r/OffGridCabins

You know the feeling. It’s 10pm at the cottage. 87° outside and somehow hotter inside. The ceiling fans are just moving hot air around.

The kids can’t sleep. The adults are cranky. The vacation that was supposed to be special is just… sticky and miserable.

We had a cottage on Crooked Lake in mid-Michigan for years. I loved every second of it. Except those nights.

Fast forward to this summer. I’m living in Detroit, tracking every single kWh of my bedroom window AC unit through the worst heat wave of the year with real data.

And somewhere between watching the numbers and thinking about those Crooked Lake nights — I think I figured something out.

The concept:
Most Michigan cottages have a forced air furnace for the shoulder seasons.

No central AC — because historically the lake kept things cool enough.

Climate change has made that a lie.
But that furnace has a blower. And blowers move air through ductwork.

Put a 12,000 BTU inverter window unit in the master bedroom — specifically the room with the cold air return. That’s the large floor or wall vent that pulls air back to the furnace, as opposed to the smaller vents that blow air out. Seal the door. Set it to 70°. Switch the furnace to fan-only.

The blower pulls the cooled air through the return and pushes it through every supply vent in the cottage. Add the ceiling fans you already have and the perceived temp drops another few degrees on top.

The honest promise:
Not turning your cottage into a Marriott. But if it drops the living room from 85° to 78° on a hot July night — that’s everyone sleeping. That’s the kids going down at 9pm.

That’s you and your partner actually enjoying the porch with a drink instead of lying on top of the sheets staring at the ceiling.

A few degrees with moving dry air feels like a completely different cottage.

Under $500. No contractor. No installation. Just a window unit and the furnace you already have.

Anyone Up North right now want to try this tonight and report back?

For everyone sweating through another July at the lake — let’s figure this out together.

I want to build a cabin in the woods, a small one just for me and no one else, is there any advice or books or videos or anything at all yall can point me towards to do such a thing?

I have a small summer cabin with unreliable and underpowered grid connection.

Single phase 20A 220V supply by more or less long heavy duty extension cord on a pole, which is barely enough for anything more than a well pump, water heater and fridge. Water pump and heater need to be turned off to use washing machine or it will trip the breaker, which is not ideal for many reasons.

What is more, the local grid is often overloaded by ACs and water heaters in the evening and brownouts and blackouts happen annoyingly often.

Up until now I was waiting out brownouts and using a small old gas generator for blackouts, but it is annoying, loud and starts showing it's age.

I am looking for options but not sure what to get. I need something to more or less handle 12A (2600Wt for either washing machine or water heater ) continuous with 1-5 minute bursts of extra 3.5-6A (750-1300Wt for water pump and fridge + their inrush currents and microwave)

The cabin is not insulated and more or less impossible to heat in winter. So I don't live there between November and May, and any stationary solution that needs regular tending or constant temperature is out. Mobile or semi-mobile solutions that can fit in a trunk of a small SUV are an option.

An easy solution is something like Ecoflow delte 3 or similar unit and solar panels. It look like a decent mobile solution if a bit pricey and not as powerful as I want. On the opposite part of a spectrum, put cheap or used solar panels on the roof and decent battery charger/inverter with lead-acid batteries. But lugging batteries to winter home and back each season and tending to them there is a hassle and they are a space hog in a small flat.

Helpful advice or useful resources are appreciated.

I'm starting to look into buying a piece of land in Catalonia and I'm curious if anyone here has experience with off-grid cabins or tiny homes.

A few things I'm wondering about:

• How difficult was it to get permission? (is it needed??)
• Did insulation become an issue in winter or summer?
• Did you build it yourself or buy a prefabricated cabin? Where?
• Any lessons you wish you'd known before starting?

Would love to hear your stories or any recommendations!