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To: Drago

That's good thinking and as I prefaced the table I posted, "where your connection to the electric utility grid is either non-existent or problematic, solar cells can offer a practical solution". However, the system you're describing would need battery back up to keep you going at night during the outages and that gets very expensive (3x, easy).

If that new place will be in the mountains ("frequent power outages"), keep in mind about roof orientation, trees and hills and you should be alright.

Almost every one up in the mountains where I live have back up generators of about 3-5 kW capacity. They cost about a buck a watt and many now come with such good silencing systems, that you can barely tell when they're running. Check out Honda's product line, for instance. Anyway, give it a thought, it sure would be cheaper than going solar, especially with batteries. (And besides, you can easily take the generator with you when you move.)

62 posted on 01/13/2006 2:30:02 AM PST by Boot Hill ("...and Joshua went unto him and said: art thou for us, or for our adversaries?")
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To: Boot Hill

I met a couple in 1986 who were off the grid. It was rural Kentucky and prohibitive to pay for an electric hook up. I'm sure off-grid schemes and technology have greatly advanced in 20 years

They had the house wired with 12 volt marine fixtures and bulbs. Had a 12 volt TV. Had a propane refrigerator. Had a generator to run power tools now and then. Had solar-electric cells but I forget how big


64 posted on 01/13/2006 2:39:58 AM PST by dennisw ("What one man can do another can do" - The Edge)
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To: Boot Hill
Almost every one up in the mountains where I live have back up generators of about 3-5 kW capacity.

A few years ago, my homeowners association in Montana looked into a backup solution for our well (200 ft with a 3HP pump). Our outages are typically less than a day but longer than two hours, we're the eastern edge of BPA. We spent about three months studying the economics, and the battery/inverter solution won out. Inverters keep getting dramatically better every third year or so (not to mention cheaper), and AGM batteries last about 7-8 years. Given the surge currents involved in starting the pump [85A @ 208V], we were able to go with a 4 kVA inverter instead of a 10kW generator for about a 25% savings. Best part is that the inverter will also kick in a bit if there's a brownout, extending the life of the motor.

We haven't touched it since we installed it three years ago. It just works. No maintenance, no fueling, nobody has to go to the pump shed when it's -30F.

73 posted on 01/13/2006 9:06:54 AM PST by HolgerDansk ("Oh Bother", said Pooh, as he worked the bolt.)
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