Annapolis County, NS
Granville N.S.
Keywords: active, dhw, offgrid, passive, pv, Thermal Mass
An off grid comfortable modern dwelling using solar to provide as much of the energy for the house as economically feasible.
We had originally intended to use solar just for heating and domestic hot water, but we discovered that connection to the grid would involve high cost, tree cutting, and issues with neighbours. As Solar NS members we knew that living off grid was possible and we proceeded to do exactly that. We sidestepped the need for Nova Scotia Power, and have lived happily ever after.
Located at the base of North Mountain, facing south. Land slopes south and overlooks Annapolis River. House is located 600 M from road and lot is 1.5 K long and 350 M wide.
Heating: The main heating system is the 100 sq ft of south facing windows with a floor storage component. The backup is a 54,000 BTU propane room stove.
Domestic water heating: The main systems is a Thermo-Dynamics 8X8 glycol to water solar heat exchanger. The backup is a Bosch instantaneous electric water tank.
DCW: A deep well pump.
Sewage: Septic tank and field.
Electrical: 2,720 watts photo-voltaic to a 5,000 watt inverter and 36,000 amp hour of battery storage. The backup is a 5,000 watt gasoline generator.
Call 902-532-8305 and ask for Georges
We tried to use the propane stove for a hot water backup heater. The effort was a failure because we could not transfer enough heat to thermo-siphon water to a hot water tank.
