# Things a city slicker should know before moving to rural area



## janus10 (Nov 7, 2013)

So, my wife and I have bought a new home (update to a post here: we brought our own agent in for the negotiations and she subsequently lowered her portion of the commission to sell our home from 2.5% to 1.75%). This house is minutes away from a medium sized city but rural enough that we have a septic system, community water and a water softener.

These are all foreign concepts to us and seem easy enough to manage. We have been told that you can quickly feel it if you've forgotten to fill up the water softener with tablets or turned it off (for watering plants some people turn off the softener? I don't understand this because the home has an inground irrigation system.)

There is no generator for standby power, the cellular coverage seems quite spotty with either Bell or Rogers (and thus we are checking if buying a $400 cell booster system makes sense), and they are already on a Bell dish (we'd prefer to stay with Cogeco but this area is too small even for Cogeco).

If anyone has insight into the kinds of surprises that are in store for us, we are all ears.


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

Your irrigation & exterior hose bibs generally are connected to water upstream of your water softener. Often a high end water filter under the sink attached to the cold water is nice to strip out weird tastes.
If on septic be careful of flushing down cooking grease or too much soap at any time as it can be hard on the system.Find your septic access lid & ensure everything is properly cooking down there...if a lot of solids build up call a service truck.
You don't need stand by power till the zombie apocalypse,but may find you need a vehicle good on unplowed drifted roads.
You may need one of those old fashioned phones that plug into the wall.


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## lonewolf :) (Sep 13, 2016)

taxes important if ever become part of city or town or already are will get little services for taxes. Are you in organized or unorganized territory ?

Building code was home built to code

Is generator hooked up to main power source

School bus service & cost

Can water be used year round, Does that water line ever freeze up /

Barking dogs in the area might have no bylaw

Road maintenance going into property who is responsible snow clearing & up keep road fees do you need 4 wheel drive is road hard on vehicle 

Do you have natural gas if not how easy to keep snow cleared for higher cost oil/propane delivery (can you see copy of owners heating bill )

Home insurance if heating with oil are any lakes near by distance oil tank is from house is tank double walled insurance can be expensive if using wood might not be able to get insurance

Do you pay to a different fire department then the city if so cost & how far away is fire department will effect insurance cost

Mail delivery how far to nearest pick up how does garbage disposal work distance cost or someone pick up

If power coming into property is above ground condition of hydro poles will they need replacing soon ?


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Some things to remember, pumps will fail (septic, well, etc.) so it's good to have an extra on standby. Pipes burst, especially in winter, good to have some spare on hand. Connectors are also a must. 

Also, septic lines can freeze up, so you may need some way to melt them.

If you have a power pole with a main breaker, not in your breaker box, this is on the pole, you should know how to reset the breaker.

Life in the country isn't much different than in the city, it helps to be a little handy as you can do most of the repairs yourself, especially as it costs a lot for people to come out.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

A few thoughts:

Water softeners I know nothing about. The only one I ever saw was in a house my aunt and uncle bought in Thornhill, Ont. in 1964.

Septic system. You are probably somewhere where those pumper trucks can reach it, which helps. Depending on how much use/abuse it gets, it can be pumped out. Where we live, off the grid and water access only, there are no septic services. We provide our own. That means we go light on the system. It receives black water only. Grey water goes into the ocean. Even without an ocean handy, one can divert grey water into a rock pit or some such. If you insist on having your clothes washer drain into your septic tank, use a lint filter to at least keep all kinds of synthetic fibers out of your drain field.

In 10 years our septic system has never required any attention. We have a pump capable of pumping it out (the only place to sent the effluent would be the saltchuck), but we have never needed it. We have never resorted to any of those additives that are said to keep septic systems (or the sellers' finances) healthy. That includes not flushing a pound of liver into it once a month, as some recommend.

Standby power. You obviously have grid power, so standby power would be something to take over when grid power fails. If you are in a place with lots of trees around that like to fall on power lines during wind/snow/ice storms, a backup generator is nice. I have family living on a lake in Ontario, where power failures (“outages” in the non-blaming modern parlance of the utility companies) are common. They have a propane-fired genset with a 500-lb. fuel tank. It turns itself on once a week as a test and to ensure it will start when needed. It will start up automatically when grid power is lost. Not sure what it’s rated at, but I think it can run the whole house quite easily. Probably 7.5 kw or thereabouts. Nice to have, but not essential.

Firefighting. From a previous post, you might have a fireman in the family by now:smile:. When living in the sticks, it helps to be able to fight fire, if necessary. Even in cities, the fire crew often gets there only in time to keep the fire from spreading to neigbouring properties. Here, there is no fire department that can attend, from anywhere. The province will respond to a real or threatened forest fire. The province has put on a free firefighting course here every couple of years. My wife and I have taken it and we have purchased a Mk. 3 fire pump with 800 feet of 1.5” unlined linen delivery hose in 100-foot lengths and 200 feet of suction hose in several lengths. We can draw water from our pond, from one of 3 wells, from two 1,300 imperial gallon tanks or, if need be, the ocean. Even at low tide, the Mk. 3 can easily cope with a negative static suction lift of about 25 feet and still deliver an impressive amount of water 500 feet away. I recognize this setup is not practical everywhere. As well, it must be meticulously maintained. If the house is ablaze or a forest fire is closing in, one does not want to be trying to start a balky engine full of stale fuel. Or wondering where those rolls of hose might be hiding.

Cell service. Yes, a booster might help, as you suggest. There are some that seem to work well if you are in an area with some signal. If there is no signal, there is nothing to boost. We do not use one. Telus phones work reasonably well here as long as one is in sight of the ocean, with a view to the south. Are landlines available there you are? Here, we only have cell phones and radios, which can transmit 5 miles or so. What do you have for internet?

Water. You have community water. I am guessing there’s in place a reasonable delivery system and the supply lines are deep enough that freezing is not an issue. I would hope the septic lines are the same. JAG mentions failing pumps. Been there, done that. We are now set up so that water from our wells is gravity fed, no pump required. Septic should be gravity since a pump failure could get ugly.

Road issues. Lonewolf mentioned snow clearing. You say you are close to town, so it may be your road gets plowed in winter and you have only your own driveway to consider. I mentioned family in rural Ontario. There, those living on the lake all chip in to cover the cost of having the road into the lake plowed, plus a separate cost for each time their own driveway gets plowed. There is no road maintenance where we are, but almost no snow, so mot much of an issue. As well, no one here drives anything that is not 4WD. You might want to consider 4WD if you do not already have it.

Lonewolf mentioned school bus service. My guess is that’s a non-issue for you. 

Property tax. You probably know what is the tariff and whether you can live with it. Almost sure to be less than Toronto. But, as lonewolf says, the further out you get, the less you get for your tax dollars. 

Home insurance, heating issues, etc. It might be there are no gas lines there. Perhaps you can tell us how the place is heated. 

Garbage is an interesting one. Some rural areas in BC have pickup, but it’s a pay-for-use service. Where our rural family lives in Ontario, there’s no service available at all, but they can haul as much as they like to the local dump for free. Around here, one must pay to dump, with a minimum fee of $4, even if only to toss a dirty paper towel. Actually, that $4 charge has probably gone up by now. For us, anything that will burn gets burned. Glass, etc. goes to a recycle depot after a trip by boat and then by truck. 

Lone mentions barking dogs, lack of bylaws. Here, wolves tend to eliminate unruly dogs. Besides, with a minimum lot size of 10 acres, people (and dogs) are spread out and are out of sight and sound. No one within a mile of us. The lack of bylaws is a plus. No one for miles around to enforce them, so they don’t exist. Ditto for the reference to the building code. No inspections here. Build how you like. No one will stick their long nose in and tell you cannot do something, or that you need a permit, etc. But, caveat emptor on buying something already built.

Mail delivery. Does anyone get mail anymore? We have a P.O. box we check every few months.

Finally, JAG says life in the country differs little from the city. That is no doubt true for places close to town that can be described as semi-rural at their most rugged. But, for those of us that live off the grid, who depend on travel by boat, where there are no services at all and people are spread out over significant distances, I would say that life is totally, fundamentally and radically different. It is certainly the case that one must be handy - able and equipped to repair just about anything. No one will come where we live for a service call, and taking something to town for repairs is often not a possibility. For example, our backup diesel generator weighs 1,200 pounds. Too much to throw in the back of the boat and take to town for service. 

While we think of ourselves as rural, I suppose we are mere dilettantes compared to those hardy souls living in Canada’s far north, maybe 100 miles from any town and almost as far from any neighbour. Those folks really know what it is to be off the grid. I admire them.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

I grew up in a "rural area" but as Mukhang points out that is a relative term hah

I currently have a water softener. When I moved in 3 years ago I bought 4 bags of salt tablets from Costco and I just added the last 2 bags.. so in 3 years I may need to buy more salt! (I'm a very light user of electricity and water though) Mine is set to backflush itself every night at 3am and seems to mostly look after itself. I googled the model to learn how to maintain it from the manual and youtube videos, which involves taking apart a small filter and cleaning it (did it once and it was hardly dirty) and adding a cleaner to the brine tank and then hitting a button to "regenerate". The cleaner instructions recommended using half its contents every month (of course to sell lots of $$$ cleaner) I can't seem to find "water softener cleaner" anywhere but I've been meaning to look up what it is actually made of.. as I'm sure the ingredients are readily available and affordable on amazon or somewhere. If you find a good source let me know. All in all it's been low maint and when looking at houses you can tell which once have hard water by the stains in the shower etc. My garage and hoses are not softened but I might change the garage to reduce water spots on the car (not really a big deal if you dry properly and even less if you apply a sealant and/or you add something to make the water more "slick")

The biggest drawbacks for me living in a rural area is connectivity and snow removal. In my current location, I could have bought next to a river or lake surrounded by nature instead of neighbours but those 2 hassles changed my mind. I would remove the snow myself but I am often away for work or travel so I would have to pay for snow removal. I also need reliable internet connectivity for work. Where I grew up we know everybody in the rural area and people very much rely on each other for many basic things like snow removal, firewood, food, security etc. When we needed to pump out the septic system we'd ask the neighbour with a backhoe to help us out and then we'd keep them in mind come harvest season etc. There was somebody in the community who specialized in all the required skills like plumbing etc and the community was very much based on trading favours and looking out for each other. Probably the more rural you are the more reliant you become on your neighbours and the stronger the sense of community becomes. I feel like in the city or even medium sized cities there are far more people but besides saying hi and talking about the weather or something they don't really have the same sense reliance on each other. People seem more competitive than cooperative etc..

I see many benefits to living in rural areas, especially to costs of living and just general well-being


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## STech (Jun 7, 2016)

Depending on the size of the holding tank, and number of users, a septic tank should be pumped every 3-5 years. It'll be $250-300, and it's money well spent. Replacing your septic tank or field is major $$$$$. Hopefully the previous owners left you the paperwork on when it was last pumped. If not, do it now. 300 bucks is really cheap insurance. You and Mrs. should read up on how septic systems work, and how to take care of it. This is extremely important education.

Even though you're on a community well, it doesn't hurt to get your water tested. You just get a test bottle, follow the instructions, and drop it off at the nearest public health. It's free, and you'll get the results in about 2 weeks.

Do you have oil or propane heating? Or lucky enough to have NG?

You're majorly over thinking the water softener. It's a piece of cake. Get quality salt bags, and you might need to top it up once every 2 or 3 months. Set it to factory default, or if you don't like the hardness of the water, then experiment with the levels a bit. If you really want to go all out, you can get test kits or have someone come and do it. We had a water softener in the last house, which was on city water. If you want your drinking water filtered further, install something under the sink. It's a very easy DIY project if you're inclined.

I highly suggest you get a generator, even a small portable one, that you can run extension cords on. I have a portable 5KW generator, that's enough to run the fridge, a couple lights, the TV, and more importantly the furnace. It allowed us to be warm and watch TV during the last ice storm, that took power out for 3 days.

Get used to slower internet, and satellite TV. Although the Internet would hopefully be solved for most areas in the near future. If you have acreage to mow, and a big driveway to shovel, then treat yourself to one or two quality toys for the long haul. Your body will thank you.


Ask away if you got more questions.


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## janus10 (Nov 7, 2013)

Eder said:


> Your irrigation & exterior hose bibs generally are connected to water upstream of your water softener. Often a high end water filter under the sink attached to the cold water is nice to strip out weird tastes.
> If on septic be careful of flushing down cooking grease or too much soap at any time as it can be hard on the system.Find your septic access lid & ensure everything is properly cooking down there...if a lot of solids build up call a service truck.
> You don't need stand by power till the zombie apocalypse,but may find you need a vehicle good on unplowed drifted roads.
> You may need one of those old fashioned phones that plug into the wall.


That's good info. Do you check monthly, quarterly? I understand that there is some monitoring system but not sure if it raises an alarm or just causes a light to go on. The septic system is 3 years old.


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## janus10 (Nov 7, 2013)

Just a Guy said:


> Some things to remember, pumps will fail (septic, well, etc.) so it's good to have an extra on standby. Pipes burst, especially in winter, good to have some spare on hand. Connectors are also a must.
> 
> Also, septic lines can freeze up, so you may need some way to melt them.
> 
> ...


The house is 3 years old and is part of a new development that abuts houses that probably have been there for 40 years or so. The power is underground to all of the new homes, water via copper pipe into the home and then PEX throughout, I'm pretty sure there is a sump pump and I do know that they also have an HRV, which is another new device for us.

I'll definitely need to better understand the septic system - fortunately, the developer/builder will be our new neighbour.


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## janus10 (Nov 7, 2013)

Mukhang pera said:


> A few thoughts:
> 
> Water softeners I know nothing about. The only one I ever saw was in a house my aunt and uncle bought in Thornhill, Ont. in 1964.
> 
> ...


I think we aren't as rural as many people might think - but to us, it seems rural! So perhaps semi-rural is most appropriate.

I do remember them saying that a company can come along and pump out the septic system and, with only 2 people living in our home, that the system itself should last a long time. Annual maintenance (if necessary?) didn't strike me as being costly.

Our power is underground, but I still think that, because we live off a main street with above ground power and mature trees, that we could still be impacted. So, we will have to investigate whether a generator is a recommended "self insurance" option.

Firefighting - the fire hall is about a minute away - it is REALLY close. Fortunately, in all of the years I've been alive, I've never had a fire in the home. But, as we get older, we certainly could end up doing silly things or be forgetful. Thus, getting some education on how to properly put out a fire is something we should do.

I believe the current homeowners use Bell for TV, Internet and Phone. I don't know if they also use them for cellular service. I think the internet / TV is an area that will end up being a downgrade from what we currently have (Cogeco cable and extensive HDTV package). We use VOIP for home phone. I'm going to try to find a website that can compare various internet providers based on inputting your postal code.

Roads - because the subdivision we are in is just off the main street and is populated with expensive homes, I'm guessing the street will get a higher priority. Where we live now we are almost always last to get plowed because there are houses only on one side of the street and it's open to local traffic only. So, ironically, we should see more prompt service in this respect. For our driveway, however, it will be a big task to get the snow off as it is 4x as big as our current driveway. I have a new 4WD SUV - my wife still has her BMW RWD coupe, so good luck getting around in that with high snowfall.

Property taxes are about 10% less from what I gather.

The home is heated via natural gas and there is a line run to the deck off the kitchen for their BBQ. That will be a first for us - we've always relied on propane tanks. Looks like I get to shop for a new BBQ (eventually)!

Garbage - next month they start a blue box program and they don't seem to have compost collection, but they have weekly garbage collection (here it is bi-weekly). So that's an improvement.

Mail delivery I would expect is to some superbox which I don't remember seeing.


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## hboy54 (Sep 16, 2016)

You will have natural gas and fire service? This is not rural LOL.

I'd make sure I was far enough out from established sewage and water lines, such that some nice municipal government does not build the infrastructure and charge you the say $30,000 for the privilege of hooking up to civilization. Make sure no city wants to amalgamate you either, your taxes will rise to city levels, but you won't get anything.

Hboy54


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Yeah, you're doing acreage living in a subdivision, aside from bigger lots, you're not really close to rural living.

Rural living usually means you need large equipment to do things like plot your driveway, cut your lawns, etc. You also don't have things like municipal water, cable, underground power, neighbors within sight, good internet, good cell connections, etc.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Landline telephones (POTS), at least in the city, have a separate power source and continue to operate even when there's an electrical power outage. Note that for this to work, your telephone equipment must also not depend on mains wall power.

Question for people in rural areas: is this still true? Hoping it is, because that's a really nice safety in case of power outage.


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## off.by.10 (Mar 16, 2014)

hboy54 said:


> You will have natural gas and fire service? This is not rural LOL.
> 
> I'd make sure I was far enough out from established sewage and water lines, such that some nice municipal government does not build the infrastructure and charge you the say $30,000 for the privilege of hooking up to civilization. Make sure no city wants to amalgamate you either, your taxes will rise to city levels, but you won't get anything.


Indeed, it sounds more like suburban living without sewage and water, which is more or less how I grew up. There used to be cows at the end of the street but otherwise, it's not much different except except for having absolutely no services less than a 5 min drive away. Bus ride to school was a little longer. Power did not go out much more than any other random place (perhaps 1 hour a year, with a 12 hour outage every decade). The roads were well cleared but that's always very specific to where you live.

Oh and the infrastructure / city amalgamation thing is very true. Our place was over 500m from everything. We got merged into the city (higher taxes, no more service). We eventually got water, having to pay over 10k$ for the hookup. This was done willingly but the rules are such that is other people want it and the new water line crosses in front of your property, you are forced to get hooked up and pay your share. There's little chance of ever getting sewer service, which is the more valuable service (septic costs a lot more to maintain than a well). Oh you might face small town politics (eg. paying through the roof to get your kids to play sports with the city team because you're not part fo the city).


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## STech (Jun 7, 2016)

james4beach said:


> Landline telephones (POTS), at least in the city, have a separate power source and continue to operate even when there's an electrical power outage. Note that for this to work, your telephone equipment must also not depend on mains wall power.
> 
> Question for people in rural areas: is this still true? Hoping it is, because that's a really nice safety in case of power outage.



Yeah they all have their own power source, but it means diddly when a bunch of trees fall and cut the lines. Last major ice storm we had, knocked out power for 4 days. We had no cell service, no internet, and land lines were cut. The land lines came back on only a day before electricity was back on. I don't think land lines serve any purpose anymore, but my neighbour refuses to give it up, same as my inlaws who live in the city.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I thought that phone lines were different in that they are at least partially underground, and have some battery backup. In this article, they mention that phone landlines stopped working because the backup batteries died _after a long outage_. So it sounds like initially, landlines still worked and that's still an advantage, I'd think:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...e-phone-internet-bell-darren-walker-1.3968508

As an aside - I recommend getting one of these battery-operated chargers that is capable of recharging a cell phone. I have one that takes AA batteries, and my emergency kit (which contains a ton of AAs) can keep my cell phone and flashlights going for days, if needed. Alternatively you can rely on your car, assuming you always keep it gassed up, using one of those "inverters" that plug into the cigarette lighter. Pretty cheap at Canadian Tire.


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## STech (Jun 7, 2016)

james4beach said:


> I thought that phone lines were different in that they are at least partially underground, and have some battery backup. In this article, they mention that phone landlines stopped working because the backup batteries died _after a long outage_. So it sounds like initially, landlines still worked and that's still an advantage, I'd think:
> 
> http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...e-phone-internet-bell-darren-walker-1.3968508


Yeah they have battery backup, and some even have generator backup. But when a tree falls on the lines, or a car hits a pole, none of that matters. The line into the house, may or may not be buried, but the lines to the street are still hung on poles. I also question how much money and effort Bell is putting into maintaining the aging infrastructure with a dying consumer base.




> As an aside - I recommend getting one of these battery-operated chargers that is capable of recharging a cell phone. I have one that takes AA batteries, and my emergency kit (which contains a ton of AAs) can keep my cell phone and flashlights going for days, if needed. Alternatively you can rely on your car, assuming you always keep it gassed up, using one of those "inverters" that plug into the cigarette lighter. Pretty cheap at Canadian Tire.


Don't forget that batteries will go flat over time, even if not used. Lithium ion will self discharge, and alkaline batteries will dry up, so don't count on getting many hours out of them. Li-Ion also don't like to be stored at full charge for extended periods of time.

The two best tools I had to get us through the last power outage, were the gasoline generator, and gas powered chain saw. Out here gas, diesel, or propane equipment works well. Electric or battery operated tools won't get you out of a jam. I rewired the furnace to run off the generator, so we had heat, TV, microwave and fridge, plus some lights. The electric water heater and well pump are too much for my generator. When I win the lottery, I'll spend the 15K+ on a whole house standby generator, just to keep the wife happy.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

STech said:


> I rewired the furnace to run off the generator, so we had heat, TV, microwave and fridge, plus some lights. The electric water heater and well pump are too much for my generator. When I win the lottery, I'll spend the 15K+ on a whole house standby generator, just to keep the wife happy.


Wow, nicely done! If NK attacks, I'm coming to crash at your place. (I'll bring beer).


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## STech (Jun 7, 2016)

james4beach said:


> Wow, nicely done! If NK attacks, I'm coming to crash at your place. (I'll bring beer).



LOL, we can watch satellite TV in comfort while the nukes fly over head. Bring good beer, I prefer the premium stuff


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

STech said:


> When I win the lottery, I'll spend the 15K+ on a whole house standby generator, just to keep the wife happy.


Are you sure you need to spend that much? 

Unless you have electric heat, even a 5 kw genset will power a whole house. We live off grid, using solar and wind to charge batteries. We use a generator to charge the batts during periods of no sun and no wind. We managed for a long time with a Yamaha 6.5 kw gasoline-powered genny. It cost about $4,000 new. If for any reason we want to power the house with just the genset, we are able to bypass the batteries. The Yamaha will easily manage ordinary loads - fridge, freezer, washing machine, tv, computers, lights, etc. We have wall-mounted displays in few spots in the house, that provide a continuous readout of power being consumed by the house as well as the amount going in at any time. Most of the time we are drawing well under 500 watts. 

We still have the Yamaha, but it's now a backup to our backup. Our main generator is a Kubota 7.5 kw diesel. Diesels are expensive, but even that rig cost no more than about $10,000 all in. For brief periods of no power, I dare say we could get by with the small gasoline generator we use for portable power - eg. running circular saws at locations remote from the house. It's a 2,400-watt Makita. It is capable of being connected to the house mains. I have never used it to run the house, but it should be adequate to keep the basics running when grid power is out. 

I just re-read your post and I see you have a genset rigged to power most of your house. What is the rated output of that machine? You mention electric water heater and well pump, which is probably a deep well submersible. The water heater probably draws about 4,000 watts and the pump about 1,000. If those two run at the same time, along with other house loads, yeah, a genset of 6 kw or so will balk. But if all you need is to get by for some hours until power is restored, you can switch off the water heater. Its contents will stay hot for hours.

I'll agree you might have to spend $15k or so for a generator that will power the whole shebang for extended periods without having to monitor use. Maybe a 12.5 kw unit. For extended runs, diesel power is best. And expensive. Cheaper on fuel.

Okay. Go for that lotto win!


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## STech (Jun 7, 2016)

Mukhang pera said:


> Are you sure you need to spend that much?



After the last ice storm, my neighbour installed an auto start 15KW, and it cost him 12 grand, and he still can't use everything, even though his stove is propane. A slightly bigger genny, plus inflation, will hit that the 15 grand mark easily.





> I just re-read your post and I see you have a genset rigged to power most of your house. What is the rated output of that machine?


It's a 5KW Generac. Yeah I can wire it to run the well pump, and we could get some hot water for a while, but it's just not worth the effort currently, seeing how infrequently we do need the generator.



> I'll agree you might have to spend $15k or so for a generator that will power the whole shebang for extended periods without having to monitor use. Maybe a 12.5 kw unit. For extended runs, diesel power is best. And expensive. Cheaper on fuel.


I don't have the answer right this moment, but I remember talk of the electric code changing, so now whole house generators must be big enough to power everything at once. Don't quote me on that, I know it changed in the US, but can't remember if Canada followed suit. I'd go with a 16KW. And you're right, diesel engines are the best, but they suffer from one big issue like gasoline engines, and that's the fuel going stale. Natural gas and propane can be stored indefinitely. 

Slightly off topic. A friend of a friend, owns a lot of land in the Stoney Creek area. On his property, he has what I'd consider a small gold mine. He's extremely lucky to have a natural gas well. He heats the house, barn, and shop with it. He also uses the natural gas itself, to run both the drier, and electric generator. Talk about being energy independent 




> Okay. Go for that lotto win!


I'm working on it. Any day now


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## birdman (Feb 12, 2013)

I didn't read the whole thread but we live in a fair size city but only 5 kms from the centre of town. We are on a private road which is not maintained and on septic. Gas is on the road but we heat with electricity, an air source heat pump. We are surrounded by small farms; mainly hayfields and orchards/vineyards and our view lot is .70 of an acre and is zond agricultural. We have berry, vegetable, and flower gardens. Our biggest isssues are the deer eating the food gardens, marmots digging under the wood pile and eating the tomatoes, magpies squawking, and the start of an infestation of grey squirrels. The road is not plowed in the winter unless a local with a tractor does it but the snow is dry and not a problem. We love it here: quiet, no dogs, a rural atmosphere, but extremely close to town. We keep working on keeping the critters at bay by fencing our garden with fishing line to deter deer and live trapping marmots & squirrels. Very happy here and would have a tough time moving.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Mukhang pera said:


> Unless you have electric heat, even a 5 kw genset will power a whole house. We live off grid, using solar and wind to charge batteries. We use a generator to charge the batts during periods of no sun and no wind. We managed for a long time with a Yamaha 6.5 kw gasoline-powered genny. It cost about $4,000 new. If for any reason we want to power the house with just the genset, we are able to bypass the batteries. The Yamaha will easily manage ordinary loads - fridge, freezer, washing machine, tv, computers, lights, etc. We have wall-mounted displays in few spots in the house, that provide a continuous readout of power being consumed by the house as well as the amount going in at any time. Most of the time we are drawing well under 500 watts.
> 
> We still have the Yamaha, but it's now a backup to our backup. Our main generator is a Kubota 7.5 kw diesel. Diesels are expensive, but even that rig cost no more than about $10,000 all in. For brief periods of no power, I dare say we could get by with the small gasoline generator we use for portable power - eg. running circular saws at locations remote from the house. It's a 2,400-watt Makita. It is capable of being connected to the house mains. I have never used it to run the house, but it should be adequate to keep the basics running when grid power is out.
> 
> ...




i continue to be Flabber Gasted at the vast range of talents so casually owned up to by the frontier dwellers. They re-wire their house generators. They run circular saw operations at remote locations on portable generators. They fish prawns for their suppers. They are resourceful. They are intrepid.

STech is no slouch either.

guys you should write books. Your tales are fascinating.


(signed)
dumb thumb crumb


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## STech (Jun 7, 2016)

humble_pie said:


> i continue to be Flabber Gasted at the vast range of talents so casually owned up to by the frontier dwellers. They re-wire their house generators. They run circular saw operations at remote locations on portable generators. They fish prawns for their suppers. They are resourceful. They are intrepid.
> 
> STech is no slouch either.
> 
> ...


Would it be a bestseller if it only sold 2 copies 

I was always into building and tinkering with stuff. Moving out to the country just gave me an excuse to buy more tools and toys. The more remote you move, the more handy and self reliant you must become. on the other hand, I'm always in awe when I see someone effortlessly and seamlessly draw a work of art, or play a piano. I'm like a fidgety toddler that can't draw a stick figure, and like a monkey bashing a piano keyboard.


Back to the topic of generators. In the US, after 2008 the National Electric Code changed for standby generators. Homes must have either A) A generator capable of powering everything or B) Must have a load shedding switch installed. I couldn't find the same about Canada, but I didnt look too deep either.


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