Going Off Grid in East Tennessee (sale, bill, pool)

[younglisa7]

Good morning everyone. Todays chapter is short and sweet.

Thursday 9-4-08

We drove to Lowe's this morning to pick up gutters, paint, and more spackle. When we got home we brought everything down to the house and started preparing the gutters for installation. We bought 4 10 foot sections of aluminum gutters(the vinyl ones warp), 3 connectors, 2 downspouts, end caps and the screws.

We laid out 1 10ft section at a time. The first one, which will be an end gutter, we cut a hole for the hole connector(?) and then we siliconed it to the gutter. We also siliconed the end cap on.

Then we pre- measured and drilled holes for the gutter screws. This makes it easier when we install them.


We repeated this process for the other end gutter. Then we cut down the 2 middle sections and pre- drilled holes for them. Now we wait for the silicone to dry and then we can install them.


Friday-9-5-08
We went down to the house and started working on the gutters. Mike was using the ladder to screw in the gutters. I was on the roof holding the gutter under the drip edge so Mike could screw them in.


Mike got a few screws in from the ladder put it was too awkward so he came up on the roof to screw the gutters in.


This is how we installed the gutters. We would lay out one section, put it under the drip edge, and I would hold it in place. Then Mike would screw it to the house. Then we would connect the next piece of gutter using a connector, glue, and screws. We have the first 2 up.


And all 4 are up.


After that I went to town and Mike worked on the downspouts. Unfortunately he was missing a piece so he continued to sand inside the house.

Later we took a hike around the property to pick apples. I didn't get my apple picker yet so we brought a hoe and a 5 gallon bucket. There are apple trees everywhere. We explored a new area of our property. It is beautiful all wooded and private. Mike and Niki went back to the house and I kept walking. I am so thankful for the cows because they make nice trails where our property is steep. When I got back I made some applesauce and tomorrow I am going to make apple pie.


Saturday 9-6-08
It is a gray drizzly morning so we have to be careful of the electric we use today. Mike tried to order more solar panels yesterday but it was too late.

Mike said "it's time to get serious" about the sanding and spackling. Oh joy! We've been doing a little at a time but not nearly enough to get the job done. I give a ton of credit to drywall finishers. I thought painting was bad but spackling and sanding is the pits.

We went down to the house and Mike started working on the 2nd coat of spackle.


While Mike did that I started to sand.


And more.


I also taped and spackled the 2 front corners where the concrete was.


We went through another 5 gallon bucket of joint compound(spackle).

Sunday 9-7-08
Just another fun filled day of sanding and spackling. We are hoping to be ready to paint by the end of the week and have our floors installed next week. It is going to be a long and tedious week for us.

Mike's daughter, Nicole, is going to Lowe's to pick some paint samples. I picked 4 colors, brought them home, and I don't like any of them. We aren't leaving the farm until the spackle is done so Nicole is doing me a big favor by going to town. I hope she has better luck. If I don't pick a color Mike is going to paint everything "white".

That's where we are at. I might have to cut my stories down to weekly since we won't be doing much except for spackling and sanding this week.

I hope you are enjoying. We are closing in on the house.

Have a great day

Lisa and Mike

[Tinman313]

Some more interesting information while you have your coffee......

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[Tinman313]

The dog still needs a little hard hat with " BOSS" on the brim, plus a cigar......

[Tek_Freek]

and a toolbelt!

[Tinman313]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

and a toolbelt!

Yeah!! forgot...... maybe a mini can of bud also!

Sorry Mike and Lisa....... I could not resist..... That photo of the dog......

[JoshB]

Originally Posted by Tinman313

The dog still needs a little hard hat with " BOSS" on the brim, plus a cigar......

That would be funny!

[kylekeith]

Originally Posted by Heynow999

Kyle

To size a solar system what we need to know is how much electricity you use. I would guess you use A/C? The problem is that solar is expensive, and one solar panel produces very little energy. You are stuck with high electricity bills, as you will never be able to produce power cheaper than the grid with PV. It works with the Mike and Lisa because the cost to run power lines to thier building would probably cost $40,000?, which would buy a pretty good system. Your only option is to reduce the power you use.

You can roughly estimate that solar panels cost $10,000 per kilowatt installed. This would not include the cost of batteries. Lets assume that you pay .30 per kilowatt, which is way above the normal cost. We pay about .12 cents.

$150 (your monthly bill) /.30 = 500 kilowatts a month Or 16.66 kilowatts a day. This seems a bit high usage for a trailer, but you may use a lot of energy. Our house uses about 30 kw/day. Assuming 4 hours of sun a day, you would need about 4.16 kw of panels. This would cost about $41,600 installed. This does not include the cost of batteries. I am not familiar enough with batteries to give a price estimate.

So $41,600 in panels should offset your $150 a month hydro bill.

What this really shows is how accustomed everyone is to cheap energy and how royally screuued we are when energy prices start to rise. You should consider yourself lucky if you are supplied power by a regulated utility that can not raise prices as they want, like the oil companies do. This is also why much earlier in the thread I suggested that Mike and Lisa try to use 100% renewables instead of propane, but I understand that their bills will be very low and they are WAY ahead of most every other American (good for you!)

A picture of my recently installed system

I understand what you are saying but there should be atleast 6 hours of good sunlight per day. I am not sure what kind of power an idle house uses. all lights off but you have idle devices like TV, Radio, Microwave, Alarm Clocks, etc... Plus the Full Size Refrigerator... I guess I should take my Kill-a-Watt meter there to see what they are doing...
When I am using the place my electric bill is like $130 (A/C is running all the time as it is like 110degrees outside). when I don't go at all the bill is like $40. during the winter time no one is there. If I can offset the bill by
$50 per month with a 2-3 panel system. My landlord doesnt specify the usage. I'll have to manually read my meter next time I am there.

Using this as an example... How many panels would I need to run my house? The one I live in every day? from your calculations it looks like a $20k system which would be 2KW's and my understanding would be 10 210watt Panels? getting sunlight for 4 hours per day?

Here is my electric bill for the last 2 years, dont be jealous of my bill $$ haha Our power is coming from San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, in Southern California.

READDATE KHWREAD KWHUSE DAYS AVGDAILY CHARGE
08/21/2008 76362 444.00 29 15.31 $ 26.09
07/23/2008 75918 376.00 30 12.53 $ 10.24
06/23/2008 75542 303.00 32 9.47 $ 15.42
05/22/2008 75239 364.00 30 12.13 $ 44.83
04/22/2008 74875 447.00 29 15.41 $ 61.64
03/24/2008 74428 317.00 31 10.23 $ 38.24
02/22/2008 74111 455.00 31 14.68 $ 61.24
01/22/2008 73656 403.00 32 12.59 $ 50.25
12/21/2007 73253 384.00 32 12 $ 47.45
11/19/2007 72869 365.00 30 12.17 $ 45.4
10/20/2007 72504 357.00 30 11.9 $ 24.41
09/20/2007 72147 436.00 30 14.53 $ 21.94
08/21/2007 71711 366.00 29 12.62 $ 10.3
07/23/2007 71345 401.00 32 12.53 $ 11.3
06/21/2007 70944 354.00 30 11.8 $ 23.02
05/22/2007 70590 390.00 29 13.45 $ 48.25
04/23/2007 70200 386.00 31 12.45 $ 46.97
03/23/2007 69814 398.00 29 13.72 $ 50.56
02/22/2007 69416 479.00 31 15.45 $ 66.89
01/22/2007 68937 605.00 32 18.91 $ 93.65
12/21/2006 68332 584.00 30 19.47 $ 91.62
11/21/2006 67748 542.00 32 16.94 $ 79.99
10/20/2006 67206 425.00 29 14.66 $ 56.9
09/21/2006 66781 616.00 30 20.53 $ 98.19
08/22/2006 66165 526.00 29 18.14 $ 79.01
07/24/2006 65639 688.00 32 21.5 $ 115.62
06/22/2006 64951 463.00 30 15.43 $ 63.19
05/23/2006 64488 387.00 29 13.34 $ 47.08
04/24/2006 64101 385.00 31 12.42 $ 46.85
03/24/2006 63716 285.00 23 12.39 $ 46.44

[Heynow999]

Kyle

Your problem at the trailer is your AC. From my previous example, it does not make a lot of sense to replace grid power with solar, it is not worth it unless you can get large tax rebates. Can you take all the food from the fridge and shut the whole trailer off when you leave? Conservation is always the first and cheapest step.

Peter

[younglisa7]

Originally Posted by Heynow999

Kyle

Your problem at the trailer is your AC. From my previous example, it does not make a lot of sense to replace grid power with solar, it is not worth it unless you can get large tax rebates. Can you take all the food from the fridge and shut the whole trailer off when you leave? Conservation is always the first and cheapest step.

Peter

Good response.

Lisa

[Rach1966]

I have been reading with interest and looking into solar power
but with my electric bill only running in the 40$ range each month (up to the 50's at times), I don't see that it will pay for itself in my lifetime.
but, who knows with this next electric increase it might.

Lisa, about the well water issues, we have lived on a farm all our life with well water (which I'm sure is contaminated, but we drink it and survive)
I just put a 1/2 gallon of bleach in the well about ever 6 months (helps my peace of mind) and in a few days you can smell a little bleach smell but goes away in a week or so (or we get used to it)

Rachel