Off Grid Well - Options?

[sjvicker]

So your planing on "saving" $5k by not bringing in grid power and this is going to be your full time home? Buddy bring in grid power. At the end of the day you will save nothing.

We have a offgrid camp and our electrical needs are next to nothing and the closest power pole is about 1mi away..this is the only reason why I wont bring in grid power.

The rough fuzzy back of napkin math says $5k but I'll dig deeper into the details before deciding one way or another. This far out it's too hard to predict prices.

To be honest, my preference is to remain off grid (as much as yours is to be on grid) so I'd be willing to pay a premium to stay disconnected. How much of a premium is TBD.

 

[dcg9381]

Interestingly no one has mentioned wind generators for a site that can be cloudy and does have short winter daylight hours. And they run all night.

These produce "wild AC" so you need to store their power in batteries and then invert them out to usable AC power. They also have moving components - which to me means stuff to maintain and perhaps replace.. Make sense for parts of the country with higher winds and more overcast days though.

 

[tez929rr]

We have had an Aermotor windmill for about ten years now. We just use it to fill a stock trough but I’d like to eventually tie it into the house water system. We have had a 5000 gallon concrete tank for the house system (over 25 years) and a 1500 gallon poly tank for the windmill and no contamination problems.

 

[theoldwizard1]

The price of a full off grid solar power system gets lower every month. This is especially so if you buy individual components (especially battery cells) and build it yourself.

A backup power source (generator) is mandatory !

 

[JAYoung]

We have had an Aermotor windmill for about ten years now. We just use it to fill a stock trough but I’d like to eventually tie it into the house water system. We have had a 5000 gallon concrete tank for the house system (over 25 years) and a 1500 gallon poly tank for the windmill and no contamination problems.

My childhood Amish neighbor in Pennsylvania used an Aeromotor to fill an upended tank he got from a railroad car, mounted vertically on a pad on a hill above his dairy farm.

 

[dcg9381]

The price of a full off grid solar power system gets lower every month. This is especially so if you buy individual components (especially battery cells) and build it yourself.

A backup power source (generator) is mandatory !

I've been installing solar on and off for about 10 years. In general, it did tend to get less expensive over time (more completion). In 2018, Trump slapped a 30% tariff on solar. It looks like that got reduced to 20% in 2021, but prices are substantially higher than what I paid in 2018.

I don't think much has gotten cheaper since the pandemic started. I looked up the "used" value of a 3500 Ram pickup that I own yesterday. I could get more than I paid for it new...

Very very little maintenance on solar in my experience... Like zero (short of maybe cleaning panels).

 

[theoldwizard1]

You need to watch Will Prowse's YouTube channel, as there are many ways to save a LOT of $$$ !

First, you can save a lot by buying from some of the lesser known suppliers/distributors. Typically, these are not in China, so no tariff. Also purchasing a full pallet of panels will cut the shipping costs and any extras can be sold locally.

Second, purchasing individual LiFePO4 cells and building your own battery bank will cut the cost of those components by over 30%.

 

[dcg9381]

Worth noting that there will be a reduction in tax credits for residential solar, I believe in 2023..