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flatwater
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2009 09:57pm
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My wife and I will be going off grid in about three years. I would like to find someone who lives that way now so I can cut out some of the mistakes others have made
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Vince P
Member
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# Posted: 14 Dec 2009 10:06am
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Check this thread:
http://www.small-cabin.com/forum/1_204_0.html
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flatwater
Member
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# Posted: 14 Dec 2009 10:22pm
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Thanks Vince ,good thread
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 20 Dec 2009 03:14am
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I would like to and my employer has a few telecommuters but I work too much with computer hardware that I couldn't keep at our place in the mountains. I would love to have internet on the mtn. and get back to a software job but I hear scary things about satellite internet.
Anyone had good luck with Hughsnet or similar?
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flatwater
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# Posted: 20 Dec 2009 08:03pm
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We sit at 3500 feet just below the top of a mountain and use wild blue. We have a good southern exsposure and everything works good at about a steady 1800kb
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 20 Dec 2009 10:33pm
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Flatwater, that sounds like their ~$80 package or do you get that fast of a connection with a less expensive package? We are at 6000ft and have good southern exposure. Wildblue seems to have coverage of our little piece of the mtn.
If I can get the time to pass some certifications I could probably get a telecommuting job and move to the mtn for 8 months of the year.
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flatwater
Member
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# Posted: 21 Dec 2009 08:20pm
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Fifty bucks for that one
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lamar5292
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jan 2010 02:15pm
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15 years off-grid and loving it!
I started in an old camp trailer with an HF solar panel and old car battery for power.
Now I have a 14x14 cabin that is powered by 470 watt solar and 125 watt wind.
I harvest rain and gray water, drilled my own well, use a solar composting toilet of my own design. Propane and wood stove backup.
No house payments and no utility bills- life is great!
Here is a pic of the cabin:
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paulsonlaw
Member
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# Posted: 8 Jan 2010 07:06pm
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As of right now we are...
Off the grid w/ water, outside floods, toilet, water flash heater, stove & heat.
Not sure if wireless is to be considered off the grid but...
We pull wireless net & use a magic jack. The cabin's wired w/ sirius.
Still running on the back-up line from the main farm house as our solar is very small & we tapped out. We also decided to run a rg6 w/ that line for basic cable.
Our main plan for full power come spring is a 100' tower to run 10 12v25w RF to DC converters. We tried one & worked very well for a 2amp feed 24/7. * Note, we are on a hill and have a very strong radio station to pull off of. Of course if osama doesn't out law that by spring lol. But then again I guess that's just a form of wireless power & not a green/renewable source.
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FCH
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2012 10:38pm
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I have been living off grid since Oct 2009 in an 8x24 foot shack. I'm in the process of building a 16x24 foot house, but it has been taking a long time as I don't have time to work on it constantly.
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groingo
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# Posted: 21 Apr 2012 01:39am
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Just shy of one year off in my 10 by 20 foot cabin, this past winter was very un-eventful and comfortable thanks to my Waterford wood stove loads of heat but mizerly with the wood, just shy of 1 cord of wood in seven months!
The key thing I am learning is due to the high cost of making your own electricity, I have been doing everything I can to eliminate it from the equation thus I experimented with eliminating the fridge and replacing with a cold water fridge which meant a change in eating habits which I have no regrets.
Lighting is an area I use only 20 watts total (4 5 watt CFL's) do the job nicely but that is being improved on as I am testing some new Electro Luminescent Lighting panels that are showing promise.
Washing is a kick and very easy with the five gallon bucket and perforated plunger, don't need a ringer!
Also just got a Verizon Wireless Home Connect which turns my land line into a cell phone and also allows me to take it with me as it has a 36 hour battery backup, plus it's only $19.95 a month including long distance in the US!
Living lean and comfortable!
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sparky1
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# Posted: 21 Apr 2012 10:13pm
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I absolutely HATE my Hughesnet-but it's the only thing available--their service is HORRID, India,wire coming out Vertically from satt gets the slightest bit wet---system is down till it dries out-some days Direct sun---it gets HOT same thing. I'm on it right now--and it's sprinkling (s,Va.) i'm waiting for it to quit.
sparky1 in S,va 10:15pm 21 Apr.
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 22 Apr 2012 12:51am
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lamar5292 - I love the look of your place. Congratulations on living off grid so successfully. I am envious!
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turkeyhunter
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# Posted: 22 Apr 2012 11:38am
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Quoting: sparky1 I absolutely HATE my Hughesnet-but it's the only thing available--their service is HORRID, India,wire coming out Vertically from satt gets the slightest bit wet---system is down till it dries out-some days Direct sun---it gets HOT same thing. I'm on it right now--and it's sprinkling (s,Va.) i'm waiting for it to quit.sparky1 in S,va 10:15pm 21 Apr
hugesnet was my worst internet nightmare!!!! the wife got it because were we having problems with the internet---and i was on a out of state hunting trip--she called and said lets get huges net -- i dont care i was hunting  ---long story short---we had it less than 10 days and it cost $347 dollars----i was so Psed!!!! we still have the $99 pole that had their junk mounted on in our flower garden---i refer to it as out 300 dollar bird house pole--that's what i did was paint it and mounted a bird house on top---thats what it good for ONLY!!!!!!! ok---i am over my rant now and back on cable high SPEED internet!!!!
oh--part i left out if you use your internet --they ( hugesnet) makes you buy tokens so you can look up more pic's open web pages etc----
good luck on finding another source web off grid--i have some friends who have wireless card---for their labtops from verzion and it works great>>
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