WHY WE WON'T GO OFF GRID - Unless you think differently?

As we get closer to project day 1 the decision making and plans increase daily. One big choice is whether we should look to take the whole house off grid even though many services are here.
OUR DIY FARM CHANNEL - / @diyfarm
OUR CHANNEL SPONSOR
Speedy Tool Hire - bit.ly/3tXmUNu
SUPPORT THE CHANNEL
Our Patreon Page - / restorationcouple
Online Farm Shop and Merch - www.restoration...
CONTACT US
[e-mail]
OUR SOCIAL NETWORKS
Facebook - / restorationcouple
KZbin - / therestorationcouple
Twitter - / restocouple
Instagram - / restorationcouple
OUR BLOG
www.restoration...

[@carlnewton1126]

Insulation, insulation, insulation. If I were doing a new build today I would first concentrate on insulation and the Passive House Standard. That being said having a really well insulated property that also breathes and doesn’t require a sophisticated MVHR system may also be a desirable option? Insulation: I would make all the insulated panels on site, set up a production table in the barn with a couple of carpenters and go for it. All you would have to do then is crane and fix them into position. The other option is to go to a company like Oakwrights and use their encapsulation system? Glazing: definitely go for triple glazing, it’s superior in every way especially if you have large amounts of glazing. The only downside is cost. Heating: I would go for a wet underfloor heating system with an electric boiler or a ground source heat pump. The systems I would look at are, Viessmann ground source heat pumps, Mixergy Smart tank, Tepeo hot water boiler or the Cadera warmstone heat battery. Make provision for electric cars. Solar: I would put it on the ground with a tilting array to track the sun and enable the sheep to graze underneath. It will also be easier to build, install and maintain over time. The advantage of doing it this way is that you can do it in stages, build the fabric of the building first with a simple mains supply linked to a smart tank and heat battery then flesh it out with solar and heat pumps later and if desired. Either way, get a really good design detailing every aspect of your heating and power requirements then design your ultimate system and make provisions for them to be added later or not. Exciting times ahead. 👍

[@dannymurphy1779]

You make some really good points here, especially about the solar as it is not certain they could have solar panels on the roof anyway.

[@edwardmallorie7051]

If you want to be off grid it may be best to have multiple sources of electricity. Chris Harbour (youtube) has solar, hydro and wind for his off-grid system. My calculations - based on standard UK parameters) suggest that in spring and autumn solar would generate 65% of summer kWh, and in winter it would be 19%. Depending on the size of your solar array you will either have too little power in winter (so need to impart from grid) or too much in summer (and so need to sell to the grid). Batteries are fine for shifting supply and demand within a 24 hour period - so solar power can be stored for use after dark, or cheap night-time off-peak grid power can be stored for use during the day and early evening. But I have not heard of any proposal to charge a battery in, say, June, and then discharge it in December. You will use some thousands of kWh in the winter and current domestic batteries cost around £500 or more per kWh. To be off grid you need a way of generating power in winter when there is little solar.

[@sweenpole2001]

Worth getting the fully charged channel to oay you a visit... or visit fully charged live at farnborough in Easter 2024. Loads of info and trades regarding ground source heat pumps, solar, wind, ground energy batteries, all sorts. Might even get a visit from Kryten himself.

[@martynrosscampbell]

My philosophy in terms of being off grid and investing in green tech is that we should only be putting budget to it once we’ve done the absolute best we can in reducing our demand. So it’s insulation, glazing(thermal qualities and placement in terms of solar gain etc), thermal mass, ventilation even room layout and probably lots of other things! Then, if there’s money left over for green technologies remember to consider the embodied energy involved in producing, shipping, installing and maintaining the products. Also their lifespan and how they are disposed of. These things most likely won’t be discussed by the companies supplying them! Looking forward to seeing how the build plays out whatever you choose to do!

[@adrianhart9409]

I am currently building a house off grid, mainly because I was quoted 48k to connect to the power lines crossing my land. My recommendation is PV solar as it is by far the cheapest energy generator. Excess energy can go into heating a thermal store for hot water/heating (Immersion heaters). Not as efficient as solar thermal by a lot cheaper. You have the space for many panels. The excess PV power can be used for anything, future car charging. (Unlike solar thermal) Being connected to the grid is a bonus which any excess solar will pay for the standing charge. A battery doesn't need to be huge, it just needs to power the evenings. However it can also keep fridges and freezers powered in a power cut. (Depending on inverter, not all inverters work off grid during grid failure)

[@andie1769]

It’s really about your prospective uses. Passive solar design for the house, insulation to the the hilt, does your area tend to have power outages, do you have droughts that affect the family or the farm? Are you electricity bills high and rising? Are the feed in tariffs as good as they say? The term ‘ off grid’ is an ideology in many cases, so just concentrate on asking the questions that are right for you & your circumstances. Having some solar might be good for the freezers for example. Also, the money you spend on on say solar array, could that be better utilised elsewhere. Everyone’s circumstances, geography, weather is different. Anyhoo… Very interested to see how this develops, love both your channels. Cheers from Australia 🇦🇺

[@maxinedurling3425]

I think you need to talk to a company that do off grid system either solar or wind about a system that would suite your needs, If you have a big enough system it should not stop you on how you use it. I like the idea of rain water catchment for the farm rather than a borehole as the borehole could affect the level of the ground water which in turn could affect your woods, hedges and your pond.

[@craigchisholm924]

The best self build do-it yourself type vlog to watch on here for me is life uncontained. It’s great to watch. You got to start at the beginning though

[@jqstar1786]

Grid tied PV that produces all of your needs but excess goes back to the grid the generate an income and help green up the grid a bit more. Off-grid makes sense if your system to too big for your connection (unlikely in your case given you have 3-phase right?) or you don’t have a connection or access to connection. We have a grid connected system with battery and are looking to put in a second system off grid because our grid connection won’t take it and connection upgrade is £30k!!!! I think the approach you’re taking is spot on.

[@graememurray2697]

The van wives channel have been doing a great off grid build for the last couple of years. Lots of in depth descriptions and reasoning behind there choices of off grid solutions

[@Dannyp8038]

A KZbinr Tom Pemberton placed solar panels on his cow building not to remove himself from the grid but to help reduce his output. He went into all about us-edge and the system he used and why. I realise it’s not a cow shed but a home but no harm in watching the few episodes he did about it.

[@JimAckroyd]

TomPembertonFarmLife

[@stevenbennett3922]

Good solar panels and good batteries. Also, good ground source heat and cooling. The Americans are streets ahead of us so looking across the Pond would be a good idea.

[@FiscalWoofer]

👍 America is miles ahead of us.

[@jwheeler91]

Heat Geek for your heating. They are experts in heating design (and run the UKs best training for heating design). We had our ASHP designed & fitted by someone who did their courses

[@mandyleeson1]

I love the shot of the hen sneaking through the gate as you and Jo were preoccupied with the pros and cons of off grid😂 As far as that’s concerned, other commenters are far better informed than me. I can only tell you that the solar we installed last year has already paid for itself as electricity costs in Australia are literally extortionate.

[@andrewwilson3663]

Off grid is a waste of time if you already have a connection. Optimising PV yield and demand is a great idea however. The starting point is good data, and I would recommend getting a data logger on your electrical supply asap to understand your consumption profile of living and farming at the site across a full year (or more). That will give you a baseline to understand what the demand profile will look like in your new, larger home. East / West solar arrays are great, boosting am / pm output at a small cost to noon yield. Once you know your demand, you can do the sums on array size - how much over production for 5p SEG payments do you pay for, to gain extra output in the winter months when you need it most. A good PV specialist will be able to model array size and yield vs demand, make (or not) the case for battery storage and find the sweet spot of maximum self-consumption (plus SEG) for minimum cost. The grid is probably your cheapest battery with no 'round trip' losses (often overlooked) associated with batteries, no cost, but obviously a significant spread of input vs output costs. Batteries will be more satisfying, however.

[@gavbansal967]

I think you have enough on your plate at the moment than to consider an off grid system. Stay on grid and use solar PV and battery storage. The most important thing I learned is to have a hybrid inverter that has enough power output to service all your high power appliances. Choosing a hybrid inverter can be difficult, but choose a type that can be parallelled up, giving you the option to expand your system as your family grows. Heating is going to be your biggest challenge, ground source would make sense with UFH throughout your new build, but it is really expensive. If you decide to go completely off grid, you can usually do this by changing the operating mode of the inverter. Using a low off peak tariff is great for topping up your battery storage over night. You will need a G99 application as no doubt there's the potential of being able to dump more than 3.68kW into the grid ( which is the limit of G98), especially if you want to be more self sufficient. My battery storage uses Pylontech batteries, that you can parallel up. Anyone can do it and you can expand the system as funds allow. I started at 4.8kwH storage, and now I'm at 19kwH. Anything you do, big or small would be worth it, just remember to get a high power inverter, or a type that you can parallel to expand your system. Good luck, exciting times!

[@annaviola3392]

Simple living Alaska are another amazing diy couple. They built off grid because they had to. Agree that the trend for off grid is sometimes not as economical or ecological as you’d want for the outlay.

[@Raysnature]

I would recommend rainwater harvesting. I live in a cottage in rural North Devon. It was spring fed when I moved in five years ago, which was fine when it was a holiday cottage but it just couldn't keep up with the needs of a permanent resident and modern living. We looked at a borehole but for various reasons this wasn't practical so we went the rainwater rout. We have a smallish (3Kltr) buried tank. This is fed from half our roof (c40m^2) at present. An on-demand pump supplies the cottage via the same sort of filtration you would have with a bore hole. The system has been running just over two years now and we've been able to measure levels for the last year. Even in the longest dry spell this summer we only just dipped under the 50% capacity. Having said that we are still not up to what will be our maximum consumption so there are plans to include the other half of the roof and put a second tank in.

[@markhearsey4294]

Your bucket and spade made me chuckle tonight, Tim… Great effort making the tools you have to hand work for you…👍🏻

[@gingerelvis]

It's a very good question and a painful one to research. It seems a lot of UK people on youtube who focus on off grid (usually supplementing on grid) are nerdy blokes in residential areas who wanted a hobby that includes obsessing over spreadsheets and power stats. Like you I would want to see a real return on investment in my lifetime if I were to do it. The thing that appeals to me is being in control of my own resources and not at the whim of current affairs. It's fair to say if you're going to do it now would be the time rather than retrofitting in a few years time. It's an ever evolving space so who knows how quickly kit fitted today will become old hat. Water and waste seems like a no brainer though with the amount of run off you will have and the option of a bore hole.

[@RodMcBain]

I think you've got the right idea, if you already have a three phase connection there's no benefit to going off-grid. You can easily have the best of both worlds with a solar and battery system making you mostly self sufficient but also having the backup of the grid when needed and the option to export in summer.

[@ridgmont61]

You can set an off cut of pipe in wet concrete to provide a good hole for lock

[@Razdaman101]

Gosforth Handyman has a great series of a self-build extension.

[@devilmaycare2809]

One thing that IS good is thermal solar. We had it fitted a couple of years ago and it's been such a good money saver. You can choose the size of boiler you want and from that the number of panels you will need ( we have a 250L pressurised tank) and to run that we only needed only one 1.5 x 1m panel facing south. During the summer we can hit 55C+ of heat conversion, our gas boiler is rarely on for most of the year and in the winter we still get 10-15C of heat which helps with the bills. Just a suggestion and it takes up so little space on your roof (we are going to fit solar as well next year as there is still plenty of space), hope everything goes well for you all during the rest of the year.

[@chris_blake83]

I highly recommend solar thermal and with the east/west roof couple of panels each side to capture the benefits of morning sun and evening sun to heat/top up the tanks, with phase change boiler this would be sufficient all year round for HW.

[@protectiongeek]

Certainly, ground-source heat pump based space and water heating seems a good fit, given the land area you have available. Just be careful about going off-grid if using a GSHP as the pump motor starting currents can be quite heavy and an off-grid installation might struggle a bit. It depends a lot, of course, on the GSHP design and the load it will present to the pump motor. [edit - also consider the use of air-to-air heat pumps so you can keep cool in summer as well as heating in winter - no need for complex pipework and it is more efficient and cheaper than air-to-water systems]. If you wanted, you could design your electrical installation to be capable of being operated 'islanded' (not, strictly speaking, off-grid but not always interconnected with it). Usually island operation is only used when there is a disconnection - planned or otherwise - from the grid network, so it's a back-up contingency so you stay on when the grid is off. There's nothing to stop you operating your installation normally islanded and only interconnecting with the grid as and when you need to - perhaps in the winter if your batteries are not fully charging. I have to say I'm not aware of any installation that operates in this way, however. Might be difficult to justify on a cost-benefit basis but as you appear to be supplied from an overhead-line high voltage network, I'm fairly certain you're only too familiar with supply interruptions.

[@chris_blake83]

Just catching up with Videos as saw this. If you have utility services nearby going off grid would be considered pointless unless you want to save the £££ on standing charges. The main thing is aim for is energy neutrality. So any main connected utilities you use in the year is less than that what is either generated/captured/stored through the year. E.g Generating excess electricity in summer to account for the use via mains in the winter.

[@dennisreid4428]

Drill the holes out on the latch and M6 both parts on with coach bolts,large penny washers on the back. job done

[@HomesteadingUncontained]

We are "Semi" off grid at the moment with our grid connected home but have only the standing charge to pay. Our new home we are building (SIPS) will be only connected to the water (law here if available) but no plans for electricity. Main reasons being self reliance and more recently not worrying about the huge surge in tariffs..... run my EV from the it all to.

[@davidcassidy2944]

Going off-grid in the UK is a very difficult thing to do. What would be easier would be using batteries for energy storage. Buy the electricity when its cheap and use when you need to. Get enough storage and you could even sell back. Use a victron system so that when power cuts happen you don't! (It becomes a large UPS) Later you can add on solar to generate what you need in the summer.

[@florahibernica]

There's a good case that its greener to be ON grid if you're ever producing excess power, because you contribute to the resilience of the national supply. No, one home doesn't make that much difference, but in aggregate, they become something meaningful. The feed-in and grants might not be so attractive these days, but neither is the cost of putting in masses of batteries. Heat pumps are just a good way to leverage solar-produced electricity into heating, rather than using electrical heating, which is less efficient, and get off fossil fuels if you can get your building standards up to it - knowing your channel , that seems likely.

[@shaun30-3-mg9zs]

You are doing a great job, and can't wait for that barn conversion in the new year. It is good that you are making these video's and it will be some thing you can look back on when it all finished , keep up the good work 👍

[@footplate0]

You could add a biodigester to get your gas which you could plumb in to the animals waste as well as your own. I believe you end up with some really good ferterliser as a waste product. As you have rightly said you have a heck of an area to collect rainwater and store it underground and if everything else is produced on your farm why not the electricity (sutible array with over the top batteries). Yes the above is not cheep but apart from maintenance you would be bill free (as you have paid in advance). I could also see that with a big enough array you could sell some of your electricity back to the grid. The cableing supplying the farm would be of a high enough grade to be able to take your input to the grid. Just my thoughts, now come the exciting bits and watch what you do. Thanks for posting

[@alanrobins]

Good luck with keeping your chickens in In my experience they can jump higher than the height of the netting (unless you have clipped their wings ) Definitely stay on grid but with maximum solar and battery storage you could also mount your panels in the field to get a south array along as the east west of the barn

[@Alan-bt4ez]

A good Self build channel is - Wild Wonderful off Grid. Although they are American, their set up is very similar I.e. small farm with sheep, chickens and a cow. Raising their 3 x children and building their own house, from the ground up.

[@SomeRandomOldGuy]

Keep your grid connection. Put your money into efficiency, and integrate solar where it makes sense.

[@tombull9670]

100% agree with infrastructure first (lowering demand). I’d stick on grid to simplify electrical design + support the grid with your likely surplus (in summer) - there’s tariffs that will give you a decent price for export these days. Consider ground mounted solar array in case it simplifies roof design and/or helps with planning. They’re much easier to install and maintain (as much as is needed). GSHP or ASHP (or even air to air) seem like good fits (and another reason to stay on grid IMO), but as you’ve said, most important thing is to reduce heating demand whatever technology is used to provide heating.

[@vaalrus]

I’ve been doing a lot of horse fencing and gate refurbs the last several years. I’ve become very fond of GRK RSS torx drive screws for their strength and smooth, critter-hide friendly heads. Downside is they aren’t cheap. 150mm x 8mm or 10mm screws can be up to $2.oo CAD. But it beats pre-drilling for lag-screws with their sharp hex head. I can hang a load of 4m fence rails right quick.

[@sweenpole2001]

If you're doing a borehole for water, get them to do another one for ground source heat pump?

[@ThisOldManOfTheSea]

Interesting to see you wondering if putting the gate-bottom bolt into the wet concrete would work - 30 years ago I was faced with a similar conundrum so I covered the bottom half of the bolt in axle grease and then poured the concrete around the bolt with an escutcheon plate in the top 1/2 inch of concrete. I withdrew the bolt after a couple of hours when I guessed the concrete would be firm enough and 30 years later it’s still going strong. As for the off-grid/on-grid discussion - I’m much to old now to see these decisions as anything other than an ethical decision rather than an an economic one but if I was in your position I’d probably do a 10/15 year cost projection for each of the different solutions to see what, if any differences there are for each scenario. Gut feel is that the Scandinavians have the best starting point in investing a large proportion of your 10/15 year budget in upfront insulation/triple-glazing costs. Invest in thermal mass for warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Use the most effective form of heating your property and hot water but implemented in a way that if you decide to change from gas/oil/electricty/ground source/solar battery bank etc to another form of heating you can do so without having to change the infrastructure of your house. An example might be that underfloor heating pipes can have the pipes carrying the water connected via manifolds to a whole series of different heating systems but can all systems heat the water to a sufficient temperature. When looking at the 10/15 year projections you’re then faced with the decision we all have to face, unless we’re wealthy, is that how much can I afford to invest up front for more benefits during the later years although the projected lifespan of solar panels and storage batteries might well fall within that 10/15 year projection - who knows? We have an oil-fired Aga which was installed in 1941 and is still working (cost £100 for a 4 oven Aga so that was a good investment) and as it’s gravity fed it’s the only thing which works when we lose our electricity supply (which Scottish and Southern seem to do quite regularly - like 3 days ago for 4 hours!). I assume, as you’ve not mentioned it, that you don’t suffer from rural power outages where you live. In summary (after all that waffle) if I was in your position of building a tailor-made property and at your time of life I’d invest most in ensuring I had to use as little power as possible.

[@liammcgothigan2094]

Hi guys good job

[@54mgtf22]

Hey Tim. Love your work 👍

[@janaschuster2813]

We have a reed bed sewage system and that works great, and it’s actually a beautiful feature in the landscape. Rain water harvesting will be essential with more and more droughts coming our way. Using ground source that’s buried only 4ft deep in a field could be a great solution for a base level of heating that can be amped up on truly cold days with log burners. And PVs on a roof or in a field for electricity and the national grid as a backup (or to feed into and make a little money) will sort you out. Above all, I would look at European standards if insulation and invest heavily there, for your roof, walls and underneath your flooring (even just for normal builds insulation standards are much higher than what is demanded in the UK, before we even look at passive house levels) - you’d be amazed at how much the cold rising from the ground up can keep a building cold and more expensive to heat. And if you’re going to invest in anything building material wise, I’d say focus on your windows and exterior doors. I grew up in a country where tripple glazing is standard (Austria) and though I’ve lived in the UK for 16 years now, usually in beautiful historic buildings, I still miss the windows of my childhood every single day.

[@nicktheobald3128]

Most people go “off grid” if they don’t already have a grid connection, and the cost of making that connection is prohibitive. As you already have the grid connection there is no point disconnecting from it. Just use as little as possible, and take advantage of it when you need it.

[@colinrussell7587]

We are just about to start our self-build journey too having recently purchased an acre of land in Scottish Borders. Will be staying on grid with plenty of solar and battery storage, making use of a TOU tariff to charge an EV and battery when the sun doesn’t shine. We’ve also decided to go all electric with the heating and will be investigating ground source against air source heat pump tech. You’ve obviously got plenty of space for a ground source there and could probably get the underground part of a ground source done at the same time you’re digging the bore hole. Will be watching your progress with great interest!

[@user-yg6ft1iu1i]

You can consider having your solar system on the ground and not on the roof depending on regulations. But one thing to consider is the future, I really don’t believe costs of fuel , electricity is ever going down Solar panels last about 40 years. I’m not off the grid but I break even with my system. But I don’t know how many good solar days you get

[@thediydadreading]

I think if you aimed for the ability to run entirely off grid but with the ability to tie in as and when needed that would be the ideal situation. Worst case scenario is that 99% of your bills are covered for the year and you'll be helping to make it easier for the grid to run on renewables by decreasing demand. With the land that you have you could easily put up a couple of compact wind turbines (the cylindrical kind) and I think that would get you almost entirely self sufficient.

[@susanknight8961]

You asked for a channel that’s in a barn or house. Red poppy ranch just did a conversion apartment garage that might help with some ideas.

[@phillewis3623]

Try country view acres. They did a full install of solar they seem pleased with the end result

[@clydedecker765]

Might I suggest Red Poppy Ranch. His approach if totally off grid but he has a 10 kw backup generator just in case. And he is planning another array of solar panels. BUT, he has a large bank of LiFe batteries and runs a house and large shop and uses solar almost exclusively. He has plumbed in a propane gas system but uses firewood he cuts from his property. Lumnah Acres has a large solar system that is different but more total off grid approaches Again much larger than yours. His big advantage is a large boiler system running firewood to underfloor heating to house barn/shop and a future big house. ALL run off solar with the huge boiler that only needs reloaded once or twice a day to run all the heat needs..

[@MarkServenti]

Totally agree that it makes no sense to be ‘off grid’ in your situation for all the reasons you have outlined. I have been living on my land in a caravan ‘off grid’ for three years. I had no choice as I could not get mains supply. When I build my house next year it will be connected to the grid and mains water. I just can’t afford the capital cost of solar yet. Solar is also somewhat over rated; but it can be added later, maybe using recycled panels? It could be characterised as ‘Eco Bling’ especially in UK climate. Water harvesting makes a lot of sense and can be done as part of your wider farm sustainability strategy. I will be using the rainwater in a small pond. But don’t have the space for drinking water storage and filtering. You may have? Wind and water could be added into the mix as future projects. Especially as part of your farm project. But overall surely alternative energy solutions should be tested on a cost benefit basis. Passive solar design, insulation, air tightness, material choices are in my opinion more significant choices in environmental design solutions. I’m being pushed into ASHP to comply with building regs and I’m curious to test that, especially as I get a grant! Look forward to seeing the latest barn design when it’s ready to share.

[@AndrewLumsden]

Very wise to remain ON the grid, but with so much roof "acreage" you have a good opportunity to max out on solar panels, and I imagine space enough at some point in the barn for some battery capacity. Probably enough space in one of the fields for additional ground, frame mounted panels if necessary. I can't see that it would take very many years to recoup the cost and get some sort of feed in tariff paying you back too. Get along to the Solar and Storage exhibition at the NEC this week if you can!

[@tom314]

I'm currently looking at solar, battery & heat pump. I also only have water and electricity to my house. Would I go off grid, no, not at all. The amount of extra to spend on going from a low cost reliance on the grid to none is huge. We're going for ~7kW PV, 27kWh battery storage and a 16kW air source heat pump. In the winter we can charge the batteries and car overnight and discharge the battery during the day. With the air source heat pump and a flow temperature of upto 40 C you're looking at a SCOP of around 4. With a very very well insulated house, underfloor heating throughout and a ground source heat pump you can get up to a SCOP of around 5. With a retrofit the extra expense and difficulty of achieving the higher SCOP for us wasn't worth it. For you it'll just be the extra expense of the ground work and heat pump itself.

[@josi7836]

Water harvesting, reed-bed sewage systems and composting loos (particularly useful outdoors or in workshops) would seem to be the most achievable and genuinely eco-friendly facilities. We have a tiny metal roof that harvests ridiculous quantities of water for irrigating the garden. Maybe a wood burning cook-stove for the kitchen. Not very eco-friendly but great for self-sufficiency in winter. It also gives, heat, cooking facilities and water heating for power-outage situations. Possibly solar for water heating, with a back-up on-grid facility. I’m not convinced that other off-grid options are genuinely particularly eco-friendly. Like you say, it’s better to focus on insulation. One thing I would suggest, is double doors on every entrance/exit, with big porches or solar rooms that act as a wind-proof barrier between the inside and out. Basically, a minimally-heated boot room by every door. Stagger the two doors at opposite ends of the boot room and it helps to create a warm air barrier. This is super-useful for families that spend lots of time in and out of the house. We had a big lean-to greenhouse on the back of our home and it was an absolute godsend. All the mud and cold air was contained and it was easy to clean. Good luck!

[@antoinelegoux2288]

Knowing your skills, your tools and the surface available, ground source heat pump seems sensible. Obviously solar is an idea (but not the cleanest in my engineer opinion ^^). A way to reuse water from the sky and dispose of it cleanly could be nice! Without going filtration etc…. But toilets etc… I was thinking about the first litter of cold water of our showers…. Would be nice to put it into a diverted network to reuse it! Let’s start with a bucket first! But I digress…. Ground source heat pump, vertical (expensive) or horizontal (DIY) and water harvesting for your garden and animals ?

[@TMZ-5jr]

What’s the projected energy usage ? And your bill? 3 phase likely to face much higher grid charges, aside from that doubling of energy costs over the next decade. Spend money on insulation, MHVR, air tightness first.

[@TheRestorationCouple]

exactly that. All about the build spec first and reduce the demand as much as possible. I think we will always retain the 3 phase as it supplies other buildings but enough renewables to maintain the house would be great. It’s not a small space so maxing thermal properties is the priority. 👍

[@JohnR31415]

Diversify, diversify, diversify. But the solid 50Hz from the grid is really nice, and the ability to export shouldn’t be underestimated. You’ve got space for wind and solar, possibly some small hydro as well. Need to look at whatever historical usage data you can get…

[@JohnR31415]

I’d go for all electric (sort of). You’re doing enough ground work for a GSHP to be a really good option. Plenty of solar - with a decent battery setup - but you’ll want something for winter generation - wind or hydro. You could go for a really large low grade thermal store - heated over the summer and consumed over the winter. The final piece I’d suggest is to have a wood burner for cosy evenings, and a back boiler to provide winter hot water.

[@phy7dop]

I would be looking at wet underfloor heating in the slab, that will run well off a heat pump with the flow temps. Solar on the roof (albeit tied into the grid) to offset the electric bill from the heat pump. I don't see any point in being "off grid" unless you need to, i.e. your not on the mains and the connection costs are massive. If your already connected, why not use it. You can still use solar for renewable energy, but your using the grid effectively as a huge battery for when your solar is over/under producing.

[@dmhold1]

We have solar and battery allong with mains gas and electric. I would not recomend going completely off grid as there is no chance of selling energy back to the grid,and energy management during the winter would be a nightmare. We have gone with Octopus Flux and the credit is still building.Our DD is only £40 per month (payed nothing last winter and over £300 in credit). Only 2 of us in a 2bed semi so your system would need to be large to make it work profitably. It might be a good idea to use some of the roof space for solar hot water heating.

[@matthewwakeham2206]

Solar with batteries and a gateway (Givenergy do one) to allow you to use the battery in a powercut. Stay connected to the grid as it is likely you will be able to charge on a cheap rate and sell back to the grid. It said on the news today that last winter, people had the potential to make £300 doing that in a trial scheme where people with batteries were paid to feed into the grid when demand was high. Boreholes are expensive to run, you have to buy and maintain the pump and filtration plant. UV steriliser service every 12 months, change particulate filters maybe every few months, renew the gravel filters every few years. If you have a powercut then no water. If the water quality is not good it could cause problems with pipes and boilers etc. If you have mains water then use it for the house, spring water or rain water for the livestock. I would avoid collecting water from the asbestos roof (if it needs repair it would be an idea to get rid of it!).

[@alexbenstead]

Maximising solar power and energy efficiency, while being connected to the grid, helps to build a more resilient grid overall. You’re reducing demand on the grid, so more of the national renewable energy can go elsewhere, and even feeding into the grid when possible, creating even more available supply of renewables.

[@philipelliott5821]

Because you have the land I think a ground source loped system 4 feet down is normally cheaper than a bore hole for your heating system mixed with a wet underfloor heating system. And you could do a lot of the work yourself. Keep up the good work.

[@chris_blake83]

While they have the land going the extra expense and doing bore holes the heating capabilities is more efficient and more stable.

[@martinkelman9386]

I’m thinking about the same thing for our project in Portugal. Portugal’s grid is made up of a high % of renewables, we will play with solar for hot water and a heat pump for the rest of our energy needs. I think off grid is becoming an ideology I bit like organic.

[@squeaky_honda]

There's a misunderstanding about off-grid vs full-offgrid. The latter does not make sense if you have access to utilities. The former is a way to not deal with G99 and G100 permits with your DNO, and not even G98 (which just involves writing a letter to the DNO that you have up to 3.6kW per phase generation). The various "off-grid inverters/storage" products are used for both types. DIY solar/batteries make sense because the costs are: solution 1) no solar, just 10kWh batteries for £2k and an inverter+charger+mppt for £1k. Charge during Economy7 at 3x lower electricity price, reduce your entire electric bill by 3x. No need for large space for solar panels. If your annual bill for electricity was £2k, now you'd be saving £1300 pa. Over 25 years you'll have to replace the inverter 2 times, so a total cost of £5k while saving £32k solution 2) add solar. Costs just £2k extra for 8kW if you DIY the mounting. Saving £50k. If the total cost is higher, none of these solutions make financial sense. Just put the money in an index-fund and you'll get more back in 25 years. Being fully-green doesn't require any effort: just switch to a provider that is already fully-green. It's a few clicks away online.

[@troyboy4345]

Ground source heat pump system, you got the machinery, that goes towards reducing your install costs for a start .... i am sure you have looked into it, if not please do ... at the very least for your heating 👍

[@AaronC684]

I think completely off grid is probably a bad idea unless absolutely required, but you already have the power there, so would be daft not to connect. Keeping on grid as you say allows you to export power and earn money which will pay for thd standing charge and still earn you money. There's a number of tariffs that allow you to see when you'll get the most for the power and you choose when to export allowing you to maximise your return and can export from your battery storage I believe. Artisan Electrics on KZbin talk a lot about Solar systems and do a lot of install videos. There's another guy who has his whole house running on solar but is still connected but as he has so much battery storage, he's never drawing from the grid and is only connected to export as above at the times where he's going to get the most money per unit. Can't for the life in me remember his name though.

[@daviddarnell8898]

It is not an either/or with solar. There's a thing called net metering where you send excess power to the grid spinning your meter backwards and using the grid as your battery when you aren't producing or not producing enough. The frustrating part of this is for the safety of your linemen you produce no power when the grid is down. You can also do a mix system where you have a sub panel and a switch so some circuits have solar or battery plus solar when the grid goes down and otherwise acts as a grid connected system. This sub panel is often called a critical loads panel, with off grid backup.

[@Kx110x]

Hi all. Has the planing department seen sense regarding the removal of the asbestos roof ? . As regards the power issue I’d be looking at a broad approach, obviously staying on grid but maximising solar . Not so keen on the battery storage aspect due to recent events , but definitely making use of your access to large amounts of wood on the property via an efficient wood burner . Rain water harvesting is definitely a possibility because of the sheer size of your roof . I would doubt a sealed system would be a good idea or even practical , but a bit of ventilation with heat recovery would be a sensible approach . I have to agree with you getting to make the right decision is a big problem, which is only compounded by all these companies saying they have the answer . Only to disappear when things don’t work as they should , as for heat pumps these in your situation might actually be a possibility . Which coming from me is no mean statement , but looking at the area you’re potentially going to cover nothing is going to be cheap . I’m sure what ever way you choose , it will be with a practical common sense approach that is so typical of every thing you do . Bless you all 👍

[@tomstovell7425]

We live in a 3 bed end of terrace and we’re considering solar and what to do when heating system needs replacing (currently gas). We’re not looking at self-sufficient more like you say, less reliant. We have looked at an Eddi system with solar for water, battery and potentially an ev point for future proofing. Insulation is key with heating/cooling and we have a log burner which I think you have said would be installed and makes sense as you have a ready supply of wood. Grey water system is something I would like but unfortunately isn’t feasible with our garden. I don’t think there is a perfect or ideal system but looking for a happy medium and common sense approach is key. Sorry it’s not clear cut advice, more just musings. You do what you can and go from there. Separate put the financials as well as you’re never going to fully recoup/win. If you look at boilers, you only recoup against the previous boiler. We’re now looking at complete new systems so effectively we’re starting back at zero.

[@dmarriott9701]

A ‘too late’ suggestion for the gate stop. Knock a piece of steel tube of sufficient size to take the drop bolt wherever it’s required and put a concrete pad around it. I think your idea may be ok until the gate slams shut with some force and dislodges the pad

[@dougsaunders8109]

What ever you do because you are now more remote you will need to be more self sufficient. State service providers work on a numbers game. If there is a power cut and you have 20 people down , less of a priority than the 2000 in the local village, understandably. Heat and back up power are therefore important considerations. We live on the outskirts of London in a fairly rural area, storm goes, can’t get out of area, we have to clear the trees. Power goes down we are not a priority as ten families in a hamlet

[@TheRestorationCouple]

Good points. I hadn’t thought about where we would fall priority wise!

[@juliephillips955]

Sarah Beeny’s New Country Lives looked at construction and insulation of a very large new build

[@mwffoto7698]

I’m no expert but if I was you, I’d stay on grid with a full solar set up as pretty soon in the next 10/15 years the grid is going to struggle to cope so you’ll have a good alternative. And as batteries get cheaper you can add to your array. Ref Grand designs episodes… from mem a big space like yours there was a couple who were both art teachers or something and had a HUGE bar with concrete grin silos at one end which they kept and made into staircases. They kept it as a huge void. Maybe 3 or 4 yrs ago? They had a cool mesh system on the roof too so it looked like there weren’t skylights but there were.

[@johndavies6246]

There's a few that I have watched on YT, 'Fully Charged Show' have done a couple, 'Undecided with Matt Farrell' was an interesting approach from the US, Tom Pemberton and Artisan have been mentioned, also 'EV Puzzle' has done some solar and battery installations with cost reduction in mind with lots of stats. As has also been said 'Off Grid' is an overused and misunderstood term, with multiple choice definitions. That roof is just begging for solar PV's and also solar thermal panels. The ECO aspect is worthy, but needn't be the main driver. One other thing to add, is regarding the future cost of electricity, I'm of an age that has seen petrol rise from 35p a gallon to £2+ a litre (£9.00 a gallon ) !! Every crisis that has drastically increased the price of a commodity has never seen that commodity drop down to pre-crisis levels. The same will apply to electricity costs post Ukraine. It doesn't even require a crisis for costs to go up - I used to sell flowers and there were price increases when buying at the wholesaler when decimalisation came in and when Europe converted to the Euro. It is a financial fact of life - what goes up doesn't always come down!!

[@mrfr87]

If you’ve already got power even if you get solar you want to be connected to the grid so when your not using the electricity from solar it can go to the grid.

[@michaelbeane4749]

Hi guys. Don’t know if you’ve thought about ground source heat pumps as you didn’t give it any mention in the video. I’m now looking at heat installation ideas for an extension. Didn’t know if you’d found any videos on the subject (pros/ cons)would be great to see other people’s opinions on it after they have installed it. Or not installed it an explanation into why.

[@marks-0-0]

Id say take advantage of a combined system. Solar and battery storage using cheaper overnight tarrifs for starters. I think electric is the way to go, you can expand your setup overtime to heatpumps plus EV's for their low running costs.

[@FiscalWoofer]

I’m battling with similar decisions. I think fully off grid really means self sufficient, right, no fossil based fuels delivered. With that roof size you can get a ton of solar but you would be best to store that in batteries, as the energy suppliers give low feed in tariff. By far the cheapest most powerful fuel is big Grant oil boiler tons of insulation and perhaps solar for heating some thermal store / water tank. It’s all about insulation as you know. I’m doing a 14th church, so all has to be expensive breathable insulation real hassle as modern PIR is so cheap and easy. Going fully green solar battery could work for you, but it’s not cheap. Follow Artisan Electric for mid sized solar builds, I’d start looking at commercial suppliers. I’m too big for residential really, but too small for commercial. We don’t have 3phase, so that complicates open feed to and from the DNO as if only electric our potential draw is too high for single…long and short the tech is there but it’s so very expensive compared to oil. Also getting a good and reasonable installer is tough…be interested to hear where you go…

[@robertbamford8266]

A few thoughts: How reliable is your grid? (A freezer is good for a few days w/o power). Can you sell excess power back to the power company?

[@soulman956]

Check out Wild Wonderful off Grid . Great channel like yours , I always think of the American version of yours, a hard working family like yours .

[@stitch4076]

Where will you keep the animals once the barn has been converted into a home?

[@TheRestorationCouple]

All ours are out all year round, only brought in the goats and sheep for kidding/lambing but other more suitable buildings for that if needed.

[@annaviola3392]

I was wondering about that too. The barn was a very cosy place for the sheep and goats to birth and seemed chockablock at the time. Can’t wait to see their new digs!

[@phoenix-xu9xj]

Def get solar. It’s great looking at the app and seeing no grid usage. Def recommend Solaredge with a battery or i wouldn’t get solar if you have no south facing. We have just 1 on south. Wish we had more. We have East and west too but not as effective as south. But you do have land so you could have a land array easily. Just don’t call it off grid.

[@WhyHandlesNow]

Go on grid because... why not. If it's already there it makes sense to always have that as an option. 100% Do industrial biomass again, those videos were glorious! But on a serious note - Solar panels from a sponsor on some of the Ag sheds in the future would be great to do. Potentially a few good collaborations with some of the energy / heating channels out there. I've seen some incredible stats on solar thermal efficiency for hot water and then solar for electric... Inevitable GSHP debate incoming when you hit heating, given you've got the land for horizontal

[@WhyHandlesNow]

Lol, just got to your comments on the Biomas... you mean to say you didn't like it?! :L

[@fantaf1]

you could create a field array on some land

[@my.copiedvids]

Off grid can be an over-used term and lose a lot of meaning. I was thinking about the chalet being moved around your site when you've got the barn converted - not that it would have much great use other than agricultural labourer lodgings. If it did have solar and minimal power use and with wood heating it may be more viable than some ideas. I assume you can't change use of fields without planning permission that easily and can't start using the pretty corner of a secluded field for the mobile home when you've finished with it. Also, the roof potential for solar is great but the payback in the short term isn't great so a plan of installing solar panels in stages may not be too bad an idea - check out how much you can change them without needing to change your supply to grid contract - you may need to get the local authority in for each change made to be registered to the building. If there's too much red tape, it may be better to do it in one big job. I was wondering if you'd seen any of the Grand Designs with the off-grid reed gardens that process grey-water waste from a home - because of the brook you could have a series of reed beds that all carry out the filtering required to make the water safe to enter the waterway. That again could be a bureaucratic nightmare but may add a great deal of appeal to the property. I think that would be an interesting project but on top of everything else with a property being developed, it may just be too much to bother with. One of your digger owning neighbours who could cut the base for the reedbed path who thought the project seemed interesting may be a must. Maybe checking out the water-filtering reeds could help with the cleanliness of the water on the farm and be worth trying to grow masses of them.....?

[@TheRestorationCouple]

Looked at our sewerage treatment options last week and may well incorporate a reed bed. Only as an additional stage and not required for regs but it would help slow flow and clean further. 👍 Will definitely be needing to chat with DNO on what limits there may be with solar though.

[@my.copiedvids]

@@TheRestorationCouple Black water and grey water may be better to keep entirely separate and grey be fine for a reed bed. A sceptic tank looks viable with overflow water going to the brook. The problem I think I heard about was when an installer of solar panels didn't inform the DNO as they should have, that a property had solar installed. This meant the DNO couldn't validate that a property had solar and then the owner couldn't move energy companies. I'm sure there's more red tape than that but if it's not a lot of work to update the DNO with an extra bank of solar panels that's one thing but it may require re-certification by a qualified electrician too - worth knowing a few details on this.

[@rhoyphilby4628]

I'd certainly advocate working towards being self sufficient rather than jumping straight into 'off-grid'. A lot of work is going on in the renewables sector on how to balance load vs renewable availability. Combining Solar with a battery (and maybe a small wind turbine?) can lead to negative electricity bills, but unless you go huge on the battery you will likely need to pull from the grid at times. Once you have a good few years data, factoring in the increased energy use of teenage children as your kids get older (long showers, hair dryers, games consoles, etc..) , you might able to stop paying the connection charge to your energy company (but then you might loose access to any feed-in tariffs they offer).

[@antoinelegoux2288]

I have see guys using old Prius as home battery! You would also have the space 😂😂

[@Oggy1086]

I was only thinking about the campervan the other day...did it get snapped up quickly? Did I miss an update?

[@TheRestorationCouple]

Yeah it sold in a few days, funds went to building the cabin. 😂

[@GJCOrado]

PVC sleeve in the concrete during the pour of concrete would be nice.

[@johnmit]

Going off-grid for electric only really makes sense if you are avoiding the grid connection fees in the first place, which you aren't. And all your off-grid calculations will be thrown completely off as soon as you get an EV and more electrically powered farm machinery - which is more than likely within the next 10 years. And although you didn't touch on it, for heating focus on insulation and at that point ASHP or A2A (e.g. small aircon units) will almost certainly make the most sense. ASHPs are the most cost effective, flexible and are currently where all the R&D investments and performance gains are being made. Modern ASHP units are now on par for SCoP with GSHP, with significantly lower install costs. GSHP still has the edge if you have a very very high heating demand in winter (e.g. a stately home) - but you won't with a new build high insulation home. You're hot water demand will likely be higher.

[@dazryan3463]

Just be aware of the new energy bill being pushed through. It gives the state almost total control of your supply, including turning it off when the state deems it necessary

[@FiscalWoofer]

Agree if you have input connection from grid, no point in canning it.

[@TheRestorationCouple]

I like to think we can manage without it but makes sense to stay connected.

[@wgoconnor33]

I recommend “ Lumnah acres” “ Just a few acres “ and “ Country View Acres “

[@inh415]

Why do you need a full planning app to do solar? Just add it after under permitted development..... 4kw of panels only costs £1000 inc VAT, Lifepo4 batterys can be as cheep as £260 per kWh with 8 year warranty. Grand or 2 for a hybrid inverter and youe good to go. No MCS required with octopus so just need DNO approval and a spark for final conections.

[@vaalrus]

Off-grid as a political statement is performative, as far as I can see. Being grid-tied and having solar has multiple benefits, if you’re willing to front the capital for future savings/export earnings. Over the decades, I’ve done a lot of rural water systems, be it a well or a high-volume cistern fro trucked potable water, or hybrid potable/rainwater collection. We personally collect rainwater for “industrial” tasks and watering gardens, but we truck water in 13 cubic metres at a time, as drilling a well in this geology means 400 expensive feet of borehole for poor quality water that requires aeration and/or softening. For the cost of the well, I can install a cistern and truck water for 50 years.

[@bisheddie7155]

Id definately be thinking generate your own electricity maybe some battery storge and a ground source heat pump 👍🏻. Stay on the electric grid tho makes no sense coming off it

[@mphunty]

Think you are right that you do not need to be completely off grid, but if i was in your position i would be looking at the long term investment. I am no expert but beleive solar is now cost effective and investiment will keep future out goings to a minimum, but only if your usage profile works with it. Stoarge systems are where the expense is and required to reduce the reliance and grid costs. I think the only thing off grid truly does is bring more appreciation of that effort making into everything effecient. I have just completed a 14 hike on 200 grams of gas and 70,000 odd mah; you really can survive on very little, but I wouldnt want to live full time like that. Perhaps invest in some energy monitoring to look at what you are using in each of the buildings already, if 70% of your energy usage is over night because thats when everyone sits down in front of the TV and you put all the tools onto charge, you are not going to benefit greatly from solar without storing it.

[@BillyNoMates1974]

what about a half way solution. Grid tied inverters. No batteries to worry about and they provide power to cover your house base load. No massive bill in 10 years time for a new battery either.

[@stevecraft00]

As much solar as you can afford. As you've room, stick a couple of wind turbines up too! And batteries. Lots of batteries.

[@BLAZERSEAMS]

Why not sink a piece of pipe into the ground for the bolt to drop into?

[@joyardley1742]

Magnets Tim on the gate?