I am moving off grid to N.M. 7500' elev. on continental divide. 1kw solar and water collection. Nearest road 20 miles. Nearest elec. pole is 11 miles. No phone/cell phone service at all.
Building a house myself. I just got a 1966 ford f250 swb 4x4. No power steering or brakes. Awesome condition.
high desert... 90's summer and teens winter with small amounts of occasional snow. 14" rain a year so you need to harvest rainwater. I have 2 2500 gallon tanks.
I paid for my solar panels today and will pick them up on Friday. The water tanks will be delivered on Sat. My 5 year food stores should arrive on Mon. along with 2 10' shipping containers. I have 10 55 gallon food grade drums for food storage. It will be work getting these back there for sure. The last 2 miles is 4x4 only and only if you have short wheelbase.....hehehe
That's very cool and I wish you the best. Consider starting a journal here, so we can follow your progress.
I am currently grid-tied with my solar panel system. It helps defray the upfront costs and most all of my elec is free during the day, and when we have power outages, I have battery back up to run the house off of. Nearest neighbor is about half a mile away, and she is also a hip person. My paradise for now.
About how much is this costing you initially? I'm very interested in doing something like this in my later years, who knows.
Up front costs were around 6000 for all the equipment, excluding the batteries, which I bought later for nearly 900 bucs. I got a rebate from the state of WV for 2000 bucs, and one from the feds for 2500 bucs, so the pay back time was sliced even further by these rebates. Some states have even better rebates too, this being a coal state, I was really suprised by them even offering such a deal. I installed an extra three panels this summer, even more power. Send me a pm if you want the supplier I bought from, they had the cheapest prices I found and I looked for two year prior to buying.... Bright Blessing Be....Farmout
The foundation/floor is done. 16x40. The water tanks are 2500 gallons each. I will be returning after Dec. 8th to start on walls and roof. Then the solar panels and gutters for water collection.
The water tanks were $3k delivered. The house will be about $15k total. The solar setup was $5k. We also got 2, 10' shipping containers, 20 55 gallon food grade barrels, and 8k # of Wheat, rice, beans. Wood burning cook stove, wood burning stove for heat. Total cost so far about $40k including the land.
