Running Electricity Over Long Distance

[TheYogi]

Or another option rather than propane, do solar drying and water heating

[Scott_S]

I can't imagine using solar hot water, the last two months sure would have made for a lot of cold showers. Oh I forgot you install a back up gas tankless water heater, so then what was the point of the solar hot water system.

[Rob Tucker]

The point of a solar water heater is to save costs and delivery on electricity and gas.

On those occasions when solar is not sufficient then the back up comes into play. There is a lot of
UV gain on a cloudy day despite appearances.

Try it, you'll like it.

[chrism]

Ok,
My current refrigerator (purchased back in 1993) uses 7.6 kw over 76.33 hours. Rather than act like I know what that equates to, I'll just guess that the value of 10 comes in to this equation somehow. :-)
I'm also pretty sure I can get a much more efficient fridge if I buy one from the 21st century. Still, I'd be grateful if any of you "off gridder's" would mind sharing what type of fridge and deep freezer's you like for this purpose.

Solar water heating sounds good, but I wish I could keep the water hot overnight. Any Ideas? Anyway, it looks like gas will have to be part of that equation. Plus I need gas for the stove.

Basically It's just my wife and I who need to put together a solar system that will provide uninterrupted power for the following uses:

I. a small (but standard) fridge,
II. (2) deep freezers for pigs & chickens
III. water catchment pump for
a. drinking,
b. (10) 5 minuet showers a week,
c. dishes (I'm betting I can rig up something for flushing so I wont include the 'american standard')
d. Water for animals and growing veggies if there happens to be a drought.

IV. Computer (Running 8 hours a day)
Power supply Output (600w) +3.3v@30A,+5V@55A,+12V1@19A,+12V2@19A,-12V@1A,+5V SB@2.5A

- Computer monitor (Running 8 hrs a day)
Consumption rating 75W

IV. Lights
- (5) GE 10w cfl on at all times (might as well consider worst case)
- (8) 20w cfl floods (triggered by motion)

V. TV? Not part of the equation since I have a computer.

VI. 4wd golf cart. (I actually saw one for sale in front of someones house up on 19 before you go into Waimea) Just kidding :-)))

Sorry to be so late with all this...

Yep, I'm still convinced that a solar system will be better than paying helco for the rest of my life. Not to mention thousands of dollars per pole just to get hooked up. I'm just worried about the effectiveness of a solar system with the number of cloudy/rainy days in Hawaiian Acres.

I think I'm moving in the right direction as far as figuring out power needs, but after adding all this up, I hoping I'm not in for a rude awakening. I've really been trying to eliminate unnecessary appliances of all kinds.

Chris

[Scott_S]

Hey Chris,

I tried a small solar hot water system,(Rob), here in the acres without a backup and it didn't cut it. So I went to a 200 dollar tankless unit and like you said, Chris, you need propane for cooking anyway. It costs me 40 dollars every 3 or 4 months for propane, that includes cooking and hot water. Now solar power can work for you, maybe just double the size of it to make up for the cloudy days. I don't use one and my electric bill runs around 100 dollars a month. I will get some flack for this but IMHO if you can run electric lines for say half the cost of a solar system I would go for it.



Scott

[EightFingers]

"... 200 dollar tankless unit ..." Was that $2000? What did it cost to install?
~$150/year for propane isn't bad (BTW do you have a gas dryer?).

[mikewj]

When determining costs of off grid or net metering versus grid power solutions, it is also necessary to consider that (at this time) there are significant tax credits available for both solar water heating systems and photovoltaic electrical systems. If you are fortunate enough not to pay either Federal or State taxes, these obviously will not apply.
It is unlikely that the cost of propane and grid electricity will go down in price any time soon, and the peace of mind of being out of the loop of utility rate increases is worth a great deal to me.
Added to the independance is the fact that the systems are good for at least twenty years, so the annual cost compares very favorably to that of utility dependant systems.
The next thing which is needed to make the transition affordable is for Hawaii to adopt a program which is available at several mainland locations: briefly, the Municipality in cooperation with the utility company instals a system on your home, and the payments are amortized over a period of years and tied into your mortgage payment. When you sell the home, the payments transfer to the new owner, until the contract is paid off. It's a win win situation, since the power company does not need to build more generating facilities, the user's cost goes down and the out of pocket is either minimal or zero.

[Daniel]

Looking for batteries? Check out the Rolls 2KS 33PS 2 Volt batteries. 1766 amp hours. Cost more initially but last a lot longer. Looking for a great complete inverter setup? Check out Outback's Flexware system. Looking for a great fridge? Check out the conserve brand. 1 Kw per day to run! Thats 40 watts! Dont buy Propane or 12v refrigerators. They're not as good as the conserve.

Daniel R Diamond

[heyyou]

Backwoodssolar.com is an excellent source for info about off-grid systems. Read and work through their tutorials. Check on their used components too. That is what we bought for our shack in Mexico.

[Scott_S]

Eightfingers, I bought the unit off Ebay, new. They still have them, because my neighbor just bought one. No gas dryer, we hang clothes.

Just filled my 40lb propane tank the price dropped 5 bucks, down to 35 dollars.

Scott