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Solar is not something I would be interested in. I've known enough people having trouble getting homeowners insurance with them not to mention the cost of having them removed when any roof work needs to be done. They are not a great cost saver in FL after accounting for panel costs, I can't imagine it would be any better in NC.
I also think the generator recommendations are way off.
We are at about 2100' feet between Marshall and Weaverville. I can't remember a time the power went off for more than a few minutes. It's a rural property on a dead-end road - French Broad maintains the infrastructure, but that's it. It's not like we have underground power.
If you have tons of coolers with a lot of meat or something like that in them where you stand to lose a lot of money with a lengthy street power outage, I understand. Unless you are extremely isolated, and at high elevation that could maybe result in much more severe winter weather would cause delays in restoration service, I can't see many use cases for a generator for a typical household.
I also think the generator recommendations are way off.
We are at about 2100' feet between Marshall and Weaverville. I can't remember a time the power went off for more than a few minutes. It's a rural property on a dead-end road - French Broad maintains the infrastructure, but that's it. It's not like we have underground power.
If you have tons of coolers with a lot of meat or something like that in them where you stand to lose a lot of money with a lengthy street power outage, I understand. Unless you are extremely isolated, and at high elevation that could maybe result in much more severe winter weather would cause delays in restoration service, I can't see many use cases for a generator for a typical household.
I disagree. Generators are like insurance - you don’t need one until you do. The peace of mind knowing you will never lose power is priceless. Whole house generators are worth every penney.
Location: When things get hot they expand. Im not fat. Im hot.
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Originally Posted by AB03
Solar is not something I would be interested in. I've known enough people having trouble getting homeowners insurance with them not to mention the cost of having them removed when any roof work needs to be done. They are not a great cost saver in FL after accounting for panel costs, I can't imagine it would be any better in NC.
I looked at solar panels and I agree with you. Too expensive. And you have to fuss with them. Clean them off and check the panel angle and do battery stuff. Im not very mechanical and Im not climbing up on the roof. What I was looking at was a solar generator. Kill two birds.........
Heres a little more info on passive solar. Some things arent that costly. My house is 1860 but the builders did incorporate a few of these things.
We are over 5000 feet on a Northwest facing ridge that gets harsh windy weather, as are our 27 neighbors. There are 4 or 5 houses with whole house generators. In the past decade there has not been a power loss of longer than 4 hours. We have yet to wish we'd spent money on a generator. Maybe someday we may be sorry, but I doubt it. We have a propane fired gas insert that puts out a good bit of heat and an emergency kerosene drip heater in the basement. Water and power are a luxury we can live without if necessary.
In fact, it's been 2 years since we've lost power, and that was for under 30 minutes. The power coop has been great at jumping on outages here in our little corner of WNC.
A couple of other ideas. The ceiling fans should have a remote option to switch directions from summer to winter. There should be more than the required number of outlets in kitchen and bathrooms. Also plan for charging small appliances with USB outlets. In open areas, there should be floor outlets to run local lighting.
Especially the newer electrical outlets with USB and USB-C outlets built in.
...........
It is amazing the number of new appliances that need a USB port: an electric razor, a battery charger. Fortunately, some bathroom vanities and end-tables are being sold with USB ports build-in so that you can charge your phone near where you sleep.
The idea of having Wi-fi available in the crawl-space is great.
I suggest an outdoor area where you could have a small solar panel to charge batteries. Those batteries should be attached to an inverter to to run parts of your house in the event of a power outage. I also agree that a generator is a good idea.
A slightly different perspective on PV (solar) that may or not be applicable to your intended location or needs. I do agree that "going solar" is difficult to justify from a purely financial perspective. IIRC, we pay Haywood EMC Co-op between $.11 and $.13 per kWh and they pay us about $.04 per kWh that we export to the grid. So, without net metering there isn't much benefit to sending power back to the grid. It's more cost-effective to store excess power in a way that you can use later (e.g., battery, large electric hotwater tank, elevated water supply, etc.). Given the rate structure, it's better to self-maximize your use than export.
We live in a somewhat rural location with 15 acres located on the northeast shoulder of Cold Mountain in Cruso at about 3300' with a well, heat pumps and 2 backup heat options (40K BTU gas log insert, 500 Gallon propane tank and 23K BTU backup kerosine heater). We had noticed quite a few power outages during the first few Summers we lived here (our winters in FL) and these outages continued in the times we were not here. The power interruptions were typically less than 30 minutes with several lasting less than 3 hours. Since we planned to live here full-time (as we currently do), we knew we needed a solution to the intermittant power outages. Factored into our decision is a geography factor: a large number of large culverts/bridges we have to cross to "get out" of our property and then out of Cruso (going either way on Hwy 276). We thought about going with a generator (we already had the propane), but decided that if there was a serious problem we'd probably not be able to get out, nor supplies get in for an extended time. So we decided to go with PV and a battery backup. Our PV panels are not on the roof, but mounted on poles on a southern facing slope below our cabin (hidden from our view and easy to access for maintenance, if needed). It's silent in operation and fail-over during a power outage is completely automatic.
Make no mistake, our PV system was not sized to run everything in the house. But it does run fans, TV, lights, refrigerators and most importantly, our well (though we did have to get a soft-start Grundfos well pump to keep the start-up amps low enough). Our PV isn't big enough to handle HVAC (heat strips or compressor start-up amps) or Electric Water Heater - though HW could be done with just a little more time/money. FWIW - once installed there is hardly any maintenance with the PV system...only had one issue in the 4 years we've had them (bad connector).
Well, along comes TS Fred in 2021 and it hit Cruso pretty hard. One bridge was impacted (down to 1 lane), but the challenge for us was that the state-maintained road (Cold Creek Rd) was completely washed out and impassable (I maybe could have gotten my highly modified Jeep Wrangler out.). Anyway, the power was out for about a week or so and our PV backup system performed flawlessly. We did conserve hot water (blanket over tank, quick showers, used stove for hot water to wash dishes) and it lasted for the 2 of us until the power was restored - barely (last shower was luke warm at best). I was about to temp-wire the water heater up to a backup gasoline generator to generate another batch of hot water, but power came back on as I was contemplating the task. When my current 50 gallon hot water tank goes out, I'm going to replace it with a much larger tank...might also get an A/B switch (like boats have for ship/shore power) so that I can have the option to easily generate HW using the PV system, if needed.
Some other thoughts on your start from scratch home...
If you go with heat pumps, make sure you locate the outside units with care. Some considerations: low-temp efficiency units for generating heat, noise, protect from snow accumulation, access (to easily maintain, brush off snow), no plants, mowers, weedeaters, etc.
One thing we really like is the heated floor in our bathroom...use good insulation in the walls/ceiling/floor and you can just set the temp, shut the door and always have a nice warm bathroom in the winter for very little power consumption.
I recommend that you install whatever the latest version of network cabling throughout your home, including at least one drop *every room* and every location you might want to put an IP Camera or antenna (i.e., ceilings, corner eaves, apex eaves, well pump room, garage, barn, etc.) Try for "home runs" from each drop back to whereever your "IT Closet/internet connection" will be located. You can *never* have too many drops.
Interesting thread, as I knew it would be: v good posters on this forum, imo...
To reiterate my opins:
-Power outs are v common on the Waynesville side and the Maggie side of Eagle's Nest Mtn. Yes, Duke Progress is much better at estimated back on time and the power truck crews are on the ball. But, Everyone on our Mtn ridge/top has a whole house gen, and many houses 'down the mtn' around Laurel Ridge Golf Club have had WH Gens installed, over the past several years.
Even with our little mtn top community having mostly underground utilities, most power lines from 'below' in Waynesville or M Valley have above ground poles/lines down at main road level and up, for quite some distance = Achilles heel in our area and M Valley.
For ~$6 or 7Gs installed, one has complete piece of mind vs power out for an hour or for the days we have experienced. Besides food loss & maybe heat/hot water source loss, it is not fun sitting in the dark cave man style for a few evenings/nights in a row, minus WH Gen.
-At OP's elevation, a quality newer tech heat pump may be the heat source. Dunno... not designing their house but a decent wood stove for looks/ambiance and occasional fire does not 'hurt'. I remain a propane fan for everyday hot water/occasional forced air and under floor heat.
-Insulation: 2x6 vertical studs allow for good ext wall insulation. Ceiling/attic: we have 4-6" polyisocynaurate panels in attic 'floor', esp above the 3 cathedral ceilings we have = serious R value.
R-30 batts in other ceiling areas. Be sure soffits are 'breathing' kind, either metal/hardie type, et al and attic ceiling has baffles or carefully laid insul away from horizontal soffit over hang edges, interior attic wise. Builders send their rookies up in attic often, and those rooks even from 'insulation subcontractor' may not do the job they should.
Interior insulation: in the past few houses over the past several decades we have spent the not pricey $ on interior wall insulation batts. Non faced, not extravagant cost and makes for a very 'quiet' house inside, inc. wrapping some of the main/upstairs large vertical soil pipes. But the quiet walls/rooms are really nice, imo.
-Exc point from getagag on 'outlets': our 23 yr old house had old style receptacles; new house should have USB/C by the dozen, imo. Same for v10tdi's points on wifi/drops, et al.
I suspect I/we have spent enough of the OP's budget... I will shut up for awhile.
GL, mD
PS: If the OP is not used to regular black bear visits, he will be. Our main top deck is ~ 20ft off the ground. Our usual suspect come up like it's a ladder/SWAT team.
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A slightly different perspective on PV
