Hey all,
I know this is a touchy subject among many in this group, but I was hoping for a bit of feedback to those who are using or have looked deep into using solar power at home.
Before getting to deep into this question I should let you know my thoughts. I am not looking to necessarily get off grid, but now that I am living quite rural and because my property is vulnerable to power outages I need to come up with a solution to save me huge headaches down the road. I was originally trying to figure out the best way to get my home set up with a proper generator systems that is tied into the grid in as far as it having the ability to automatically kick in if the power were to go out as we do like to travel and are away from the house somewhat frequently. My biggest worry is the damage that would occur, especially over winter, if this was to happen with no back up. Frozen pipes, spoiled food, etc all come to mind.
Well the cost of setting up a proper generator system like this is not cheap which has led me to ponder on solar and I am thinking maybe a guy could set up a smaller dedicated system that is intended to power the basics only. Can a relatively simple system be set up to power only the furnace, water heater, well pump and maybe plug or two to run the deep freeze? My thought would be to run these items only full time off of solar so you do not need to worry about a power outage as well as maybe cutting our energy bill back somewhat over time. Understand I am not doing this specifically to save money on my monthly energy bills but instead as version of a back up power system (or really eliminating the need for a back up system).
Am I crazy to think this could work? If not, does anyone have any thoughts on alternative ideas?