Solar Power To Run A Cottage

Chasin' Dreams

Chasin' Dreams

Well-Known Member
I'm looking for advice on solar power to run a cottage that will usually house 4 people. The cottage currently has a couple older 100 watt solar panels, two 6 volt batteries and an inverter. But it is older stuff and not set up very well. Just one man was living in the cottage so I guess that was sufficient for his needs.

I want to replace the whole system with new equipment and I want to make sure I get more than enough for panel wattage and more than enough for battery power storage. I'll be using the cottage throughout winter months as well but usually just a couple people on and off through winter. During summer months there will usually be 4 or us using it.

I've been watching some youtube videos on solar set ups and they are helpful and give me a pretty decent idea of what I need to buy/do but just looking for any tips or advice from folks that have gone through the learning curve with these set ups and may be able to help me avoid an issues along the way.

I want to do all the power stuff the correct way and I want to feed the power inverter power into a circuit panel with breakers then run outlet lines off of that just like a house is rigged up with juice coming from the meter to the breaker panels etc. So if there is anything I need to note about doing that I would appreciate info regarding that as well. I have a smaller system on a travel trailer and my inverter in there just has a couple outlet receptacles on it that plugs can go into but I would like to hard wire the inverter direct to a circuit panel if possible. Not sure if they make inverter outputs in 220 volt but if they do I'd be looking into that to power up a circuit breaker panel. Would also like to have a DC powered fuse box as well for any 12 volt DC stuff I end up needing to run like the hot water on demand water pump etc.

I take possession of the cottage on March 1st but I want to get my ducks in a row well in advance so I can bring all the new equipment in ASAP.

The cottage does have cold water supplied by a community drilled well and it is on a septic field. Currently it has an old boiler tank for hot water but I'm gonna replace that with hot water on demand.

Any tips on living solely off grid would be greatly appreciated. I'm used to working in the bush with some solar powered stuff but I always have generators to run most of my main power needs while working so this will be a first for our family depending completely on solar power while at the cottage. I will have a genny for back ups but only when absolutely needed.
 
Have you dug into vacuum evacuated tube water heating systems? They work well below any temps you'll see on the south coast, and of course they could be used for space heat too.
 
triplenickel said:
Have you dug into vacuum evacuated tube water heating systems? They work well below any temps you'll see on the south coast, and of course they could be used for space heat too.
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Thanks triplenickel. I'll be using hot water on demand. Very fast to set up and runs on propane so no energy draw from the solar battery storage and the units are very cheap now. I use one at home outside in my shop and one at my mining camp. I shouldn't have any issues with cold temps as the cottage is insulated and the water supply line is below ground, below the frost line.
 
Also the cottage doesn't have any rain water catchment system in place for back up water supply in case something goes wrong with the well water supply so if anyone has any tips/advice with regards to that it would also be appreciated. My thoughts were to install a 200 gallon reservoir storage tank that can both be topped off from the well and/or the rain water supply and connect an water pump to that with an air bladder at the cottage independent from the main drilled well pump that our cottage and the others run off of. That way in case something happens to the main well pump I can still use my own water reservoir stored water and my own pump to supply water to my cottage. Thinking I will run the water from the storage tank through filters then into the cottage. Kind of replicating our own home well water supplied system but incorporating rain water storage into the mix as well in case the main well water source fails.
 
Chasin' Dreams said:
Also the cottage doesn't have any rain water catchment system in place for back up water supply in case something goes wrong with the well water supply so if anyone has any tips/advice with regards to that it would also be appreciated. My thoughts were to install a 200 gallon reservoir storage tank that can both be topped off from the well and/or the rain water supply and connect an water pump to that with an air bladder at the cottage independent from the main drilled well pump that our cottage and the others run off of. That way in case something happens to the main well pump I can still use my own water reservoir stored water and my own pump to supply water to my cottage. Thinking I will run the water from the storage tank through filters then into the cottage. Kind of replicating our own home well water supplied system but incorporating rain water storage into the mix as well in case the main well water source fails.
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How deep is the well? Are you trying for full off grid long term prepper stuff or wanna be able to wash up for a few days if the power is out?
 
Careful with mixing different water sources for potable water. Rainwater needs a much higher level of treatment to ensure its potability in comparison to true groundwater. Never hard-pipe both sources together unless you have the appropriate level of treatment for all water. You could run two sources - one for potable water and one for irrigation etc. but you'd have to have two separate plumbing systems. If you wanted to top up a rainwater storage with water from the potable system you need to have an air gap in between so you don't cross connect and potentially contaminate your potable system through backflow. It's in the BC Plumbing Code and there is a new CSA standard out now for rainwater harvesting/treatment. Be safe!
 
triplenickel said:
How deep is the well? Are you trying for full off grid long term prepper stuff or wanna be able to wash up for a few days if the power is out?
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There is no grid power at the cottage at all. Solar or genny is the only power source. Even the community well pump is ran from solar and or genny if something goes wrong with the solar/battery power. Its a deep drilled well. It's not the water supply that's a concern. There's lot's of water available from the well, but the back up reservoir/air bladder system at my cottage would be in case something happens to the main well where I am without that source of water for awhile.
 
chris73 said:
Careful with mixing different water sources for potable water. Rainwater needs a much higher level of treatment to ensure its potability in comparison to true groundwater. Never hard-pipe both sources together unless you have the appropriate level of treatment for all water. You could run two sources - one for potable water and one for irrigation etc. but you'd have to have two separate plumbing systems. If you wanted to top up a rainwater storage with water from the potable system you need to have an air gap in between so you don't cross connect and potentially contaminate your potable system through backflow. It's in the BC Plumbing Code and there is a new CSA standard out now for rainwater harvesting/treatment. Be safe!
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Great info thank you! Ok would putting it through a pre filter then RO membranes prior to going into the storage tank fix that issue? I'm used to cleaning water at home cause we make home made maple syrup from our trees so I already set up a pre filter and RO system for reducing sap concentration levels prior to further concentrating with an evaporator.

Edit to add: That way I could have the rain water fill a separate large reservoir and just have it overflow out to the land when full then it's always full in case I need it. With my at home 5 micron/4 membrane RO system I can completely filter water (or concentrate sap) at a rate of 150 gallons in about 8 hrs by just using a very low amp pump. If I remember right it's only a bit less than 1 amp of juice to run that little pump. And they make even more efficient 12 volt DC pumps for that as well.
 
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A buddy of mine has a place at Haggards Cove and only uses his generator for his toaster and microwave. I honestly don't have any info for you on setup but I do know that staying there is really no different than living at home the way he has it set up. I do know that he uses light bulbs that hardly draw any power. He has a meter in the place that shows how much draw there is. Best of luck. I'm looking forward to hearing what people have to say.
 
Do your research on the hot water on demand unit. Most require a water softener as part of the system. Hard water significantly shortens the life of the heating units.
 
baddogg said:
A buddy of mine has a place at Haggards Cove and only uses his generator for his toaster and microwave. I honestly don't have any info for you on setup but I do know that staying there is really no different than living at home the way he has it set up. I do know that he uses light bulbs that hardly draw any power. He has a meter in the place that shows how much draw there is. Best of luck. I'm looking forward to hearing what people have to say.
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Ya baddogg it's very cool how with a well planned and set up solar system you can be dialed in just like you are at home with on the grid power. I've been reading tons yesterday and today, making phone calls to suppliers, and watching a lot of vidoes. I'll be going with a couple Lithium batteries and have most of the system planned out already from what I've learned so far. With a couple Lithiums I can also use heavier power draw appliances like a toaster and microwave. Not that I'll be using those things often but it's nice to be set up for it if needed. Our daughters are more inclined to be using a microwave then my wife and I as they will be heating stuff up for themselves and friends more often.
Ya the meters are a great addition to know where you're at for usage and what draw is going on as well as the solar controller.

tyeeking said:
Do your research on the hot water on demand unit. Most require a water softener as part of the system. Hard water significantly shortens the life of the heating units.
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We've got semi hard water at home from our well. Runs around 200 to 350 ppm of dissolved solids on the average. We don't use a water softener and I run the well water through our hot water on demand unit for all of our farm use stuff on our property as well as for cleaning with hot water, power washing with it etc outside. We've been doing that for about 2 and a half years now with no issues with the hot water on demand unit. They are cheap now too. I've bought two of them now from Amazon for around $250 for nice ones that come apart easily if you did ever want to clean them out of hard water scale or whatever in the coils. The only thing you gotta watch on them that I have found so far is that if you set them up outside you have to make sure you drain them out the bottom if the weather outside is going to be freezing cause the heater coil tubing will hold water in them and if they freeze they will expand and blow out.
I haven't tested the well water yet at the cottage for water hardness or other things so I'll be doing that before any plumbing additions are done.
 
baddogg said:
A buddy of mine has a place at Haggards Cove and only uses his generator for his toaster and microwave. I honestly don't have any info for you on setup but I do know that staying there is really no different than living at home the way he has it set up. I do know that he uses light bulbs that hardly draw any power. He has a meter in the place that shows how much draw there is. Best of luck. I'm looking forward to hearing what people have to say.
Click to expand...


I have a lot at haggard's as well. I did a cabin reno on a couples place who had solar and we ran a table saw...chop saw circular saws. We Charged batteries for cordless tools. We stayed in his cabin while renovating and even watched movies in the evening. I was impressed with the system and it wasn't that big.
 
Looks like Chasin’ Dreams has found the system he is going to use for his cabin. Does anyone use a solar system, either for backup power or for main source of heat? In floor heat with evacuated solar tubes? Looks like it could be a good system for everyday heat to heat your house year round if you already have infloor heat system in your house, or are building new. Anyone using a system like this?

Sorry for the slight derail Chasin’ Dreams.

Oly
 
Solar works great in the summer sunshine, not so much in the winter. You should plan on using the generator in the winter unless you put in a massive overkill solar system. Theoretical solar production is always MUCH less than actual production. I recently looked into a grid tied solar system for our home and learned a lot.
 
Oly1 said:
Looks like Chasin’ Dreams has found the system he is going to use for his cabin. Does anyone use a solar system, either for backup power or for main source of heat? In floor heat with evacuated solar tubes? Looks like it could be a good system for everyday heat to heat your house year round if you already have infloor heat system in your house, or are building new. Anyone using a system like this?

Sorry for the slight derail Chasin’ Dreams.

Oly
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Not a derail Oly. The more info the better about any kind of solar set ups.

ryanb said:
Solar works great in the summer sunshine, not so much in the winter. You should plan on using the generator in the winter unless you put in a massive overkill solar system. Theoretical solar production is always MUCH less than actual production. I recently looked into a grid tied solar system for our home and learned a lot.
Click to expand...
I've been reading that too Ryan so when I do my math on my electrical usage and voltage/amp hr needs I'm gonna go way overboard to ensure I still can get a half decent supply through the winter months too. But yes I'll also have the genny for back up that I'll hook up straight to the circuit panel or if I go with the inverter/charger combo that they make now then I'll hook it up straight to that. That may be the best way to go so that even if I have to run welders/heavy power need stuff I can just pop the gen on while that's going on and it will keep all the batteries fully topped up. Really cool how technology has come along with very simple to set up solar systems that can be very effective if the math is done right on power needs. The cottage is south facing so that helps too. I've also been reading about in some situations the panels themselves can overheat during very hot summer months but I don't foresee that being an issue on the south gulf islands with the fairly constant sea breeze we have here even on hot days but I'm gonna look into that as well.
 
tains said:
I have a lot at haggard's as well. I did a cabin reno on a couples place who had solar and we ran a table saw...chop saw circular saws. We Charged batteries for cordless tools. We stayed in his cabin while renovating and even watched movies in the evening. I was impressed with the system and it wasn't that big.
Click to expand...
You likely know my buddy then. He stays up there over 200 days a year.
 
My dad runs evacuated tube collectors to heat his pool in summer and then turns a diverter valve in the winter to pump the glycol into the crawl space to flow through 300ft of tubing. Warms the tile floors really nicely. It also preheats the incoming cold water to the hot water tank. Free hot showers mid day
Also agree that you’ll need gender for the winter. My 300w solar on the camper made a high record of 22 watts this January. They need direct in shaded intense sun to put out
 
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