dragonlaurel
Improvising a more SS life
Just saw the update to your other post. 
Sunsaver, Livining Off-Grid In Suburbia- Happy Taconight America!
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- #122
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sunsaver
Guest
The Power Company Story
In the late summer of 2009, i was driving home from a small painting job. Most of my work had dried up and disappeared since the housing crash of 2008, so i was getting behind on all of my bills, and was very happy for the work. Even so, the A/C felt good as it blew ice cold air in my sweat drenched face. Up ahead, the sky started getting dark with storm clouds. Soon i was driving right in the middle of it. Lightning was sparking all around, and thunder so loud i could hear it over the A/C; and then just like that, it was over. A typical summer thunder bumper in the south. I continued on, and soon i was pulling in my driveway.
When i opened the front door on my ancient little farm house, i flipped the light switch. Nothing happened. 'Oh, that storm that came through here must have knocked the power out", i thought. (There's only one power company in Louisiana, so they have a monopoly and can pretty much do whatever they want. For example, my Aunt who lives in town pays half the rate per kilowatt hour that i used to pay.) Just to be sure, i gathered all my bills and looked for the electric bill. It was due two weeks later. So i picked up the phone, and dialed 1-800-outage.
"Thanks for calling monopoly. This is Mrs Sowhat. Are you calling to report an outage?"
"Yes."
"I'm not showing any outages in your area."
"Well, it's off. Maybe it's just my house. There was a storm a little while ago.
"Hold on. Let me check." Long pause, lots of keyboard tapping could be heard in the background.
"It's says here that you where disconnected due to non-payment."
"Non-payment? My bill says it's not due for another two weeks."
"Well that's what it says." She replied, curtly.
"i usually get a disconnect notice." i said, still confused at how they could just cut my power without warning.
"Uh! We're not legally required to give anybody a warning notice! We just do that as a courtesy for some of our customers!" She said huffily, angry, as if i was wasting her precious time.
I was so shocked by her rudeness, that i just hung up the phone without saying another word. What customers was she talking about? The ones that live in the right neighborhood, or the ones with the correct skin color? The ones that have the right gender, or religion. or that chew on the left side of the mouthes? What club do i have to join in order to get equal treatment by the power company monopoly. To bad i didn't get her name. Oh well.
It was still Monday. I was still broke from two weeks of not working, and there i was with no electricity. I got out the kerosene lanterns that i have had for years, and some magazines to replace my nightly TV entertainment. I had been dreaming about going off-grid since 911 and even more so after Katrina, but never had really committed much money or effort. But as i fumbled around in my dimly lit house that night, an intense resolve mingled with anger at myself for being a willing slave, came over me. 'Why am i working my tail off, just to give all my money away to giant corporations?' I thought. I work all week for these corporations, then turn around and give all my money back to these same corporation. That's just pure slavery, or a corporate dictatorship. When the economy tanked, the big banks and big corporations got bailed out, but hard working, blue collar people like me got jack squat. Even now i get angry when i think what a pathetic slug our government is. I don't even vote anymore. To me the whole story is a farce. Politics to me is a like pro wrestling: even though i know it's all rigged, it's still fun to watch.
On friday, i finally got paid and paid the power company, water company, cable, gas, groceries, and was broke once again. That was a tough week, but what doesn't kill only strengthens, leaves behind resentments, determinations. When the power company man came to turn my electricity back on, i gave him an earload. "I know it's not your fault but-" I proceeded to tell him about mean lady on the phone and the lack of warning.
"Sorry about the bad service. Too bad you didn't get that woman's name."
"Well, i just wanted you to know that i'm going to get some solar panels and batteries. And the next time you come here will be because i'm cutting ya'll off. Permanently!
I didn't work much in 2009 or 2010, but whenever i could, i saved up money in an old fashioned porcelain piggy bank. Every time i saw a "feed the pig" commercial i would laugh inside. They offer ways to save electricity, then raise the rates. Whose pig are they feeding? Finally i ordered my first solar panel. I was so excited! i waited, and waited, and after a month- no solar panel!
In the late summer of 2009, i was driving home from a small painting job. Most of my work had dried up and disappeared since the housing crash of 2008, so i was getting behind on all of my bills, and was very happy for the work. Even so, the A/C felt good as it blew ice cold air in my sweat drenched face. Up ahead, the sky started getting dark with storm clouds. Soon i was driving right in the middle of it. Lightning was sparking all around, and thunder so loud i could hear it over the A/C; and then just like that, it was over. A typical summer thunder bumper in the south. I continued on, and soon i was pulling in my driveway.
When i opened the front door on my ancient little farm house, i flipped the light switch. Nothing happened. 'Oh, that storm that came through here must have knocked the power out", i thought. (There's only one power company in Louisiana, so they have a monopoly and can pretty much do whatever they want. For example, my Aunt who lives in town pays half the rate per kilowatt hour that i used to pay.) Just to be sure, i gathered all my bills and looked for the electric bill. It was due two weeks later. So i picked up the phone, and dialed 1-800-outage.
"Thanks for calling monopoly. This is Mrs Sowhat. Are you calling to report an outage?"
"Yes."
"I'm not showing any outages in your area."
"Well, it's off. Maybe it's just my house. There was a storm a little while ago.
"Hold on. Let me check." Long pause, lots of keyboard tapping could be heard in the background.
"It's says here that you where disconnected due to non-payment."
"Non-payment? My bill says it's not due for another two weeks."
"Well that's what it says." She replied, curtly.
"i usually get a disconnect notice." i said, still confused at how they could just cut my power without warning.
"Uh! We're not legally required to give anybody a warning notice! We just do that as a courtesy for some of our customers!" She said huffily, angry, as if i was wasting her precious time.
I was so shocked by her rudeness, that i just hung up the phone without saying another word. What customers was she talking about? The ones that live in the right neighborhood, or the ones with the correct skin color? The ones that have the right gender, or religion. or that chew on the left side of the mouthes? What club do i have to join in order to get equal treatment by the power company monopoly. To bad i didn't get her name. Oh well.
It was still Monday. I was still broke from two weeks of not working, and there i was with no electricity. I got out the kerosene lanterns that i have had for years, and some magazines to replace my nightly TV entertainment. I had been dreaming about going off-grid since 911 and even more so after Katrina, but never had really committed much money or effort. But as i fumbled around in my dimly lit house that night, an intense resolve mingled with anger at myself for being a willing slave, came over me. 'Why am i working my tail off, just to give all my money away to giant corporations?' I thought. I work all week for these corporations, then turn around and give all my money back to these same corporation. That's just pure slavery, or a corporate dictatorship. When the economy tanked, the big banks and big corporations got bailed out, but hard working, blue collar people like me got jack squat. Even now i get angry when i think what a pathetic slug our government is. I don't even vote anymore. To me the whole story is a farce. Politics to me is a like pro wrestling: even though i know it's all rigged, it's still fun to watch.
On friday, i finally got paid and paid the power company, water company, cable, gas, groceries, and was broke once again. That was a tough week, but what doesn't kill only strengthens, leaves behind resentments, determinations. When the power company man came to turn my electricity back on, i gave him an earload. "I know it's not your fault but-" I proceeded to tell him about mean lady on the phone and the lack of warning.
"Sorry about the bad service. Too bad you didn't get that woman's name."
"Well, i just wanted you to know that i'm going to get some solar panels and batteries. And the next time you come here will be because i'm cutting ya'll off. Permanently!
I didn't work much in 2009 or 2010, but whenever i could, i saved up money in an old fashioned porcelain piggy bank. Every time i saw a "feed the pig" commercial i would laugh inside. They offer ways to save electricity, then raise the rates. Whose pig are they feeding? Finally i ordered my first solar panel. I was so excited! i waited, and waited, and after a month- no solar panel!
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- #123
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sunsaver
Guest
The Solar Panel Story:
I had ordered the panel online from Northern Arizona Wind and Sun, a company that i was not all that familiar with. I chose them because they had the best price on the particular panel i wanted, the KC130 with junction box. I was starting to worry that i had been robbed. Once i realized that i could track the package online, i checked into it. It had made it all the way to my local ups warehouse when some careless person broke it. It had gone back to Dallas in a day, and back to Flagstaff in a day, then it sat at Flagstaff for three weeks. I decided to Email Wind/Sun.com to see what the problem was. The manager i talked to was not even aware that UPS was holding my panel hostage. He was very nice. He said that he would deal with UPS himself and that he would ship a new panel express delivery. Two days later my new solar panel arrived.
I felt like i was five years old, like it was Christmas day. I tore into the box with my pocket knife and pulled out the big, shiny, dark blue sheet of sparkling crystals. It was beautiful! Silvery brushed aluminum frame, glittering silicon wafers with bright threads of solder. It was a gigantic jewel. I felt like my $600 was well spent.
I had ordered a Sunsaver10, 10 amp charge controller, but didn't have enough money for the solar battery. I had seen a utube video of a guy reconditioning a dead car battery with epsom salts and distilled water, supposedly. I remembered seeing an old battery next to my neighbor's garage, and found that she was more than happy to get rid of it. I put the water and epsom salt in it, put it on to charge, and waited three days. It worked! the dead battery was fully charged! I built a ten by eight shed with a five by ten metal roof to act as my power shed. I mounted the panel on the roof and battery inside, using a 50amp service box from Home Depot as my combiner. A grounding rod for safety connected to the negative side, negative to negative, positive to positive; hooking everything up was easier than i expected it to be. I had planned to eventually buy a bigger charge controller, but when i realized that the Sunsaver controllers can be stacked in parallel for a bigger and bigger system, i realized that i had the ultimate in affordable solar designs. A solar system that is pay as you go expandable, one panel at a time.
Well the little reconditioned car battery didn't last long. It was always bubbling and hissing (i over filled it) and it was starting to eat away at the concrete floor. So i set out in search of an affordable deep cycle battery.
I had ordered the panel online from Northern Arizona Wind and Sun, a company that i was not all that familiar with. I chose them because they had the best price on the particular panel i wanted, the KC130 with junction box. I was starting to worry that i had been robbed. Once i realized that i could track the package online, i checked into it. It had made it all the way to my local ups warehouse when some careless person broke it. It had gone back to Dallas in a day, and back to Flagstaff in a day, then it sat at Flagstaff for three weeks. I decided to Email Wind/Sun.com to see what the problem was. The manager i talked to was not even aware that UPS was holding my panel hostage. He was very nice. He said that he would deal with UPS himself and that he would ship a new panel express delivery. Two days later my new solar panel arrived.
I felt like i was five years old, like it was Christmas day. I tore into the box with my pocket knife and pulled out the big, shiny, dark blue sheet of sparkling crystals. It was beautiful! Silvery brushed aluminum frame, glittering silicon wafers with bright threads of solder. It was a gigantic jewel. I felt like my $600 was well spent.
I had ordered a Sunsaver10, 10 amp charge controller, but didn't have enough money for the solar battery. I had seen a utube video of a guy reconditioning a dead car battery with epsom salts and distilled water, supposedly. I remembered seeing an old battery next to my neighbor's garage, and found that she was more than happy to get rid of it. I put the water and epsom salt in it, put it on to charge, and waited three days. It worked! the dead battery was fully charged! I built a ten by eight shed with a five by ten metal roof to act as my power shed. I mounted the panel on the roof and battery inside, using a 50amp service box from Home Depot as my combiner. A grounding rod for safety connected to the negative side, negative to negative, positive to positive; hooking everything up was easier than i expected it to be. I had planned to eventually buy a bigger charge controller, but when i realized that the Sunsaver controllers can be stacked in parallel for a bigger and bigger system, i realized that i had the ultimate in affordable solar designs. A solar system that is pay as you go expandable, one panel at a time.
Well the little reconditioned car battery didn't last long. It was always bubbling and hissing (i over filled it) and it was starting to eat away at the concrete floor. So i set out in search of an affordable deep cycle battery.
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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OK, I had to laugh. All it says is
The Solar Panel Story:
Then, your siggy says,
The most important question is, can we eat it?
Are you planning to eat a solar panel?
The Solar Panel Story:
Then, your siggy says,
The most important question is, can we eat it?
Are you planning to eat a solar panel?
- Thread starter
- #125
S
sunsaver
Guest
Haha! the glass would be crunchy! Just a marker for me to edit, so the story isn't broken into multiple posts. I'll start on it now.
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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(Though actually I'm eating potato chips. 
) 
- Thread starter
- #127
S
sunsaver
Guest
So that's how i got in the business of generating my own electricity, free from the sky. There's no battery story to tell, just that i found a local source where i could get maintenance free, seal AGM batteries for less than $200 each. I now have four batteries and two 130 watt panels. But that's still not nearly enough to run a normal suburban home.
Death to energy hogging appliances! The washing machine story
I had a Kenmore washing machine. It was older model, sand colored, with a retro 1970s look. It was a little rusty around the corners, but that old thing would always get my clothes really clean. You could even throw in some leaves and straw, and that spiral agitator would pull clothes down and around and back up top, until all the leaves and dirt are gone. I really loved that washing machine but one day it broke down. I really didn't want a new one, so i dragged it to the front, down the steps, and heaved it up on the back of my truck. There's and old man up the road that repairs appliances, so i took it to him and dropped it off. When i returned to get my Kenmore, he pointed to a magic chef that was white and almost new looking.
"that's not my washing machine"
"Yes it is." He said, matter of fact.
"No, i had an old Kenmore."
"That's the one you dropped off." He said firmly. I glanced around the bone yard of washing machines, hoping to catch a glimpse of my beloved Kenmore. There was no sign of it. "You need some help loading it up?" the fragile looking old man said. I looked at him standing there, surrounded by a junkyard sea of appliances, his crumbling old mobile home in the background. 'This poor old guy's got alzheimer's." I thought. 'He sold my washer by accident, or he's got me confused with another customer.' The magic Chef was much newer and nicer looking.
"No thanks. I got it." I replied reluctantly. Then I loaded it up, and took it home.
I lugged it up the steps, through the house, to the laundry room in the back. I hooked it up and put in an overdue load of laundry. It worked fine, for about a month. One day it just stopped in the middle of a cycle. So i dragged it to the front, down the steps, and heaved it up on the back of my truck, again. I took it to the recycling center and dumped it off. Then went to a different repair guy and bought another used washer. Money was tight, because work was getting real slow, else i would have bought a brand new one. When i got home, I lugged it up the steps, through the house, to the laundry room. I hooked it up and put in an way past due load of laundry. It immediately started jumping around and banging up against the wall. 'Oh crap!' I thought. "Not another lemon!"
That was it. I was broke and and with no return policy, stuck with an unbalanced washing machine. It always took two or three tries, rearranging the cloths, at the start of every cycle, until it would stop shaking the entire house. That went on for about a year, until the incident with the power company. I quickly realized that to go off-grid, i would have to get rid of all my high-powered appliances. I decided to get a wash tub and try it out. I got big plastic wash tub for about $20 and a new, old fashioned style wash board. I found that by turning the wash board upside down and holding the legs in each hand, i could easily slosh the cloths back and forth like an washing machine. The hard part was fiddling with the hose and dumping the water. 'I need indoor plumbing for this, i thought. The laundry room already had water and drain connections, so i hatched a plan. I built a stand for the wash tub, so i could wash clothes standing up strait. No strain on the back. I cut a drain hole in the bottom of the tub near the front, using a hole saw attachment on my drill. I used a PVC male adapter, neoprene washer, steel washer, and an electrical conduit nut to secure the fitting. I then glued up a drain line with a ballcock valve for the shutoff. I mounted a sillcock valve above the tub, so it would be easy to fill it with water. All i have to is shut off the drain valve, fill the tub with water, and start working the wash board. I can drain, rinse, drain, rinse, let it soak, or add soap again to get clothes as clean as i want, cleaner than a washing machine. For lightly soiled cloths, it only takes about five minutes of very mild exercise. The only disadvantage is that i have to do fairly small loads, else it can turn into hard work. I love my wash tub. It saves me about $40 per month. Nice to have when you haven't worked in months!
Death to energy hogging appliances! The washing machine story
I had a Kenmore washing machine. It was older model, sand colored, with a retro 1970s look. It was a little rusty around the corners, but that old thing would always get my clothes really clean. You could even throw in some leaves and straw, and that spiral agitator would pull clothes down and around and back up top, until all the leaves and dirt are gone. I really loved that washing machine but one day it broke down. I really didn't want a new one, so i dragged it to the front, down the steps, and heaved it up on the back of my truck. There's and old man up the road that repairs appliances, so i took it to him and dropped it off. When i returned to get my Kenmore, he pointed to a magic chef that was white and almost new looking.
"that's not my washing machine"
"Yes it is." He said, matter of fact.
"No, i had an old Kenmore."
"That's the one you dropped off." He said firmly. I glanced around the bone yard of washing machines, hoping to catch a glimpse of my beloved Kenmore. There was no sign of it. "You need some help loading it up?" the fragile looking old man said. I looked at him standing there, surrounded by a junkyard sea of appliances, his crumbling old mobile home in the background. 'This poor old guy's got alzheimer's." I thought. 'He sold my washer by accident, or he's got me confused with another customer.' The magic Chef was much newer and nicer looking.
"No thanks. I got it." I replied reluctantly. Then I loaded it up, and took it home.
I lugged it up the steps, through the house, to the laundry room in the back. I hooked it up and put in an overdue load of laundry. It worked fine, for about a month. One day it just stopped in the middle of a cycle. So i dragged it to the front, down the steps, and heaved it up on the back of my truck, again. I took it to the recycling center and dumped it off. Then went to a different repair guy and bought another used washer. Money was tight, because work was getting real slow, else i would have bought a brand new one. When i got home, I lugged it up the steps, through the house, to the laundry room. I hooked it up and put in an way past due load of laundry. It immediately started jumping around and banging up against the wall. 'Oh crap!' I thought. "Not another lemon!"
That was it. I was broke and and with no return policy, stuck with an unbalanced washing machine. It always took two or three tries, rearranging the cloths, at the start of every cycle, until it would stop shaking the entire house. That went on for about a year, until the incident with the power company. I quickly realized that to go off-grid, i would have to get rid of all my high-powered appliances. I decided to get a wash tub and try it out. I got big plastic wash tub for about $20 and a new, old fashioned style wash board. I found that by turning the wash board upside down and holding the legs in each hand, i could easily slosh the cloths back and forth like an washing machine. The hard part was fiddling with the hose and dumping the water. 'I need indoor plumbing for this, i thought. The laundry room already had water and drain connections, so i hatched a plan. I built a stand for the wash tub, so i could wash clothes standing up strait. No strain on the back. I cut a drain hole in the bottom of the tub near the front, using a hole saw attachment on my drill. I used a PVC male adapter, neoprene washer, steel washer, and an electrical conduit nut to secure the fitting. I then glued up a drain line with a ballcock valve for the shutoff. I mounted a sillcock valve above the tub, so it would be easy to fill it with water. All i have to is shut off the drain valve, fill the tub with water, and start working the wash board. I can drain, rinse, drain, rinse, let it soak, or add soap again to get clothes as clean as i want, cleaner than a washing machine. For lightly soiled cloths, it only takes about five minutes of very mild exercise. The only disadvantage is that i have to do fairly small loads, else it can turn into hard work. I love my wash tub. It saves me about $40 per month. Nice to have when you haven't worked in months!
Marianne
Super Self-Sufficient
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savingdogs
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What do you think the panels would cost to run a normal suburban home? Just curious.....
I have a serious grudge with the power company here for a different reason (they want to annex our land) so I'd like to give them a view of a certain finger myself.
I have a serious grudge with the power company here for a different reason (they want to annex our land) so I'd like to give them a view of a certain finger myself.
I dream about solar panels every once in awhile, but I am totally NOT mechanically inclined. Anything animal I can do, but mechanics and I hate each other. I am also totallly sure my SO would not live without every electrical possibility turned on at all times. :/ I love her but we don't really have the same vision of what we want to live like.
