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I'm moving to little town on plains so will be possibilities of time without power after thunderstorms or snows. I'm interested in entry-level solar backup power products instead of dealing with gasoline generator.
Needs:
Furnace blower on gas furnace (1200 sq ft brick house with added insulation, older windows)
Refrigeration
Minimal lighting
Minimal electric stove usage
Can someone personally recommend a solar panel product with battery that will fit the bill?
Electricity is great for comms, computers, lighting and small motors like fans. But when electricity is used to make heat you quickly suck through lots of electricity to make that heat. Coffee pots, hot plates, room heaters, toasters, microwaves and electric stoves are all pretty much forbidden in off-grid homes [unless they are only used during day-light].
The other big electric consumption device is freon compressors. Refrigerators, freezers, A/C, heat-pumps all consume a ton of electricity.
In anticipation for going off-grid, we got rid of our old chest freezer and we got a new 'Energy Star' model. Then I got sick, we got behind in harvesting, so we got two more. Now we have three chest freezers, we hope to work through all of this food over the winter, cooking it down and canning it. But 3 chest freezers running all night suck our battery-bank down to only 65% charge. Last night just as the sun was setting, I un-plugged all 3. This morning the battery-bank was at 85%. They can run all day with no problem. But once the sun sets, you can not be running compressors, coffee pots, microwaves or electric stoves.
So how do you plan to cook after dark? Get a gas stove. The ideal is a wood stove, but that is seriously full-time. It has a big learning curve to it.
what about spare parts? if the power is down they wont be making any new ones.
Not everything is based on the lunatic doomsday prepper movement. Some people are just trying to prepare for disruptions in life that may not be the apocalyptic scenarios that some idiots get wet dreams over just thinking about it. When people discuss emergency or disaster preparedness and the tin foil hat wearing crowd comes along with their Zombie Terminator Invasion by the Government rants, all that is done its it reinforce that preppers are a bunch of lunatic loser fools.
Not everything is based on the lunatic doomsday prepper movement. Some people are just trying to prepare for disruptions in life that may not be the apocalyptic scenarios that some idiots get wet dreams over just thinking about it. When people discuss emergency or disaster preparedness and the tin foil hat wearing crowd comes along with their Zombie Terminator Invasion by the Government rants, all that is done its it reinforce that preppers are a bunch of lunatic loser fools.
not "doomsday", more of a "collapse" of the system and given what is happening all over the world these days that is very possible. prep for only one event, what happens if something you didn't allow for comes along? your stuffed.
the problem is that most people, like yourself, are only thinking about "short term" events, a few days, a few weeks, a month at most, then everything is back to "business as usual", what if it isn't like that?? only a select few are even thinking about the longer term, no one has a crystal ball or a time machine, we don't know what is coming, all we can do is plan and hope our plans see us through the "emergency", no one is right, no one is wrong.
oh yes, and forget about "Zombies", certainly the Hollywood version anyway.
I'm moving to little town on plains so will be possibilities of time without power after thunderstorms or snows. I'm interested in entry-level solar backup power products instead of dealing with gasoline generator.
Needs:
Furnace blower on gas furnace (1200 sq ft brick house with added insulation, older windows)
Refrigeration
Minimal lighting
Minimal electric stove usage
Can someone personally recommend a solar panel product with battery that will fit the bill?
Thanks much!
Off the top of my head you'd need a sytem that would cost $20k to $30k and that may be conservative estimate. If you are just looking for emergency backup small generator is the best way to go. The cheapest way to install is run 220V line from your panel to outside, backfeed with the generator. You should put interlock on the panel and it will be required by law. You can do this for like $2K (or even less depending on your power needs) including the generator. It's actually lot more flexible than transfer switch, only downside is you need to manually switch it. (oh the horror).
Furnace blower on gas furnace (1200 sq ft brick house with added insulation, older windows)
Get a coal, wood stove or something else that does not require power. Not sure what is available but there should be options for gas that doens't require electric.
Quote:
Refrigeration
If you keep gallons of ice froze, a good cooler, carefully pack said cooler, keep it covered with blankets and carefully manage how often you open it you can keep food cold for days. We used to 8 day canoe trips in 90 degree weather. Food was frozen before it went into cooler with one gallon of ice. There would always be one small chunk of ice left on 8th day.
Quote:
Minimal lighting
This is the one thing you can provide with very small solar system however candles, oil lamps or whatever are a lot cheaper and certainly more reliable.
Quote:
Minimal electric stove usage
You have gas and use electric stove, are you mad? I have an electric stove and would ditch it tomorrow for gas. If you are going to keep the electric stove don't use it during emergencies, get a small multi fuel camping stove and keep plenty of propane on hand for the grill. Since you have gas you can always run a line to gas grill.
Last edited by thecoalman; 09-20-2015 at 06:52 AM..
not "doomsday", more of a "collapse" of the system and given what is happening all over the world these days that is very possible. prep for only one event, what happens if something you didn't allow for comes along? your stuffed.
the problem is that most people, like yourself, are only thinking about "short term" events, a few days, a few weeks, a month at most, then everything is back to "business as usual", what if it isn't like that?? only a select few are even thinking about the longer term, no one has a crystal ball or a time machine, we don't know what is coming, all we can do is plan and hope our plans see us through the "emergency", no one is right, no one is wrong.
oh yes, and forget about "Zombies", certainly the Hollywood version anyway.
Off-grid homes from the 1980s are still operating just fine.
If 30 years is not long enough, to prove it works, then I do not know what is long enough.
if your talking about solar panels i'm sure they are, but how many times have they had to change various small parts within? fine whilst they are still being manufactured, but as I said what happens when the factories making them shut down?
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I have an electric stove and would ditch it tomorrow for gas. If you are going to keep the electric stove don't use it during emergencies, get a small multi fuel camping stove and keep plenty of propane on hand for the grill. Since you have gas you can always run a line to gas grill.
