I don't get it...

My sister and brother in law are having a small, brand new house being built down the street from me. Small as in the entire footprint would fit within the area of my kitchen, dining room and bathroom (1865 farm house). Anyways, it is being built to to code (Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code), which requires r50+ in the ceilings, r23+ in the walls, the r value for the basement depends on where the insulation is put.

They've got minisplits for heat/ cooling with electric baseboards for emergency heat, and a 5.5kW grid tied PV array. This is all well and good for 95% of the time.... Buuuuut... that 5% of the time is the dead of winter when the power goes out. My Bil told me that his PV shuts down w/ mains power.

He kinda stared at me blankly when I asked him how's he going to keep my niece warm when power is lost.

That's the part I don't get.... We lose power from time to time in the winter, that's a fact of life. Their house is critically tied to the grid in the name of energy efficiency, mine is not. If they lose power they're screwed, with no backup heat in the house.

If I lose power, life goes on... I've still got heat, cold water, and can cook on either the wood stove or on my gas range. If they lose power.... I've got 3 house guests.

Why are houses being built like this?

nope, literally zero backup

I think I've got him talked into getting a small LPG catalytic wall mounted direct vent heaters as a back up, as they will have a gas cooktop... I think part of their problem is they spent all their money in the kitchen and on the minisplits... and as first time home owners... backup heat didn't enter their mind.

They don't have a gas stove... like I said, they spent their money in the kitchen... gas cook top, electric wall mount double ovens. It would not surprise me if the cook top doesn't have an NFPA electric gas valve in it.

I do wonder however wonder, what it would take to reconfigure their PV system to auto disconnect from mains and remain online through a power outage. It would kill me to have spent the $$ on a PV system to have it just *shut off* when I needed it the most.

Circus said:

If they're buttoned up like you say, they'll be fine.

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they may be.... they might not. Our houses are just about 3 miles from the Atlantic ocean... In Feb, -15F and a 40MPH wind is not all that uncommon. They are also in the middle of a field with no trees more than 30' tall within 500' to block the wind. I am on the opposite side of the road, with a nice tight row of 70'+ pines 250' from my house, shielding me from the easterly wind.

It is amazing when you compare at how farmsteads were set up in the 19th century, and where houses now are placed. Houses now are basically dropped on the lot where they fit. My old house and it's attached El and Barn are over 100' long, running almost due north/south. This alignment uses the house as a wind break for the more constant westerly winds... and the large trees to deflect and divert the more brutal easterly storm winds coming off the water.

I *wish* I had the money to drop a PV system on the 900sq ft southern facing half of the barn roof....

NE WOOD BURNER said:

Sounds like a nice "housewarming" gift for your sister would be a neighborly thing to give! Maybe a nice generator?

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yeah, um... no.

hossthehermit said:

Sounds to me like they DO have a backup plan ......................

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if it is, it's a crappy plan... as I don't fix frozen plumbing for free....

firefighterjake said:

I remember folks buying generators after the 1998 ice storm left so many folks in Maine without power for days ... and then returning the generators a few days later when their power was restored ... as you say some folks just think it will not happen again.

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I fortunately (for me) missed the ice storm of '98... I was working for the commerce dept in SE Kentucky at the time.

I've never bought a genny because I had access to 3 at my old job.... now that it's my *old* job.... I probably should go out and buy one, lol In the meantime however, I do have my homestead setup to be completely liveable with no power... My teens may disagree though...