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Efficient Homes?


Jim Oaks

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Its called being Amish.
OK.....I want electricity and lights......

The Amish use solar battery chargers to charge the batteries for the lights on their buggies.
 


chittybangbang

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OK.....I want electricity and lights......

The Amish use solar battery chargers to charge the batteries for the lights on their buggies.
Sorry I couldn't resist.
 

smokey

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Depending one where tou build there are more options other than solar. Windmill if you have a average wind speed of 12MPH is ideal for wind generation. If you have a steady flowing creek you can put in a Hydo generator the best of all generators.
 

Ozwynn

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Its called being Amish.
dude, you know any amish? the ones around here don't even live completely off the grid. alot of them have natural gas heat and lights.

I am talking completely off the grid with no back ups other than wood heat.

I spent the better part of my growing years in Arizona and it can be done.
 

Jim Oaks

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Simple_serf, are you living off grid?

BDAB, have you lived off grid?
 

Ozwynn

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Simple_serf, are you living off grid?

BDAB, have you lived off grid?
yep. we had to budget our electricity (like budgeting fuel on a long trip)
and use a diesel generator for things like Welders and air compressors.

our panels ran the refrigeration, lights, TV, oven/micro wave, and the pumps. We had a 10,000 watt inverter to run everything. the only 2 utilities we had was satilite TV and a phone. cold water from a 2500 gallon under ground tank was circulated through the pipes in the walls for cooling and hot water came from a 100 gallon above ground tank that was black and sat in direct sunlight.... had 160* water temp from it durring the day and it was still around 100* at midnight. wood was used for what little heat we needed for the 4 or 5 cold days in the winter. we had a white cover over the roof in the hot part of the year to aid in cooling and rolled it up for the winter. Our 2600 sq/f house stayed around 74 degrees year round.
 

Jim Oaks

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..............sounds interesting.............

Anyone else around you live like that, or just your family?
 

Ozwynn

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My credo
If you can't go through it or around it, then go over it.
our nearest neighbor was 2 miles and most people there were too poor for the things we had. some had electricity but most did not even have running water. we had one of 5 wells for 15 miles any direction and most people with running water hauled water in but we all had a white roof or a white tarp to go over the roof.

but on a side note ..... as of 1997 the average family in that area lived on either SSI or less than 10,000 a year for a working family
 

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I'm not currently... I am planning to within the next few years, though. Right now, my goal is to work with many of the systems that I plan to use, and to plan and design stuff so that when I do, the learning curve won't be so great. These systems include, electricity, water (a challenge, due to my cold climate), heating, and food production and storage.

Much of my knowlege of battery systems comes from the fact that I run and maintain battery powered vehicles at work every night (floor scrubbers and forklifts that are past their life expectancy), and I studied Industrial electronics in College.

On the farm that I have been working at, I have been learning alot about (Maple) Woodlot management, and when the weather gets better, Orchard management and beekeeping. To me, the ability to be completely self sustaining is the goal. I have also spent time around draft animals, because I really don't trust my farm equipment from the '40's (and besides, who knows if I'll be able to fuel any of it up soon!)

Amish...Well, people have called me that before (since highschool, actually), But given that I don't follow any of their customs (religious and otherwise), and I have no Amish lineage in my family, I'm not Amish.
 

lil_Blue_Ford

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Not really sure.

My last house had geothermal heat.

Right now I'm renting. Eventually Vanessa and I would like to buy our first house. We both want a (1) floor home with a basement and open floor plan. My last house with the geothermal seemed like it was pretty reasonable to heat/cool.

Right now we have propane and it's expensive. We want a house that's all electric. But what if the electric goes out? Living in the country, that even causes us to not have water.

It would be great to have a house and not have to worry about heating fuels or high electric bills.

Irregardless of what we ended up with, I'd definitely like to have a generator backup.
It sounds like you're looking for the type of house I'm living in right now...

VERY energy efficient. Totally electric. And our electric bill here is cheaper than the electric bill from our last house that had natural gas heat. We did the construction ourselves (dad did concrete construction for a living). Oh, yea, this house is bigger too.:icon_twisted:

Look into construction using ICF foam block. Our basement and first floor walls (ranch house) are made out of them. Basement walls are 8" core and first floor is 5" core ICF. Basically, you stack these blocks up and install rebar before filling with concrete. Carve out the foam to install electric lines and pipes, then screw your drywall right to the foam blocks. We did an all brick exterior, but you can do siding or whatever on the exterior. They claim that these walls can achieve an insulation value of up to R-50 (standard 2x4 framing is around an R-18 and has cold spots).

We put good Anderson windows in, ones with a good insulation value. Couple skylights and a sunporch with 6'x9' windows.

House is a partial basement, partial slab-on-grade, ALL floors (concrete floors and the floors over the basement part) have heat tubing run in them. We got a boiler in the basement filled with a literal ton of brick. Went on a co-op program with the electric company, they can turn power off to the boiler, hot water tank, and washer/dryer during peak hours in exchange for a big discount on our electric bill. The boiler unit is supposed to be able to be off power for up to something like 12-14 hours before it starts loosing it's ability to heat the house. Hot water tank is a super-insulated 80 gal unit... not quite as good at retaining heat as the boiler, but it's enough.

The concrete floors are all stamped and/or colored concrete. Or entry and living rooms look like large stone along the lines of flagstone or slate. Sunporch looks like terra-cotta tile. Front bedrooms are smooth trowed and acid stained. Office is done in a stone pattern like the living room and entry. Garage was finished with a grit to prevent slipping on a wet floor. Haven't finished the gameroom yet, but that will probably be stained.

Backup heat is a heat pump unit that also handles air conditioning and air exchange (house is sealed tight enough it could probably be slightly pressurized). Right now we don't have the boiler running, but the heat pump is enough to keep the house at nearly 70* even on the coldest of days.

We also have a fireplace (not working yet) that is set up for blowing the heat back into the house. If it all goes to hell, we have a generator and kerosene torpedo heater. (Generator is actually wired into the house).

Ceilings all got R-30 insulation. Sunporch and attached garage were stick-framed with 2x6 walls for more insulation. Insulated garage doors.

All in all, a solid, energy efficient house. Works so well that you can hardly hear the train go past (when it does on rare occations). Tames it to a low rumble and vibrates nothing... even though you can go out on the front porch and throw a rock and hit the train.

Or backyard is where we watch the creek flow past... stocked trout stream.:icon_cheers:
 
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tpking

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i see amish is walmart on a regular basis ... even saw them watching a portable dvd player in their horse carrige going down the road
 

chittybangbang

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I should have put *sarcasm*in the posting. I see them(amish) all the time being carted around like kids on the shortbus.I live about 1/2 hr away from Middlefield Ohio.(The local Amish population in NE Ohio)It all depends on what "order" of the Amish faith they believe in.Some allow newer technology,some won't allow even battery power lighting.
 

ejholmgren

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I have a programmable thermostat and a bunch of X10 stuff that turns lights on and off at certain times, does that count? ;)
 

ejholmgren

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I've always been fascinated with radiant floor heating, as it seems to keep a constant temp vs. forced air.



I graphed the temp in my den at minute intervals with some 1-wire gear, and you can see how much it fluctuates with a traditional furnace. The difference would be even more extreme if I decreased the cycles per hour on the thermostat.
 

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