Are you off-grid bush folks using Solar, Wind, Hydro, Generators for power? (Anderson: buying, live in)

[henry1]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

It's pretty tough living that way in Alaska, but at least he is close enough to a town or people Some people move up here and into isolated locations without human contact, and after a little while their minds get all screwed-up. Winters are extremely cold in the interior, and the darkness of night drives some people mad.

I know that i call him dureing the summer month it like Hi and Bye on the phone because of the hour's he put into the place to get it ready for winter time liveing..He told me of the socalled bush supply run where the truck is so overloaded with food stuff's he scared that the going to lose a couple of boxs of thing in the bed of the truck .

He put a bungee type blanket over the bed to keep the supplys in the truck when it going down the road ..He does that twice once in Sept time frame and once in Oct time frame to get the items he want the most there at the cabin ..

Now dureing the winter time it a diff story with him and we chat for over a hour on the phone ..Plus i do a mental checklist with him at times because he asked me to make sure all the marbles are working right if not call the Trooper's to come check on him .

He has sent me some pretty picture's of the Alaskan night's sky's and someother photo's he taken there..

He about 100.miles east of the Fairbank's area right on the Canadan border area and can get into town on the Aclan highway once he comes out of the bush to the road there ..

I know that he basically said to me that he was leaveing to into town once we finished our talk ..He also goes down to the border area where they have food and gas place just to vist people he told me dureing the winter time ..

He keeps telling me i can not wait to for you to get your place bult in Hawaii so i can come in the middle of winter to get a tan and have fun there ..

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Dakster

I will have to try my newer "HE" (High Efficiency) washer on my 5500 watt generator. My last washer wouldn't quite work and just forget about the dryer. I have enough watts, but the amps are my problem.

BTW, How do you dry clothes in the winter in AK without an electric clothes dryer? I guess you would have an indoor clothes line?

Also, the new Honda Generators can be daisy chained when you need more watts. A friend has a couple of the Honda 1000uis and has done this.

I wouldn't want to be totally "off-grid" and I would like to sell the excess power to the power company. At times, I bet you would generate more power than you are using. Why waste it?

I have researched wind and solar. Solar being my current locations best option. Wind and gasifier's seem to need a lot of "room". And gasifiers you still need "fuel", in this case, wood... In AK, space doesn't seem to be a problem in the "bush".

Well, the problem is that a washer, regardless of being HE or not, needs a lot more power than one may think. There are two sets of power the washer uses as follows: all electric motors requires what is called starting, and running power. The starting power is needed for the motor to start running, and here is where the motor demands the most sudden amount of power. When the motor has reached the right or running RPM, then it does not use as much power. However, a washer's motor has to start and run numerous times, the most on the washing cycle since it has to spin back and forth. HE washers use just as much power as regular washers, but a little water compared to the former. Capacitors are being incorporated on a lot of the new motors, and are quite useful to aid the motor during the start cycle to save power.

Regardless, to select a generator to run a washer and any other appliance that has an electric motor, you should figure the total power use (Watts) of the washer, specially the motor starting power. Then choose a generator that that has enough capacity for the washer not to exceed around 70% of the generator's capacity on extended runs.

A coffee pot does not need starting power because it has no motor. The same for the stove, TV, and so forth. But the water pump has a motor, the washer too, but not the dryer. If you want to run several appliances at the same time and for long periods of time, then you have to add all the wattages (of all the appliances) and choose a generator that exceeds this total wattage by at least 20-30%.

A way to get around these restrictions is as follows: choose a generator of enough capacity to power the highest power-use appliance and still exceed this power use by the 20-30% rule I mentioned above. Then only run for extended periods of time this appliance while all the others are disconnected. Then, when you are finish running this power-hungry appliance, disconnect it from the generator and connect some of the other appliances in a way that they don't exceed the generator's capacity (following the 20-30% rule for extended run periods).

[Marty Van Diest]

Originally Posted by Dakster

BTW, How do you dry clothes in the winter in AK without an electric clothes dryer? I guess you would have an indoor clothes line?

You hang your clothes out just like you do in the summer. It just takes longer.

It's called sublimation as opposed to evaporation. The frozen clothes still dry out by sublimation.

Or you can hang them inside.

[Frostnip]

I'm hooked into the electric grid, but I don't use a clothes dryer. In the winter I hang clothes indoors. They dry quickly, since the humidity here is generally very low. It is a little annoying having them all over the house on laundry day, though.

[Bob Blockus]

Bob's Laundry room.. I am lucky..

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/262129_2212352670958_1311761048_2617092_6873497_n. jpg (broken link)

[Dakster]

I wouldn't have thought clothes would dry outside in below freezing temps... Interesting... I learn something new everyday!

I am aware that motors take a lot more to start than to run - it was just a comment that you can have enough watts to run something, but not amps. I have found that most residential or non-prime power gensets have low amp handling. The same reason that I can use the generator to use my hot water heater, but not start the washer or dryer even though they are all rated lower than 5500 watts.

[demartile]

but not in Meth-Su or on Kodiak Island.

meth problems in the valley? moreso than other places in alaska?

[SityData]

The starting current of a motor is 5 times the current it needs to run normally. (thus the time delay on fuses and circuit breakers)

Not all motors require a capacitor to start them.

A simple rule to remember; the higher the voltage, (pressure) the lower the amperage. (current flow)

So a typical 120 volt dryer might be for illustration purposes 10 amps

Compare that to a 220 volt dryer would only equal 5 amps

Difference being the 220 volt dryer will dry your clothes in less than half the time thus saving even more cost for doing the exact same job!

Now please do not take this the wrong way, and I admit I am not good at explaning things; sometimes people get upset. That is not the intention of what I am about to explain.

You (Ray) have many thousands invested in your camera(s) and lenses. and you are one fantastic photographer for sure. But my point is this.. why mickey mouse around with toy gen sets ??

Install a real generator that can run everything, complete with auto transfer switch. The money the power companies will pay you for that electricity will more than pay for that new setup in the long run.

You will be surprised what can be done ...! You don't use a toy camera - why use toy gen sets ??

I'll be out that way soon someday; I look forward to sitting down and talking!

[starlite9]

Well if you are living off the grid as in no road system as well, whatever you use is brought in by boat, air or snowmachine.

A battery bank is a good way to store your power until you need it. Getting an inverter the total size of the load you plan on having isn't that big of a deal because you normally won't design a remote lifestyle with large power craving appliances.

Having some solar panels is not a cost effective way to generate power for a normal house, but when you have to haul gas/diesel for a generator, a few solar panels will pay for themselves fairly quickly...

A small wind generator if you are in a place that gets wind in the winter when the demand for power is the greatest, makes sense as well for the cost. If you only get a stiff wind s few times a month, it may not be a good use of funds,

Since your average load is going to be based on almost nothing to say 5KW of power usage, the batteries and inverter should be big enough to supply that power for about 24 hours. Which of course is a lot of Batteries, realistically, you are only going to have a load like that for a few hours, then almost down to nothing.

Having a huge generator to run your complete load is a waste of fuel and power when most of the time it has minimal load. Remember you have to bring that fuel to run it!

A generator that can run your entire load is ok, but I prefer a smaller one to exclusively charge my batteries at full power load. It takes the same power/time to bring deep discharge batteries from zero to an 80% charge as it does an 80% charge to 100%!

So if you bring them to 80% charged and shut the generator off you will save a lot of your fuel usage which you have to haul in to use. From that point your solar cells/wind generator will slowly bring or keep your battery load above that.

Anyway, just some thoughs to plan around.

In the cold, discharged batteries will freeze and break open, which on course spills acid when it thaws. A fully charged battery is good for well below -40 temps

[blueflames50]

huh....over 4 month old thread bumped back