Need some real info regarding wind mills

**Blondie** · 08-31-2011, 06:16 PM

Okay Guys,

I have jumped off the cliff into the great unknown. I have been trying to deal with the electric company in this tiny area of the world. The politics do not end at the county line, hummmmm.

End of discussion is that I am building a 30 ft yurt to live in while I build a log cabin. I will have to sell my home 400 odd miles away to get the funds to build. Hence that lack of wanting to commute.

I purchased four 45 volt Harbor Freight systems yesterday. I know I don't know what I am doing, but that is what you guys are for, right? For off the grid stuff I have a waterless toilet, a propane stove and a generator (2400 watts). I know the generator is not a BIG one but I just want it to run, say for 6-8 hours a day to keep frig cold. I know that the frig will keep cold for at least 12 hours if you don't stand in the door and read a book. I plan to use a propane heater for heat. I will build a solar hot water heater for hot water. No washing machine, no dish washer just the frig/freezer.

Until the well goes in, I am going to bring water in a 500 gallon plastic horizonatal container on a trailer. Parked conviently up hill from the yurt.

Okay guys, don't throw rotten eggs. Just tell me I am completely up the wall.

Blondie

**StressMan79** · 08-31-2011, 06:51 PM

blondie,

good for you for making the jump. Only thing is, where are you? In washington state, there is very sunny areas like mine or those that are VERY shady, like Ty's. If you have a sunny area, you might get 5 hrs of the rated output per day (a "sun-hour") in the summer, and maybe half that in the winter. so in this best-case scenario, we are looking at 180W*5 hr per day, or .9kw-hr per day. That is actually enough for lighting and cell phones.

you are right again to worry about the fridge. This will take most of the power. get a very efficient one. then put 2 inches of foam over the outside, make sure the seal is good and tight. at least put on a radiant barrier (if you are good, you can make it look like stainless steel). Minimize the leakage/heat flow out of that unit.

If I were you, I'd get lots of storage batteries, so you don't deep cycle them, and a cheap inverter. The last thing you want is to have a whole icebox go bad b/c you forgot the genny. Then I'd run the genny into both a charger and the fridge. hook the inverter up to a switch to only run it a couple times per day. If you are good, you can run a relay off some electronics to do this automatically. Set an alarm to go off every 12 hr to remind you to fire her up for half an hour or so. some fancy electroncics could remind you to start the genny too.

might think about a propane fridge too. then you could have a chest fridge for storage and the propane fridge for convenience. Mine works good in my 32 year old camper.

Cut down your needs and you will be golden.

-Peter

**Blondie** · 08-31-2011, 07:21 PM

Thanks, Peter!

I am down where the sun goes for the winter! About 2 hours outside of Las Vegas. No end of sunshine here. Will look into propane frig.

Thanks, Again!!

Blondie

**rreidnauer** · 08-31-2011, 08:04 PM

Agreed on a used propane RV fridge. Just be sure it still works before buying, because they are basically irreparable if they don't. And be sure to level it before use. (Very important) They run off just a pilot flame.

With four 45 watt HF panel sets, a perfectly sized battery bank for that would be 300ah. (actually, with your sun, you could probably go a bit larger)

For my RV, I'm using just a single 50 watt panel for my weekend stays. It only gets about 4 hours of sun on it, due to me being in the woods, but that's plenty for the 5 days a week I'm not there. I'll have to bump up size some once I'm there 7 days a week, but I'm pretty dang conservative on power usage, so who knows. Now, I've cheated the last couple times out. I started the generator to run the air conditioner for a couple hours to kill the very humid afternoons we were getting. An hour of the AC on in the evening, and I'm good for the next 23 hours. That's pretty good as far as gas usage goes.

I don't think you're up the wall. If everyone could be a little more resource conservative and open minded, we'd all be in a better situation. Actually, I was wondering how feasible it would be to dig down to get away from the heat on the worst of days.

**Blondie** · 08-31-2011, 08:32 PM

Hi Rod,

My nephew found a battery "mister" at Harbor Freight in Las Vegas to do for a swamp cooler. Tried to get one here in Salt Lake and they don't know what I am taling about. The mister will do very well in this super dry area.

Blondie

**jrdavis** · 09-01-2011, 05:15 AM

Originally Posted by rreidnauer

Agreed on a used propane RV fridge. Just be sure it still works before buying, because they are basically irreparable if they don't. And be sure to level it before use. (Very important) They run off just a pilot flame..

a very wise statement.
We had a 30 ft trailer for 8 years and if it wasn't LEVEL Left/right and UP/Down you would get weird things happening.
But the worst was the wind. Make sure you have a wind break or are out of the wind because it will blow that pilot light out and its NEVER good to find that out with a full fridge, 12 hours later

JD

**loghousenut** · 09-01-2011, 07:05 AM

Blondie,

You'll do fine. Every little mistake will teach a lesson that you'll use later in life. Many of us have made the leap from higher cliffs into greater unknowns. I have a thought or two.

1. Solar is great and you will be able to start as small as you want to and grow as you learn or can afford to. All above is good advice. You might want to subscribe to "Home Power" magazine and develop a relationship with a solar shop like "Backwoods Solar".

2. Good batteries and upkeep will make solar much nicer.

3. I wouldn't want to listen to a generator running hour after hour just for cold food. Propane can do it and if you can spare the cash check out Sun Frost or one of the other refers that is made specifically for living off the grid. If you work in town and have to make the trip every couple of days you can rent a meat locker to keep your frozen stuff frozen. Then every time you bring home an ice chest full of frozen food you are cooling your refer at home. For years during our kerosene lamp and candle stage we lived with an ice box (non-working refrigerator) at home supplied with ice in the form of milk jugs full of water frozen in the locker at town. It seems crude now but at the time it felt normal.

4. As you proceed with the build, you'll put the generator to good use. Be sure you are charging batteries every time you run it to power a skillsaw.

5. You have no idea how lucky you are. Modern technology has made the off-grid lifestyle so much more pleasant than it was 30 years ago. You are entering the good old days.

**Blondie** · 09-01-2011, 06:38 PM

Hi All,

I spent 5 hours today running down someone who knew anthing about propane refrigs. And you guessed it, he is 400 miles away but very close to my property. I will wait for his return, call he delivered a propane frig to Kolob Canyon today. Very off the grid as well.

Thanks for the support and info, guys. My family thinks I[have lost it.

Blondie