I've been living "off-grid' for three and a half months now, so have a pretty good feel of the good and the bad. I constantly see people on Facebook posting articles about how great it is living off grid, and I groan and sigh at the fantasy many of these articles portray. I did a LOT of research before moving here, so honestly, the whole off grid thing was better than I expected, but I gotta admit, I cannot wait to get back to having "real" hydro and that Hydro One bill doesn't seem so bad anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm not moving in March due to the hydro, I'm moving because of difficulties with my landlord/business partner, the off grid thing is totally do-able, but it's not all good (it's not all bad either!), and it's NOT saving me money.
So, for all those considering moving off grid, here's my honest opinion on it:
SOLAR:
We have four solar panels and I think six batteries. It is enough to keep the computers going all morning and afternoon, IF there is at least 4-5 hours of sun on the panels. If it is a cloudy/rainy day and the panels get only a couple of hours of sun, well, guess what, the generator will have to run for an hour or so in the afternoon.
Even on a sunny summer day, the generator still has to be run 2-3 hours a night (to top up the batteries), and of course if you want to watch TV, do laundry or fill the water tank, you gotta put the generator on. Solar simply cannot run really high powered stuff.
The solar batteries have around a 5-7 year life span and cost a couple hundred bucks each, so are a continuous expense.
If I had a couple more panels it would help a lot and it doesn't help that I'm running a desk top computer all day. However,even with a laptop and more panels, I'd still have to run the generator a couple hours a day and would still need to run it for the TV, washer and to fill the water tank.
The solar hydro also has a loud hum when in use. You don't notice it when music is on, but if you turn a light on in the middle of the night, it's loud and irritating.
GENERATOR:
I have a 3500 Briggs and Stratton generator. It is enough to power the whole house and fill the batteries. However, it eats gas like crazy, needs it's oil changed regularly and is noisy as hell. It's also a temperamental bitch.
We run the generators on average 3-4 hours a day. It's costing me about $40 a week, plus about $10 in oil a month. So, I'm paying about $170 a month for about 15% of the hydro I got from hydro One for $200 a month ... not a great deal at all.
Generators also only have a 5-10 year lifespan.
PROPANE:
When I moved in I got charged $600 for the two full tanks of propane. The propane is for the fridge, stove and hot water heater. I've already gone through about half, so it looks like it will last about seven months. Add the basically $75 a month in propane to the gas bill and now I'm paying about $245 a month for hydro ... and again for about 15% of the hydro I use to use
WOOD STOVE:
I LOVE the wood stove! it's awesome. The wood was free as there was piles of dead trees around here that I got to use. However, it wasn't really free as it cost me many many hours of work to gather, cut and stack it. It also cost me $40 for a used chainsaw, at least $40 in gas for the chainsaw, $10 in oil, and $10 for a sharpener. That's WAY cheaper than paying for oil; however, if I gave my family each minimum wage for the hours we spent gathering, cutting and stacking wood, it would easily add up to more than what I would of paid for oil for the whole winter. The time I spent gathering wood, was time away from my online work, whch cost me money ...
The wood stove takes a fair amount of work and dedication. Wood needs to be brought in every day and the fire needs to be tended regularly. It's not something for a lazy person that's for sure. You have to be very careful with the ashes and always ensure they are safely stored.
WATER
I like the well water and don't mind filling the water tank every couple of days, but I hate the ridiculous amount of noise it makes when you use the water; it is loud enough to wake up other in the house if you flush the toilet or run the water at night.
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What I like about off-grid living:
1. Not paying money to big money grubbing corportaions
2. having hydro during power outages and emergencies (come zombie invasion, off-grid living is definitely what you want!).
3. The wood stove; the heat, the wonderful wood smell, and no heat bill (I'd rather pay for my heat through hard work than money)
4. No fluoride in the water
5. No water bills.(though if the well runs dry, it will cost about $5000 to drill a new one, so for a home owner that would be a big expense)
What I don't like about off grid living:
1. The noise; the noise of when the water is used, the constant irritating hum of the solar hydro and the horrible loud generator noise.
2. The price; paying more for hydro than my normal Hydro One hydro bill while only getting to use about 15% as much
3. The constant fear of the generator breaking down or the batteries dying. I don't want to have to tell my landlord that the $500 generator broke down, that would not be cool at all!
4. The constant maintenance: Changing oil in the generator is a pain in the butt, the floor is constantly a mess due to the wood, constantly cleaning out ashes etc etc.
5. The propane fridge; I hate it, it's so crazy small inside, you cannot fit anything in it. It also doesn't get as cold as an electric fridge (I like my Coke ice cold!)
6. My computer constantly shutting down every time we switch from generator to solar and back again. It makes it really hard to work on art (Since being here, I've made three new art designs ... that's horrible, I would normally do that in a week)
7. The crazy limited power; I miss binge watching TV and I hate that if I cannot sleep or I'm feeling ill, I can't curl up on the couch and watch TV all night
8. The propane stove; I prefer electric, though that might change with time. Right now, I tend to burn a lot of stuff as the propane heats up faster. I also hate having to light the pilot light when it goes out.
9. Batteries; I am constantly buying batteries for flashlights to use while reading in bed (so I don't use the solar power up) etc. I'm going through $10 a month in batteries easy.
All in all, living off grid is not horrible, there are definitely some great things about it. However, it is not bill free as many articles imply it is. I hope everyone who is considering it does careful research. I am super glad I had the opportunity to try it, it has been a great experience and a fabulous learning lesson. I am looking forward to March and having normal hydro back, I'm going to binge watch some shows and make a pile of art!
