What is "living off the grid"?

So, what is “living off of the grid” anyways? Basically, it means a home or small community that is independent of municipal (public) utilities, such as electricity, water, sewage, natural gas, land lines, etc. Any utilities that would normally be supplied by the nearest town or city are part of the ‘grid’. So, living off of this grid means you are not using these utilities or services, but rather supplying your own – or just living without.

What does this look like? Well, instead of having power lines come to your house, you would use solar panels or wind turbines, for example, to power your home. Instead of water lines from the city plumbed to your house, you would dig a well or catch rain water or even moisture from the air and store the water in tanks and then plumb that to your house. Instead of city sewage, you would use a septic tank or something similar. Instead of natural gas, depending on your situation or preference you could use more solar panels, use propane (LP gas), kerosene or some other fuel, or firewood.

Here is what we have done - what living off the grid has looked like for us:

Electrical

We have only two 64-watt solar panels that charge up 3 (12v) car batteries.

These are used to charge up two laptops, a few cell phones, a two-way radio, a water pump (the radio and pump only get used maybe 20 minutes per day), and provides power for the lights in our house at night. As often as we can, we find ways to charge and run things using 12v DC power instead of 110v or 240v AC.

Water

For water, we have a 9,000 liter (~2,400 gallon) water tank that is filled from the rainfall on our roof down the downspout to the tank. But, to have running water in the house, the water needs to be pumped back up to a small tank on our roof and gravity feeds down to our faucets and toilet. We have two water pumps: a 12 volt electric pump and a manual hand pump. On cloudy days, guess which one we use?! For hot water, we heat water in a large tea kettle on the stove.

We live in the tropics, so hot water is rarely needed! And, we get plenty of rain to keep our water tank supplied with water and even share it with our neighbors.

Sewage

And yes, I did mention a toilet – a regular, flushable toilet in the house. No outhouses for this Mom! Our area is all sand and as we dug down it became more like gravel. This is the perfect ground for a natural septic system. So, basically, we have dug a large hole in the ground, covered it with logs, plastic and even a roof (so the rain doesn’t wash it out) and put in an air vent. The waste slowly decays and seeps deep into the ground, just like a septic drain field. We live in a country where outhouses are the norm, so our septic system is fine where we live. In other words, don’t try this where you live unless you know it will be ok with your local authorities!

Heating and Cooling

Since we live in the tropics, no heating of our home is required. A solar powered ceiling fan helps keep the air flowing through our house and helps to keep the temperature in there manageable.

For cooking we have a gas range and oven which runs on propane. We are able to get transportable (not too little and not too big) tanks of propane here. It burns much cleaner than cooking over a fire. I’ve also learned a few tricks on how to save on gas, which will be for a future post. And then there is the fridge. For the first 12 years we actually lived without a fridge! Yes, it is possible. (Again, more on that later!) But, for the last few years we have had a small propane fridge, intended for smaller campers. We can now have cold drinks on those hot humid days.

Communication

Communication for us has changed drastically over the last few years. There are definitely no landlines out there, let alone roads!

So, the first 10 years or so we lived off the grid, our only means of communication to the outside world was a 2-way Codan radio. This would only be able to reach other people within Papua New Guinea (PNG) who also had 2-way radios with the same few channels we did. Our colleagues/friends would kindly send emails on our behalf to our parents back in the US, letting them know how we and their grand-babies were doing.

Then came the ability to send and receive text-only emails over the radio. We could actually communicate to family and friends outside of PNG. But it took a long time to transmit and sometimes it didn’t work. And then, about 10 years ago, cell towers started popping up everywhere and one actually came close enough that we could use cell phones in our house! Having the ability to call or get online has been huge help in our thriving off the grid! Although way out there they do not have fast 5 or 4G internet…or even 2G for that matter! But, with enough patience (and a bit of multi-tasking in the meantime), I actually was able to do all my Christmas shopping on Amazon out there.

Laundry

And lastly, our laundry. We wash by hand, and use a manual clothes ringer to get the excess water out. Then, we hang it all out to dry. On potentially rainy days, we hang them out under the roof of our veranda. On sunny days, we hang them out on a different line that uses a pulley from our veranda to a nearby coconut palm.

So, that is what living off the grid looks like for us. Do share your experiences with us. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask.