5 THINGS WE WISH WE’D KNOWN BEFORE MOVING OFF GRID

Now that we have spent years living off grid in the UK we are sharing the 5 things we wish we had known before we started our off grid journey.

We are a young family living off grid in a woodland that we grew from scratch. We harvest and filter rain water and use solar power for our electricity. We have recently installed a poly tunnel and are now growing more of our own food.

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Answers to FAQs:

How do you filter rain water?

How much did your solar power system cost?

How did your solar power system perform in winter?

How long will it be before your system has paid for itself?

How did you install the system?

What fuses did you use when fusing the Pylontech US3000C batteries?

How does your solar power system perform in winter?

How did you wire the panels in series parallel?

What is the Pylontech warranty like?

What appliances can you run on your solar power system?

How did you update the firmware and settings on the Quattro 48V 10KVA Charger Inverter?

How did you install the solar panels?

What does your solar power system generate in winter?

Thanks for watching!
Fraser, Rachael, Grace and Albie

The Off Grid Family
#offgridlifeuk #livingoffgriduk #offgridfamily

[billysmart]

Your children will stand out for the very best of reasons.

[idunasorchard]

Respect to both of you. You don’t see many off-grid YouTube channels where the couples must work full time, but that is the reality for most people including myself. Its so easy to take on too many projects when you are trying to build a homestead and work full-time at the same time. Indeed the fun stuff like gardening, canning, etc often takes last priority by necessity! Indeed, prioritizing is one of the most important skills for building a homestead. And really, you can’t be the type of person that needs everything perfect and in order at all times or don’t even try it! You both are doing great and thanks for sharing!

[livingoffgridinscotland]

Totally
But nearly everyone on the off grid Facebook groups have never even been camping or left a city, they all sit their in their council flat being a Facebook warrior 😂

[maherkassem]

Having two small kids myself and with both parents working full time, I can’t imagine how tough it is to build up your off grid house, work full time and make youtube videos.. You guys are awesome! I hope you keep it up with the videos, I think they are really interesting.

[demochamp]

great insightful videos guys!
just a pointer....u shouldnt use washing up liquid on pipes to get them into the fittings, being a degreasing agent it will rot the rubber seal away....silicone spray is what you need.

[darwinsfish]

We’re shocked at the security aspect. Hadn’t realised that Lincolnshire is so crime ridden. Here in rural Norfolk it wouldn’t occur to us to worry about these kinds of thefts. All my machinery is in an open fronted outbuilding and in twenty years not one theft in our village I’m aware of. I think this may change as population grows and the local market downs sprawl.

[brotherkith]

Another lovely video. You are young yet, stay with it, you will have years of great life ahead. I understand the mud though, I grew up on the farm in the 1950's and we wore wellies every day of the year!

[Mel-gfzb]

I'm on the land now, and omg I can't agree with this more. Put those romantic notions on hold for at least a couple of years. Putting the basics in place and learning how to do it is a massive learning curve (unless you've got an endless pot of money to pay people, which most of us haven't!). It's a massive accomplishment, but never think it's easy, especially when we're working full time to earn the money to build the dream. It's worth it, but there are definitely some dark times too. You're video's have helped me massively!

[twistedtube]

this is a dream of mine witch i hope to be a real thing one day. keep up the good work.

[JOOI]

Love the honest assessment of your 'Off Grid' life style. The 'can-do' attitude you both show is inspiring. It may be a few years before your children really appreciate what you have done, but you can be sure of one thing, they will in the end.
The Jam and Bee comments were hilarious 😂

[colinturner]

Just to correct you on the CCTV dvr without internet you can install cctv and it doesn't need internet to be VC able to record onsite because the DVR is installed on the property unlike an internet based cloud system requiring the internet like ring or equivalent wirelesss type cameras

[thelifeofdel]

You guys are genuine people God bless❤️

[nickglotus]

Good solid advice.. great vid.. keep them coming

[grahampartridge]

Hi.. looks like your getting on ok. I've never been off grid but I'm working towards it. Born and raised in the country with darkness and mud I've never liked street lights and paving, just what your used to . Its very important that you put your ideas and experience out there for some who think its all harvesting without the Endless struggling . Good luck n keep at it .

[sparkyhobo]

First video ive watched from your channel, and you 'clicked' with me right away!! Straight talking, honest and realistic. Its been said below, but young children, full time work and off grid = 24/7 activity and zero downtime, so much respect to you both for pulling it off. Looking forward to looking through what topics your other vids cover.

[Umski]

Admiring the fact that you've done the 'harder' things first and with a young family - water, heating and power! I would love to disconnect from the 'grid' and we are frugal energy users with solar PV (FiT based which is a mixed blessing) and a woodland with enough land to grow food - having a full time job is a distraction from getting the fun stuff done! As you say being retired would be nice but then it's harder work! Following you now so my wife can see it is possible with kids ;)

[jameswigginton]

Out of interest, have you seen the kris harbour natural building channel? Should be right up your street, he's off grid in Wales, good watching, interesting bloke 👍

[HW-oppq]

Fantastic channel, glad i found you. Now for the binge watch

[michaelansell]

Some lessons we have learned (offgrid 5kW wind, 3kW solar). 1) Wind and Sun complement each other very well. Usually when windy its not sunny. Occasionally cloudy/foggy days esp Nov/Dec/Jan can necessitate a couple of hours gennie run. We last used the generator 3 months ago. 2) Wind has an annoying habit of dying as the sun sets and temperature cools. Normally just when we want to cook something. 3) You will get on much better if you have practical electrical skills. 4) Also capable in respect of local area networks - latest inverter charger systems all require to be connected to the internet to receive updates and some cannot be commissioned if you cant connect to the net. 4) Some equipment suppliers make things very complicated, worst offender in my view is SMA. If you are not practiced in installing these inverters stand by to be bamboozled with passwords. The inverter does not have any display on it: has to be accessed via an app or PC. The old one could be interrogated by pressing buttons on the machine. Such is progress. 5) Most suppliers have poor after sales service. SMA is appalling. The UK office does not seem to do anything. In truth most suppliers want to steer clear of enthusiastic DIY offgridders and only deal with professionally qualified installers. 6) Installers who are responsive, customer orientated are rarer than hen's teeth. 7) Be prepared for BatSoc anxiety. 8) Beware of overspecifying, the larger the inverter charger the more electricity it consumes itself. Size the system carefully. Despite all that there is something very satisfying about generating all your own electricity. We get most of our heat from the system as well.

[Curious]

I just loved your honesty, especially the “after the 100th time it’s not fun anymore”. I’ve sort of felt guilty for “not having fun canning, dehydrating, etc” because well, it’s supposed to be a ‘fulfilling’ task, right? Anyway, thanks for sharing your experiences with us.