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Building a modern home in the woods

johnnyrodgers.is

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Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#231

Post by danans »

wrycoder wrote: post #187
rhacker wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny how removed we are from reality. Even if $15/month might be cheaper than a propane bill, it would be far far more expensive against the planet to heat it with gas/coal burned at a factory 100 miles away, converted to electricity, then converted back to heat inside the spa water heater.

I think that an air/water heat pump on the tub, with say a COP of 8, would be less expensive to operate than propane or straight electric. But, I couldn't justify the capital expense. (Small hot tubs are electric.) I like my wood/propane mix for heating, because it's immune to power outages. At some point I'll get too old to cut/split/haul wood, though, and will have to figure something else out. I'm not sure why the…

> I'm not sure why there's a push to eliminate gas cooking in favor of electricity.

It can make a lot of sense in urban areas. In addition to removing the methane leaks (with their high GWP), it reduces the need to install/maintain expensive natural gas distribution infrastructure, and also improves indoor air quality by eliminating NO2 and CO production within the house. If the power goes out, you just use a propane grill in the backyard, or a small butane stove.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#232

Post by carabiner »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #226
carabiner wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. Might I ask where? I'm thinking of places like the outskirts of Monroe, North Bend. I've heard of people doing this farther out on the Peninsula in places like Port Angeles.

You're about 15 years too late to find 'deals' in Monroe/North Bend area. It's seeing huge growth and property values are way up. There's not as much land as you think too since a lot of it butts up against state and national forests.

Well. Anywhere else? Should I go out to Wenatchee?

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#234

Post by lstodd »

lambdasquirrel wrote: post #112
lstodd wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Top-to-bottom windows all over and narrow spaces .. it's actually amazing they fit it in 100KVA. This thing in winter would need about twice that just to not freeze. Hence the propane, and forget the tub and the pool.

There are probably other ways to build a modern-style home that don't involve this, but they currently aren't in vogue. To which end, I wonder how long such a home would last, given the upkeep. The bling times come and go. Just look at history.

> I wonder how long such a home would last

3-5 years at most I think. I've seen futile attempts to sell such experiments.

After that time it's just easier to bulldoze or burn it, and then build something more sensible.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#235

Post by ziggus »

mizay7 wrote: post #119

Always intrigued by this idea. But the thing that I never see addressed in these discussions: what's the plan for schooling? just do small local rural schools? do online supplementation? This is the sticking point that keeps me from going far down this path.

It appears that this is a second home, not their primary residence.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#236

Post by jcelerier »

danans wrote: post #98
intrepidhero wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from the US and I was shocked they needed 400A plus propane. We draw more current then you guys because our voltage is lower but still, 200A services are pretty standard for large rural homes.

> 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…

reading this as a french, this is wild. AFAIK you can't even get more than 136A as an individual, you need to operate a company (if my calculation is correct - max. for individuals is 15kVa AFAIK). Huge majority is 6kVa / 230V => ~26A

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#237

Post by [deleted] »

jannyfer wrote: post #54
milesvp wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I saw those flat roofs, and talk of whistler, and thought what a nightmare. Peaked roofs exist for a reason. I wonder what their snow strategy is? Because one day of rain on top of several feet of snow causes severe structural strain if it can’t just slide down.

The last photo is in snow... I wonder if they actively melt snow on the roof?!

[deleted]

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#239

Post by wrycoder »

danans wrote: post #228
wrycoder wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay $0.13 per kWh in my town. (That's my marginal cost.) The tub is well insulated, with an insulated cover, so you need to account for that. My estimate on the hot tub cost is by comparing my kWh usage after the tub was installed to the prior year use. Most small tubs are electric, like mine.

> I pay $0.13 per kWh in my town. So assuming $15/month, you are using 115kWh, which is 392kBTU of heating energy. It takes about 83kBTU to heat 200gal of water from 50F to 100F, which would be like 5 full heat ups from 50F. Of course there are the other convolved factors you mentioned (insulation).

Believe me, it's worth $15 per month to my wife! So happy.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#240

Post by alfor »

The form is incredibly inefficient. It look a bit like design magazine, but the price you pay for that is incredible. Look at the surface area of exterior walls and roofs compared to the inside volume! A design like a four square would probably cost 1/3-1/2 of this for the same volume and be way easier to heat.
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