Should I go off-grid?

HertsLad

QrizB said:

Magnitio said:

HertsLad said:

Update: I turned off my mains electricity at the meter at the beginning of April and haven't used any since then.

Does that mean you won't receive the £400 energy grant from the government?

If the OP still has a live feed, they will still have an account and should qualify for the £400 grant.

Yes, that is my expectation. Fingers crossed. Both gas and electricity standing charges are being paid but with usage on gas only since 1 April 2022.

HertsLad

Screwdriva said:

If you are able to secure permission for a micro wind turbine, you will find you may never need to worry about generation in the winter months again. 

Very interesting, thanks. Do you recommend any current model of wind turbine able to generate 1kw?

QrizB

The general consensus here is that, unless you are in a particularly suitable location, domestic wind turbines cost far more to buy, install and maintain than the value of the electricity they generate in their lifetime.

Reed_Richards

QrizB said:

The general consensus here is that, unless you are in a particularly suitable location, domestic wind turbines cost far more to buy, install and maintain than the value of the electricity they generate in their lifetime.

Although this was before the price of electricity trebled, as it will have done come October.

Pile_o_stone

If I were in a similar position, I'd be looking to install a wood burning cooker with a back boiler,  such as a rayburn. You sometimes can get them virtually for nothing because the owner doesn't want to pay to have them carted away. With a rayburn you get hot water for your  shower, you cook your meals and it warms the room it's located in.

The disadvantage is faffing about with chopping wood and emptying ashes, but it strikes me from the posts, that the OP wouldn't be put off by that. You can get wood from all over the place for free. A lot of owners of woods would be happy for you to remove some of the dead trees and fallen branches as they are a fire risk, especially in the hot weather. There is also a lot of scrap wood knocking about in skips too, such a broken pallets - often you'll find that local factories have loads of pallets they  are happy to get rid of for free.

Failing that, a wood burning stove with back boiler that has a flat top for cooking on.

HertsLad

Pile_o_stone said:

The disadvantage is faffing about with chopping wood and emptying ashes, but it strikes me from the posts, that the OP wouldn't be put off by that. 

You are correct! Maybe I will add a Rayburn type cooker to my list of approaches to consider, thanks. But the problem is that my kitchen is fairly well established including a 60cm wide gas cooker. I don't think it would be easy to fit in.

HertsLad

I added quite a lot of information to my previous message, hoping it would be of interest. But after several days with no response, I must have been wrong, so I have now deleted it, to save on server space!

QrizB

HertsLad said:

I added quite a lot of information to my previous message, hoping it would be of interest. But after several days with no response, I must have been wrong, so I have now deleted it, to save on server space!

If you add info to a post, it doesn't appear as "new" to anyone who has already read it.

I can't speak for others but I don't often come back to posts I've already read.

HertsLad

QrizB said:

HertsLad said:

I added quite a lot of information to my previous message, hoping it would be of interest. But after several days with no response, I must have been wrong, so I have now deleted it, to save on server space!

If you add info to a post, it doesn't appear as "new" to anyone who has already read it.

I can't speak for others but I don't often come back to posts I've already read.

I wasn't clear. The post was originally quite long, posted in one go. Today, after no response, I cut it back to a single paragraph.

HertsLad

When I started out on the quest to go off-grid (effectively, avoid paying standing charges, and no fees for usage) I was using just over 3kwh of electricity per day. Quite quickly, I cut it back to 1.5kwh per day and have been able to supply that much and more through 5 or 6 solar PV panels from April to date. But I was concerned it may not be possible to keep going over winter. Recently, I have reduced my daily usage to just 0.15kwh per day and, as it's for a fridge, that will be much lower over winter when my house is not much warmer than a fridge, and occasionally colder. My battery bank is 6.5kwh so, at 0.1kwh per day, the batteries should last up to 2 months, even with zero sunshine. Moreover, on even the most overcast day over winter, I trust the 6 panels should be able to supply more than 0.1kwh per day. So any need for a steam turbine generator has really receded.