Ad

i Don't WANNA go off the grid!!!

G

gurt_from_the_yurt

New member
well, actually DH doesn't want to go off the grid. He wants his creature comforts--electricity, running water, flushing toilets, septic...HEAT.

Does anybody else have a yurt with tradiitional plumbing/electricity and how does that work out?

I am such a yurt noob.
 
Sure, lots of people have that stuff. It works pretty much the same as it would in any structure. The only real thing you have to think of is framing a room inside for the bathroom unless you just want to do your business in eye/ear shot of whoever else is in there with you. :)
 
Jafo,
pretty much the whoever will be my dh...maybe some extended fambly occasionally. If they wanna freeload in my yurt, they'll have to put up with 'nature'..lol.

Yeah, we're gonna glamp this one up. we do intend to put up one wall between the bathroom and kitchen areas--the plumbing will run thru that wall. the bedroom area will be sectioned off on the other side with a big bookcase with solid back for privacy.

I can't wait to get our land found and yurt built--dh is motivated and says it will be up by the fall!
 
i Don't WANNA go off the grid!!!

Those who are of this persuasion certainly have a LOT of company !

But, and there is always a 'But', the question that then should come up, ' what do they do when the grid goes off them? '

A lot of food for thought wraps around that one.

One sure and certain answer if its any time at all, is 'get cold and hungry'.

Always best to have a backup plan. Short term and long term.

Having a yurt is a proven part of the answer. The rest of the answer is taking some real steps towards the answer. Not leaving it for fate, which is proven fickle and merciless. Ask those who lived through Katrina and Sandy.
 
Jake, we thought we were cute when Sandy rolled thru---we headed to Maui (trip already planned welll in advance) and the first full day we were there...TSUNAMI!!! Lol. I learned to never travel unprepared.

as for the yurt, we do plan to get a portable solar generator that we can wheel in and out. In the short run, as the yurt is not our principle residence, we prolly will just not go to it in really really bad weather. We may, however, have a live-in 'caretaker' on the property and we'll have to make sure she also has emergency contingencies as well. Don't wanna get up there in the spring and find a friendsicle in residence!
 
We lost power here for two days last year in the Black Forest fire. We're on a well, and getting us an extra water supply beyond the four-five gallon containers we keep for such purposes had to be dealt with. Nomadic Mongolian herdsmen deal with getting water as a part of their regular day to day life.

How easy do we have it? We all take indoor plumbing - and electricity, motors, engines etc.- for granted. That is, until the power goes off, or gasoline shortages.

Here's some food for thought. Imagine life with no powerized anything, like it was for everybody, hundreds of years ago. The power of wind, water, and gravity were being utilized, but everywhere, there was the power of slaves...

Yeah, times have changed, fortunately.
 
I am all for being on the grid, but as Bob says it happens, the people on the East Coast and Gulf should have known better but were caught very unprepared. To me living in hurricane alley as though it was always a mild spring day is the worst of applied ostrich head in the sand cluelessness. NOs is a case book study now of a city totally with its head in the sand and a population that couldnt have cared less. They actually lucked out in getting taken care of, such as it was.

NOT folks I want to be neighbors with. As Bob says even having some back up water becomes crucial. How many have a case of bottled water and think that they are set up? After how many toilet flushes will they still think so when the power is off a week?

Given a possible choice I''d rather have a half dozen Mongolian familys by me then any East or Gulf Coast citys populations.

My umbilical need though is driving distance of a VA facility. Unfortunately they too are centered in population centers.

Different strokes for different folks. One thing that we all face , wherever we live, in our increasingly complex society the power WILL go off. Here in MI we have had outages for a week. Doable.

Yellowstone had a 4.8 earthquake this past thursday, IF it goes stronger and blows the volcano it sits on the nation will be without power for very much longer then a week.

Living on the grid is nice, but, prepare yourselves, and your familys to be off the grid.

Nuff. Sermon is over. Noah too warned . He and his made it.
 
It doesn't take that much to power a part time yurt. I have three of those Harbor Freight solar arrays and two 115AH deep cell marine batteries and I can run all the power at my yurt for 3 days with no sun. I seem to recall it was about $700 when all was said and done. It powers all my lighting, my ham radios, my laptop, cellphone w/ cell signal booster, cd/am/fm/bluetooth player, etc.. I bought a small $85 two stroke generator that is connected to a batter charger if I have to charge up the battery bank due to lack of son. I have only had to use that in the middle of winter a couple times.

It is doable.
 
Last edited:
Exactly !

It isnt that hard, nor does it take all of that much to just take care of yourself and yours when 'things' happen. If you think they will never happen then go on your happy way. Reality will happen sooner then you thought.

What is really grim is thinking of what happens to thouse in the cities when it does happen. Like Sandy and Katrina kind of happening. Its not a pretty line of thinking.

But, in the for what its worth line of thinking, the govt. has demonstrated that it is incapable of fast response in the face of national disasters. And even local disasters. How much govt response was there this past week in Snohomish Wa when a massive mudslide following rains washed out, totally, a community? The police and fire departments and local SAR folks did incredible efforts, but, it wasnt enough for a large percentage of the people buried in the mud.

In our 'modern' day and age we have given up responsibility for way too much of what we shouldnt have. Thats what irresponsability is all about.

Being a Boy Scout is no longer hip, and being hip was never what it was all about. Being prepared was and is what its all about.
 
I know what you guys mean as a kid i learned to be like a turd and go with the flow and roll with the punches.And brought my kids up the same way they can handle just about anything that comes along,and get along just fine. we have built in back ups for power and water outages and also have bug out plans in effect when things get to crappy around here.
 
Marshall that is reality for living in our day and age, and especially under the present government. But, most of us arnt Donald Trumps, so not preparing for what we can prepare for has its costs. Be prepared, or pay the price, thats life nowadays.

Jafo I have looked at those Harbor Freight backup chargers and I think that they are a good idea. My yurt plan includes a 400+ watt solar two panel system on Amazon, they have a LOT of good homestead solar listed. I am planning for max use of LEDs, I greatly admire the Mongolian nomads, but I note now that even they have sat dishes scattered amongst themselves.

Either we can prepare for the eventualities of life or hope and pray for a dreamed of nanny state to take care of us. Unfortunately under our present admin most nannys we find will closer resemble the female guards at auschwicz. Harsh, a bit exaggerated, but, just a bit. Remember NOs during Katrina.

I do prefer to live on the grid, all said and done, but in the last ten years or so I dont think there has been a year of it without the power going off for at least a week.
 
And there are always composting toilets and hand water pumps that can be adapted to fairly deep wells so that you can have the best of both worlds.
 
I am just getting focused on what I want/need for my own corner of the world.

Composting toilets are very well discussed in the book Humanure, available on Amazon. Very enlightening and educational. I think it should be required reading in high school health and science classes.

Hand pumps work very well, surprisingly well. I am looking at ways to pump into a reservoir with a hand pump then a pump faucet at the sink. If/when an electric pump wont be operative. If, you arenot in a real sandy area then wells dont need to be all of that deep. Of course rock is a whole other story.
 
I have nothing against hand pumps, but I also have nothing against solar power either. :) I pump my water with this 12 volt RV pump. It doesn't use much power at all and has great water pressure.

At my camp, I just use an outhouse, but I probably would not if it were my permanent residence. Since there is so much time between use and a high water table, the outhouse practically takes care of itself. Whenever we get a bunch of rain (or melt), the outhouse hole fills up with water and accelerates the biodegrading processes. By the time I get back to camp in the Spring, most of the solids are gone. :)
 
Also, I added a smaller inverter for day to day stuff, and keep the big inverter for when I need more power.
 
Hey guys here are a few other things you should look into 1 is called a ram pump. it requires a steady flow of water from a stream spring or what ever. also look at a spiral pump. these are easy to build with a few plumbing supplies.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top