going "off the grid"

[tboy]

Ok folks, I just got my last $600 hydro bill and enough is enough. I've shut off my power and have been doing so for the past 2 weeks. Whenever I need to cool off the fridge, do the laundry, etc, I power up my gennie. Now with the current fuel price increase it has put a damper in the economical factor but with the right planning, I'm going to save mucho dollars.

I'm also investigating alternative power sources (solar, wind etc).....I'm going to also convert a lot of my light fixtures to 12 volt so I can charge deep cycle batteries during the day, and use them at night.

I was a little dumb at first. I only ran my gennie through the night to power my pellet stove/heat. The past few nights I ran it for a few hours in the evening to warm up the house and to watch the tube etc. then shut it down. As it stands now, I'm using about 5 liters of gas a day......that's less $$ than I was paying hydro and when I ran it all night, it was about the same.

Sorry, but it is fucking insane to be able to run a GAS generator for the same price as if I was on the grid.....

This is the first step in my civil revolution....next? Doing away with those theiving banks......

 

[DannyDeVito]

What's a gennie?.

 

[Art Mann]

What's a gennie?.

A home power generator, perhaps?

 

[Madman]

I love the rebellious Tboy. I was just hit with a huge hydro bill too and almost chucked my lunch. It's time to fight these corporations because now they are hitting things we need for basic survival. Let's face it we need to drive, I don't think it's legal to use a buggy and horse. Mind you they'd probably tax hay to the hilt if we did. We can't do without hydro. This is getting ridiculous especially when they are trying to force everyone's pays down.

 

[Shallow]

Ok folks, I just got my last $600 hydro bill and enough is enough.

Dude, how big is your home?. That is a big bill, I guess no AC for you this summer.

 

[-b]

There is an Island off of British Columbia that is off grid.....
It can be done....if you look on line you will find a ton of stuff....
Good Luck.......

 

[Transient]

Not sure how effective a diesel generator tied into your home heating oil tank might be. Or propane generator if that's what you use. Still paying for fuel but at least you don't have to keep filling the tank on the generator.

 

[God]

A home power generator, perhaps?

I thought it was

:smiling:

 

[Jesus Quintana]

If you have nat gas then its even cheaper.
Wind turbines are cheap-ish.... its all the other shit that's expensive - batteries inverters etc.
Once you have a wind turbine they say that the payback is over many years - because you get to "Sell the excess power" but in reality its more like you pump into the system and then take back out. Even if you don't use any power where I live they still charge you a 70 dollar "Connection fee" to sell into the grid.
Look into Solar - photo-voltaic - They pay absolutely obscene rates.

 

[Maurice Boscorelli]

$600, man that's high.

You sure you are not doing a little growing there on the side, if you you catch my drift,lol.

 

[jumpingjackflash]

$600, man that's high.

You sure you are not doing a little growing there on the side, if you you catch my drift,lol.

Tboy, I'll by a little off you!:biggrin:

 

[tboy]

no, not growing anything.....I have a wood/electric furnace...I start a fire in the morning and when the fire burns down, the electric kicks in to keep the house from freezing. I have it set for 12 deg.

That's not the real point. The point is I only used $250 worth of hydro but with the BS debt repayment, distribution charge, taxes, tax on taxes, etc the bill doubles.......

I have all summer to set up for winter. I have a pellet stove now that will keep the house warm during the day when I'm not around and uses less than 10A of energy. Just a blower is all it has. The pellets are $5.00 a bag and I'll use about a bag a day....

I don't have access to natural gas, just propane and was thinking of switching to that for heating but a system is about $3000 plus the $2000 in gas per year. I was THIS close to suing the previous owners because before I bought, I requested the cost to heat the place electrically and they told me they ran all electric for a year and the cost was $2500 which is impossible considering I only used electric heat during the day and then for only a couple of months.....so 6 heating months x $500= $3000 so they didn't use any electricity for the other 6 months? (and they were a family of three, I'm single).

 

[Guido]

I don't have access to natural gas, just propane and was thinking of switching to that for heating but a system is about $3000 plus the $2000 in gas per year. I was THIS close to suing the previous owners because before I bought, I requested the cost to heat the place electrically and they told me they ran all electric for a year and the cost was $2500 which is impossible considering I only used electric heat during the day and then for only a couple of months.....so 6 heating months x $500= $3000 so they didn't use any electricity for the other 6 months? (and they were a family of three, I'm single).

I don't know if the hosed you T because my hydro bill has also sky rocketed over the last year. I was looking at last years bills and I haven't changed anything yet there is a big difference in price.

 

[Sophia Sinclair]

tboy,

Try Rob Menard, "96 is Your Fix".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8AF6OQUaIw

SS

 

[Esco!]

Get a hamster wheel, tboy. Then your only expense will be feeding the hammy

 

[Esco!]

Or if you have a really big house, one of these:

 

[HOF]

Tboy is your asshole sore cuz you is gettin' fucked!​

 

[HOF]

May & November, I cash in my hydro credits. May pays for my season ticket for the ti-cats and 30 beers over the 10 home games. November pays for Christmas and a Santa Ho!

 

[HOF]

One thing for certain is with taxes, utilities and inflated prices, no wonder we'll be working until death do us part!

 

[tboy]

I don't know if the hosed you T because my hydro bill has also sky rocketed over the last year. I was looking at last years bills and I haven't changed anything yet there is a big difference in price.

yes, i realize costs have gone up, but they haven't doubled and this has been going on since the first year i got this place.....so, they didn't double in 6 months....

watching when and how long i ran the gennie for, i used about 20 bucks worth of fuel from friday until monday morning.......

i was turned on to propane fridges and water heaters.....a propane fridge burns about 1 lbs a day and a water heater 22,000 btu per lb. so even if i had to reheat water every day (which i don't) that's $2.00 per day for fridge and hot water or $60 a month.....now propane fridges are a little more than electric but i've been thinking of replacing mine anyways because it does seem to run a lot and isn't very efficient......