The energy suppliers in my area all have contracts I do not agree with. My gas & electric service may be cut in a couple weeks.
What’s my best move? I need enough electricity to power a mid-sized refrigerator (but could downgrade to a minifridge if needed), a few lights, router, laptop.
My boiler is gas but I have an old previously used mazut tank and furnice which I could possibly get working again with some effort.
Not sure what to do for cooking. Maybe use a portable electric cooktop.
The energy suppliers in my area all have contracts I do not agree with.
Is this disagreement about price? Judging by the other comments all the off grid alternatives will be significantly more expensive, noisy, maintenance-intensive and polluting.
It’s about payment (not price). They all refuse cash and the contract requires agreement to pay using a bank. Being unbanked (and refused by banks) makes it impossible to comply with an energy contract. That’s the abstract simple overview. It’s a big mess of systemic problems. I think I can pay cash for mazut though, once I get the mazut system running again.
Both will blow a lot of dirt and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. What about solar panels or a windmill?
Neither can be realistically installed in a couple of weeks. Depending on where you live, the waiting time for a battery is already 3-4 weeks.
Would that generate remotely enough power?
Solar with enough panels and storage can do a great deal. For cooking consider an induction cook top as they’re about double the efficiency of a traditional stove.
Batteries are kinda pricey though. I guess it depends on your budget. Perhaps a generator for standby or night time / overcast power.
That depends on how many sun hours or/and wind you’ve got at your place, how much panels you can install and of course how much light you’re using. I don’t have the knowledge to do the math on that.
Is there a free market to buy (sustainable) electricity from at your place? Or are you forced to buy from the local/regional provider?
Solar panels can generate plenty of power. My house basically runs off Solar 8-12 hours a day (8kw system). Air conditioning, laundry, and all the electronics. My stove is gas though.
The expensive part is battery storage. My system for example can generate 20-40kwh excess power each day. But buying a 10kwh battery to keep things running overnight costs more than my whole solar system already.
Gasoline and diesel will get you power fast, but remember it’ll cost 10x per kWh compared to the grid, so it’s a temporary solution unless you’re a millionaire.
You probably want a gas generator since diesel smells terrible and you don’t want that anywhere near your home.
You just need to make sure you get one that can run long enough without having to stop. Most portable can’t even run an entire day. If you get a stand by generator, that shouldn’t be an issue. But you might still need to take a break once a week.
In general gas generators require more maintenance and have a shorter lifespan. But you probably want to switch to another energy source all together. A generator is. only good for 10,000-30,000 hours. Which is 1-4 years if you are using it every day.
A diesel generator would last longer and is easier to repair. So if you plan on using a generator for the next few decades, get a diesel. But I would suggest adding solar power asap and then only using the generator as backup. That way even a gas generator could last 20-50 years.
For cooking get a gas stove. You can just get a 1-2 burner stove or a full on stove and just hook it up to a cannister rather than the gasline in your home.
But how would that work without infrastructure? OP said his gas and electricity would be out. To supply a gas generator, he would have to buy a new gas cylinder every few days? Is there even a supply for that? I would only know camping sized propane suppliers in my region but that is not enough for a house. Also I do not know if my gas burner would work properly with propane or require specific gas properties.
The handling and storage of diesel, as well as the supply should be way easier - even in large quantities. There are also no high pressure containers involved.
For the generator you get a big enough tank so it lasts a few weeks or months. Then you call a gas supplier to fill it up as needed. It’s no different from Diesel except doing it yourself isn’t an option. But the amount OP would need also makes diesel not convenient for diy and you end up paying someone to deliver you hundreds or even thousands of gallons.
For the stove you just use a propane tank for grilling. It will last several weeks or even months. It’s a very common setup here in the Philippines because there is no infrastructure for gas.
Unless your using a 1800RPM industrial generator you will be lucky to see 2000 hours of use. Any generator you can get at Home Depot, Lowes, etc will not last long. They hold less than 2qts of oil and do not have oil filters. They are in no way made to be used in a prime power situation.
For cooking get a gas stove. You can just get a 1-2 burner stove or a full on stove and just hook it up to a cannister rather than the gasline in your home.
Good idea. Maybe I should be looking at camping stoves and get in the mindset of camping. Perhaps a charcoal grill would make sense too.
offtopic: Such a nice post for a place themed “green energy”, LOL.
You need to pull your usage records from the electric company to have a baseline of what you will need in terms of Kw over the course of a month. It should be on your bill.
Then figure out what you can cut, and what size generator/solar panels/battery backup you’ll need to get by. Make sure to figure out what you are going to do in the cold months and the hot months.
THEN figure out if you are even allowed to be “off grid” in your area. You may be required to keep the electric line running to the house, but you can shut this off at your breaker box so you won’t use any electricity. You will still get a monthly bill from the electric company for the hookup (it’s usually very small, $5-$15).
best of luck!
Since this would be a short term solution, a gas generator is probably your better choice. Diesel generator smell terrible and you don’t want that near your home.
Gas generators need more maintenance and have a shorter lifespan than diesel but that shouldn’t matter since long term you would want to switch to another energy source all together.
Just add up the electricity you need and get a generator that makes enough, probably in the 5-7000 watt range.
For cooking you can also get a gas stove. You can buy a smaller 1-2 burner one or a full on stove and just hook it up to a gas cannister instead of the gas outlet in your home.
Depending on how often you run it you should look into doing a setup similar to what I have listed below.
One, get a gasoline Honda generator. 7000 kw ideal 3000 minimum. Depending on how many loads you’d like to run at once will decide on your size generator. Don’t go too big or fuel consumption will be excessive. Too low and you will not have enough to do what you need to or will wear it out prematurely. Make sure to get roughly 25 to 50 gallons worth of gas cans too otherwise you’ll be stopping for fuel multiple times a week.
Add in an 2000-3000 watt pure sine wave inverter/charger and a small 700-1000ah battery bank so that you can run your lights, router, small fridge, fans, furnace etc when the generator is not running. Idea is to add in some solar panels so that your small loads won’t require you to run the generator every day all day long. Run it when you need to cook, or power large loads and let the inverter system power the small loads when the generator is not needed.
Stock up on good quality oil for the generator and change the oil every 50 to 75 hours depending on how hard you run it. Oil changes are critical to longevity of an engine and the MFG suggested oil change interval does not have the consumers best interest in mind. Change oil early or change the engine early.
I’d recommend reading this article: https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01/i-disconnected-from-the-electric-grid-for-8-months-in-manhattan/
The author probably went further than you want to go, but it’s probably got some good tips to minimize your power usage.
Is propane an option? I have a propane generator.
Not sure, but perhaps worth noting that I have no car. I guess I need to see if propane is cycling distance and consider a bicycle trailer for hauling it.
