Who lives without electricity? Or has in the past?

[JShapiro]

Who on this forum lives without electricity? Who has done it in the past and has either hooked up to the grid or done solar, microhydro, or wind? If you still live without, why? If you got wired, why?

I'd also love to hear stories and opinions about this topic. Any insight or experiences welcome!

[HermitJohn]

I lived through most of the 1980s without. Basically cause the land I bought in Upper Peninsula had power line going through edge of it and silly me thought wouldnt be problem to get electric. Wrong!! They wanted $5000 for a double step down transformer. Seems this was a primary line (looked like normal line on normal poles) and nobody else out our way to make it worth their while to run a local line on same poles.

When I moved to Arkansas, power was available. Simple as that. It would be hassle to generate enough power to keep fans or small air conditioner going 24/7 in summer here, otherwise it wouldnt be that much trouble to go back to off grid. Up north just used LP fridge and kerosene lights. Eventually got a cheapo generator for tools. Anymore I would have battery bank and small inverter for fluorescent lights. My eyes cant take dim light anymore, plus kerosene around here is an obscene price. And guess I could plan for big enough system to run 3 fans full time in summer plus fridge plus my small freezer. I dont much like air conditioner anyway and havent used it for three summers now.

[big rockpile]

We lived without Electric or Running water for couple years here.Used Coleman Lanterns and Propane to cook with.Just canned most things.If we had to have something Cooled we put it in the spring.Did catch rain water for our water needs.But had a Well drilled,drawed it up with Bucket.

Had a woman tell us we was getting Electric if we wanted it or not.Cost her a few Thousand Dollars we paid her back.

big rockpile

[DAVID In Wisconsin]

I had a cabin in North Carolina that I lived in, full time, for 2 years. It had no electricity or running water. It's not as hard as you might think. Just takes some getting use to. I carried water in 5 gallon jugs from friends homes. Aladdin kerosene lamps will light up anything. I cooked on a regular sized propane stove and used an outhouse. I've since moved to town and have all of the luxuries. But, I'd do it again. It's amazing what you can find ways to do. I heated water on the stove for washing dishes and my daily shower.

[Merit]

When I lived in Vermont, there were (are) a lot of people who live completely off the grid. While I thought they were insane at the time--it gets COLD---I was extremely fascinated. One couple in particular lived up a mountain. Parked their car at the bottom and had to walk the rest of the way up there.

Cozy, lovely little cabin. She sewed everything on her hand-crank sewing machine. They bathed in the river, and at friends' houses. Cooked & heated by fire. Dartmouth grads, both of them. Such warm, intelligent and wonderful people. By the time I moved to Boston they had a baby on the way. Almost a decade later, I still think of them often.

[MaineFarmMom]

We have propane for the lights, fridge and stove/oven in our cabin. I'd be happy with that here at the house too. In the house, the stove/oven and back up furnace (we heat 99% of the time with wood) are propane. When it's time to replace the clothes dryer that will be propane too.

[canfossi]

I lived without electricity or running water for over 2 months while my house was being built. I wasn't fun as it was something new to me, after a couple of weeks I got used to it. Didn't like the dirty feeling after not having a shower for over a week. I did go to a fitness club and got cleaned up. Now the house is finished and I have all the ammenities. I am living off-grid too. Chris

[PulpFaction]

I don't have power or water at my place, but I'm close to both and haven't had any problem "borrowing" if I need to. My friend offered to let me plug my trailer into his place, and I did for a few days and then unplugged it. The only thing I was using it for was the lights, and I like lamplight better.

I charge up my phone and laptop at work, keep a headlight accessible all the time, have a propane stove inside and a propane grill outside.

IF I were going to stay in the trailer year-round (which would be insane at 20 below in that little tin can) I would probably go for a kerosene heater. There are a lot of people in the area that have at least dry cabins, so there is a washeteria in town where everyone can do their laundry or take showers or use the bathroom. It's pretty common for towns up here and a great place to catch up on the local gossip. Oddly enough, it's a really central spot for the community.

My biggest problem with not having electricity is the lack of refrigeration. My cooking/eating habits have always called for big batches and leftovers, so it's really a pain in the ----- to figure out how to cook for just one person and one meal using all shelf-stable ingredients! Might get an ice box. Propane refrigeration units are too spendy for a "summer home" right now. Starting to be able to pick what I need for each meal out of the garden, but that's only a couple months, if not WEEKS, a year, here.

[Txsteader]

LOL, our story is almost identical to HermitJohn's, except our quote was $7000! So, being young, broke and stubborn, we lived pioneer-style for about 7 years. Kerosene lamps, propane fridge, wood stove for heating, cooked on propane stove. DH built us a gravity system for our plumbing which was fed by a windmill.

After that initial 7 years, we bought a wind generator for electricity, but that darned thing kept getting hit with lightening and blowing diodes and then the batteries got to be a nuisance, and around that time, we had a chance to buy some used solar panels. So we lived with 12v. power for another 5-6 years and by then, as people moved around us, we were able to connect to the grid at no cost. We only had enough panels to power the lights, a small tv, and fans.

We still have our solar panels and 12v. fans for emergencies and we still have our gravity-fed water system and windmill. I confess, I love being on the grid now, only because I can have A/C. We're at the age where we just can't take the heat like we did when we were young.

[PhilJohnson]

I lived off-grid for about 3 years. I bought 5 acres for 8,000. I built my self a shack with the help of a couple friends. It was built out of scrap wood, pallets, and sheet metal. The floor was uneven as all heck and nothing was square. There wasn't a measuring tape used nor level and the finished product reflected it. It was awful as a shelter, rain would get in along with critters. There were plants growing through the gaps in the floor along the wall. I had no power at all at first. But I have a hard time sleeping without a little white noise so I bought an inverter and ran a small fan off my car. The deer would keep me up at night with their munching on grass right next to my shack. Those tin walls don't really keep out the sound too well. Not sure if they still came around after I had the fan. There also was a small owl that would hang out right in front of my window. Every night he would watch me in the shack, lettin' out a hoot every once in a while to let me know he was still there. I used to have at least 3 kerosene lamps fired up, I don't like reading in dim light. Once I fell asleep and awoke with a smoke filled shack! Good thing it had plenty of holes for ventilation I didn't cook much at the shack, there was a fire ring right out side but most of the time I wound up eating snack foods or foraging edibles that didn't need to be cooked. I lived in that thing for a couple of months before getting the mobile home.



After getting the mobile home I still used kerosene lighting until October of that year. I bought one of those CFL bulbs and found the battery could easily handle both the fan and the light. Gradually I got fancier and fancier until I had a computer with internet, TV, and solar panels. Never got a fridge or running water. Usually during the winter months I would resort to melting snow, I did get water for drinking from a friend's house or my parents. The wood stove never was much for heating the place. I would either have to get up every 2 hours to throw some wood in or just give up and sleep in the cold. Most of the time it would be below freezing when I would wake up in the morn. Coldest I ever slept in was 15 below with no heat. Didn't have any special sleeping bag, just a pile of blankets, a hat, and my cat. When I sold my place this last year I moved the mobile home out to the parents. Never got hooked up there either but I did get a decent wood furnace. It was nice having something that could heat the whole place up to a comfortable temp. I bought another house, a run down farm house, but this one is on the grid with running water. Still don't have a fridge. My electric bill usually runs about 30 bucks a month. I have debated about going off-grid but it sure is nice being able to use the AC or desktop when ever I feel like it I guess I am getting spoiled. Still nice to have the solar panels for back up though.

[Txsteader]

Your picture makes me think of Thoreau's shack on Walden's Pond.

[||Downhome||]

a year with out grid hook up, had city water and gas so was ok there, used kerosene lamps and then got a 800 watt inverter and some batterys together, I put the batterys
in the trunk of the car and hooked them in to the chargeing system they got a fresh charge daily from going to work then lunch then home. get home hook up the inverter plug in an extension cord (wich I never put up) made a patch cable from some old computer plugs (male on both ends) plugged in to a outlet and could use lights and had power through the house. depending on what I was running anywhere from 12-16 hours to a hour an a half. tv sucked the most juice. if you do this make sure the kids cant get to the patch cord.

[firegirl969]

Super idea, Downhome! Thanks for sharing.

[SFM in KY]

I grew up on a ranch in Montana and we did not have electricity until I was in the 4th grade. I remember quite a lot about living that way even though I wasn't really "actively" involved. Kerosene lamps, coal burning stoves for both cooking and heat. Hand pump on the back porch for water (well) plus a cistern for rainwater.

We canned a lot of garden produce, plus potatoes, carrots, onions and squash, all kept in a big, dirt cellar ... milk and butter was kept there as well, to stay cooler, in the summer although I remember really liking to go up to my cousin's place because they had a spring house and their milk was colder! We had chicken a lot in the summer, also canned chicken for winter use, had solt/sugar cured pork from the hog we butchered in the fall and during the winter and hunted a lot in the winter (deer) when it was cold enough to keep the meat good if it was hung outside.

The washing machine ran with a small gas (kerosene?) engine. The sewing machine was a treadle machine and my grandmother used it even after they retired and moved into town where there was electricity.

The last two years I lived in Montana, I lived on a ranch that was remote ... did have electricity, but running water was a spring 30 feet from the house, no indoor plumbing of course, no phone (would have cost something like $5000 to bring a line in to the ranch). I have to admit I would probably find it difficult to live without the convenience of electric now, though I didn't have any problems with the rest of the "non-conveniences".

[Steve L.]

Originally Posted by JShapiro

Who on this forum lives without electricity?

Me, from about 1995 to now.

If you still live without, why?

Life's a lot simpler without it.

[SFM in KY]

Originally Posted by Steve L.

Me, from about 1995 to now.
Life's a lot simpler without it.

You know the simplification I REALLY noticed about going from all of the modern conveniences (?) back to electric-only was NO PHONE.

I had a cell phone so in an emergency (usually a vet call) I could drive up on the hill and call if I needed to, just couldn't receive calls or make calls down at the ranch. And I discovered that I really could live without a phone without much problem ... and NOT having a phone really did simplify my life a lot.

I have a phone here in Kentucky, of course ... and now DSL. I use my computer a lot and enjoy it tremendously, keep in touch with almost everyone I'm in touch with by computer/ email. I probably don't make more than one or two locals a day ... sometimes none ... and only make a long distance call maybe once a week.

Once I got out of the habit I'd established of being on the phone all the time (and I did not have Internet access at the time) I found out life was much simpler.

[7thswan]

Back in the mid 70's my ex and I lived in a log cabin on 55 ac. We had 12volt. Radio,lights. On a string of big batterys. They were charged with a small generator. Heated and cooked with wood. Our water was pumped into a large tank we put in the ceiling in the addition we built out of logs. The gas hot water heater was also put up high. Our water was gravety fed. We had a Gas Refer.All propaine gas. The water was also pumped from the well with the generator. Until the motor on the gen. broke, them we bolted the gen on a piece of plywood. Pulled the truck on to the wood then put a belt from the truck pully to the gen. and then put a jack on the wood to the truck and jacked it up and made the belt tight. Now days they have alot of real kool gadgets in 12 volt. Lived that way for over 5 yrs. Then needed access to a telephone for buisness. Oh ya, had an out house.

[WisJim]

Back in the 1950s and 60s we lived without electricity in the summers, taking care of a friend of the family who was elderly and whose house never had power, although it was a wonderful 3 story near mansion way out in the woods. After I got married, we built an off grid house and moved to it in 1977, lived without electricity for awhile until we got a wind generator installed, and then PVs years later. Both the wind generator and the PVs are still working without problems at a different place. We moved and took them with us.

[HermitJohn]

Have to add that this past winter I experienced the mother of all ice storms. Incredible damage trees and power out 2 full weeks.

It is amazing how dependent you get on electric. By end of those two weeks I was figuring how I could cobble together the modern equivalent of old Delco power plant. Already was using an old lawn mower engine and car alternator to charge my laptop and cell phone. At $2 gallon gas, running 5hp engine turning a car alternator every evening for 4 or 5 hour would cost about same as my monthly electric bill. With a small battery bank, could supply electric for fluorescent light, small fan, and my small freezer on an inverter. Even at $4 a gallon gas, still probably affordable, but even better to run larger engine off producer gas (wood smoke). I was getting into the idea, then the electric came back on and kinda lost interest though havent forgotten about it. As electric bill escalates into the stratosphere after current economic low may go that direction. Electric price may soar but my income wont.

[NCLee]

Like some of the others, my first memories are of living in a 3 room house (2 down stairs, 1 upstairs). Later, we moved to a big 4 room house that was off the grid until REA ran power lines to our farm.

I remember Mom cooking on the woodstove, washing clothes in the backyard using a washboard and castiron wash pot. Remember the ice box, drawing water from the well using a bucket, filling oil lamps, and more.

While we had electricity when I was 7 or 8, didn't get running water until I got married and moved into a mobile home on a lot in town. Found that I liked the conveniences, but didn't like living in the city. (City = 2000 folks, back then.)

When we moved out here in the country , the first month was without electricity. Electrician ordered a panel that was then backordered. Every day it was a promise it would be del in a day or two. Since we were avid tent campers, then, cooking and lightning wasn't a problem. Having to haul water because we couldn't run the pump, was frustrating, especially since we had to bathe and dress for work each day.

Over the years we've had pump problems stop the water supply. Ice storms and hurricanes down the power lines. When that happens, we take it in stride and simply live off grid until things are corrected. If it ever becomes necessary, the hand pump, in storage, can go in the well. The woodstove in my shop can be moved into the house. Oil lamps sit on top of the china cabinet, filled with oil and the wicks trimmed.

However, as a previous poster mentioned, for as long as we can, I don't want to give up the AC. I was around 40 before we got AC. Now, 20+ years later, it's getting harder and harder to cope with the heat and humidity in the summer. I can deal with winter cold much easier than summer heat. In fact, I like a cold bedroom with quilts on the bed.

Lee