Off-Grid Lighting v1

..Ok. So when A* and I are doing any major work we have been using the generator and when that is on there is full lights since the power is on. No problems.

After the work is done we are using a Portable Power Unit with a built in inverter that can run up to 600w. Works well for the power it consumes. I think there is some loss due to conversion from 12v to 120 but I am not sure what the cost is..To help cut down on the costs we are also using a LED LIghtbulb that I bought off of eBay a couple of months ago. They screw in and only use 1.5 watts vs the 7 or so of a CFL. The light is not super bright though and once you leave the room it is in you are immersed into complete darkness. The only way to get around other than that is a flashlight or a headlamp. I am quickly habitually putting my headlamp in the same place when I go to sleep so that I can find it in the cold mornings..its bad enough that the days are getting shorter but now I cannot even turn on the lights too see. Well at least the place is a dusty disaster anyway so there is not to much to see anyway! Small miracles I guess.

there is the light and power for now...WE'RE WORKING ON IT! Upper is a CFL and the lower is an LED bulb that consumes 1.5 watt and gives 9 lumen..if that's how you spell it..or if it's gives more..or less.

 

the path to the car

As of right now we have no way to get the car all the way up to the house. When we bought the camp it was VERY secluded but it was at the very end of a potential cul-de-sac. There is a road in part of the way but it is still being worked on and houses are still going up..at the rate of 1 per year since we bought the place. We use the car almost everyday but due to not having a road we need to park somewhere…that somewhere is 300m away from our place. While not a fun path to walk it is much better than the other option of hiking 2km out the other road. Hopefully someday we will have a road all the way in that the car and drive on..Until then, we walk. They ARE doing work on the road if you can see it in the photos there are piles of gravel that are going in..hopefully to extend the road even further…we will cross our fingers!

 

some like it cold…

…some like it hot.

OK, so we are moved in and on our way..but so is jack frost. I am about 93% sure that we are going to be progressing with the renovations over the next 2-3 years..but in the meantime it is going to be under 0C within the next month..and that is when the woodstove installation is going to be happening..on Nov 11..one full month away..So..what are we to do? Lets run through some options shall we?

Option 1: freeze. at first this seems fine but who will do the renovations when I am dead?..I might need to find something less constrictive to my future plans.

Option 2: install wood stove earlier. this sounds wonderful..a roaring fire place, heat, pizza in a wood fired oven..I guess the only downsides are the facts that there is nobody to install the woodstove and I still need to put in drywall..and fire-rated drywall for the extra distance! Good news is that I have the drywall ready to go and the install is scheduled for 1 month.

Option 3: just wear more clothes. I already am, screw off.

Option 4: alternative heat source. No electricity so I cannot use my parabolic heater…so today I went and bought a temporary solution..a kerosene heater. They are rated for indoor use but I am a little paranoid. So I will set it up tonight and see what a difference it will make to the inside temperature.

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The day after.

I need to get over my worries. The kerosene heater actually worked great. I am anal about temperature..not temperature so much as I am in knowing what the temperature is at any point. I have 2 temperature guages in the house..1 reads the temperature inside and one does the outside…they both have external wires to run outside so I can always see the difference betwen inside and outside. For the first night the temperature outside was 8.7C and inside it was 12C..so I ran the kerosene heater and within 2 hours the temperature was up to 20C..not shocking considering the whole place is only 650 sq/ft but its not bad considering we only have 1 room finished and the rest is only vapor barrier and insulation on the inside..but the most important thing is that it was comfortable inside..plus there is some ambient light. As I mentioned, I need to relax..I would not keep the heater on for more than 2 hours and then I would turn it on..I don’t want to start a fire and I don’t need the inside temperature to be Jamaica-like when I am putting up more drywall! Yeah!!! Progress!

..mmmm, paranoid heat.

..we can not bake yet but 'Chips A'Hoy' on top of a kerosene heater for 35 seconds makes a sweet treat. exposed bathroom in background.

Hallow's Eve is not for a couple of weeks...we thought we would try to scare each other around the kero'fire. it didn't work.

lloking into the bedroom..what a mess.

Wow..a mess. Exposed bathroom, temporary cupboards 'plastic shelves' and a bunch of other junk.

also, you can see our eco-fan in many of these pictures..it was a Christmas gift last year..not realy designed for  a kerosene heater but it does help to circulate the air a little.