[shygirl]

we are considering buying a big house which is completely off grid as it is very isolated.
at the moment it is generator run but this is actually quite noisy and affects the peaceful atmosphere.

how much money would you need to change over to either wind turbine/solar panels or both?
there would be no feed back to grid as its not connected but it does need to be reliable as id like to run a business from there.

now its also on private water and as we are hoping to open a b&b/food business, how do you know the water quality is good enough for paying guests? i dont want to kill anyone. there must be some sort of legislation for scenarios like this?

im looking at worst case scenarios here, so if i needed a new septic tank, plus new well and a turbine/ solar panels etc would £50k be enough to put aside for all this?

[AnnS]

The caravan park we have our static on has a private water supply and I remember the council testing it, there is some sort of filter thing in a shed. Not a lot of help sorry.


AnnS

[ellied]

Can't help you on price but you can get your water supply tested and filtered as required.  I grew up in a house with private water supply and septic tank, tho it had oil heating.  This one has mains water and septic tank drainage, and I supplemented the open fire/back boiler with oil CH when I moved in in Jan 2002 but I keep looking at the old well and wondering about using it in some way, if only for supplementing a field without a direct water supply.

[shygirl]

and the water is safe and legal for a food business kitchen? would it be the council who would confirm this or sepa or EH?
many thanks

[doganjo]

Councils will test water annually for around £120/£150.  Filters cost around £1200/£1500.  Shouldn't need a new septic tank or soakaway if they are working and they can be emptied by the council annually to if they need it - a couple of hundred I think.

Wind turbines vary a lot depending on output, type, style

Solar panels likewise

I'd have thought £50K was ample

Good luck

[Tala Orchard]

If you are using the private water for food production or are using it to supply persons other than your immediate family (all living inthe same house. You ,ust have an annual water test carried out this is in the region of £150 -£200 per year.

As fo solar or wind you will have to purchase the necessary panels these are the cheapest part the expense is in the storage and conversion as a large battery system can run in to 10's of thousands.

We are totally off grid we use a generator for use in the day and run low power items during the night from battery and an inverter. The gennie recharge the batteries during the day but you have to watch carefully how much power you pull especially at night we have on occasions drained the batteries by running too many heat lamps this is mainly for young piggies etc.

It may work out cheaper to get connected to the mains for power we however found the price too much £300,000 plus.

Tala

[shygirl]

the quote for mains electric connection was £250k so that isnt an option.

is there much maintenance on running a generator?

[RUSTYME]

A lister CS 6/1 gives about 2.5 kva , uses 1-1.5 ltr of diesel an hour (i think ? ) , at full load , they will run on cooking oil , engine oil , heating oil or hydraulic oil , all new or used ie any waste oil .
They will run 24/7 or 365 days a year with a short stop for a de coke once a year .
I have heard it said that this can be done in 20 mins , it takes me an afternoon !
Original Lister set ups are still available as are brand new Listeroids , made in India .
I am not sure if they will run pc's but they run tv's ok .
In use you would need to stagger use of some big power items , ie freezers ( i think ?) take a lot of power as they turn on , but once running they use very little .
 I have known a few people who use them to run their house , most of them used gas to cook with though , as well as solid fuel , wood , central heating .
If you want electic c/h and a leccy cooker , and every leccy toy known to man , then look elswhere , 2.5 kva won't do it .

[mab]

well the 1st question is how much electricity do you use? and the next is can you reduce that?

3rd question is are you prepared to use the genny daily? weekly-monthly? or only in emergencies?

Hard to give a price, but as a vague stab; for a system with solar and a decent windturbine:- you could manage £8-10K wiith daily genny use; 10-15K for weekly-monthly, and 15-20K if you want to manage most of a normal summer without the genny.

But that's for your power - if you have guests staying it may easily be more.

[shygirl]

id prefer to use a generator for emergencies only as its apparently quite noisy. but definitely during daytime hours.
what is the price/lifespan of a generator, as i presume the current one is fairly old.

i need to be able to cook, clean and wash etc for 12 people daily (bed, breakfast evening meal) plus id like a small campsite aswell which should offer electric hook-up if possible plus shower/cooking facilities.
the more successful the business becomes then the more power we would need.

now we could do a back boiler for hot water as wood/peat is available but whether that would work for so many people i dont know.
we definitely need a electric supply though as "eco/green" or not paying guests still demand hot showers and fast cooked meals.

i know people here who have put up big turbines and they have cost £50k plus but they are gridlinked money makers.
i do know big money can disappear on things like this so the more i know now the better.

[mab]

12 people + a campsite! well that may make it more like 50K + (I was thinking of a small household + maybe a couple of rooms let out) . The scale you're talking about is completely outside of my experience so I'm not much use here.


A good lister generator will last a long time with a little TLC, but I'm thinking you may be better off looking at a modern diesel generator in the low 10's of KVA - especially if you're hoping to use instant electric showers. big modern generators are much quieter than the old ones - I was working in a steelyard that used a 45KVA diesel generator, and it made less noise than a diesel car idling.


You might try posting on this forum (sorry dan) http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/ as you will find more folks who have lived properly off grid, or this one: http://www.fieldlines.com/index.php which is more multinational.

if you want hot water without the generator running, then I'd be avoiding instant heat showers as you would require a huge battery and inverter - so it would be more a case of a big thermal store (hot water tank) and dumping energy into it from solar thermal, excess PV (via the immersion heaters), wood burner/ generator/ oil boiler - if you don't mind using oil as long as it's quiet/ etc

As far as I know the really big wind generators need to be connected to the grid (not a generator), so you would need to be thinking about those that are designed to go onto a battery too.

[shygirl]

its already an established business but previous customers have complained about the noise from the generator but if quieter ones can be found that may be a better option. reliabilty is the main priority as i wouldnt know how to fix it if it stopped working.

just researching before we get too serious over it.
thanks

[Old Empty Barn]

Shygirl, have a look at the online blog called life at the end of the road ...... this guy is off grid on the Isle of Rassay .......... it's a fantastic blog !
Dave

[lachlanandmarcus]

its already an established business but previous customers have complained about the noise from the generator but if quieter ones can be found that may be a better option. reliabilty is the main priority as i wouldnt know how to fix it if it stopped working.

just researching before we get too serious over it.
thanks

With modern sound insulation and the generator perhaps in a cabin  casing outside, insulated to within an inch of its life and dug into an earth bank or something then the noise issue could be drastically mitigated, I'd have thought.

[stufe35]

Seems to me your short term answer without huge investment is simply to replace the existing generator with a more modern super silenced one,  and or re locating it further away from the residential area with additional sound proofing , acoustic screening.

I don't have any real experience, but on the construction sites on which I manage we have been experimenting with Eco welfare units,  power consumption has been reduced by using led lights etc etc, solar panels charge a battery bank, with a generator that automatically cuts in when required,  but the problem always seems things like fridges which are constant drain and the solar cannot keep up with.