Posted on 01/03/2015 3:37:59 PM PST by knarf
I got an e-mail that had one of those, "I'm just a regular guy but I've discovered the secret ... " type message ...
Youe electric heating bill is high because your mobile home needs more insulation and to be sealed from air drafts.
When we lived in England, that’s all they used. Very efficient and never had a problem with them.
We wanted to change to a tankless here in NM, but at the time when the water heater went out, our heating was run off hot water (AquaTherm heater/a/c) and we were quoted a price of $4,000 to convert it so it could use a tankless. We passed. 6 months after replacing the hot water heater, the heater/a/c up and died so we could have switched!
It’s fairly rainy and cold here at Ft. Hood. It actually doesn’t know if it wants to be winter and dreary or not-quite-winter and dreary.
I love my daughter, etc. and am ecstatic with the precious, sweet baby girl, but on Friday I’m heading back to the tropics!
We know a family that is off grid. One solar panel hooked up to a single car battery—he brings it in at night to power lights and essentials. He also runs a generator when needed. He heats with a wood cookstove centrally located.
We had oil and the cost was killing us, even keeping the house pretty cold 65-66 it was $700-$800 a month last winter. So far this winter we’ve been burning about a cord a month, and at $180 a cord the price is not even close.
Electric is generally the most expensive heat. That’s just the way it is. A shame, because it’s also the safest in small spaces.
Line losses? Light? Oxydation?
Oops - forgot generation inefficiencies.
Sorry Native,
Your “redneck air conditioner” makes more hot then cold. Your refrigerator, or freezer which makes the ice puts out more hot air than the cold air you get from the ice. If you put the refrigerator and “redneck air conditioner” in a perfectly insulated room, the room temperature would go up, not down.
bump
Last year, from March 2013 - December 2014 (yes, almost two years straight) we used heating for TWO WEEKS during the artic freeze thingy in early Dec 2014 and no a/c at all. Coastal SoCal, you hardly need any heating or cooling and you can keep your windows open 75% of the year. It is super cold for us now, highs in the 50s, and heat is on. But it might not be on for much of the year.
We got 99 problems here but the weather ain’t one.
I was completely off the grid for almost 2 years. That is for young men. I can't carry that much hot water today. I'm getting indoor running hot water this month. After 9 years.
/johnny
The only folks who truly live off the grid are NOT on the internet....think living like folks did 150 years ago...you dig your own well; you have a composting out house; you burn wood or other detris for heat; you make your own candles and soap....in other words you spend most of your time working really hard to survive. Your life expectancy will be about 40 years.....No thanks
Have you ever tried doing the windings for any one Nicola’s wonders?
Due diligence; I found these on the internet and have no real experience with them. They sound good and I pass it on!
Biomass Rocket stoves; not for electricity, for cooking and heat. I do have a small one for emergencies that I hope never to use.
I do not know if these would work in a Mobil home, but you could always add an addition and put it there! They have a cooking stove/water heater combination that might be useful for off grid living.
http://www.silverfire.us/stoves
And your wife will definitely not want one of these in your trailer!
http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp
and;
http://www.ernieanderica.info/rocketstoves
Good luck, keep warm!
Rocket stove roundup
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2938364/posts
Weekly Preppers Ping (With some detailed pictures of my Rocket Stove)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2863465/posts
My Ammo Can Rocket Stove
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2914240/posts
Ten foot ceilings, thick plaster and masonry walls, light color exterior both roof and walls, large shade trees surrounding the structure, elevated pier footings for an open foundation allowing air circulation, narrow rooms with exterior walls on three sides for cross-ventilation, large floor to ceiling windows, deep porches on all sides.
That will keep it comfortable on all but the most stifling days with no breeze, if you could get the humidity out of the air. Even with the humidity, you get acclimated. The above comes close to describing my grandparents' place and it was an oasis by comparison coming in from outside in summer. Not cool by modern AC standards but more than just bearable. In winter it was a bear to heat. They ended up dropping the ceiling in one of the downstairs parlors and put a wood stove insert into the fireplace for winter.
Those are YOUR rules. That isn't the way it normally happens. A fossilized mindset can be quiet a liability.
/johnny
... and power factor...
(still thinking...) ;-)
I was thinking of generation losses. That is why I said “at the heater itself”. There was no sense in over complicating things. I mean you could say the same thing about Nat Gas(ect...). There are all kinds of inefficiencies in that system other than the efficiency of the Furnace or Boiler.
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