Home Fire Insurance For Remote And Off-grid Properties

Home Fire Insurance For Remote And Off-grid Properties – Budgeting for external needs is one thing, but planning for hidden costs is another. Here’s what I learned and mistakes to avoid.

Contributor Eric Mack covers space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His private email address is ericmack@protonmail.com.

Home Fire Insurance For Remote And Off-grid Properties

Eric Mack’s off-the-grid lifestyle in this home is cheaper than conventional living, but it comes with some unacceptable costs. Johanna DeBiase

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When I moved out with my family in the early months of the pandemic, we hoped to reduce our rent and living expenses forever. In three years, the savings in rent and utilities alone have already paid for the home. But there were also a lot of hidden costs and big purchases when we were remodeling our home.

I installed our electrical and plumbing systems off the grid most of the time by myself during the COVID shutdown. I talked to professional installers, non-certified mechanics, and many people on online forums about what I was getting myself into and how much I should expect to spend.

Costs were high, especially when installing new solar systems. I explained the power needs of my house and my family and I received an amount between $2,000 and $20,000. It was shocking.

I eventually found a local person with experience in the solar industry who was willing to spend a few hours going over my options and options in detail. We came up with a plan that would cost between $3,000 and $4,000 in all materials and equipment to get the system necessary to meet most of our needs.

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Skipping a solar system installation can be costly down the road and dangerous. Simple mistakes like choosing the wrong wire to connect your appliances can be a fire hazard.

It can also be tempting to overbuild. You can install a dozen solar panels and fill the room with backup batteries to ensure you have enough power to run all kinds of appliances whenever you need them, or you can just run the generator for a few minutes when you need a power boost.

You can supply your electricity needs with a few solar panels, if you want. Johanna DeBiase

We’ve taken a minimalist approach, as evidenced by our home, which is under 1,000 square feet. Our solar is rated at 1.23 kilowatts, and we started with six volt batteries wired in series to create a 12-volt system connected to an inverter that can handle the electricity from our 4-kilowatt solar panels. additional generator.

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It’s a pretty small system by today’s energy efficiency standards, but this was a deliberate choice. We removed the high-powered washer, dryer, Instapot and a few other electron-hungry appliances.

The luxuries we chose to have or add to our off-the-grid lifestyle include a limited-edition TV, a conventional washing machine – albeit a very useful one – and the unusual choice to go with a wood-burning stove. . Many people in our off-grid community use propane or a simple wood stove to burn, but after years of working with wood stoves elsewhere, pellets provide the right level and control, even though they use an electric starter to start. It can be a big draw that sometimes requires starting the generator on mild winter days.

In order for all your electronic devices to work properly, they must “think” they are in this group. This means installing good batteries, inverters, charge controllers, breakers and even wires that can provide a stable, safe power supply in fluctuating voltages. There are tons of off-grid stories about griddles and low-cost inverters, among others.

I think we made the mistake of using lead golf cart batteries that were flooded, because of the amount of care and attention they require. It was our best option at the time because of the 2020 supply chain, but we have been promoting lithium batteries, which are safe, compact, long-lasting and cost-effective.

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I also believe that we should have invested more in a generator that has more features such as remote start, quieter speed and smaller size. It’s very uncomfortable when your low-power alarm goes off at 4 a.m. in a blizzard, sending you across the property to start the generator.

Taking care of our own water required the purchase of several special items, including large 1,600-gallon plastic rainwater and drainage tanks, a waterless composting toilet and the required hot water heater. All three came with a little fear attached. (See below)

Outsourcing your projects saves you money, but it takes time and energy, especially if you’re not a professional. Johanna DeBiase

Most of the costs of having a grid I’ve never heard anyone mention is for storage, especially if you live far away. You don’t want to be caught out when a critical component fails if the local index is an hour or more old. Having all those parts on hand requires storage space. An inexpensive and easy-to-assemble outdoor patio was one of our first projects, even before our plumbing was fully installed.

Off Grid House

In addition, outdoor solar panels also require their own space – batteries, inverters, generators, pumps and maintenance equipment are things that most homeowners don’t need to find space for. If you don’t have the space in your home, you may need to build or buy.

This toilet uses no water but is 20 times more expensive than the cheaper Home Depot toilets. Johanna DeBiase

In most cases, being off-grid and/or remote will require more than a Prius to haul home. This is not a rule, but my life would be difficult without a car or a trailer to carry things like building materials, water, wood sheets, etc. I definitely spend more at the pump than I do in the center of town.

This is not to mention the money we had, which was repairing our long dirt road that turned into a slush during monsoons.

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There are other big funds missing here as well. Apart from fixing the driveway, all installation and work was done free of charge, by me. If I’m honest, I can’t recommend this to many people. I was in over my head and spent a lot of time studying before I started work and a lot of time correcting the mistakes I made. But for me, this was and continues to be an important part of the experience.

I definitely recommend getting a professional to do the work for you. So add a few thousand dollars to the list of lost expenses. I’m sorry.

But, in today’s real estate market, even if it is a hidden investment, it only increases the value of a house that is independent and more self-sufficient than many houses, which are more advanced such as gas, energy and water systems. ‘connected to.If you’re looking for a safe, reliable way to build a DIY off-grid solar system at an affordable price, you’ve come to the right place.

Hi there, we’re Jonathan & Ashley from Tiny Shiny Home. Our family of 6 spent years traveling in our refurbished Airstream before finding an off-grid place in Cochise County,  Arizona to settle.

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Our current dream is to build a sustainable off-grid home using solar energy, water harvesting, and eco-friendly building techniques to create desert habitats.

We’ll be going over the full details in another article and video, but today we’re going to focus on planning, building, and implementing what we went through to build an autonomous electric system.

Disclaimer: I am not an electrician, nor am I a YouTuber. All information contained herein is for entertainment purposes only, and all electrical work should be performed by qualified personnel in accordance with local electrical codes. Good? Good.

Have you ever wondered what all the major connections look like on a solar system like ours? As part of this depth, we created a detailed diagram of our radio stations.

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I know I’m a visual person, and sometimes I just need to see it all laid out no matter how many captions there are.

This is as large as I can make it here on the site – if you want to download a vector PDF that you can view, download it here:

Get up close and personal with this detailed hi-res PDF, featuring vivid images of our off-grid power system with a diagram showing how everything in the 7200W, 28kWH, 120V off-grid battery and solar system fits together. Also includes bonus configs for each episode!

We should mention that our solar installation is electric

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