Unboxing our new off grid water heater

This past week I have been busy installing our new off grid tankless propane water heater.  The tankless propane water heater we had before was only a temporary fix that lasted 5 years.  I never intended on using it for so long, but other needs on the homestead kept taking priority.   We are finally …

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Evolution of Off Grid Refrigeration

Off grid refrigeration seems to be an elusive topic online.  Many people give up on the idea altogether or try to incorporate a standard refrigerator/freezer and find their stored battery energy gone before the next day begins.  Refrigerators are just inefficient. When purchasing our DC refrigerator and freezer, we thought we were making the logical …

Thermosiphon equals free hot water

In this blog post, we created a video which explains how we use thermosiphon to heat our domestic hot water through our wood cook stove. We have received requests to create a video post which walks through the process.  We hope you enjoy the video and our attempt at creating a Youtube presence.  Our channel …

Are you grounded? Electrical issues with the plow truck

Our plow truck has been let's just say a challenge since we bought it.  First, I have had to rebuild the transmission and rebuild the plow head last year. This year, I decided I wanted to use the rear lights mounted on the bed of the truck to make sure I wasn't reversing into a …

The Best Thrift Store Find in Years…

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I decided to take our son on a trip to the mall in Spokane, Washington.  He rode an escalator for what he thought was the first time. We visited several stores, walked the mall, had some black drip coffee, an eggnog latte, and hot chocolate. However, our …

Debt Free: How can that be?

Back in 2009, my wife and I paid off the remainder of our student loan debt. We scrimped what seemed like every penny to pay off our loans.  But, the reality was our loans were set for a 10 year pay off after college.  Once one debt was paid off, we snowballed our freed up …

How to turn a freezer into a refrigerator…

How to turn a freezer into a refrigerator in two easy steps.  Plug freezer into a Johnson Controls A19AAT-2C Freezer Temperature Controller, place the temperature sensor into freezer, and done.  In most cases, this would be all that is required unless the entire pantry needs to be reconfigured to handle an upright refrigerator versus a …

Facing Due South

When designing an off grid sustainable home, it is best to design the majority of the windows facing south to utilize the most amount of solar gain.  During the winter it is crucial to let in as much natural light as possible.  This cuts down on the use of electricity and the need for electric …

What goes up, must come down: a raise in interest rates will bring the economy down

This past week the Federal Reserve was meeting to determine if they would raise interest rates indirectly by raising the federal funds rate.  The FED has not raised the federal funds rate for almost a decade.  If the federal funds rate is raised, it will impact the banks' interest rates on all loans.  Banks will …

Hidden Dangers of Credit Cards

How does the credit card industry make record profits when the rest of Wall St. struggles? A brief Introduction of how this information came to be… Many years ago in my senior English class, I remember a seventeen year old student boasting about receiving a credit card application in the mail to fill out on …