Off-grid small house refers to a kind of far away from the power grid and other public facilities to a certain extent, can realize self-sufficient housing, usually engaged in field work will build this kind of house, in order to make you live in this kind of house comfortable mainly need to consider the problem of energy supply.

1. Energy supply

Off-grid houses can be powered by wind turbines, hydroelectric generators and solar systems. Currently, solar power is the most popular energy source used in off-grid houses because it is safer than other power generation methods. Moreover, solar energy resource is one of the most abundantly stored energy sources in nature, thus its potential is greater.

So, for example, for the energy supply of an off-grid small house, let’s take the solar power system as an example. For an off-grid small house, you need to list out all the equipment that need to be powered in your small house, including the LED lights, TV, refrigerator and kettle, etc., and then calculate their daily power consumption, assuming that all these equipment consume 1,800 watts of power per day.

At this point, in order to ensure that your devices work properly, assuming that you are located in the area of the average daily peak sunshine hours for 4 hours, taking into account the current situation, you should be using off-grid solar energy system, the system’s energy conversion efficiency of roughly 80%, so all the devices daily power consumption / peak sunshine hours / solar energy system energy conversion efficiency = 562.5watt.

Of course, considering that sometimes rainy weather occurs, it is recommended that you go for a larger solar system, a 600watt solar system would be a good choice, and the excess power can be stored in the solar battery for emergencies.

If you need to live in a small off-grid house for a long time, the energy stored in the solar cells may not be quite enough, then you have to buy some rechargeable batteries, such as lithium iron phosphate batteries, lead-acid batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries, etc., they can store the electricity generated by the solar power generation equipment, to power up your equipment during the rainy season.

Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries are a good choice due to their low power loss in natural conditions and performance in extreme environments due to other batteries. The current market price of lithium iron phosphate battery is about 130$/kWh, you can buy according to your needs.

2. House design and site selection

Housing design is an important part of the off-grid small house guide, reasonable housing design needs to consider ventilation, cooling and insulation, etc., and the stability of the house is also in your consideration, these are in order for you to live a comfortable and safe to consider, there is also your house in the wilderness, so the housing materials should be green and environmentally friendly.

Take the stability of the house, if your solar panels are installed on the top of the house, according to the relevant data, a 1000watt solar system if you use 200watt mono-crystalline solar panels, that is, 5 pieces of 200watt solar panels (each weighing about 16kg, the total weight of about 80kg), the solar energy bracket (weighing about 30kg), 1000watt solar inverter (weight about 10kg) and other components (weight about 30kg).

So, the total weight of a 1000watt solar system is about 150kg, at which point your roof may collapse if the maximum allowable weight of your roof is less than 150kg.

Therefore, considering the possibility of installing a solar system or wind power system on your roof, you need a stable structure, which you should consider carefully before making a decision.

The next issue is the location of the roof, which requires consideration of a number of factors, such as the fact that your house should not be located in a humid environment, as this will result in a significant reduction in the lifespan of your house, and the fact that, if you are using solar power or wind power generation, you need to choose a place that is more open, which is conducive to the power generation equipment to capture the solar energy or wind energy.

3. Daily water and waste recycling

As your off-grid small house is usually in remote areas, which are difficult to supply water to you through the water company, you may need to supply water to you through rainwater, river water or well water, however, there are many microorganisms or bacteria in this water, such as E. coli, salmonella and Vibrio cholerae, which can cause you to suffer from diseases, you have to install a purification system and adequately You must install a purification system and heat the water sufficiently before using it.

With regard to waste recycling, you need to consider carefully. It is recommended that you separate and centralize your household waste, and you can choose to build a septic tank, which produces a certain amount of biogas, which can be used as fuel for the heating system through the separation of the equipment, and at the same time, the rest of the waste can be used as a fertilizer for your farm or garden, thus turning the waste into a treasure.

4. Financing

You need to carefully calculate how much it will cost you to build a small off-grid house, excluding all the equipment. Of course, this cost will be affected by many factors, including the material of the house, the size of the house and the complexity of the house design. For example, if you opt for high-end building materials, you will definitely spend more money on the construction of your home. According to reliable data, it costs about $3,000 to build a basic off-grid tiny house.

To summarize

I hope these off-grid tiny house living guidelines can help you, you need to think carefully before building an off-grid tiny house, only a little more effort in the early stage, you can enjoy the green and quiet off-grid life later, of course, if you have this idea, but do not know how to do, I believe that those home builders will provide you with some help.