Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Building a modern home in the woods

johnnyrodgers.is

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 508 posts

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#161

Post by pinot »

rhacker wrote: post #111
desdiv wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a typo because 400A is indeed the highest tier residential service BC Hydro currently offers[0]. 400A is also in the right ballpark for the amount of equipment he describes. [0] https://app.bchydro.com/accounts-billing/electrical-connecti...

The copper coming from "something" will be at least 1/2 inch thick, probably more so that it doesn't lose voltage. We're probably talking a 7/0 cable where 4/0 would be bare minimum.

Probably larger than that. If they’re 200m from the transformer, 400A service requires (3) 1000kcmil cables per leg. 100m drops it to (3) 350kcmil which is still pretty beefy

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#163

Post by dleslie »

We recently moved from Vancouver to the Island; and made a similar calculus about locations at which to live. I have a friend who ended up with 160+ acres in the interior, whereas I've settled on a quarter acre on the central island. There's a reason for this difference...

What's I found _conspicuously_ absent from the author's considerations was anything at all regarding their children. Elementary schools, family doctors, even the local density of children near to their age.

Houses in the woods are lovely for a family to visit for some of the year, and are lovely for reclusive adults; but they severely restrict the opportunities to fulfill the needs of children.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#164

Post by skeletal88 »

zrail wrote: post #134
crowbahr wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a European you probably don't have an outdoor heated pool & hot tub in a frigid northern climate. I also think it's ridiculous, for what it's worth. 400A is a wild amount of electricity for a supposedly high efficiency, modern home.

My house has 350A split across two meters because we have a ground source heat pump which has a special electric rate. I don't think we ever actually use that much power.

Where I live we have to pay to the electric grid for the amps on the main breaker. Because the grid has to be able to provide those, needs to be planned accordingly, needs to have the proper diameter cables and transformers, etc. Even if we don't use them. So having 300A "just in case we need it" would be insanely expensive on the monthly bill. This amount of apmeres is more like for a workshop, small industrial or office building

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#165

Post by danans »

wrycoder wrote: post #113
danans wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I was shocked they needed 400A Seconded. I recently completed an all electric high performance remodel, and with 200A service, I can power a heat pump, heat pump water heater, all electric kitchen and laundry, and an EV charger, with Amps to spare. This is in the mild Bay Area, and my heat pump draws about 6A (15A breaker). The largest loads are EV and cooktop/stove. A 3000sqft custom house built to high performanc…

I'm running a small hot tub in central New Hampshire. I figure it costs me $15 per month in the winter. Edit: Service in the US is generally 200A or 400A. I'd say 400A is overbuilt for what they have, but that doesn't mean they actually use much of that capacity. For example, I average 1000 kWh per month, which is about 1.39 kW 24/7, or 12 amps average on my 200A service. The 200A is to have headroom for peak demands…

NH electric rates are $.20/kWh [1]. If you are spending $15/month for heating the hot tub, then you are consuming ($15/month)/($.20/kWh)=75kWh/month to heat it.

Assuming you are using are using a resistance heater (100% heating efficiency), to raise 200Gal of water (typical small hot tub size) from 50F to 100F requires about 25kWh of energy.

To only use 75kWh/month (255kBTU), you would need to only raise it to 100F less than 3 times a month, and that assumes that the water temp doesn't naturally drop below 50F (unlikely in NH).

It's likely you are spending significantly more than $15/month to heat it with electricity.

Propane is about $30/MBTU, which would work out to about $9/month for the equivalent amount of heat.

1. https://www.electricrate.com/residential-rates/new-hampshire...

2. https://bloglocation.com/art/water-heating-calculator-for-ti...

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#167

Post by chimen »

What's modern about that house? Ridiculous amount of electricity required, flat roof in an area where snow is expected for a big portion of the year, heated outside pool, very remote but VERY dependant on electricity, internet and TV must be fun. It all starts kicking in pretty fast once you move in and realise your kids grow up alone because there's nobody in their age group for miles, no days when you feel like doing nothing (especially in the winter), no way your kids can play outside (in the wilderness) unsupervised, no way can they play outside when it's darker - so many WTF's and ifs there.

That's something I would build when I retire and grow sick of the world. Even asylums can be "modern" I'll give you that.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#168

Post by cols »

Beautiful house and there was a day I would have been extremely jealous but...

I live in Oregon and in 2020 chose to (was not officially in an evac zone but the smoke was awful) evacuate when the horrible Beachie Creek and Lionshead [0] fires ripped through the Santiam Canyon. Houses that my wife and I had looked at possibly purchasing were torched, as well as some of the most pristine ancient forest I've seen [1].

My outlook about living in the forest drastically changed after these events. The Beachie Creek fire reached 130,000 acres overnight at a growth rate of 2.77 acres per SECOND. [2].

You couldn't pay me enough money to live in a forest at this point. It's just too damn dangerous. Also, the flat roof seems problematic. Everyone I know in the PNW who has owned a flat roof has had issues with it due to pooling water. That far north, I imagine snow accumulation would also be a really big problem in terms of stress on the roof.

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiam_Fire

[1] - https://www.opb.org/article/2021/09/02/oregon-field-guide-op...

[2] - https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7001/

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#169

Post by dleslie »

ttul wrote: post #12
fartcannon wrote: post #7

Leaving out the actual financial information makes this post a little useless. Before I can imagine it, I want to know if I can do this or if I need to be a trust fund baby.

These kids may not have a trust fund, but to have already bought and sold a Vancouver townhouse with enough equity to buy raw land and build a fairly baller house on it… they definitely had parental help.

If you bought a house _anywhere_ in Metro Vancouver and held it for ten years, you could likely finance this project if you sold it now.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#170

Post by anonAndOn »

A hot tub is easily super insulated, brominated and locked up but I'm pretty sure a heated outdoor pool in the mountains is going to end up costing him far more time and money than he budgeted for, especially if there are no pool services in the area.
Post reply on HN