SurvivalGround >> Tell me about LIVING OFF THE GRID...

thewellhungarian -  We just moved to a new hom with the intentions of getting off the grid, but we aren't there yet. I have city power, but it isn't neccesay, I have a battery back-up, inverter, and lots of windows. I don't really need power if it came down to it. The house would be bright during the day and dark at night. The Dryer runs off propane as well as the water heater and stove. I have a water well with an air pump running off a windmill. A big wood stove that heats the house quickly even in -35. There are about 5 lakes within walking distance.

   I think living off the grid would mean never having to need anything from town.  Maybe one day I will ge there, but it's expensive.I still have to go in to get groceries, although i could hunt more than I do, but  I need some veggies that won't grow at my altitude and climate. I still need propane delivered once a year, and plan on putting in an oil furnace this year so I don't have to depend completely on wood. I would like to put in solar seeing as I have part of a system already with the batts and inverter, but that will have to come in time. All taht matters now is that I am better of in a power outage or loss of services then probably 95% of the people in North America.<img src="http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh12/bhooper2/sophia049-1.jpg" alt="" /><img src="http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh12/bhooper2/sophia067.jpg" alt="" />

Jeff W - How are you "off the grid" when you are simply replacing the standard utility grid with a truck grid having propane brought in?

Is that a huge diesel pick up I see sitting next to the house?

Hippies....

LoganClark - It tends to be a bit of a misnomer when people often heat with propane since they are using a transport grid but have the fuel trucked in rather than piped.

Jeff W - 

thewellhungarian -  We just moved to a new hom with the intentions of getting off the grid, but we aren't there yet. I have city power, but it isn't neccesay, I have a battery back-up, inverter, and lots of windows. I don't really need power if it came down to it. The house would be bright during the day and dark at night. The Dryer runs off propane as well as the water heater and stove. I have a water well with an air pump running off a windmill. A big wood stove that heats the house quickly even in -35. There are about 5 lakes within walking distance.

   I think living off the grid would mean never having to need anything from town.  Maybe one day I will ge there, but it's expensive.I still have to go in to get groceries, although i could hunt more than I do, but  I need some veggies that won't grow at my altitude and climate. I still need propane delivered once a year, and plan on putting in an oil furnace this year so I don't have to depend completely on wood. I would like to put in solar seeing as I have part of a system already with the batts and inverter, but that will have to come in time. All taht matters now is that I am better of in a power outage or loss of services then probably 95% of the people in North America.

How are you "off the grid" when you are simply replacing the standard utility grid with a truck grid having propane brought in?

Is that a huge diesel pick up I see sitting next to the house?

Hippies....

BEETLEBANK, Earwig Green, does not sound the most attractive of addresses. But down a narrow, hedge-lined lane in the Weald of Kent, where half-timbered, tile-hung cottages and converted oast houses are the norm, is a stunning modern home of yellow brick, green oak, plate glass and slabs of crystalline schist rock... with a view down the upper Medway valley, with woods, fields grazed by cows, and the stately pile of Penshurst Place beyond.

"We are so lucky to live in this wonderful valley," says the owner, John Morrison. John and his wife Helen, both 58, have just moved in after 18 months of building work overseen by their son, Robert, who acted as project manager.

It is not the first home on this site. The previous house was a wooden Red Cross first-aid hut, erected in the First World War, that had been added to over the years. "When the wind blew, there were so many holes in it that the building whistled," says Robert, aged 31. "It was a pull-down job and start from scratch." And what a scratch it was – 7m (23ft) deep, served by three trenches for geothermal heating that were 50m long and 1.8m deep.

"The earth below the frost line remains at a relatively constant temperature, which equates roughly to the average annual air temperature," says Robert, who trained as an oceanographer. "Here that is 12C (53F). The trenches contain pipes in the form of loops that bring the water and antifreeze solution out and back to the house. A heat exchanger in the house heats the water for two storage tanks, one to service the underfloor heating pipes and one to provide hot water for the kitchen and bathrooms. Each night, Economy 7 electricity is used to heat the water to 60C or 65C, to prevent legionnaires' disease, but by the time the showers are used in the day the hot water temperature will be around 40C, about right for a shower."

Beetlebank is a lightweight steel structure with living space half above ground, half below. A central atrium brings light into the section below ground, which has a utility room, bedroom, media room, and an indoor pool and sauna full of natural light, supplemented by 100 low-energy LED lights. The pool has an underwater speaker. A cine-system can project TV or films on the wall. At ground level the living room has floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open onto a west-facing patio. The east side is all glass with a view towards Penshurst. There is an open fireplace on the north wall. The kitchen is open plan. On the south side of the atrium is the master bedroom with more great views. Another bedroom overlooks a water feature in the patio, across which is a two-man office.
Throughout, the flooring is of natural stone – crystalline oyster schist containing natural colours of blue and muted reds, with sparkling patches of fool's gold. The same stone is used for the adjoining patio areas. If you walk over this flooring in bare or stockinged feet, you can feel the warmth rising up.

kvr29 -  casa de grand pa-pa is officially on-line and off the grid

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