sized truck with a V8. The main uses I see would be washing 3 things--clothes, dishes,and people (baths etc). Cooking etc, I can just use jugs from Dollar General etc.
The main issue I see, besides finding a spot big enough for filling and also hauling in enough to cover people washing multiple loads of clothes, is water getting algae in it after several days. It's like 100F here and my yard has little shade. I thought I read somewhere that bleach can solve that problem, around 1 cup per 1000 gallons I believe. Someone else I believe mentioned pool shock. (I could use a canopy for shade.)
The other problem I foresee is freezing in the wintertime. Typically we get up to the 50s by day and the 30s at night, but what about occasions where it gets up to the 30s by day and the 10s overnight? I have community water right now at the old place and I simply leave a small stream running and that solves it, but in that situation lines are underground, which wouldn't be the case here.
I did find this video, 9 min.
https://youtu.be/DNVS5D1G3-8?is=O_IdB_jOmZgwGnzy
Thoughts?
So I’m a British citizen attempting to buy some off grid land in Scotland. Problem is either the land is owned by a massive estate that’s won’t sell it under normal circumstances or the land is so old that the last owner is Unknown. How would I purchase land with an unknown owner. Would it belong to the Scottish government or would it be enveloped into a trust of sorts