diy solar

diy solar

Sooo... its 12F outside, my power is out until tomorrow night...

SamG340 said:
Not trying to be funny but I am very surprised you're not prepped for something like this ? Especially being the admin of a DIY solar offgrid type forum lol,


Try this? Plants pots and a candle, they make a REAL difference in a room. they've got us through some cold days

I normally do 3 plant pots stacked

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Don't put too many candles under or they go up in smoke
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yeah… hard to prepare in a condo… the main panel is a main lug panel. No easy way to install a generator hookup, I’d pull he meter, and backfeed, but the new fence they installed is blocking it… I suppose I will replace the panel with a meter main breaker panel.
 
SamG340 said:
Not trying to be funny but I am very surprised you're not prepped for something like this ? Especially being the admin of a DIY solar offgrid type forum lol,


Try this? Plants pots and a candle, they make a REAL difference in a room. they've got us through some cold days

I normally do 3 plant pots stacked

View attachment 126118
View attachment 126119



Don't put too many candles under or they go up in smoke
Click to expand...

This is a legitimate solution. A 24hr candle under one of these gives off a lot of radiant heat.
 
I'm diversifying each source of energy here. Electricity - grid + PVs and inverter. Heating - electricity or natural gas. Water is the next one to come.

Think about what you can use as an alternative heating source. Woods and LPG are an option where I am.
 
Supervstech said:
... propane tank placed in the exhaust stream of the genny just ran out about 30 minutes ago.
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Now that is a good idea.
Supervstech said:
Sucks I didn't get to make my cheesecakes because of it...
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Running out of power is one thing, but running out of cheesecake calls for FEMA to step in and provide life saving assistance.
 
Supervstech said:
yeah… hard to prepare in a condo… the main panel is a main lug panel. No easy way to install a generator hookup, I’d pull he meter, and backfeed, but the new fence they installed is blocking it… I suppose I will replace the panel with a meter main breaker panel.
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Yea sucks to when you have limited space but there's always something you can do

Here in the UK we just go in through a plug socket (outlet ?) , knock up a male to male cable , turn off the main switch and electrify the house through the plug ring .... But of course you've got to have the power in the first place!
 
SamG340 said:
Yea sucks to when you have limited space but there's always something you can do

Here in the UK we just go in through a plug socket (outlet ?) , knock up a male to male cable , turn off the main switch and electrify the house through the plug ring .... But of course you've got to have the power in the first place!
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Except there is no main switch… and I want to power the heat pump… and water heater…
 
I’m worried what will happen when 600 homes all get power back on at the same time… more than half of the units here are straight electric heat, no heat pump… and the heats been off for going on 32 hours… so chilled to the bone houses…

Heck, Charlotte instituted rolling blackouts today… 30 minutes to 2 hour power shut downs across all areas to prevent extreme grid failure is their statement… I’ve been running all over town fixing customers heat because the condensate lines in crawlspaces froze…

Sure, the grid can handle electric cars… if the weather is nice that is…
 
Supervstech said:
Except there is no main switch… and I want to power the heat pump… and water heater…
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I'm honestly surprised you hadn't worked out contingency plans before this.

My brother is on the coast near Wilmington. He said they never lost power out there.

Good luck. Hopefully not much longer before power gets turned back on.
 
SamG340 said:
There's always a way
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Oh. Of course, I can do it… just not elegantly… and reversing the setup would involve reconnecting 1/0 lines in fridgid weather without a means of disconnect…
I will replace the entire electrical panel with a better panel that I can install an interlock on… and add a 50A generator inlet.
 
SamG340 said:
Not trying to be funny but I am very surprised you're not prepped for something like this ? Especially being the admin of a DIY solar offgrid type forum lol,


Try this? Plants pots and a candle, they make a REAL difference in a room. they've got us through some cold days

I normally do 3 plant pots stacked

View attachment 126118
View attachment 126119



Don't put too many candles under or they go up in smoke
Click to expand...
I dont understand how this generates more heat than just burning the candle? You aren't creating more heat than what the candle is generating?

Im so ????
 
Lt.Dan said:
I dont understand how this generates more heat than just burning the candle? You aren't creating more heat than what the candle is generating?

Im so ????
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I was thinking about that earlier , very good point and I don't understand why it works.

but it does, really well, much better than just a candle
 
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