unicornduke | (Reply)

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We are definitely going to change how we do some things, it is just going to be an upfront investment. Right now we have a really efficient heater/boiler that runs on propane but if the power is out, it won't work since it's electric start. But we do have all these woods so the next investment will be a wood stove so we can heat the house with wood we cut and chop ourselves. Unfortunately we are in a bad spot for solar panels, the low spot of the property and the whole thing is a north facing slope so it doesn't make sense that way for us. Since it's winter, the highest priority is keeping the house warm enough that the pipes don't freeze, so obviously the wood stove and our current backup is an indoor propane heater. But it's been right around freezing the last two nights so I'm not worried about it at this moment

I may also look into re-arranging the heating pipes in the basement since those are on the outer wall that faces to the air outside and while it makes sense to heat those, they are going to be the first to burst if things go wrong.

We also have a generator and generator switch in the house but haven't had time yet to figure out how it's wired up. It's definitely higher on the priority list now.

I think it's less about going off-grid for us and more about hedging our bets on problems since we are out there a bit. We haven't had bad ice storms yet (*knocks on wood*) but if we do and trees start coming down on lines, we'll be low on the priority list.