I'm moving to a shack, with no power, on top of a mountain!

[RantyDave]

I'm moving to a shack on top of a mountain!

You are my hero.

Get one of the Vodafone 3G cards, if you can get coverage. Failing that find some radio nerds and do a long distance WiFi thing.

Dunno how you're powering the spa though.

Dave

[my-bonaventure]

Good on ya, it's liberating living like that. Did so myself out the back of Nelson in a converted shed, log fire, gas bbq and califont, eco toilet, miss the place heaps for lots of reasons.

[sinfull]

Know yr doing this to save money, but a small investment on an inverter be well worth the madness you will save ! For a larger investment i hear you can now get inverters that will multiply the power input by heaps (no idea exactly how much, but think the idea goes something like 12vdc to 240v few hundred watt inverter then 240v 200w run through the new inverter to give ya 240v 2 or 3 kw of power !) choice to make would be buy 12v fridge gas cooker etc or the inverter (grand is what i been told) To run all yr old appliances !
Heard that gentle annie W/M motors generate 12 v so scoring a couple of those would be well worth it ! Dont take much to set up some 12v lights around the place
Wind ? Water ?
Copper coiled round the inside of the chimney sounds like a go (removable ? clean the chimney first)
Good shit man have fun ! I wish lol

[tri boy]

Mr Steam, the modern day thinking man's hermit.
Umm, ya might need a few more clothes though.

[Lias]

Or shave...

Ahh soutland girls.. so much nipple hair they can plait it!

[Mr Merde]

Or shave...

You mean French ones !!!

[fredie]

you get big gas bottles last a few months .gas fridge

[avgas]

12V solar panels are $30 @ supercheap

[jrandom]

For a larger investment i hear you can now get inverters that will multiply the power input by heaps

That'd be nice.



Unfortunately, you can put stuff in series with your power source and take the voltage up and down and swap between DC and AC, but you can't get more power out. 1KW in = 1KW out. You can only get a higher voltage at the expense of being able to draw less current.

Be nice if one didn't have to work within the limitations of thermodynamics, but physics is a bastard like that.

If I were Steam, I'd use what I saved on rent and get a wee diesel generator. There are some sexy products out there.

[mstriumph]

I think it sounds fantastic. I hope you stay there for ages, like it, and save loads of money. Those of us who have gone and had families and stuff cant do things like that any more, so you enjoy it on my behalf O.K?

from all the sighing and 'i wishing' going on here, Steam, seems to me you could cover the rent [and get the firewood chopped] by taking in paying guests??

[Steam]

from all the sighing and 'i wishing' going on here, Steam, seems to me you could cover the rent [and get the firewood chopped] by taking in paying guests??

True! It's a common dream to move out to a shack in the country. I am very happy to have the chance to try it out. Friends of mine have just finished four years on a feral commune in Golden Bay, and finally moved out because they had a baby and the place wasn't really set up for newborns.

If you last 5 weeks I'll send you a 20.

I will hold you to that! $20 will pay for a lot of candles, or a steel bathtub from the recycle centre at the dump for lighting a fire under.
There's an old seed-bin by the shack I can use as a hot-tub for larger parties, but I'll need a smaller bath for everyday washing. Um... every week washing maybe.
Washing is overrated. As long as ya don't stink, eh!

[martybabe]

Onya mate, good luck. Any chance of some pix of the hut?

[007XX]

There's an old seed-bin by the shack I can use as a hot-tub for larger parties, but I'll need a smaller bath for everyday washing. Um... every week washing maybe.
Washing is overrated. As long as ya don't stink, eh!

I am hugely jealous...I've often said that i'd much rather live on Great Barrier raising goats than put up with the falsehood of city life.

Enjoy it as much as you can and post pics goddamit!

[Mikkel]

Any small streams nearby? I'm thinking micro-hydro here.

Am I the only one who loved building dams on small streams when I was a kid... and haven't really been able to kick the habit yet.

[Steam]

Onya mate, good luck. Any chance of some pix of the hut?

I will definitely post photos but not just yet, I move in one month, when I get back from Auckland.
First I have to ride from Dunedin to Auckland and back on a four-week holiday, then I have to move into a cool shack in the country. Life is hard!

Any small streams nearby? I'm thinking micro-hydro here.
Am I the only one who loved building dams on small streams when I was a kid... and haven't really been able to kick the habit yet.

Yeah me too, dams on small streams are cool. There is a stream but it is low flow, so I'd need to build a dam then set the system to activate every few hours or so when the dam is full, use the turbine to charge a bank of batteries. It shouldn't be too hard. The difficult part is getting hold of a very cheap old pelton-wheel or some other kind of water-turbine.

Anyway, that's for the medium-term future, not just yet! It'd be worth doing if I was planning on living there for a few years or more, but I don't know if it's going to be hell yet. We'll see...