Electricity

[Stephan_K]

Originally Posted by jimj

As for ATV's, yes they're accepted here since in this state you can license them for street use. There are a lot of people that use them daily to get around and it's neat to be able to get on one in the garage and ride it to the woods. There are trails everywhere but like everywhere else the out of state greenies are trying to shut them down all the time.

Almost forgot.......how old does one have to be to drive a registered ATV on the road? What does the rural schools yards look like every morning? Probably loaded with 4 wheelers . I remember when it was cool to be able to drive to school and not ride the bus.......would have been even cooler to ride ATV's.

Hell if it's allowed, my kids will be 4 wheeling it to school instead of bussing it that's for sure.

The many trails that are currently available for you, most on gov property or private owner club oriented land?

[Stephan_K]

Originally Posted by rickers

Back to the original post, Electricity ! I lived on a sailboat for 8 years and I was very happy with the amount of power I could get from a large solar panel. I had two large marine deep cycle batteries and a regulator. A few people buy property off grid sometimes with difficult access to save a few bucks. Many of these folks really don't want to be bothered with things like phone and power bills plus many of these folks just want to stay out in the woods. I don't like the bills but I like having lots of power to run my tools (I have a metal mill/lathe combo machine).
So I live in town for the conveniences and if I want to be out in the sticks I only have to go to the edge of town and I'm in the woods. Anyway 12 or 24 volt D.C. systems for houses off the grid are getting better all the time. I didn't have much room for a bunch of panels on my boat but a guy could cover a roof with the things and along with a wind turbine or two the power can be converted to A.C. and fed into the power grid. Some of these home power generators actually get money from the power companies for the power they feed into the grid.

I thought about living off grid, wife said I was f**king crazy and she would file for divorce immediately........I guess that's why I still have utility bills every month totalling ~$300 - $500...........Should have moved off grid, it would have solve multiple problems at once! Hope she never finds this thread in her lifetime or I will have one less problem when she does!

[jimj]

Originally Posted by Stephan_K

Almost forgot.......how old does one have to be to drive a registered ATV on the road? What does the rural schools yards look like every morning? Probably loaded with 4 wheelers . I remember when it was cool to be able to drive to school and not ride the bus.......would have been even cooler to ride ATV's.

Hell if it's allowed, my kids will be 4 wheeling it to school instead of bussing it that's for sure.

The many trails that are currently available for you, most on gov property or private owner club oriented land?

You have to be 14 1/2 here to drive, though they instituted restricted license' for minors. Most kids get a license at 15 due to the wait for drivers ed (only the schools have it and there's a line). At 16 you don't have to take drivers ed (which is reallllly stupid imo) and can just get your license. I don't believe that you have to have anything but a car license to drive an ATV here so it's possible to ride it to school. Most kids here don't though, they drive cars, mostly rattle trap junkers that no one would cry over when and I do mean WHEN they go in a ditch or hit a tree. Most parents I know here wouldn't allow the kids to ride to school just from a safety standpoint even though most kids have an ATV or Motorcycle. If you ride a Motorcycle you have to get the endorsement which means taking a class usually held at the J.C. on a weekend.
I've got to tell you it's a head turner when you see a kid barely tall enough to see over the wheel of his 1/2 ton pickup with his baby face looking out at you and his still high squeeky voice singing along to a song (there have been several that I'd swear were 6th graders), and I've wondered on several occasions if his 8th grade teacher knew he was missing and if his babysitter knew he took the family truck.
Mostly you see adults zipping around on them, not so much during the winter since you'd have to bundle up like the michelin man and get pelted with gravel and crud from other cars and that dang Mag Chloride they use to melt the ice isn't fun to wear either, but you do see a few mostly with plow blades on the front...

[ElkHunter]

I haven't fired up my truck in 4 months. I ride my 4 wheeler. Yesterday I had an appointment at the VA. Put on my Carhart bibs, my Carhart parka and headed the 5 miles out to the VA. Then, went to the other end of town to WalMart. Hands got a little cold but wasn't bad. It was 17 degrees out.

And yes, I have a snow blade on the front.

Truck get's 10 miles to the gallon. 4 wheeler gets 36. I don't often run around town but when I do, it's on the 4 wheeler. Course, if I'm headed out of town I fire up the diesel.

[janab]

If I were starting out from the ground up I would use wind, solar and some electric for my utilities. There is enough wind in MT to power how many acres of wind mill machines?
If ya got it use it !!

[Rickers]

I have enough machine tools in my garage shop to build a small steam engine for turning an electric generator for home produced power. I also burn a fire for most of the year in a very inefficient fireplace. Our summer has sun and wind.
If my rich uncle ever gets out of the "poor house", I would buy or build a nice airtight wood-fired heater stove like a tight Franklin fireplace with boiler coils in the firebox. The steam after powering the generating system would then be diverted into under the floor coils in the back areas of the house that are not directly heated by the wood stove. Old style radiators could also be used. The solar panels and the wind turbines make either 12 or 24 volts D.C. The steam powered generator could also be a 12 or 24 volt system and Inverters would be required to run anything that needs 110 volt A.C power. Think of the house as being like a boat or motor home as far as the electrical system goes. Those systems work fine as long as you don't have power hogging appliances.
A person could also have a small back-up gas powered generator for using those power tools or when it's not sunny, windy, or cold enough for a fire ! Really if you have a large enough bank of batteries, and if you are conservative in your energy consumption you won't go without. Forget the fifty inch plasma TV !
There are many different ways to produce power at the point of consumption. The example I described above may or may not be the best or the most efficient. Also a warning to those who want to build or run a steam engine at their home, Don't even think about it unless you really know what your doing. Even a small boiler system can explode without the proper safety pressure relief valves and a properly engineered system as a whole. Don't even think that steam engines are some curiosity from the past, that's how our nuclear power stations operate, with steam powered generators !

[GLS]

Hope this makes you guys feel a little better. Although it's hard to interpret my electric bill with all the "off-peak", "over baseline usage" mumbo jumbo, it shows PG&E is charging me 11.4cents/KWH. Thirty miles away in Sacramento, which is served by SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utilities District) they are charging about 8.5cents/KWH.

It is a real rip-off, but it is clear they will charge whatever they can get away with.

[Stephan_K]

Originally Posted by rickers

I have enough machine tools in my garage shop to build a small steam engine for turning an electric generator for home produced power.

The steam powered generator could also be a 12 or 24 volt system and Inverters would be required to run anything that needs 110 volt A.C power.

What kind of wattage do you think you could get out of a home made steam generator? I'm not sure if you could get enough to run a home without going through wood like mad. Relative to todays gas generators, the RPM's necessary to produce enough watts to run a house with a "small" generator like the gas ones use, I don't think those levels could be achieved with a small steam turbine and gear box setup with one of those small generator.

Your idea is intriguing though and could lead to something with a little refining and research.

[Rickers]

The idea is to recharge slowly while using the wood stove for heat anyway. I wouldn't expect a very small steam power generating system to produce much more than a single wind turbine would on a windy day. I'm talking about a very small system here.
I've built a small steam engine before for fun and I thought it would be fun to do it again but with a purpose this time. I probably won't really do it unless our power rates suddenly went up. Why bother when I pay less than $.05 per KWH ! I have a bunch of other projects in the works right now anyway. I have a small metal lathe/mill combo and I'm fitting it with travel dials and a 5C collett closer just like a big machine !
I know a lady who has a fairly large property and they have a sizable waterfall. They put in their own hydro-electric plant and they produce way more power than they use.

[Stephan_K]

Hydro electric has always been my dream to do on my own property. Problem is, to acquire a water front lot capable of doing a hydro setup costs way more than a non water front lot plus the electric you would use for 50 years.......cheaper to just pay for the electric .