Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
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KY, USA
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Originally Posted By Deuskid: Bump to keep from archives and with a question: I've concluded I want a backup system on my farm. It has an 1,800 house with garage [I'll not back up out buildings]. I can 'swing' most anything [have the space [including for fuel tanks] and ability to pay] so diesel, propane and charging [maybe solar?] with batteries. I am even thinking of maybe part fuel of some sort coupled with a battery system in combination. I know nothing about this stuff and I'll read through the thread in the next few days What is the hive's thoughts, experiences and suggestions? Thanks in advance Interested in the answers. I've recently become kind of scared of all things battery (I mean Lithium Ion) because of so many fire reports. Do I have those batteries? Yes. I'm a tool ho. But lately, the thought of keeping a large bank of batteries for anything, including solar, in my house makes me feel like I've had too much coffee and no food.  Look forward to what others are doing. |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Originally Posted By Deuskid: Bump to keep from archives and with a question: I've concluded I want a backup system on my farm. It has an 1,800 house with garage [I'll not back up out buildings]. I can 'swing' most anything [have the space [including for fuel tanks] and ability to pay] so diesel, propane and charging [maybe solar?] with batteries. I am even thinking of maybe part fuel of some sort coupled with a battery system in combination. I know nothing about this stuff and I'll read through the thread in the next few days What is the hive's thoughts, experiences and suggestions? Thanks in advance It honestly depends on how much you want to spend. If you went into more detail about how automatic you want it to, what loads you are trying to cover, budget, etc. |
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Originally Posted By Handydave: It honestly depends on how much you want to spend. If you went into more detail about how automatic you want it to, what loads you are trying to cover, budget, etc. Thanks I guess i'm starting from the wrong end. I thought fuel would be the first decision but I guess that is the element that gets backed into by answering other questions |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
Joined:
Feb 2007
Posts:
53439
EE: 0% (0)
KY, USA
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Originally Posted By Deuskid: Thanks I guess i'm starting from the wrong end. I thought fuel would be the first decision but I guess that is the element that gets backed into by answering other questions I hope you'll hash it out here on the forum so we can all learn as you go along. 
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: I hope you'll hash it out here on the forum so we can all learn as you go along. Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Originally Posted By Deuskid: Thanks I guess i'm starting from the wrong end. I thought fuel would be the first decision but I guess that is the element that gets backed into by answering other questions I hope you'll hash it out here on the forum so we can all learn as you go along. In my opinion the first thing to do is accurately determine your electrical loads followed by priority. Need vs want under alternative power. I’m a big fan of emporia energy monitors. They install in the electrical panel and show total power usage on the mains & up to 16 individual circuits. More than 1 can be installed and “nested”to allow more circuit level monitoring. Once you have the needs & wants sorted can start doing what if calculations based upon various scenarios ( you want to run all ac units in the summer vs just the bare minimum to keep from freezing in the winter - then it’s balancing costs of install & how much fuel you need to keep on hand & alt power costs. The highest cost option would be going fully off grid solar & battery backup but no fuel has to be stored. I personally have a 21kw 1800 rpm liquid cooled nat gas standby generator that can run my whole house as if I’m on permanent power but it costs about $100 day in fuel which I’m ok with. I have smaller generators & fuel on hand if nat gas goes offline but I’m limited to about 2 weeks of fuel on hand. I plan to install enough solar & battery to allow me to greatly reduce my power bill in a normal situation, minimize generator usage while without power in an extended outage or throttle what I do power in a grid down situation and be 100% solar. My point is there is a whole lot to answering your question. |
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Originally Posted By Deuskid: Thanks I guess i'm starting from the wrong end. I thought fuel would be the first decision but I guess that is the element that gets backed into by answering other questions You weren’t really wrong. There’s at least two things to consider 1 you are the type of farm that already has a significant storage for farm diesel for tractors and other equipment so it makes sense to use existing infrastructure for $ and simplicity so it’s a requirement for you, or maybe you’re not that kind of farm and it doesn’t matter 2 you’re concerned about world supply chains and don’t want to be 100% dependent on one type of fuel. Maybe your requirement is to have diesel and propane generators. OTOH if your energy consumption is so high that you have to go diesel because they don’t make propane generators that big, then yeah it’s an element that gets backed into Personally, I am a fan of solar and at least a weeks worth of batteries. Gen usage would be for absolute emergencies. Another consideration is time for maintenance. |