Simple Plans for Off-grid Solar Energy?? (Entire homestead)

I just re-read this thread, and some of your others, and just to get some things straight in my mind, are you building a new house? If so, I would recommend going with radiant, in floor hot water heat. You can heat a modest single story house with a gas water heater supplying the hot water, and circulate it with a small 12 volt pump run off a deep cycle battery. You could rig up a circuit in your car/truck to charge a spare battery every couple of days, or of course use solar to charge it. In the long run, even a small solar (PV) system is going to pay for itself if it is used instead of LP/propane. I am thinking of lights, etc., too.

Jim

Yup, we are building a new homestead cabin. We already have our OSB subflooring in, but no "final" flooring yet... However, the homestead cabin is 2,000 sq. feet (1,000 on each floor), so maybe this option wouldn't work for us, since you mentioned a single story house.

This type of heating may be something we could consider in the future, but it sounds like it wouldn't work for us right now...

We are planning to use the Pioneer Maid or Kitcheen Queen to cook and heat the home, since it will be able to heat the entire home.

Thanks for the info - we are building another cabin later this year (this summer, when this first cabin is done), and maybe we'll make it a ranch in order to use the radiant floor heating...

Jen

Anytime you have an inverter in the system you need to take into account inverter losses. With high end solar dedicated inverters this is pretty small. With those cheap consummer plug into the cigerette light plug models you can loose a lot of your power even if nothing is plugged in and 400watts out may take 800watts in
Also dont forget wire losses. These become very important when you wiring gets to be over 30 or so feet long.

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Gary in Central Ohio

This sounds just like the house that I was thinking of when I wrote my previous post. It was built by some friends, a few years ago, and since then was sold and now different friends own it. It has the radiant heat as I described on the first floor--rather it is IN the first floor, and they have an upstairs for bedrooms that stays warm enough from heat from the first floor. They use a cook stove similar to those you mention (might even be a Pioneer Maid) which adds to the heat in the house. It is a comfortable house with the warm floors keeping your feet warm no matter what the weather is like. If I remember right, it is probably 700 or 800 square feet per floor.

Jim

Know any good links for radiant heat info? (How to put it in?)

Thanks,

Jen

http://www.radiantec.com/
http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumeri...heets/bc2.html
http://oikos.com/esb/43/radiantfloor.html

I'm sure a google search would turn up lots more. Check for local heating contractors who sell the tubing and other items, too.
Here's the company that I bought my tubing from some years ago:
http://www.nextstepenergy.com/html/radiant2.htm

Jim

There is absolutely no reason you cannot heat a two story (or even three) house with radiant heat. Just need a bigger boiler or extra hot water heater. For a lot of good useful information go to www.otherpower.com and browse through the solar section of the forum and ask some questions. The people on that forum are VERY knowledgable about alternative energy!!

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Parents of Autistic Kids

Randy's Hydroponics

hey for figuring what your appliances are actually using I foundf a neat tool.... http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=3697485

for radiant flooring a central boiler or similar is nice though expensive.... a HASA built from local materials is an option.... outside wood heat, insisde radiant heat from the water circulation..... also nice to use for a greenhouse floor.

William

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Upon the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions, who when on the dawn of victory paused to rest, and there resting died.
- John Dretschmer