Author Topic: Off-grid survival site (Read 1267 times)

gladius_veritatis · « **on:** December 16, 2009, 12:55:23 PM »

Iuvenalis · « **Reply #1 on:** January 01, 2010, 11:33:15 PM »

I'm disappointed that it talks very little about 'off the grid' living itself. That is, actually having your own services. It seems to focus on wilderness/bugging out type of stuff, and not living in a home of any kind and being self sufficient (or even close to it).

Knife reviews are great, but you gotta live somewhere.

I wish it (or any site actually!) had info on easy or affordable solar or other power sources to provide minimum power to one's home in the event of catastrophe or infrastructure decay.

I'd like to power a few amps to the house, I was thinking solar (but this may not be the best idea, anyone!?) to just gimme a few amps a few hours a day in the event of a grid outage or longterm power issues, which'd be the first trouble to come from societal unrest.

littlerose · « **Reply #2 on:** January 02, 2010, 12:08:07 AM »

there is a house in my neighborhood with a stationary bike bolted to the porch and what looks like a generator attached to it.

I am actually focussing on water right now, trying to measure how much I use for each purpose and identify where I produce "grey water" that can be re-used.

I used to have a "sierra stove" which is a small stove about the size of a coffee can with a fan in the bottom and a grate on top for holding a pan. You could feed a handful of twigs into it and the fan, operated by a AA battery, would keep it hot enough to boil water. A surprisingly small amount of twigs would keep it going for 10 or 15 minutes, long enough to boil rice that has been soaked. I wish I still had it because I would try to find a way to hook it up to one of those solar panels you get on small lights instead of relying on the battery.

It actually would not be hard to make a stove like it from coffee cans. There is an old hobo design made that way that used alcohol instead of twigs, but I like the twigs design because it even avoids using large branches.

Iuvenalis · « **Reply #3 on:** January 02, 2010, 12:34:32 AM »

Quote from: littlerose

there is a house in my neighborhood with a stationary bike bolted to the porch and what looks like a generator attached to it.

I am actually focussing on water right now, trying to measure how much I use for each purpose and identify where I produce "grey water" that can be re-used.

I used to have a "sierra stove" which is a small stove about the size of a coffee can with a fan in the bottom and a grate on top for holding a pan. You could feed a handful of twigs into it and the fan, operated by a AA battery, would keep it hot enough to boil water. A surprisingly small amount of twigs would keep it going for 10 or 15 minutes, long enough to boil rice that has been soaked. I wish I still had it because I would try to find a way to hook it up to one of those solar panels you get on small lights instead of relying on the battery.

It actually would not be hard to make a stove like it from coffee cans. There is an old hobo design made that way that used alcohol instead of twigs, but I like the twigs design because it even avoids using large branches.

Do you have the ability to watch Youtube videos? There's actually several such projects on there like what you describe...

There's even solar furnaces that go way beyond the heat you need :)