Tiny House Solar Config

Steven Lake

Re: Tiny House Solar Config

Well, not to get too off topic, but as Cariboocoot pointed out, a simple typo completely change the meaning of a word. Take the word shot for example. Exchange the O for an I and suddenly you go from a post projectile adjective to a noun describing poo. lol. So I can totally relate.

Now, as for the tiny house, I've read a bunch of the stuff you guys have talked about (sorry for being late in replying. I work as a PHP programmer and a sci-fi writer, so my days are busy pecking away at stuff) and I'm thinking that most of the ideas are a tiny bit off base. I'm not saying you're wrong, but rather that experiences differ, and what seems like it won't work for one will for another. As such, someone complained about the bedroom being too small. Oddly, I don't think it's that small. The perception that it is comes from the fact that so many people are used to having big houses with lots and lots of floor room. In reality a bedroom should be for two things: Changing and Sleeping. Aside from that, even being a big guy like myself, I'd feel comfortable inside that house, save for getting up into the attic where the extra bedroom is at.

The biggest things I'd change in their design personally, if I went with completely solar power, would be to make the stove gas like the heat is, and the lights all 12v or 24v DC phosphorescent like you'd use in a camper trailer. So the only real loads I can see in that house are the PC, the washer/dryer, and the fridge. Apparently the hot water is done via a gas powered on demand heater, which honestly is the best way to go anyways, as you save gas and it's cheaper to run in the long haul, although a bit more expensive in the short term.

Now with just three primary loads to run, the rest should be easier on the battery pack....in theory anyways. In practice though, that might be a whole other issue. But my personal 2c would be that the PC would be a 50% load (on only half the day), and the fridge would be a 33% load (on one hour, off two on average, or 20 minutes per hour runtime), and the washer/dryer, probably half a day twice a week. If you figure in another 3hrs of direct dc current per day for lighting, it shouldn't really need all that big an array to run it. Again, in theory. It would depend on how simple you wanted to live.

But anyhow, that's my 2c.