[HN Gopher] Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office
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Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office
Author : sylvain_kerkour
Score : 98 points
Date : 2021-10-03 09:13 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.sevarg.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.sevarg.net)
| thescriptkiddie wrote:
| TFA mentions difficulty trenching in rocky soil as an obstacle
| for running power to the shed. I'd like to point out that running
| power overhead is also an option.
| Syonyk wrote:
| It is, but that comes with other problems that not having
| overhead stuff simplifies, like not being able to run the
| tractor around, and having the office then officially grid
| tied, which means I need inspections and permits and such.
|
| It's totally fine off grid, and I like it that way, plus it
| offers me a rather robust backup power system.
| ortusdux wrote:
| This appears to be from 5 years ago. I would love to see a
| follow-up!
|
| Way off topic, but the brand of shed he bought, Tuff-Shed, had a
| series of TV ads that will be forever stuck in my head. The
| voice-over was a call and response that played on the fact that
| the brand name sounded like tough shit. Need somewhere to store
| your lawn mower? Tuff shed! Tired of all your stuff getting
| rained on? Tuff shed!
| handrous wrote:
| IIRC K-Mart ran a TV ad that played on "shipped" sounding kinda
| like "shit", promoting their ability to ship stuff you bought.
| "I shipped my pants!" "I shipped the bed!"
| Syonyk wrote:
| There's a bit of a follow up here:
| https://www.sevarg.net/2020/05/23/on-working-from-home-and-j...
|
| But... really, there's nothing much to say. It just does what I
| ask of it, which is to be an amazing workspace.
| Syonyk wrote:
| There's been some conversation about this at the previous link,
| back when it was over at syonyk.blogspot.com (I moved off that
| because Google ruined their new Blogger interface).
|
| Five years later... still the best place I've ever worked from.
| Nothing to say, really. Power is reliable, I have more of it than
| I really need with how much solar I've got, the generator works
| fine in the winter, my speakers rock, and I don't have a commute.
| I cannot recommend such a thing highly enough.
|
| //EDIT: Oh, I suppose I also have Starlink out here, but Dishy is
| so power hungry it lives on the house and I run connections out
| it over the property area network if my primary rural WISP
| connection (on the office) is acting up.
| mdorazio wrote:
| Do you have any measured stats on your Dishy's power
| consumption? I've read it's 90-100W nominal, which seems
| reasonable if you switch it off at night when not in use. Like
| other commenters, I've been also been thinking about off-grid
| home requirements.
| Syonyk wrote:
| https://www.sevarg.net/2021/06/20/so-starlink/
|
| It's around 85W continuous on the white hardware, I
| understand some of the newer generations are a bit more power
| efficient. Power use while transmitting goes up higher.
|
| I just run it on the grid. :/ Yes, it's 2kWh/day.
| tejohnso wrote:
| I didn't expect Starlink equipment to be very power hungry.
| That's unfortunate. Really damages my rural off-grid small home
| fantasy.
| timbit42 wrote:
| Well, it's talking to satellites 400 kms away.
| pengaru wrote:
| FYI TFA is just a blank dark scrollable page without js here on
| FF w/noscript.
| Syonyk wrote:
| Interesting. Indeed it is, I just tried with JS disabled.
| That certainly wasn't the intent, I'll have to figure out
| what it's doing. However, it shouldn't be setting any
| cookies...
|
| Web dev is no longer my strong suit... never really was, but
| I used to know a lot more about it than I do now.
| Aspos wrote:
| I've spent far more while arranging for space at home, and the
| resulting workspace is not as great.
|
| I wish there was such a Shed-as-a-Service in a bikable distance
| from my home.
|
| Seriously, I believe there is some demand for local, tiny offices
| for remote workers.
| mdorazio wrote:
| > Seriously, I believe there is some demand for local, tiny
| offices for remote workers.
|
| I'll second this. I need a real office most days due to having
| a ton of voice and video calls, but private office space at
| most co-working spaces is both overkill and around $1000/month,
| which is kind of silly.
| mynegation wrote:
| Coworking spaces are a thing, and - being tired from WFH - I am
| currently enjoying working in those. As much as I wish I could
| build something like this, this is a good enough option. The
| price is a bit steep in the large city where I live: 500 CAD
| for dedicated desk and about 1000 CAD for 1 person office. On
| the flip side you have all the niceties of the modern office,
| including espresso machines and sometimes beer and carbonated
| water on tap! Curious to see if all the extra office space from
| people not wanting to return to the office depresses the
| prices.
| asdff wrote:
| They have this sort of stuff in cities that have enough of a
| population to sustain these sorts of industries. There is this
| in my area but its not exactly cheap compared to the price of a
| late at a cafe:
|
| https://secondhome.io/location/hollywood/
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| For a similar setup, see
| https://usesthis.com/interviews/joey.hess/ and
| https://joeyh.name/offgrid/ .
| hindsightbias wrote:
| Having built a few sheds, tips for those in the US:
|
| 1) Most areas allow 120-150 sqft as max size with no permit.
| thats usually interior dimensions so if you want it all you have
| to buy longer lumber and cut down to maximize interior. 2)
| Counties usually do not allow any interior water or electrical
| wiring w/o inspection. So exterior solar and battery box and
| extension cord run in to power stuff. 3) If you buy something
| pre-built, make sure they built on 16" on center or some other
| standard otherwise you will be hand cutting every piece of
| insulation. 4) Metal roofing is pretty cheap at Home Depot, but
| right now you have to order a minimum number of sheets (I wanted
| 14' sheets, but at qty of 10, twice what I needed, so bought
| shorter lengths) 5) Many items I had to special order two years
| are stocked at HW stores. For example, Techshield OSB which has a
| foil face is cheap and dramatically decreases interior heat
| transfer in walls and attic 6) Watch YT videos on deck building
| and framing. There are many good examples. A flat deck is half
| the battle. Much of this can be done alone with practice but you
| really should have help for rafters, roofing and ceiling plywood.
| It's easy to get injured trying to handle 1/2-3/4" plywood 12
| feet up.
| jimt1234 wrote:
| This is good info. Another thing to be mindful of is property
| easements - they're different everywhere and they can change
| over time.
| turtlebits wrote:
| Great build and very similar to my off grid office. Tuff sheds
| are unbeatable for the price.
|
| I went with a 16' x 12' (max size without needing a permit).
| Spray foamed the interior. Have not needed AC, but planning on
| putting in a 9k BTU mini split for heating/cooling.
|
| I have a 3.3kWh 12v battery for accessories (lighting, water
| pump, fridge, cameras, 5G/wifi) and a 5.6kWh 48v for the rest.
|
| I bought 5kw of used panels but have not mounted them (right now
| only 1.25kw hooked up laying on the ground)
|
| Future plans are to try solar hot water storage - either
| insulated vacuum tubes, or dumping excess solar -> heating
| element.
| Syonyk wrote:
| I thought about some hot water storage, but I just don't have
| the space for the tanks, and it seems more trouble than it's
| worth. I have heaters, but mostly bundle up in the winter and
| focus on keeping myself warm. An incandescent bulb over the
| keyboard is great for heating hands too!
| intrepidhero wrote:
| Neat project! I just finished a daylight basement remodel, the
| corner of which is my new office, and I learned a lot of the same
| lessons. GRK screws are super nice. Rock wool is way nicer to
| work with than fiberglass. Expanding spray foam can go into lots
| of nooks and crannies to make a space feel less drafty. Chalk
| lines marking the studs are a great idea.
|
| One lesson that I'll add is that a dry wall lift
| (https://www.amazon.com/Drywall-Lifter-Rolling-Caster-Constru...)
| changed my project from "nigh-impossible" to "totally doable". I
| hung almost a 1000 sqft of drywall on the ceiling solo with that
| thing. Even if I never use it again, it was worth the money.
|
| Now to go read all of OP's solar design posts to prep for my next
| project.
| uxp100 wrote:
| Why not just rent the drywall lift? If your work stretches
| across a week it's not cheaper, but the goal would be to rent
| the lift, hang all the drywall, return it to the lumber-
| yard/home improvement store/hardware store by the end of the
| day.
| lostapathy wrote:
| 1000 sq ft of drywall is probably several evenings of work
| for a DIY'er, and not something you want to force into one
| long day.
|
| I will sometimes buy tools like this (new or for craigslist)
| and resell on craiglist, and then I think of it as "renting
| from craigslist" but without a deadline to return it.
| Syonyk wrote:
| Yeah...
|
| When I was doing house solar (big ground mount 15.9kW
| system), I really beat the hell out of myself trying to
| finish with a rental jackhammer in a day. I was drilling
| the holes and the auger was bouncing off the hardpan, so I
| rented a jackhammer... and it was an electric beast, not a
| light pneumatic version. Anyway, I got it done in a day of
| pounding, but I was not in good shape the next few days.
|
| Having low stress of getting it done is nice.
|
| Also, depending on the area you live and the community
| you're part of, that sort of thing may just go into the
| general rotation of "Oh, yeah, I've got one of those." I'm
| borrowing someone's portable cement mixer right now for
| deck footings, a friend up north has my auger, I've got his
| subsoiler... in rural areas, useful tools tend to just
| wander around, and as long as people have a vague sense of
| where they might be, it's not a big deal.
| franciscop wrote:
| This is an amazing read, and something I might do some day. A
| thing I've learned recently living in Japan's tiny places, is
| that good insulation helps you keeping electricity costs down but
| has the disadvantage of building CO2 faster.
|
| So I would strongly consider getting a CO2 monitor for the shed.
| Considering size and the strong insulation you added, I doubt you
| can be more than a couple of hours before getting into "warning"
| CO2 levels (1000-2000ppm), and a full work day inside there very
| likely gets you into dangerous levels (2000+ ppm) which is
| associated with headaches, sleepiness, and stagnant, stale,
| stuffy air. Poor concentration, loss of attention, increased
| heart rate and slight nausea may also be present[1]
|
| [1] Health Effect tab
| https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/chemical/carbondioxide.htm
| Syonyk wrote:
| Yeah, I have a CO2 meter, and you're right. I tend to leave the
| window a bit open with a fan circulating, and especially if
| I've got a burner running for heat in the winter. During
| wildfire season, I just accept that a bit of CO2 is less-bad
| than the PM2.5 levels (100+ ug/m^3 on a bad day), though I've
| considered building an algae based CO2 absorber for in here.
|
| The other problem is if one has farted, it takes all day to
| clear unless you've got a window open.
| miovoid wrote:
| Great shed! I have question. What about noise inside from AC and
| inverter? Could you measure it?
| Syonyk wrote:
| I'm sorry, I no longer have an easy way to do that. The
| inverter is dead silent unless it's loaded up, at which point
| I've got enough other running loads that I don't really hear
| the inverter. Air conditioner makes plenty of airflow noise.
|
| I think it's around 70dB on a typical day, quiet mornings can
| be down in the 50dB range? I measured it a while ago, but I no
| longer have the smartphones I used to do that around.
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