Surviving off-grid

[thunderhead]

It's been a long time since I posted.  I have been out of work in the recession, and we moved in long before we were ready.  Just in time for the big freeze of December 2009.

We are still alive, and now I am working again, I have the money to spend on getting the house sorted out. (I just don't have the time.)  The house is still off-grid, although we needed some assistance from a generator over the winter, and it appears my batteries survived the lean times before I could afford more input.  Which pleases me: they are 12-year-old AGMs, and they have run pretty flat for 18 months.  Nevertheless, they seem to have about 80% of the capacity they were sold with.

The most recent upgrade was to our solar panels: from 160w PV to 640w PV, and from the roof to a wooden frame in the garden, facing due south and tilted to the noonday Sun at the equinoxes.  It might seem surprising, given we live in Ireland, but solar PV seems to be the best way of obtaining electricity.

I have been trying to construct windmills using wood: several working versions have flown, but all have been destroyed by Connaught storms.  Irish weather 5; Thunderhead 0. :-(

Other off-grid adventures have included rainwater collection and purification: our water is collected in three 1100litre plastic tanks, then pumped out with 12v submersible pumps (from a camping store) and through a filter and a UV steriliser.  At the moment the pumps and steriliser are controlled by a manually operated switch, but I have a 220 litre header tank and a 160 litre hot water cylinder waiting for me to plumb up at the weekend.  The header tank has a float switch.

Heating comes from a wood-burning range made by Waterford Stanley a very long time ago.  At the moment it operates five radiators using a 12v central heating pump we got from our local boatbuilder.  It should provide hot water by next week.  For now hot water comes by putting a big pot on the range, and showers consist of a 12v bilge-pump in a big bucket wired to a pull-switch, and with a shower-head on the end.

We have a camping (tub) washing machine and a spinner, and our 600W cheap-and-nasty invertor will just about run them.  We tried flushing the toilet using water from clothes-washing, but the lint blocked up the cistern valve.  So there is a cartridge filter on order, and a little header tank with another float switch.  Our corner of Ireland gets plenty of rain, but in summer the rain stops for weeks at a time.  Which is nice, but not if we run out of water.

We are planting about 1/5 acre of willow every year, in the hopes of being self-sufficient in wood.  But other than that, and growing vegetables in the garden, our land has just been rented to the neighbours for cattle grazing.  Living in the cottage has been the priority -- the land is a project for the future.

I have lots of pictures and diagrams on the computer at home, and they should be appearing here and on our 'blog over the next few weeks.

I feel the last 15 months have taught me a lot about off-grid living!

[tanner0441]

Hi

If you want a pressurised domestic water system, go for a sureflo pump, I used to fit them to the boats I used to work on they are continuously rated, and to increase flow you can fit two or more pumps in parallel, they deliver around 35 - 45 PSI (adjustable).  They have an integral pressure operated switch, which is a standard micro switch, they are self priming swash plate type with three diaphragms. They pull around 5A at 12V.   I fitted one to my motor home in place of the tiny Whale pump it came with.

Another usefull 12V pump is the maserators we fitted to the pump out on the toilet holding tank. They have a rubber impeller with a thing like a coffee grinder on the front, they are not continuously rated, and not so kind on the battery.

I am in the UK so I know this stuff is available over here.

Brian

[thunderhead]

My wife wants a UV steriliser (she is a microbiologist, and we were in Galway during the cryptosporidium outbreak of 2007) and I don't want to run the steriliser continuously, as it draws nearly an amp.  So the header tank arrangement is probably best for us.  We use a cheap submersible pump that costs less than a tenner.

http://www.towsure.com/product/12_Volt_Economy_Submersible_Water_Pump

I put together a circuit to time a relay so that the steriliser is on for about 40 seconds before the pump is energised, to make sure the UV tube is up to full brightness.  But the tiny cheap steriliser we have is good for 4 litres a minute, so too big a pump would need some kind of restriction -- raising the current draw and increasing the cost.

http://www.silverlineuk.co.uk/product.php?prod=8_Watt_ultra_violet_system_with_parallel_female_BSP_connectors

...although we don't use the 240v ballast box.

At the point the system was put together, I wasn't working, and price was an absolute premium.  But since the system we have gives clean water, adding a header tank big enough for a bath and a float-switch should give us water on tap, and a decent flow rate for the first 220 litres.

I started with a pressure system and it cycled every minute or so.  If it takes 40 seconds for the UV to come up to brightness, that means it's on 2/3 of the time, which is a whole 16Ah extra.  We were down to about 30Ah/day in the summer and 50Ah/day in the winter, although now we have the PV upgrade we're running a 'fridge, which will add 70Ah/day to that.  So an extra 16Ah is a big deal.

How often does your system cycle?

[madlabs]

Wow, 50aH a day. I'm impressed. I thought I was doing pretty well using 100-200aH a day, mostly depending on tool use. The fridge probably accounts for the biggest chunk. I do have sattelite internet and a regular pressure water system too.

Anyway, what kind of soil and how deep is the water table around there? I drilled my own well 60' deep with a super cheap DIY rig. If you aren't living on a rock pile and the water is less than 100' let me know with a PM and I'll tell you about my rig.

Jonathan

[tanner0441]

HI

We had a Crypto outbreak here last year.  I have a separate tap for drinking water it has an under sink unit which consists of two units one micro porous ceramic filter the second unit is a carbon block filter, not the granular type that can get channelling. The micro unit has 1 micron core in it. I found the unit at a place called On Tap systems (I think)

Brian.

[thunderhead]

Wow, 50aH a day. I'm impressed. I thought I was doing pretty well using 100-200aH a day, mostly depending on tool use. The fridge probably accounts for the biggest chunk. I do have sattelite internet and a regular pressure water system too.

Anyway, what kind of soil and how deep is the water table around there? I drilled my own well 60' deep with a super cheap DIY rig. If you aren't living on a rock pile and the water is less than 100' let me know with a PM and I'll tell you about my rig.

Jonathan

We don't use many tools, not with a 600W invertor.  An electric drill and a little jigsaw is as far as it goes.  For most jobs I use hand-tools: they're cheaper than gym membership.

If I want anything bigger (circular saw, MiG welder) I have to start a generator.

We are on a hill which is clay.  I suspect there is gravel under it with water down there, but I haven't done much research to find out.  The land around us is all glacial deposits.  We have water in the stream at the bottom of the garden, which is year-round, and should provide flushing of the WC and things like that if we have a really dry summer.  But really, rainwater is OK for us, even before we add another 40 square metres (423 square feet) to the collector cottage.

It rains a lot in the West of Ireland.

[thunderhead]

We had a Crypto outbreak here last year.  I have a separate tap for drinking water it has an under sink unit which consists of two units one micro porous ceramic filter the second unit is a carbon block filter, not the granular type that can get channelling. The micro unit has 1 micron core in it. I found the unit at a place called On Tap systems (I think)

We just have a five-micron sediment reduction filter to make the water clear, and the UV steriliser.  It's rainwater, and that seems to be fine.

The 10" cartridge filter we're using seems to be a standard part here.

Of course crypto outbreaks apply to surface water, so by using rainwater we're avoiding them.  My wife insisted on a steriliser because you can't stop birds from $#17ting on the roof.

But she insists on the 'fridge being below 8C, and the hot tap in the kitchen being above 60C, and all that.  I married a microbiologist.  What can I do?

[DamonHD]

Take her advice!  B^>

Rgds

Damon

[Bruce S]

Take her advice!  B^>
Rgds
Damon

AMEN! I'm married to a chef, she's the same way, and so far no food borne illnesses. FAT borne/laden tummies maybe, but no illnesses.

Thunderhead: with regards to the fridge reach if possible, for 4 - 5C. 8 C is a danger zone for a lot of fish, meat & Leafy greens.
 Breads will grow mold quicker at 8C as well, similar to liken and moss, they love the cool moist air.
Cheers;
Bruce S