Living without electricity

[Dave Liquorice]

So only a footpath for access? Not even two tyre tracks across a field?

Not an old keepers cottage is it? I'll assume it is as your description matches well.

The 1:25000 OS map does only mark a path and along the foot of crags/cliffs and still quite a steep slope down to the sea. Think one would have to see what that path is really like. Maybe they built the lighthouse/cottages by bringing stuff by sea, no obvious landing stage now. An old cart access might need a decent 4WD rather than a car to negociate it, that's assuming any access rights allow vehicular access...

Idyllic until the north atlantic storms arrive in winter. Tucked nicely away but the NE is still exposed.

Access would be the biggest snag, walking a mile with your weekly shop won't be fun. Having said that there is an inlet between the main island and the island the light is on, might be possible to use a small boat.

There doesn't appear to be a fog horn associated with the light. B-)

Wind and big battery bank. Looking at the terrain to the south solar PV might be even more hopeless than normal in winter as the south elevation may not see sunlight. Tidal flow something in the inlet? Small diesel set as back up for when the wind don't blow.

Lighting using modern LEDs and drivers designed to work directly from the battery voltage, probably 48 V.

[Dave Liquorice]

So the set isn't running, wasting fuel, when there is no demand.

How much do you think red costs?

[Chris Holford]

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see;

ephen_Spender

[Dave Liquorice]

If it's the place I think it is there is damn big hill behind it so a decent head shouldn't be a problem. How much water is available at the top is another matter but even if you can only get enough for a kW of lecky 24/7 that'll almost be enough with a good sized battery bank to store the "excess" overnight.

Paraffin as in pressure or wick? Gas lanterns give a better light than a wick oil lamp and are less smelly unless you use an (expensive) refined lamp oil.

The poor access makes shipping anything in by land hard work. Need to check out that sea access, even then there maybe only a limited number of days when the swell will allow off loading of a small boat.

double plus 1.

[Brian Gaff]

How do they do their washing etc then?

I've not seen a gas washing machine. Brian

[dennis]

Any rivers or streams that you could run hydroelectric from? That would be the best choice if available.

[Brian Gaff]

A wind turbine as well though, if its on the coast.

Brian

[Bill]

I would normally associate auto start with a standby generator, rather than the main power supply.

When I last looked about 65p a ltr, a shade less than 1/2 pump price for regular diesel. A wee bit less in bulk. Not that it often bothers me, my genny doesn't get a lot of use. Best insurance against ever having a power cut that I have installed!!

If it is the location you seem to think it is, as do I, after doing a similar search it is rather good. Not sure I would necessarily fancy being there in the middle of winter though. The light house appears to have solar panels in one of the photos.

[Dave Liquorice]

You must be younger than I have imagined. Not heard of gas heated "coppers" and possers. Posh coppers had had an attached mangle. It was a 1950's gas heated copper with mangle that my mum used for all the family washing until the rubber on the mangle rollers failed in the mid 70's and she forced into getting a stand alone spin drier, still used the copper and posser though probably into the mid 80's when age got the better of both and a washing machine was bought.

[AC]

I'm sure someone did that on Grand Designs, and it was a huge saving.

And while I like the idea of mucking around with solar, wind, generators, batteries and all that, on a hobby level, I reckon after all that expense and effort, digging a trench and paying a fee might be the best over all option. I'd want to stuff some sort of broadband down that trench too though.

[dom]

On a related note about using genny's as a sole domestic power source, if heating/hot-water and cooking is non-electric - then modern power use can be pretty small.

For off-grid set-ups (whether homes, caravans, temporary locations etc) people seem to have to buy their own genny, batteries charge-controller and either have or pay-for the know-how to turn that into a working system.

Why don't some portable generators have an option to come with a built-in battery pack and the genny able to self-start to top-up the batteries?

The obvious danger is the system self-starting to top up the battery when the genny isn't in a location safe to vent exhaust fumes, but good design and modern tech can provide a reasonable degree of protection against mis-operation.

[harryagain]

There are still such places about. I have lived in one. In Mull a small wind turbine + maybe a PV panel and batteries for electricity. I think you can buy a package these days. Runs the lights and TV. The problem would be heating theplace, not many trees on Mull for firewood.. Maybe peat? Telephone maybe not neccesary these days except for internet.

The issue with living in such a place is the number of hours you have to spend doing things just to survive. Eg takes a day just to do the washing by hand.

Winter must be pretty grim, it was where I lived.

It's possible to buy such a place pretty cheap & put in the road and services & sell for a good profit.

[Roger Chapman]

I first encountered such a generator when my parents rented a holiday cottage in Scotland circa 1961. These installations were relatively common in remote areas at the time. A few years later, as a member of a mountaineering club, I helped to install a similar unit to provide electricity for our remote climbing hut. The hut now has mains electricity (as I am sure has that cottage in Scotland) but for a decade or two it provided reliable electricity at the flick of a switch. The only real downside was manhandling the 45 gallon drums.

The days of cheap red are long gone. The current price is equal to that of road diesel of only a few years ago.

[alan]

A windmill with 30m blades and a few rechargeable AA batteries for back-up.

[John Williamson]

I just paid 90p/litre retail at the boatyard pump. If you're buying a tankful, it'll likely be cheaper if you can get the tanker to it.

[charles]

Staying on Mull in the mid 1950s, the hotel had its own genny. That had autostart.

[charles]

There won't be a mobile signal

[Martin Brown]

Wind power from a ~6kW wind turbine backed up by a substantial array of batteries in a shed outside. I am a bit puzzled how do you deliver a big bottle of calor gas with no road - push it home in a wheel barrow?

You might get away with less depending on how small an electrical load you want to run - lighting, PC, fridge and TV probably under 400W max (but with vicious peak transients when motors start from cold).

You can buy 2kW generator sets for a few hundrerd pounds.

[The Natural Philosopher]

nobody needs wind power

[Adrian]

In the Scottish Islands...?

Right on the coast - I'd be looking at wave power.