Anyone living off grid? (Fairbanks, Wasilla: house, buying, school)

[Jetto Funk]

What's your set up for power, heat, water, etc?
Curious as to how yall do it up there.
Pics would be neat too

[susitna-flower]

You have to be up on alternative power, use solar, or a combination of things with battery back up is best.

Diesel is right at $5.00/gal now, which means if you have a diesel generator it is expensive to run.

My suggestion is to move into a community such as Wasilla first....the shock of driving 100 miles to get groceries may just make you flip!

It is better to take it in stages....that way you will have it all figured out what is important to you, and what you can do without!

[Jetto Funk]

I was thinking combo solar + bats and a generator running on WVO but I don't know how the WVO supply is out there. My wife is a chef so hopefully she can land a job somewhere and I could get the contract to pick up their oil.
I was thinking of more like outside of fairbanks.
I'm sure driving 100 miles to the grocery store there is like driving 40 miles in FL. Took me 2 hrs to get to school every day just 40 miles away because of traffic.

[Marty Van Diest]

The easiest way to live off the grid is to forgo power and plumbing.

Heat with wood. Light with kerosene. Use an outhouse.

If you are not willing to do that, you can still live off the grid but then it costs a lot of money and time.

[TNRyan23]

Originally Posted by marty Van Diest

the Easiest Way To Live Off The Grid Is To Forgo Power And Plumbing.

Heat With Wood. Light With Kerosene. Use An Outhouse.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

The Fairbanks area should provide pretty decent solar in the summer. Depending on exactly where you are, you may be able to get enough wind in the winter to work. If you get a diesel genset, you can run it on biodiesel you brew yourself... but you're probably going to need a lot of used cooking oil for that!! As Marty says, it's best to forego all that you can forego... what you don't use, you don't have to pay for! Unfortunately, the weather is so radically different in AK from town to town (even in the same region) that your system may need to be significantly different than anyone elses. Whatever combo and design you end up with never rely on a single source for anything... not for heat, not for water and not for power... always make sure you have a "manual" way to do everything.

[megensmom]

We live off the grid with 3 kids and 126 miles from Fairbanks. We don't really do without but we do things differently and we are careful about our usage. Such as TV isn't left on all day,lights are turned off if aren't using them,etc. We have a Honda generator an EU2000i and I reccommend this line to everyone. We get 10+hours run time from 1 gallon of gas and it is a clean running gen. so you can use it with a computer,etc.
I would be happy to share how we do it if you would like. Now I'm not a brain when it comes to Alt. energy but I did do some reading and I have been living a few months in the area where off-grid living is a way of life and have gotten some good tips.

[jim65970]

Originally Posted by Jetto Funk

I was thinking combo solar + bats and a generator running on WVO but I don't know how the WVO supply is out there. My wife is a chef so hopefully she can land a job somewhere and I could get the contract to pick up their oil.
I was thinking of more like outside of fairbanks.
I'm sure driving 100 miles to the grocery store there is like driving 40 miles in FL. Took me 2 hrs to get to school every day just 40 miles away because of traffic.

ive been doing alot of research on solar electricity & hot water....main 2 items you need are 'enough' solar panels & big enough battery bank to charge your storage needs in ''winter'' time.....for where im going in maine...caribou has an average winter sun exposure of 4.19 hours per day ...there are charts available which can give year round sun exposure in alaska.....i have a quote on a 1000 watt per day system which will supply enough storage for 4-6 cloudy days according to usage.....there are lots of variety i .e. prices,capacity & functions on the various components other than the batteries & panels.....its all according to what you want....my quote was $ 7k.....but everything was top quality & all the components are way oversized for future expansion.....i'd say for $ 3.5 k or less you can comfortably have a system enough for 2 people....according to your wind conditions there wind power can be a very efficient means of producing power for storage especially in winter...if that works well then you would need perhaps 1 less solar panel...therefore saving money for the wind system....a charge controller can take both solar & wind at the same time to charge batteries....lots of trial & error to try things & see how it works....need a good estimate of your total ''wattage'' use for any given 24 hour period.....that is where it all starts
hope this is helpful
thanks
jim

[megensmom]

From what info I have received from people who actually live in the Fairbanks and areas close by there is no where close enough wind to justify buying a wind system. There is a company called Alaska Battery they are the main local suppliers of solar and alternate energy items maybe you could contact them with your questions and I am sure they would be happy to set up a system for you.

[Takeo]

Oh Hai !

A Lanz (built 1943) glow bulb 60 HP tractor engine (bought at scrap value) semi-diesel 2-stroke that runs on waste used engine oil and whatever crap I find like old frying oil from a greasy spoon restaurant. Drives an equally old 240 V 35 KVa 3-phase alternator also from a junkyard. Engine runs at abt. 400 RPM under full load. At night, when wanted, engine idles at 60 RPM and I have a battery back-up made from (again) old electric forklift truck batteries and a DC/AC converter. I can switch to grid in emergency.

Fuel consumption is about 1 - 4 quarts per hour depending on fuel used and engine load. This includes heating a VERY small house in winter in the southwest of France.

Garages and restaurant pay me .05 Euro (US $ .075) per liter to take their waste oil.

This is strictly illegal here but I live in the boonies.

Kthxbai.

Takeo.