Livin' off THE GRID

[Rosie the Riveter]

If you wanted to go solar, where would you buy your equipment? I've always wondered this.

http://www.solar-components.com/

Solar Components Corp.
121 Valley Street
Manchester, NH 03103
Phone: 603-668-8186

[EthanAllen]

Kat and I were wondering which one of you clowns would come back with this response.  I posted the links thinking you might not know about them.  You're welcome.

No. Thank you. I'm sure I earned another smite point for my troubles. E-Allen's got nothing on me.

According to folks here I am a wack job!

Damn proud of it though.

[kola]

I will be going solar. There is a circus act of solar companies. fact: It is pricey. I plan to buy a small grid and inverter and a few batteries and keep working my way up. They do offer some cool packages which include eveything and they are based on your average elect useage. I am a mechanical guy and will buy my stuff piece by piece and pay cash. Up at my mountain property(see pic), I live without any power in my tipi. I am there Thursday til Sunday, then drive 2 hours to work Mon Tues and Wed and head back up Wed nite or Thurs morn. I use crank up flashlites and some battery operated tools. It is doable.  Kola



 

[Rosie the Riveter]

According to folks here I am a wack job!

Classic case of the pot calling the kettle black 

[EthanAllen]

In an attempt to get further away from oil, I'm installing a solar hot water system to supplement existing oil-fired boiler/indirect hot water;  coupled w/ an outdoor wood boiler I installed last year, my oil consumption will be Very LOwwwww.  Anybody heating w/ strictly wood or have a sloar system here? It's starting to make a comeback since Jimmy Carter instituted miriad grants & incentives in '76. Then in the 80's & 90's, w/ cheap oil,  noone gave a shite. Dif. story now

I designed and general contracted a super-insulated, passive solar house in NH.

3000 sq.ft. that I heated with a hot water tank and less than 500 gallons of propane for heat and hot water.

[EthanAllen]

According to folks here I am a wack job!

Classic case of the pot calling the kettle black 

How so?

[Riddler]

If you wanted to go solar, where would you buy your equipment? I've always wondered this.

http://www.solar-components.com/

Solar Components Corp.
121 Valley Street
Manchester, NH 03103
Phone: 603-668-8186

In addition, just do a web search for solar...plenty of outfits selling equipment.

[Riddler]

In an attempt to get further away from oil, I'm installing a solar hot water system to supplement existing oil-fired boiler/indirect hot water;  coupled w/ an outdoor wood boiler I installed last year, my oil consumption will be Very LOwwwww.  Anybody heating w/ strictly wood or have a sloar system here? It's starting to make a comeback since Jimmy Carter instituted miriad grants & incentives in '76. Then in the 80's & 90's, w/ cheap oil,  noone gave a shite. Dif. story now

I designed and general contracted a super-insulated, passive solar house in NH.

3000 sq.ft. that I heated with a hot water tank and less than 500 gallons of propane for heat and hot water.

Vy. green...I get heating specialists @ supply houses always telling me " you can't heat a bldg/house, w/ a water heater"....except, I've done it, given the proper circumstances. They are by the book anal w/ ASME ratings,etc; plus, they'd rather sell you a boiler w/ all the fixins, anyway

[EthanAllen]

The key is to get the heat loss down as far as possible.

Then you can heat it with the sun (passive) and/or warm bodies, lights, candles, etc.

[JosephSHaas]

I will be going solar. There is a circus act of solar companies. fact: It is pricey. I plan to buy a small grid and inverter and a few batteries and keep working my way up. They do offer some cool packages which include eveything and they are based on your average elect useage. I am a mechanical guy and will buy my stuff piece by piece and pay cash. Up at my mountain property(see pic), I live without any power in my tipi. I am there Thursday til Sunday, then drive 2 hours to work Mon Tues and Wed and head back up Wed nite or Thurs morn. I use crank up flashlites and some battery operated tools. It is doable.  Kola



 

Hey kola.  Nice place, on your own property! This reminds me of the tipi, also spelled http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipi = teepee over at Namaste Green, Box 578, Barnstead, N.H. 03225 http://communities.ic.org/88/reach88.php where I did visit #__ years ago, there being old motor homes set up in the woods too with 55-gal. drums filled with kitty litter for the outhouses #2.  To where some Free-Starters might like to start, as the price is cheap: only $125 per year, plus #__ hours picking fruits and vegetables in the garden for the roadside stand. There's also a pond there that I went swimming in too on my visit one summer with a homeless friend who told me about the place. The couple that owns and runs the place makes it to Concord every now and then to the Greens meetings. Just write for an invitation to visit maybe this Fall for a nice Fall Foliage trip, and then maybe buy your own place too.*

* I bought 2.95 = almost 3 acres of land with a 1960s cabin in ruff shape for exactly $5,000 in 2003 = 4 yrs. ago, and after putting on a new metal roof, particle board floor over the hardwood, and new windows, etc., it's now assessed at over $40,000, and I spent one winter out there too with the L.P. gas fireplace, have a battery with converter box for the T.V. and it wired for a hook-up generator to buy.**

** To find that not gasoline one, but maybe two plug-in types I saw advertised on the internet once, my print-out around here somewhere, so that one can always be plugged in at work, so when the power goes off at the cabin, I can exchange it no problem.

I found the place on a private road, area used to be a commercial campground on the old topo map. For Sale by two women/ nieces of their uncle who used to buy up all the properties that sold at town tax sale.  The land across the street likewise owned and sold but to a developer with a Class V (v.s. Class VI jeep trail, like we have with gravel) road to $300,000 houses.

The real estate agent who you might like to call is Don Goudreau at http://www.verani.com on South Main Street in Concord, across from McDonald's.  He works with people looking for land, because when sub-divided he can make more money on the re-sale, and then the houses built and re-sold for way into the future. A lot of real estate agents are greedy and lazy wanting that 10% commission on an easy sale of a $300,000 house.  Don willing to work for that portion of the $1,000 amount as like on a co-broke deal.

Good luck, - - Joe

[grasshopper]

    I scared of clowns also!  I just hope the clowns stay home Friday night and leave me alone for a while!

[Riddler]

The key is to get the heat loss down as far as possible.

Then you can heat it with the sun (passive) and/or warm bodies, lights, candles, etc.

Absolute Fact. 'Stress skin' panels @ walls & roof= super high R value...Prob. is, most people don't/won't spend xtra$$ up front for added R value.- Just the req'd minimum. This is actually where, like it or not, MORE govt. regulation would be in order. Although I'm certain some on this forum will argue w/ me about that.....any takers?

[Riddler]

I will be going solar. There is a circus act of solar companies. fact: It is pricey. I plan to buy a small grid and inverter and a few batteries and keep working my way up. They do offer some cool packages which include eveything and they are based on your average elect useage. I am a mechanical guy and will buy my stuff piece by piece and pay cash. Up at my mountain property(see pic), I live without any power in my tipi. I am there Thursday til Sunday, then drive 2 hours to work Mon Tues and Wed and head back up Wed nite or Thurs morn. I use crank up flashlites and some battery operated tools. It is doable.  Kola



 

Kola, ....mint setup, hombre....how many acres? And are you planning to build, or stay teepee? (reminds me of that old motel setup in Arizona? on Rte 66, that consisted of teepees)

[EthanAllen]

The key is to get the heat loss down as far as possible.

Then you can heat it with the sun (passive) and/or warm bodies, lights, candles, etc.

Absolute Fact. 'Stress skin' panels @ walls & roof= super high R value...Prob. is, most people don't/won't spend xtra$$ up front for added R value.- Just the req'd minimum. This is actually where, like it or not, MORE govt. regulation would be in order. Although I'm certain some on this forum will argue w/ me about that.....any takers?

That is because not all of the costs for a gallon of oil are included in the price. You can thank the neo-classical revolution for that one.

The other thing that isn't realized by most is the air infiltration factor. Wind blowing thru fiberglass (wind washing) seriously degrades effective r-value as well as the number of studs in a wall (vs. not with stress skin).

[Riddler]

The key is to get the heat loss down as far as possible.

Then you can heat it with the sun (passive) and/or warm bodies, lights, candles, etc.

Absolute Fact. 'Stress skin' panels @ walls & roof= super high R value...Prob. is, most people don't/won't spend xtra$$ up front for added R value.- Just the req'd minimum. This is actually where, like it or not, MORE govt. regulation would be in order. Although I'm certain some on this forum will argue w/ me about that.....any takers?

That is because not all of the costs for a gallon of oil are included in the price. You can thank the neo-classical revolution for that one.

The other thing that isn't realized by most is the air infiltration factor. Wind blowing thru fiberglass (wind washing) seriously degrades effective r-value as well as the number of studs in a wall (vs. not with stress skin).

Have you ever seen an 'underground' house? Typically, 3 sides are sub-terranian; 4th sid So. facing- mostly glass. Super efficient, but 1/2 the house= not so much of a view.