Does anyone here, or has lived off grid? I'm talking about building your own house/cabin with completely self sustaining. Solar power, generators, wood stove, crops, chickens, whatever helps you become self sustaining. Even if you're not completely off grid, is there something you doing to homestead or become more self reliant?

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Slow misc is slow

How much do you want to rough it? I don't have anything myself but my inlaws owned an off-grid cabin and I've stayed at a family friend's place that was off grid. You can do quite a bit with solar - LED lights help a ton there.

Water and sewer are the challenges if you don't want to rough it too much. You'll want to make sure you can get a water right, unless you're willing to haul water. A septic permit will make your life far more comfortable. At one of the cabins there was a spring up the hill that flowed into an adjacent tank, so the cabin had "free" running water. Well pumps use a lot of energy if water is deep so you may need a generator depending on water depth and how much you use.

How would someone off grid post on the misc?

What's next, a thread for dead people ghostmaxxing to come tell us all what it's like?

I want to build a fully sustainable place eventually.

Power- solar 95% of the time, diesel/gas generator backup

Heat- wood stove, electric heaters for backup/maintaining temps when at work or for trips

Food- meat and fish from local spots caught by myself, down the road I want to grow produce and raise chickens.

Water- this is actually a tricky part. Wells and septics can get very expensive. For starting out, I want to build a place where collecting rainwater is feasible. I'll have a grey water tank in the cabin, and a composting toilet to avoid a blackwater tank. Down the road I'll pay for a well and septic.

I've thought about it before but I like the internet too much, and I actually enjoy being around people, they're amusing creatures

Who was cell service? Even still, satellite internet is a thing.

I thought off the grid was completely disconnected from society

If you got that do-re-mi off grid isn't that rough.

One of the nicest off grid homes I've seen. Retirees in CN. Doesn't look like they sacrifice much.

Off grid as in being self sufficient for basic utilities (power, water, food, heat, home phone etc.). Technically I wouldn't need the internet, but if I can get cell service with a signal booster (even if I needed it depending on the location) I obviously plan on having it for communication.

I don’t live off grid but would love to man, especially with how chit is going lately.

That's cool.

The cabin we stayed at had a propane refrigerator/freezer. No idea how much propane it used or whether it would be feasible to run a fridge off solar. I guess anything is feasible if you have enough money to through at it.

Basically what I want to do as well

In the video I linked the couple looked at the cost of having hydro run to their property vs. the cost of putting in a large enough solar system to support what they wanted to do. The installed solar system was $10K less IIRC without any consideration for a monthly bill. They have had to replace their battery bank once.

I've been loosely looking at magnet perpetual energy generators and would love to build one before a SHTF scenario. So far this is the most promising one:



I don't have the land to be away from people but you can also tap your own hand pump wells in many places throughout the country.

Cool. I've also heard of people with a stream on their property using a tiny hydroelectric system. These vertical wind turbines are neat too. I've posted them previously.

I'd be semi close if I had solar panels I guess. I'm on a well for water and have been expanding my garden since the pandemic. I also have goats and chickens. It is pretty difficult to be self sufficent. Last year I planted 3 100ft rows of potatoes, it yeilded just shy of 500lbs harvesting them in may they were gone by new years, even with some volunteers popping up from the fall rain. I could probably close to double that yield if I watered and fertilized better. If I really pushed it, with some luck I could get 2 potatoe harvests a year, though i would likely run into soil fertility issues down the road which would hamper that yield. I feel most people underestimate how much they eat and what it would take to go self sufficent. Figure 4oo calories per lb of potatoes, to maintain 2000 calories your eating 5 pounds of potato a day, if you aren't a twink 8lbs a day. Now imagine trying to force yourself to eat 8lbs of potato a day. Obviously you would have to diversify your crops beyond just potatoes, I guess you could grow sweet potatoes, fruit trees yield well and are calorie dense, but they have a short shelf life so you would have to find a way to preserve them through winter. Vegetables barely have any calories at all. I guess you could grow grains like wheatt, buckwheat and oats, but growing proecessing and storing them is a whole nother skill and knowledge tree. Hunting? If you have to buy 30-06 at Cabelas, are you really self sufficent?

Getting through the winter would be the hardest part. I'm in a pretty warm climate and can grow beets, mustard greens, radishes and bok choy through the winter, but there is no calories in any of that.

Basically I feel being off grid self sufficent is impractical, best I would ever want to do is supplement my on grid life and lower food costs by harveting crops and eggs

Huttrapper and the guy who mines gold in Yukon probably have some experience OP

I'm contemplating solar power. But I'm also very tempted to build a roof terrace on our house instead lmao. There are solar heaters too which seem amazing. Mount a panel on outer wall, and it uses heat to warm up water which can be transported around the house. Otherwise new tech such as wind turbines that generate energy by vibration look awesome too (not as invasive as turbines).

If you have a well/waterfall that can be used to create energy too.



All cool tech aside: You're better off improving the isolation in your house and stop "leakage" as much as possible to begin with. Airconditioner is probably the best investment you can get too.



Otherwise initial idea is very cool to do everything yourself. But from a resourceful/economic standpoint you're better off 'honing your craft', focusing on your own work and income, and using that money to buy/invest in whatever you need.

Just think of how much time you would spend growing some veggies or chicken, vs how little you would work to earn enough to just buy it.

My house is, plus my trapline cabin in the bush is.

Solar panels up 30 ft pole
Batteries
Propane on demand hot water
Propane stove
Wood stove only heat source (Canada, cold...)
Grey water pit
Indoor composting toilet
Well
12v fridge

Oddly I do have power at a different part of my property. My work shop is on power and have 3 big ass freezers and Wood shop. I just wanted to try off grid...


At my trap cabin in the woods, solar power, drain back gravity water system thats fully winterized. Draw water with a Honda pump from the lake. Grey water pit and composting outdoor toilet. Wood stove, Propane fridge.

Cabin is boat or snowmobile access. Can walk to it too

[QUOTE=katya422 post_id=1658341573]Cool. I've also heard of people with a stream on their property using a tiny hydroelectric system. These vertical wind turbines are neat too. I've posted them previously.

[youtube]QSnHShly5R0?t=613[/youube][/QUOTE]Those are cool too, saw one made from a busted washing machine.

I appreciate the time and points being made, there are some good posts in here.

Will I ever be 100% off grid and self sufficient? Probably not. I'd still need to buy ammo and fishing supplies, gardening would probably take a while for me to not only get good at, but grow enough to even make a decent amount of food. Canning and jarring foods might be a good hobby, but I'd still probably rely on a grocery store for the bulk of my food.

I’m not entirely off the grid but have the means to function entirely self sufficient when need be. The most overlooked thing I see missing ITT is rainwater collection systems.

Awesome man, thanks for sharing. Any advice or tips that you wish you knew before setting all of this up?

If you're generating your own power you probably won't be charging a cell phone, and the phone company won't let you run your own phone lines.

This isn't a great way to find info on living off grid.

Kris Harbour on Youtube has an off grid series that has been going on for a few years, he has solar, wind and hydro power systems, he is also an excellent carpenter. His power systems power his work shop.

More batteries, bigger panels. I live pretty normally, and it's just my house that's off the grid. No electricity bills are nice, but keep in mind you can't just take a normal city house with all the gadgets and conveniences and go off grid. It's a lifestyle change. If I leave for more than a few days, I need to drain the water or everything freezes. So I have a small compressor hooked up to blow the lines.

My house is also very small, but with 3 acres and a big shop it doesn't matter much.

The house is conventional in town, but the cottage is fully off grid. Sauna is wood burning, Sleep building is Pellet stove, main building is wood burning also. !2v Solar powering all lights, pumping, fans, TV, Stereo, fridge, etc... 3 sizes of inverters for different loads/demands, and a 3000i Honda generator for back up just incase. Cost a little up front but it's its so worth it in the long run. If the world takes a Chit it's gonna be nice to be all set up and self reliant. Like Hutrapper I hunt and fish on the regular so food is never an issue. I highly recommend the lifestyle.