Off grid shop

Like Bi11 I’ve pondered the idea of off grid for decades and you see very few who make anything in metal unless it’s blacksmithing. I’ve been to several off grid places and the major drawback is the isolation. I hate having to break my momentum to go get a part or something. And they burn a LOT of fuel and time getting in and out. i agree a nearby creek or river to harness would be wonderful to add to wind and solar. Just to have a water wheel to run a line shaft shop is a wet dream. So is steam like the setup Old Steam Powered Machine Shop has. But I would have had to start 2-30yrs ago at the rate I get things done :(
 
To the OP, what's your "theoretical budget?" That right there probably answers all the questions.

It's quite true that society was all off-grid at one time, but using that as a reason doesn't wash since so much else has changed. Are you going to power a 3hp mill and 5hp lathe with this power source? As others have said, unless there are several of you and you're young and strong, it's a fantasy without sufficient budget.

Since I'm spending the OP's budget, move to where there's geothermal heat, bore a well and power your own steam generation setup, plus you have heat and water to boot. All it takes is $$$$$$
 
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Location also matters in that some states actually have laws against being totally off grid. It is the utilities that will find you and turn you in. Then you will have to pay to have wires run to your off grid location.
 
What kind of stuff do you want to make? What is your source for raw materials. Or do you need to procure those in isolation as well?
In other words, how committed to this Off grid concept are you?
 
Diesel generator. Universal fuel. Simplicity is reliability. Start with it while you think about / build solar, wind, wood gas, perpetual motion etc. Then use it when others break down or if you need to run a big mill, lathe, air conditioner etc. Not that the others are bad or not workable, but there's a reason the military standardized on diesel.
 
C-Bag said:
Another source because we are drowning in plastic literally is YouTube has many vids on converting plastic to diesel. What’s cool is the process powers itself from the off gassing of the plastic once it gets up to temp.
Click to expand...

Yes there is a whole range of products that can be made from a similar process. Bio oil, charcoal and syngas (generic name for wood gas / coal gas), are all by products created by heating the material. The oldest recorded use created charcoal used as a soil improvement in prehistoric South America in the Amazon region. In ancient Egypt they used the process to create a thick bio-oil based tar used to seal their boats. In the 1800s the process was used to create syngas to power gas lights. During both World Wars there were vehicles converted to run off of gasifier systems. Bio-oil can be used as a petroleum stuck and refined into more usable fuels. In its unrefined form it can be used as heating oil, with only slight modification to the stock equipment.
In the early 2000s there was a company making bio-oil based diesel fuel from turkey carcasses.
This last project was almost cost effective when diesel fuel was over $5 / gallon and they were able to get free turkey carcasses from processing plants. The end for them came when fuel prices came back down and the processing plants which previously had been paying to get rid of the waste products, so somebody taking it for free was a deal, figured out there was a value to their waste and they started charging for it.

Generally the unwanted materials are burned to power the process. There is a requirement for an outside source of heat to get started, but once it is going it can be self sustaining. The critical factor being that the material must be dry, so it is necessary to run a dryer to maintain feed stock. Any carbon form may be used, plastic, wood, animal waste (yep you can use poop as well as scraps of the animals themselves). There has been some work looking at these processes to make logging leftovers and brush clearing more cost efficient. Currently much is burned in place because it costs to much to haul it away. Wood chips are more compact than the bulk waste, and within a relatively short travel radius can be an effective fuel for co-gen electric plants. Bio-oil or syngas created on the spot would be an even more compact form which in the future may prove to be an effective way to get rid of the excess woody material. Currently it is stuck in an experimental chicken and egg situation. There is no large scale market for bio-oil, so no money to develop the infrastructure. There is no market, because the product isn't being made...
 
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Also there is a big difference between going off grid in the modern world where you can buy everything you need to go off grid, and Amazon stuff to the door, and going off grid because society collapsed (Y2K, nuclear war, zombies etc) where you have to make it all up from what you can scrounge.

My assumption was going off grid just to get away from it all.

There are a lot of off grid homes in Northern California and Hawaii. Some are all solar or water, some just run a generator (diesel or propane) with a battery bank when they need electrical power, and go without the rest of the time. LEDs have been a great asset for off grid living, because light is one of the major needs for electric power, and LEDs consume very little.
 
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