greybeard
Well-known member
[youtube]ihZU5k4HERk[/youtube]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihZU5k4HERk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihZU5k4HERk
wbvs58":1fa2sdwu said:I live completely off grid now and have done so for 9 years now. If you were to visit I doubt that you would notice any difference to a house that is on the grid.
Ken
melking":13mqvq19 said:wbvs58":13mqvq19 said:I live completely off grid now and have done so for 9 years now. If you were to visit I doubt that you would notice any difference to a house that is on the grid.
Ken
Curious Ken. Are you solar powered with batteries or are you generator powered?
wbvs58":262djbqf said:melking":262djbqf said:wbvs58":262djbqf said:I live completely off grid now and have done so for 9 years now. If you were to visit I doubt that you would notice any difference to a house that is on the grid.
Ken
Curious Ken. Are you solar powered with batteries or are you generator powered?
Mel, I have two banks of batteries actually. I got a neighbours old bank that was replaced by insurance after a lightening strike hit his wind turbine. There was nothing wrong with his batteries other than a bit of age but no one really knows what is going on with these systems when something goes wrong. I have a pretty good understanding of it all now and knew the batteries would be OK. I alternate between each bank daily so have good reserve and rarely have to use the generator. Solar panels and charge controllers are very cheap on ebay and each bank has a good set of panels.
My hot water is a solar system with a pretty big storage tank but does have a booster element which I can run off the generator but only ever have to do that if a few overcast days in the middle of winter. I picked up the complete HWS at an auction for $50 had never been installed previously, came with all the fittings and relief valves, works great, one of my luxuries to stand under a steamy hot shower for as long as I like after a days work.
Ken
Cross-7":115etwkq said:When I was a kid, 3rd grade I went to live with my dad one summer in Dumas Tx.
It was a lineshack on a big ranch.
We didn't go to town but once in 3 months and that was to wash clothes.
We had an overhead tank the windmill pumped to. Gravity fed water to the house but no hot water.
We had electric but no Ac.
We had propane for the stove but the oven didn't work.
We had a working bathroom, bedroom and small kitchen.
Jingled horses at 5:00 and was at work at sunup. Doctored pinkeye all summer and gathered bulls for what seemed like weeks. No pens so it was rope and choke them, drag them in the trailer.
As a kid I thought this is some BS.
It was hard on horses and cattle both.
We'd ride pastures and find cows with bad cases of pinkeye. Rope her and flip the rope over her hip and trip her.
Even as a kid I thought there has to be a better way.
It get so hot we'd swap horses at noon.
We never at dinner I remenber and breakfast was what was left over from supper.
It was doctoring cows, moving cows, mending fence, fixing wind mills, cleaning out water troughs,feeding calves in the feedyard, prowling pens. One thing I remember about the feed yard was pulling heifer calves. I guess they'd come into heat but they ride them till they rubbed the hair off.
We'd pen them separate and they'd ride each other.
We'd get hone about 6 or 7 and cook supper.
No tv but we'd turn on the radio.
I didn't like cold showers and apparently my dad didn't either so we didn't shower much.
Wear the same clothes for a week.
We always took off Sunday at noon and cooked a big meal and laid around.
I got to play in the water trough and didn't have to shower, then change into clean clothes for the week.
Sundays were pretty boring for a kid.
I really don't remember being hot, dirty, tired, or hungry.
I couldn't do it now
People were tougher than they are now
melking":3uqeac1b said:wbvs58":3uqeac1b said:melking":3uqeac1b said:Curious Ken. Are you solar powered with batteries or are you generator powered?
Mel, I have two banks of batteries actually. I got a neighbours old bank that was replaced by insurance after a lightening strike hit his wind turbine. There was nothing wrong with his batteries other than a bit of age but no one really knows what is going on with these systems when something goes wrong. I have a pretty good understanding of it all now and knew the batteries would be OK. I alternate between each bank daily so have good reserve and rarely have to use the generator. Solar panels and charge controllers are very cheap on ebay and each bank has a good set of panels.
My hot water is a solar system with a pretty big storage tank but does have a booster element which I can run off the generator but only ever have to do that if a few overcast days in the middle of winter. I picked up the complete HWS at an auction for $50 had never been installed previously, came with all the fittings and relief valves, works great, one of my luxuries to stand under a steamy hot shower for as long as I like after a days work.
Ken
So, not to be nosy but what do you run your welder on?
Did that in 2007, even with a good generator it's a pain in the buttgizmom":1kt5epyw said:Does 13 days with no power after a hurricane count? That was as long as I ever want to go without power!
Gizmom