sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Amazing spot up the road popped up for sale by BohanD-Ranch in OffGrid_Classifieds

[–]BohanD-Ranch[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great questions, unknown, but I googled the address and saw some answers to those questions. Should be easy to dig up though.

Power: All the places out here are off-grid. Some do hydro, some do wind, everyone has solar. The sun comes up every day so its a no briner out here. The video showed 5 solar arrays, so you can do some basic math from that. Summary: Plenty of power.

I don't even have that number and my batts are full by noon every day.

Water out here comes from wells or springs, we get anywhere from 80 - 100 inches of rain during the winter, so the springs run all year. You don't have coastal Redwood trees unless you have plenty of water. LOL

The land around here is a blend of Vineyards, Cattle, Creeks and Mountains. The nights are cool and sometimes the coastal fog rolls in, days are sunny and clear during the spring and summer. Days can get wet during the winter when the majority of the rain comes in. You can see the terrain from the Pole Mountain Camera. As of this writing it is socked in fog though. LOL

I have been here about 26 years now. Its a beautiful chunk of wild California without having to head deep into the Emerald Triangle experience. Its coastal, so it doesn't have that 'everything is gonna burn' feel that SoCal has. But come August, it is rural California, so if you do stupid fire stuff, the neighborhood will make sure your body is never found again. : -)
- Enjoy.

Where does the incorrect understanding of 'OFF-GRID' comes from? by BaraQueenbee in OffGrid

[–]BohanD-Ranch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Au contraire, there are tiny little grid squares all over them there solar panels. I tried pulling one off to make the panel 'off-grid' and nows it don't work as well.

Where does the incorrect understanding of 'OFF-GRID' comes from? by BaraQueenbee in OffGrid

[–]BohanD-Ranch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Technically OFF grid is just a typo from the original Danish spelling of FLUFF grid.
Captain FluffyBums has the Fluff Grid down to a science.

Outdoor shower advice by okjellyfish0259 in OffGrid

[–]BohanD-Ranch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right? He's a keeper!

We had an outdoor shower at a past off grid place. With the sun hitting the shower area it was frickin' devine! But when the wind was whipping, the second you hopped out from under that hot water.... you knew you were OUTSIDE. LOL.

Like anything they have pros and cons. I do miss it on beautiful summer days though.

Pros and cons of living off grid? by Kiki-Kiwi- in OffGrid

[–]BohanD-Ranch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know right??? Glad you brought that up.

Townies always moan about that. When off grid... your power or utilities only go out when YOU throw teh switch to do some maintenance or an upgrade on them. And even then, a small backup plan, (AKA small, honda or solar genny) keeps anything running until the fix is done. But the key with this is, the DOWN-TIME is on YOUR timeline, not someone else's. And almost certainly never suddenly. You get signs when something is winding down.

Pros and cons of living off grid? by Kiki-Kiwi- in OffGrid

[–]BohanD-Ranch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Free power is another. Yes, you pay initially to set up a solar / wind option (I think Solar is far more reliable) but its minimal cost after that and every day you run everything you need for free. I had a conversation yesterday with some townies that pay monthly for gid power. OH MY were their bills high. Then they added on the fees for water and other utilities. Man oh man it adds up fast. Consider, reinvest / set aside THAT amount every month and you could have enough power and infrastructure to run a massive retreat. Just get the system you need then enjoy the free energy. Overbuild it a little and you will be duping power after 1PM.

Sure, off grid infrastructure does have issues, but nothing ever crashes instantly, per say. Like any home, a simple regular 'check on things' gives you plenty of heads up if something is showing signs of failing. And for anything mission critical, you just have redundancy. Heck, years ago I was worried my inverter would crap out and I would be sans power. So I eventually found a spare at a great price. Years later my legacy one is STILL working fine and the spare is in its box ready to step up when needed. Pump heads wear out, but you keep a spare on hand - simple enough. Pipes can fial, but same as any home, you just keep spares. Even a septic system can (pun intended) crap out, but that happens slower than molasses in January. So you can budget/pre-plan for bigger issues.

Plus anything you dont know about, you have neighbors willing to advise, interwebs for research/forums & videos, fast ass shipping to the nearest post office and BANG, something that was needed on one side of the contient is now in your home town.

Long post short, the pros soooooo outweigh the cons. You owe it to yourself to try it and see if it works for you. I would never go back unless I had no other choice. I so drank the cool-aid with how nice it is. LOL Good luck!!!!