LIVING OFF GRID

This blog is about our travels in our solar powered "Airstream" and living off grid, in our passive solar home, near Bancroft, Ontario, Canada.

If you have any questions send us a comment; we love to hear from our readers.
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Wednesday 19 September 2012

DITCH DIGGING

Back to ditch digging today. Up here the ground where I need to dig the trench is rock, a teaspoon of dirt and more rock. The rocks are wedged in tighter than sardines in a can and getting them lose takes time, effort and more muscle than I am blessed with at this stage of my life. Dynamite would be the best solution but I'm sure I would end up with a crater and no house so I'll stick to the pick and shovel.

I'll post pictures tonight if I'm not exhausted, or too sore to move my fingers across the keyboard.

More good news. Just heard from our generator installer.He expects to be here next week which is good news.Our generator will monitor our battery status and automatically kick in and charge them whether we are here or not.This gives me some comfort if we decide to go away for a week or two. Healthy batteries need to be kept fully charged if they are to last 10 years. And believe me at the cost of these batteries I want to keep them healthy for a long long time.  It will run on propane and we will have a huge propane tank so running out of fuel shouldn't be a problem. Also with this system I don't need to go outside to fill a gas tank, pull a cord or turn a switch before it will start.Hope it's as good as the brochure says it is. If you are using a Generac propane generator and have any comments to share send them our way. It's always good to hear from our readers who are already living off grid.

Our solar system is costing us more than $30,000.It is the most expensive part of the construction. When I contacted Hydro One to bring a line in to our house it was estimated to cost us between $45,000 and $70,000. It was not a long distance to travel as our neighbours across the road all have electricity. So once we start producing our own power we will be ahead of the game. 

Thanks for stopping by and I'll write more this evening.

Update 6:30 p.m.

The pictures in our header reflect today's work. We moved the kitchen cabinets into their approximate locations just to get a sense of the room layout. Wish it was all in and fully operational but we must be patient; it will all get done in due time.

1 comment:

  1. WOW! electricity sure is expensive!
    I giggled at the fact you have a 'solar system' how many planets do you have?

    ReplyDelete