Mark Twain Estates, Green Sand Subdivision, Naalehu area. (homes, refrigerator)
Big IslandThe Island of Hawaii
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You can be off the electrical grid anywhere on the island, they don't require houses to be attached to the grid. We've got a Net Energy Metering (NEM) system which is grid tied, but it's like using the grid as the storage battery. I don't think this type of system is available anymore at the 'one watt in = one watt out' type of contract we have. The electric company later changed the available contracts to 'watts in at wholesale rates & watts out at retail rates' which is roughly '2 watts in = 1 watt out'. Now I don't know if they even do that, it has been several years since we've put in a big PV solar array.
Other than electrical PV panels, a lot of folks have solar water heating panels. Those systems are less expensive than a PV system big enough to run a house. Propane stove/oven along with a propane dryer does a lot to keep the utility bills lower, too. County water isn't that expensive and since most houses aren't connected to a county sewer system, there's no sewer bills to pay. If the post office doesn't deliver to your house, you get a free P.O.box either at the post office or at a distribution point.
Internet prices and availability is really variable, it usually depends on your exact location. Same with cell phone coverage.
In any case, try to live here for six months somewhere before buying, you'll end up in a much nicer place than one bought while far away. While you're here, you may find a perfect area that you don't even know exists at this time.
Location: Southernmost tip of the southernmost island in the southernmost state
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Quote:
Originally Posted by reefshadow
Just assume that anyplace that isn't super resorty is subject to property crime. Easily solved with a decent looking land shark and a camera.
Vog funnels down the side of mauna loa and ends up right in HOVE and Naalehu. Only really safe places are the Hamakua coast, north Kohala, and Puna
I second the comment about cameras and a dog (land shark ). The same precautions you'd take in rural California, Alaska or pretty much anywhere are the same you'd take here. I live in OV and prior to moving here I heard all the rumors about how bad the crime was. In the 7 years I've lived here I haven't had as much as a random car drive down my driveway. But then I take all the precautions one should when they live somewhere remote.
And the vog. Well, it was back a bit when the eruption returned, but I have seen very little of it the last few weeks and it's nowhere near as bad as it was prior to the lava dome collapse.
[quote=hotzcatz;60608946]You can be off the electrical grid anywhere on the island, they don't require houses to be attached to the grid. We've got a Net Energy Metering (NEM) system which is grid tied, but it's like using the grid as the storage battery. I don't think this type of system is available anymore at the 'one watt in = one watt out' type of contract we have. The electric company later changed the available contracts to 'watts in at wholesale rates & watts out at retail rates' which is roughly '2 watts in = 1 watt out'. Now I don't know if they even do that, it has been several years since we've put in a big PV solar array.
Other than electrical PV panels, a lot of folks have solar water heating panels. Those systems are less expensive than a PV system big enough to run a house. Propane stove/oven along with a propane dryer does a lot to keep the utility bills lower, too. County water isn't that expensive and since most houses aren't connected to a county sewer system, there's no sewer bills to pay. If the post office doesn't deliver to your house, you get a free P.O.box either at the post office or at a distribution point.
Internet prices and availability is really variable, it usually depends on your exact location. Same with cell phone coverage.
In any case, try to live here for six months somewhere before buying, you'll end up in a much nicer place than one bought while far away. While you're here, you may find a perfect area that you don't even know exists at this time.[/QUOTE
I’d prefer county water over a catchment tank, propane for appliances, and solar system with a generator as back up. It will just be my husband and myself, IPad, laptop and cell phones.
I’d prefer county water over a catchment tank, propane for appliances, and solar system with a generator as back up. It will just be my husband and myself, IPad, laptop and cell phones.
County water is difficult to come by on the Big Island. It would be a big plus though, especially in areas that don't receive copious rainfall such as the areas you're looking at.
Be sure not to overlook your options, if any, for sewer system. This can be a big expense now that cesspools are no longer legal.
Generator backup is overrated, IMO, not necessary if your solar system is sized adequate for your needs.
My solar system is fairly small. I used to have a generator to run power tools for help in building the house. Now that building is over, well it would be nice once in awhile to have a generator but I have done without for over 15 years. Even in cloudy weather the panels will provide some charge to your batteries, and it's not cloudy too often in South Point area.
County water is difficult to come by on the Big Island. It would be a big plus though, especially in areas that don't receive copious rainfall such as the areas you're looking at.
Be sure not to overlook your options, if any, for sewer system. This can be a big expense now that cesspools are no longer legal.
Generator backup is overrated, IMO, not necessary if your solar system is sized adequate for your needs.
My solar system is fairly small. I used to have a generator to run power tools for help in building the house. Now that building is over, well it would be nice once in awhile to have a generator but I have done without for over 15 years. Even in cloudy weather the panels will provide some charge to your batteries, and it's not cloudy too often in South Point area.
I would think a sewer system would be even harder to come by than county water.
Is there any place on the BI that has a sewer system, but not county water?
[/QUOTE I’d prefer county water over a catchment tank, propane for appliances, and solar system with a generator as back up. It will just be my husband and myself, IPad, laptop and cell phones.
Discovery Harbour and Mark Twain are the only places in the area where you are looking that have county water, unless you want to live in Na`alehu or Pahala town. And I've heard that the Water Department is limiting new water hook-ups in Mark Twain due to lack of sufficient water distribution abilities.
We have solar electricity and water, and use propane for appliances. No need for generator back-up; power outages are pretty rare.
We have a DIY solar power system that is grid-connected, but not grid tied.
The simplest explanation is that when the sun is out, the house runs off of solar power. When there isn't enough sun, it switches to grid. We don't sell any excess power to Helco, any excess power is used to run grow lights or air conditioning. We still have an electric bill, but it's substantially smaller than it would be. The upside is that I only have about $3k into it, including batteries, or about 10% the cost of a grid tie system. It has very small battery storage, basically enough to keep the system going when clouds pass, or for emergency power when the grid goes out. And if the grid DOES go out, I can keep the entire house powered by a tiny 800 watt inverter generator that literally sips the gas to keep the batteries charged. If the well pump or microwave needs to be ran the batteries supply the surge current. Basically it operates like a gigantic UPS system that is powered by the sun, switching to grid when the solar power is cut.
We have a separate solar hot water system. It holds enough water to get through about 3 days of no sun.
We line dry our clothes, only tossing them in the dryer for about 10 minutes to sanitize them and remove stuff like pet hair.
Other tips: You can order the type of washer/dryer units that they use in Europe and Asia on Home Depot web site. They wash and dry in the same unit and only use 120v so are more easily tolerated by small off grid solar power systems. They dry by condensing rather than evaporating, and while the process uses a lot less electricity it takes much longer to wash and dry a load (hours). The simplified version of how they operate is that they run a heat pump instead of heating with a resistance load. The hot air from the heat pump gets pumped into the clothes and the cold air is circulated in the drum so the water from the clothes condenses on the drum and is drained away. The units don't require venting. Some of the older models use cold water from the plumbing to cool the drum. You want to avoid one like that if you are on catchment.
Another tip: manual defrosting freezers can be simply modified to operate as a refrigerator and uses only 10% of the power of a modern frost-free refrigerator. (Some freezers can do this without modification). Most people don't know that a typical kitchen refrigerator consumes more power defrosting itself than it uses to keep the food cool. Use a product like this use a freezer as a fridge (this isn't the model that I have, I can't find it any more but one like this) https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Therm...f_=as_li_ss_tl
Our deep freeze almost never uses grid. It only has to run when the sun is out. The contents will stay frozen for days without power. I purposely bought one with extra insulation.
We have a DIY solar power system that is grid-connected, but not grid tied.
The simplest explanation is that when the sun is out, the house runs off of solar power. When there isn't enough sun, it switches to grid. We don't sell any excess power to Helco, any excess power is used to run grow lights or air conditioning. We still have an electric bill, but it's substantially smaller than it would be. The upside is that I only have about $3k into it, including batteries, or about 10% the cost of a grid tie system. It has very small battery storage, basically enough to keep the system going when clouds pass, or for emergency power when the grid goes out. And if the grid DOES go out, I can keep the entire house powered by a tiny 800 watt inverter generator that literally sips the gas to keep the batteries charged. If the well pump or microwave needs to be ran the batteries supply the surge current. Basically it operates like a gigantic UPS system that is powered by the sun, switching to grid when the solar power is cut.
We have a separate solar hot water system. It holds enough water to get through about 3 days of no sun.
We line dry our clothes, only tossing them in the dryer for about 10 minutes to sanitize them and remove stuff like pet hair.
Other tips: You can order the type of washer/dryer units that they use in Europe and Asia on Home Depot web site. They wash and dry in the same unit and only use 120v so are more easily tolerated by small off grid solar power systems. They dry by condensing rather than evaporating, and while the process uses a lot less electricity it takes much longer to wash and dry a load (hours). The simplified version of how they operate is that they run a heat pump instead of heating with a resistance load. The hot air from the heat pump gets pumped into the clothes and the cold air is circulated in the drum so the water from the clothes condenses on the drum and is drained away. The units don't require venting. Some of the older models use cold water from the plumbing to cool the drum. You want to avoid one like that if you are on catchment.
Another tip: manual defrosting freezers can be simply modified to operate as a refrigerator and uses only 10% of the power of a modern frost-free refrigerator. (Some freezers can do this without modification). Most people don't know that a typical kitchen refrigerator consumes more power defrosting itself than it uses to keep the food cool. Use a product like this use a freezer as a fridge (this isn't the model that I have, I can't find it any more but one like this) https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Therm...f_=as_li_ss_tl
Our deep freeze almost never uses grid. It only has to run when the sun is out. The contents will stay frozen for days without power. I purposely bought one with extra insulation.
Thanks for the helpful tips, I added the thermostat control to my cart as a reminder.
I'm glad you found them useful. Our freezer uses 89 watts when it is running. Our frost-free fridge in the kitchen uses over 700 watts when it's in defrost mode, and then it has to over-run a cooling cycle to counter the energy used/lost during the heat defrost. (And this is an "Energy Star" model).
I'm glad you found them useful. Our freezer uses 89 watts when it is running. Our frost-free fridge in the kitchen uses over 700 watts when it's in defrost mode, and then it has to over-run a cooling cycle to counter the energy used/lost during the heat defrost. (And this is an "Energy Star" model).
I’ve always said those Energy Star appliances were a joke.
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). The same precautions you'd take in rural California, Alaska or pretty much anywhere are the same you'd take here. I live in OV and prior to moving here I heard all the rumors about how bad the crime was. In the 7 years I've lived here I haven't had as much as a random car drive down my driveway. But then I take all the precautions one should when they live somewhere remote.
