Off Grid Appliances
Off grid or being
electrically self sufficient does not
mean you have to rough it, nor does it mean that your appliances need look like
they were designed in the 50's or earlier. It does mean that you require
the most energy efficient and environmentally safe products available.
An normal 120V EnerStar rated
refrigerator as you have in your home in the city will use about 60% of the
power you need to run the average cottage. The hyper efficient
alternatives cost considerably more that the fridge available from the Big Box store, however the power to supply that cheap fridge will cost you at
least $2000 more in overhead costs (solar panel, batteries and
possibly a larger charge controller) than
off grid alternatives.
EnerStar frost free
refrigerators rarely have frost within them. This means the defrost cycle must be doing more
than an adequate job. If you insist on a 120V powered refrigerator
consider having the heater portion of the defrost connected to a manual switch
if you can find someone to take on the task.
If nature is playing nice and you have lots of extra power you can always flip the
switch to allow a full defrost cycle if you don't want to do it in the old
fashioned way.
Appliances have changed for the
better over time. As much as I dislike our disposable society, the
justification of upgrading for efficiency, the comes much quicker when cost of
your power ranges from $0.75 to $1.25 per kilowatt hour (off-grid maintenance
and and investment write-down) quickly justifying
the purchase of a more efficient appliance. The power consumption of electric
appliances isn't the only area of improvement. New propane appliances have
improved significantly. New refrigerators use up to 60% less fuel than
older models. Something to consider against the fact that propane has gone
up by up to 500% within the last five years.
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