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So my off grid project is starting.

11K views 82 replies 28 participants last post by  lasers 
#1 ·
I was faced with a decision. I could buy 2 acres in my neighborhood, 25 about 45 minutes away or 79 acres 3 hours away. All three were about the same price. I chose the 25 acres 45mins away. I would like the 79acres but at 3 hours away I would barely get to visit it. 45 minutes would let me enjoy it every weekend if I choose. It’s an old farm. The barns and house is collapsed. The fields are overgrown but it’s over looks a state park. The south slope has been terraced with thousands of feet of awsome rock walls. I am closing September 9. I stoked as land near Charlotte is hard to find.
 
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#71 ·
I took a load of lumber up to the land today and decided to mess around. Cut a trail up to the spring house. I started digging 50 years of leaves out of the cistern( the lid has been off) and the clear water turned awful smelling. I dug about 2-3ft of rotting vegetation out but my clam digging rake was not long enough to get to the bottom. I need something with a longer handle. But at least the trail is cut and all the brush is clear around it.
 
#75 ·
I walked down to the neighbors farm to see about buying some of its land and ended up talking to the neighbors for an hour. He told me about the original home sight from the 1700s on my property. I cut a trail to the previous unexplored part of my land and sure enough there is a foundations. I am told this was the original home in this valley. A few recognizable logs but pretty much gone. Looks to have been knocked log structure about 18 by 22 as paced out. Hard to imagine a family with probably 5 kids living in it.

 
#77 ·
I dreamed about building a aqueduct to fill a wood fired hottub last night so at day break I was at Lowe’s. The bath house will consist of a metal tub heated buy wood, and a flushing toilet that will run into a 55g septic tank.
This damn is temporary as the first rain will wash it out.



 
#79 ·
Is there a reason to put the fire off to the side like that and run it through expensive copper pipe? I've simply put a tub on blocks, fastened a slat wood false bottom to it then lit a fire underneath. The slat bottom allowed water to circulate and kept skin off the hot metal. If the entire circumference of the tub was walled in by brick you could run a chimney pipe up to direct the smoke away.

We would fire it to around 105(used a candy thermometer) then would shovel out any flaming bits of wood and leave the glowing coal to keep the water warm. As it cooled we would throw in twigs a couple at a time to keep the temp comfortable. If it got to hot we would put snow in it.
 
#83 ·
I have never done this just read about it for heating stills or pig scalding barrels and I think MacGyver showed it in an episode or two . If you take a 2 inch steel pipe, plug one end with a wooden plug(wooden plug will blow out if pressure ever builds up for safety) The other end of the pipe gets plumbed into the bottom of your tank with a slight up hill slope going to the tank. Light a fire under the pipe near the wooden plug and convection currents will start in the pipe heating the water in the tank.
 
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