Last month, we debuted thefirst postin our series of Homesteading Questions and Answers. As we get questions from you, we try to formulate the best possible answers to help you on your adventure.
This month is all about off-grid heating options.
Sarah wants to know about “Heat alternatives that don’t require the grid, solar, or a woodstove.”
And Heather writes “I can’t go off-grid in my current home, but I’m wondering about heating a greenhouse through off-grid means. What option(s) might work best?”
由于人类历史上绝大多数时间都在某种程度上使用离网供暖,因此家庭供暖的选择多种多样。即使在这个现代时代,我们也可以借鉴我们祖先的创新和现代发明,让房子在寒冷的冬天也能居住。带着冒险的眼光,你一定会找到适合你特定家园的方法或想法。
For the record, none of the information I’m sharing today is presented as a complete answer. Heating the off-grid home is a lot more detailed and complicated. I hope, instead, to point you in some interesting directions and share compelling resources that you can research further.
That said, let’s get started with ideas on how to heat the off-grid home.
Fire-Based Heating Options
现在,我知道萨拉想讨论用木柴炉灶来为家庭取暖的替代方案,在这之后我们肯定会讨论的,但一个简单的事实是,没有什么更好的方法来为一个没有电网的家庭取暖。自从我们第一次发现如何利用火以来,火一直是世界各地人类的热源。从那时起,我们想出了一系列令人惊叹的方法和方法,与温暖、闪烁的火焰合作,在外面下雪的时候让我们保持舒适。
Before I get into some specific fire-heating methods, I’d be remiss if I didn’t add a pertinent note. Heating your off-grid home with fire is not constrained to the act of loading fuel in the firebox and sitting back to enjoy the warmth. Even if the heating unit is off-grid in the home, it is still somewhat on-grid if you have to purchase all your own fuel from some outside source. As such, I’ll not be mentioning pellet stoves, coal-burning stoves, or their kin. Instead, we’ll be focusing on wood-fired elements as they’re something you can feasibly source from your own land.
因此,对林地的管理对于“用木材为家供暖”的等式至关重要。同样,懂得如何安全地砍倒、砍断、砍倒树木,劈柴、烘干、储存柴火也很重要;以及知道什么木头最好烧,如何清洁你自己的烟囱,以防止木馏油积聚。
这是一个由经验建立起来的庞大的知识体系。如果你打算只使用离网供暖,你需要花点时间学习相关技能。当你学习如何获取自己的燃料时,我建议你阅读像《用斧头取暖》和《林地管家》这样的书。We also have articles here on Insteading about how tofind free firewood.
这里有一些不同风格的木材燃烧的热量需要考虑。
Woodstove
在远离电网的家中,一个好的柴炉就像一颗活着的、会呼吸的心脏。1742年,本杰明·富兰克林(Benjamin Franklin)发明了“盒子里的壁炉”,它比开式壁炉和壁炉要有效率得多,开式壁炉自古以来就是住宅的特色。安装迅速,(相对)易于移动,大小不一,木火炉为大多数家庭提供了离网取暖的选择。The process of safely installing, using, and maintaining a woodstove for your home is, of course, a big endeavor, so be sure to check out these excellentresourcesas you switch your home to wood-fired heat.
Masonry Stove
Masonry stoves have been around for a really long time. Whether Roman hypocausts, Chinese k’ang, Afghani tawakhenah, Austrian kachelofen, or the various designs of Swedish, Finnish, and Russian origin, the concept is a good enough one that it got passed around, or simultaneously invented, worldwide. Unlike a woodstove, which releases heat directly into the room, masonry stoves instead warm up an immense amount of mass that is an inherent feature in the room (such as stone) that can hold the heat like a battery and release it slowly over time. This is good news for folks who want to keep their houses warm through the night, but don’t want to wake up every two hours to feed the woodstove. We’ve got anarticlethat explains this concept further, and you should also check out “The Book of Masonry Stoves” by David Lyle.
Rocket Mass Heater
In a blend of old and new,the rocket mass heater(RMH) takes the ancient tradition of the masonry stove and gives it a North American twist from the back-to-the-land movement. Rather than relying on expensive elements that need to be bought elsewhere, the RMH can be constructed with materials that are recycled or sourced directly from your land. Like masonry stoves, you’ll burning 70 to 90% less fuel than you would in a normal woodstove. One of the best resources I know on the subject is “The Rocket Mass Heater Builder’s Guide” by Erica and Ernie Wisner.
Non-Fire Heating Options
Geothermal Heating and Cooling
If you have a pretty penny to pay for it, there is another option for regulating the temperature in the off-grid home. You can harness the stable temperature of the earth itself to moderate the climate inside. The temperature of the earth is stable year-round, and if that temperature can somehow be brought to a structure on the surface, it can cool a building in the summer and warm it in the winter. That’s the backbone of geothermal heating and cooling, and you can read more about ithere.
虽然这个系统看起来很吸引人,但我认为离网供暖也有不少缺点。虽然有些系统依赖于温度的被动传递或使用风力发电,但其他系统需要一个需要有能源的泵来运行。The systems can also be costly and can’t always be installed by the homeowner (though there’s a great article in Issue #184 ofBackwoods Home Magazineabout a DIY job). And while it certainly makes the temperature inside the off-grid home acceptable, it will likely need to be supplemented by another heat source to make it comfortable.
For three years, I taught in a building rigged with a geothermal heating and cooling system. During the summer, it was wonderfully pleasant, but during the winter, we still used a woodstove to help warm the building. In my opinion,an earth-sheltered homedoes the same job as geothermal heating and cooling, but in a way that is accessible to the home builder and doesn’t require expensive parts.
Earth-Sheltered Home
If you’ve ever slogged through “The Long Winter” by Laura Ingalls Wilder, there’s an interesting observation near the end of the book. While blizzards ravage the conventionally-built houses in the town of De Smet, there’s a sod house far from town that is positively balmy by comparison. When moderated by the consistent temperature of the earth and protected from the wind’s ability to wick away warmth, the earth-sheltered home allows you to maintain a consistent indoor temperature with far less input than those exposed to the elements on the surface. And that makes your fuel use a lot more efficient, too.
You’ll have excellent guidance if you read through Rob Roy’s “Earth Sheltered Houses”and Mike Oehler’s “The $50 & Up Underground House Book” which both go into the specifics of earth-sheltered house construction. There’s attention to detail that comes from lifetimes of experience in alternative home building.
Passive Solar Heating
Passive Solar Heatingis part of the integral design of a home — as in, it’s not something you can buy and install like a woodstove or a solar panel. It requires a home (in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway) to have windows oriented to the south so that the most direct rays of the winter sun can enter. The sun’s energy then warms up a large mass — such as stone or tile — that absorbs the sun’s warmth throughout the short winter days and allows them to slowly release it during the night. It’s not enough to keep a home warm on its own, but it certainly cuts down on fuel use.
地球船设计是一个著名的建筑设计的例子,以被动式太阳能为特色。2022世界杯四强亚盘赔率如果你能读到Michael Reynolds的三卷可供选择的人力建筑,那就值得一读。2022世界杯四强亚盘赔率
Another book to peruse is Edward Mazria’s “The Passive Solar Energy Book” which you can read for freehere.
So, now that our off-grid homes are cozy, how about Heather’s greenhouse question?
Greenhouse-Specific Considerations
One of the best resources I’ve come across on using greenhouses in cold temperatures is Eliot Coleman’s “Four-Season Harvest” book. Many of the facts I list below are referenced from his excellent, easy-to-use advice. If you want to use a greenhouse as a long-term part of your life and self-sustenance, it is required reading.
I want to preface this section with an important assertion from Mr. Coleman:
If you live in zones 7 and southward, there’s absolutely no reason to heat a greenhouse. The sun should passively heat it to an adequate temperature to maintain the lives of winter vegetables.
Your wallets should sigh in relief.
For those living in zones 3 to 6, an artificially heated greenhouse is more necessary. How are you supposed to grow what you want during the subzero blizzards that howl around your homesteads in February? Thankfully, folks in years past have already figured out some genius methods to keep plants alive without linking their greenhouses to the grid. I hope, therefore, that these ideas and recommendations get you started on finding your own best practices for your own homestead.
Cold Frames and Floating Row Covers
从技术上讲,这种方法并不是给温室加热,但它以同样的方式保护植物。我喜欢这种简单的补救方法——仅仅在温室里的植物上加一排覆盖物或冷架。给植物盖双层保护膜有两个目的,可以延长它们的寿命。首先,温室本身抵御了冬季风的干燥破坏(并使排盖不被吹到任何地方)。没有钉住,重量,或尴尬的收获)。第二,排罩或冷框架,防止水分沉淀在植物表面,防止霜冻和积雪损害。
Compost Piles
分解有机物会产生热量;有时数量惊人。这种分解的自然特征可以被利用为你的优势。
Full disclosure: I’ve not yet experimented with this intriguing concept myself, so I’ll leave the idea with youto research and explore on your own.
Southern Orientation, Stone Walls
被动式太阳能供暖不仅适用于房屋。它对温室也很有效。在一个著名的例子中,斯科特和海伦是科尔曼家的邻居,他们把温室直接建在朝南的石墙上。这些石头在白天吸收太阳的热量,然后在晚上缓慢地释放出来,使温室不那么寒冷。“美好生活”(他们的书)为感兴趣的人提供了更多关于这个系统的细节。“The Passive Solar Energy” book I mentioned earlier also goes intogreenhouse design.
Walipini: Buried Greenhouse
We’ve written an earlierarticleintroducing this ancient, surprising method for keeping veggies warmer than the outer environment. A walipini is, essentially, an underground greenhouse. The Aymara Indians of Bolivia originated this technique, utilizing both the consistent temperature of the earth and taking advantage of the sun’s energy to extend their growing seasons.
Cold Tolerant Vegetables
Now, I gather that no matter how hard you try, you’ll never be able to grow cucumbers or tomatoes in the worst of winter in an unheated greenhouse. That’s reality. But instead of lamenting the loss of year-round cobb salads, celebrate the plants that are happy growing in the chill. Arugula, beets, carrots, Swiss chard, mache, mizuna, radishes, sorrel, tatsoi, turnips, broccoli, lettuce, and leeks are just a handful of the delicious plants that will happily thrive in a protected environment when the mercury dips.
Stay Warm!
I hope these ideas and resources set you on an interesting endeavor. It’s a wonderful freedom and comfort to know that your home can be kept warm without dependence on the grid. Ice storms and blizzards lose lots of their terror when you aren’t worried about them taking out your heating.
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