The One Part Of My Off Grid System That Might Trigger Some! The Big Secret Comes Out! 

I have a yanmar 20 kw and it's been the best generator I have every had. It's been flawless for at least the last 10 years. I think it has 18000 hrs on it and the only thing I've done to it was change the turbo once for a couple hundred bucks.

Curtis your channel inspires us constantly! Not only to make our own dreams happen but also to make content. We are in the far north east corner of BC and there’s definitely a few things that we need to consider living above the 56th parallel in a forest! Your system is the best of the best, and those armchair warriors are only annoyed that they’re not able to do it themselves, either because they’re lazy or haven’t made the decisions that would financially allow them to be so free. Please keep doing what you’re doing, if you can get through to just one family, it’s all worth it!

Curtis, live your life the way you want and don't let others tell you how. Living Off grid is adapting to what electricity you have and not what you wish you had. Keep up the good work!!!!

A very well thought out system with multiple redundancies. Site appropriate applications with site appropriate technology. Inspiring Curtis!

Aside from all other arguments about a generator or more solar, I think diversifying your power source is very important and has big advantages. It gives you options and reduces the number of single-point failures. I really like your setup ad what you plan to do.

Kudos to you Curtis. Though you're not even finished yet, your site is significantly more sustainable than 99% of the homes that your viewers have. It's great seeing the state of the art in living off grid today, and hearing the issues/insights that present when doing that in real life. Thank you. Excellent job. And viewer's unconsidered + ignorant comments are sad. But such is the case with most humans. I wish you continued resilience in dealing with this reality of life. All the Best to You and Yours.

I'm seeing heat reclamation on the diesel pipes. Food for thought. Love the set up and how you explain the levels of off grid. No system is perfect except the one that works for you. I get the idea the True off grid is a cabin in Alaska but, again as you said you would never see or learn anything from that persons hermit lifestyle as it could never be shared out. We use a generator to keep the battery going on bad days as well. Why would anyone let their system crash? Ok watching.

Another great video Curtis. Thanks for spending the time to film, edit and post all your vids. We have adapted some our gardening practices from the info you present. Keep the great job your doing. Nice generator!!! Enjoying our Gravenhurst winter

LED is getting better, worth looking into again. You can pick the light spectrum you want now days. 2.6-3 umol/joul is getting good. Blue light is a legit issue but you don't need so much blue in it now

I love the hydronic heated concrete floors. I experience them first when I was in Korea back in the 70s. They had a small burning device outside the room that you put a round block of charcoal that had holes through it. In Korea it was called yeontan. Like remember having to go out sometimes in the middle of the night putting in a new block of charcoal as the other ones burned down slowly. But they worked great, they were efficient and safe. I also experienced the other type of floor heating in Korea which had basically a chimney system going underneath the concrete floor where the hot gases went through the chimney system and heated the concrete floor. That was called on doll Heating. The bad thing about that type of system was when the floors got a few years old they started to build cracks and you get carbon monoxide leaking into the room. If that happened and you woke up with just a headache consider yourself lucky, there were many deaths because of that type of heating system.P.S Liked and Subscribed.

Calculating the diminishing returns is an important part of making those kind of decisions like whether or not to add more solar panels etc etc.

You are right on and it is refreshing to hear someone honest, strong and brave enough to share your point of view. Best of success in realizing your project!

I appreciate you Mr. Stone. I look forward to your future wood to electricity videos. My wife & I expect to emulate your families system, in Northern ID. Thank you sir.

There is so many different led Lights out there. They truly do cover the spectrum. I have an off grid ranch in Montana

This is high-end but realist off-grid. I am envious. Nice work.

Your videos come across like a snapshot of where you're at right now. I'm guessing you're not trying to say that you've arrived at the end of your homestead journey. You do a great job of explaining yourself and your situation. Keep up the good work along the way.

Great video Curtis. I love the honest off-grid lifestyle perspective. Your Generator is AC coupled into this system.

I appreciate your approach to off grid. If I wanted to see how I did things it wouldn't be learning. Keep crushing, stay free. Much love

I like your system: it's reliable, available, and maintainable. Demonstrated technology wins every day in my mind.

We have had bad luck with energy efficient appliances. Our repairmen that kept coming to our house for our energy efficient dryer and washing machine gave us a hint. He said to go buy rebuilt used older models of machines. Best advice ever!

Happy to see you chose a diesel genset. Although I would recommend a low speed diesel over the 3600rpm one little guys. They don't really last and are not worth rebuilding. Keep an eye out for general construction /mining light plants. They usually run 3/4 cylinder Isuzu or Kubota engines and will run upwards of 20,000 hours. They sell for cheap at Ritchie Bros and Kijiji. They are usually 12-20kw and often offer 120/240v.

I burn up about 20-25Kwh a day too, thinking about turning off the water heater. I probably won't use a generator just so that I can say I'm off grid. I love Yanmar, have one of their tractors. Nice place you're building. Thanks for sharing!

Never seen you before. You are just straight and open… I like that!!! Subscribed!

Super interesting projects! You do a great job explaining everything and thanks for sharing!

I have to say I am very impressed with the way you can live up in the mountains off grid I wish me and my family could do that but being in our mid to late 50s is not going to happen. That generator is bad ass dude. Great video.

That's a nice generator setup and I like the way it's automated to start up ! 👍 Those Yanmar engine's are pretty bulletproof . We have one in a JD skid loader and all we have done to it is change oil & filters after 5,500 hours . We use a truck mounted gas driven welder /generator if the power fails for temporary electricity to the home . At 24:22 is the reason we stay with rural electric power company as if I do the math our annual power bill is around $ 2,000.00 So $130,000.00 will buy a lot of energy for many years to come .

Awesome info & progress! Brilliant set up! Blessings to all 🤗💜🇨🇦

We used to follow your channel but fell off awhile.... Your new place is very impressive... Congrats and may you and your family enjoy many years there..

Life is always trade-offs and choices, sacrifice for something better. Someone with power might not be able to do wash in a power outage either, which are happening a lot more often now. Being prepared for whatever happens is the idea. No one is fully prepared for everything all the time.

Well done! Excellent review with detailed real useful information 👍

I really like your system. You have a good balance between ideal vs practical. I noticed that high tower with the wind power on it. I would love to have a property like that and would put a GMRS repeater on the tower to provide communications for miles around. Of course, you may not want or need such. One thing I haven’t seen from you (I’ve only watched the last 2 videos), is there utility power available to you if you wanted it, or were you forced to go off grid? (I realize you want to be off grid, but just curious). Keep up the good videos. I really liked this one.

THANKS for sharing!

incredible location. Very beautiful and certainly far from all. Logistics for you probably does not cost cheap ( And also I am impressed!

this was down to earth a very awesome video!

Just wondering what the go is for scheduled maintenance of your generator? Does your management system alert you when it's clocked enough hours or is it up to you to check the hour meter?

An Old Amish trick i learned. In the Wintertime, i wash my clothes and let them dry by hanging them up in my house. It's FREE, no power to run the dryer and it puts moisture back in the air.

Curtis, look into making biogas from waste, and compost heating. Compress the biogas and run the generator.

Yanmar diesels are awesome, truckers love those things. I also have transitioned from single with no money and lots of time to family life with some money and much less time. So I 100% am with you on “is it turn key?” Lol

This video is not up on Rumble so I will reluctantly comment here. Diesel at $150.00 per year for the one month in question amounts to 66 years to reach the $10,000 amortization expense amount. The genset expense of $13,000 is a necessary redundancy in the off-grid system so this expense cannot be included in this discussion. Price vs Worth = Value, smart. Love your videos, you are an inspiration Mr. Stone. ( Off-grid with Schneider and Honda Gensets for 6 years, FREEDOM!).

You can filter the LED lights with colour gel for photography, amber or along that spectrum of light. Very easy to retro fit

Dude, spot on!!! I use some l.e.d. but, like you... not in the house.

Well, I’m glad I don’t have to read through all your comments! Too many people who’ve never experienced going off grid and finding out it’s a long process and it’s a learning process too! I myself didn’t know anything about electricity, and it took years to get comfortable and finally build the system I wanted. But even after that, it takes time to figure out whether you did it right or you need to add here or there to it. If people could do anything in life, it should be less judgment on everybody else, and we’d all be a lot better off ! 🖖

Curtis, your doing awesome!!!

BIG CHANNEL, GREETINGS FROM THE UK!👍🇿🇦🇬🇧 SUBSCRIBED👍

It took me a long time to find LED lights I can use to read by. I hate the blue/white ones that used to be all there was. My energy bill was such that I had to find ones that work for me. Now, at least here in Ireland, they’re commonly available. I need warm white and they have to be dimmable. Those are a little less efficient than the cold white ones, but they have a much more natural colour and, unlike the cool ones, they can even power a solar only calculator. For what it’s worth, changing all my incandescent bulbs to LEDs, did make a small, but noticeable difference to my bill. The biggest change we need to make, if we stay on grid, is to stop using electricity to heat water. But that requires a level of inconvenience I don’t want in my life, so off grid is my next idea.

I purchased a blue light free, zero flicker LED bulb for next to my bed. I would have gone with an incandescent bulb but i'm only working with a mere 6.5kw of lead acid storage and my old incandescent bulbs literally used 10 times the power as this new one. I haven't noticed any real sleep disturbances as yet.

Awesome stuff, man. You’re lucky to have snow. I really miss snow. I know that’d eventually get old having constant snow, but man, I miss it. I live in Kansas, which twenty years ago had tons of great snow.😢

Thank you

Awesome videos, I have a small solar system that works for my needs & big deal if you have to run a generator while you do laundry, I do to but everything else runs great , Good job :)

I love my water/water woodstove, hot water. Love your system. I thought mine was the best...... well, I'm #2 now. Lol

Love it, you tell those sily trolls.

Thanks for sharing your gorgeous setup with the world, man. I enjoy learning about your means of electricity procurement. When and if I ever get off-grid I want to have something very similar to you. Solar with batteries + diesel genny + propane genny. Redundancies, redundancies, redundancies!

if you need efficient and natural light for extended time (e. g. >30 minutes) you should go for ceramic metal halide lamps, the top model from philips is actually more efficient than LED's and produces a full spectrum light. model name is MASTERColour CDM-T 70W/830 G12 1CT/12 i have 2 of these bulbs along with the corresponding driver and there's nothing out there beating them in terms of light quality and electrical efficiency combined

Thank you for all you've taught me Curtis!

I was with you about LEDs a few years ago but they are indistinguishable now vs incandescent. Check your color temps on the newer stuff, 3000-4000k. even the Edison led bulbs are nice now.

Our "off-grid" art studio, with Mini split A/C and heat pump, in Texas, has a cheap transfer switch, as the shed is there to be used. It still provides about 9/10ths of it's power from the sun, and that is what I'm hearing here, do what works. We're looking to move to the tropics, which is why I'm training on off-grid, and watching your videos, has probably convinced me to put in a Diesel generator. Where we're going uses a lot of Diesel, so will be easy to get. I am testing panel movement. I do wonder if you get sun tracking at all that goes over the panels, if a simple, single axis tracker with linear actuators might provide an increase that is usable since you said you can tilt them yourself. The cheap $40 actuators can move 300lbs, per, and can be controlled by a $65 ebay tracker, which might be worthwhile looking into. I built one with an arduino, just because I do like to geek out and have the time. I had two of the 12" actuators running off three 18650 3.6v batteries. The actuators and controller, use very little power. But, it sounds like it's just easier to use the generator. I only suggest it, because it looks like it would be pretty simple to cobble onto your current system, and could be done for probably close to a $100 per rack. And hey, moving panels are cool...

Something I find interesting is a home enclosed in a greenhouse. A home in Norway 🇳🇴 at or above your latitude was successfully using a greenhouse for food and heating. The video is on RU-vid.

Good for you!! LED is BAD!! Also energy saving off grid refrigerators start at 2K!!! Takes time. Off grid in the UP Mi.

WOW, Curtis geny shed looks great. 80 20 best gain, excellent rant. Could you imagine if it would cost your viewer to rant $5/ rant. Can you imagine. Hahaha

My friend I love your videos, you've taught me many many things. Is there any chance in future videos you can turn up your volume just a bit, sometimes its recorded so low hard to hear, please. Have a great day!

I once came across a diesel genset in Nelson, New Zealand that was inside a ground sheltered enclosure, and the noise was almost non existent.

You can save time and spend more money or save money and spend more time. It comes down to do, can you make more money in the time it would take to do the DIY project (CORRECTLY) or if you do yourself (CORRECTLY) would cost your lost in hour be lower. And there is a learning curve in doing project that can change the cost.

We are looking at a wood gasifier to run the generator and charge the battery system.

I agree those who are not trying to get off grid have no clue. I only have to cover 75 days of not enough solar to cover my loads. In my research I found Heli 2.0 48V kit with 5 blades to be the best. I am seeing an average day with winds 5-15mph produce 14kw. Since you already have your poles you could add 2 of them or even make it just 1. For $2100 it could make a huge difference on cloudy days and save you diesel. I will be buying one this summer and installing it. I will leave the brake on till i need it since I see no reason to wear out bearings etc and have to use a dump load heater. besides my testing of it. I have 58kw of lifepo4 batteries with 9400 watts of solar. When I get mine up and running I will get you my data if you want.

Curtis, Thank you for taking the time to share this. This is the first video of yours that I've seen, so far. Know that I'm not judging. I'm merely asking questions to better understand your system(s). Do you have Bi-Facial panels? We would like to have solar and an off-grid generator setup large enough to run our entire property. We are working towards some of those goals. Maybe some day soon. Take care, Tony

Led lights can accuracy reproduce the light spectrum better than incandescent bulbs. Look at the specifications of the bulbs your buying. But where you are at below zero temperatures could be an issue at startup. But led bulbs are phenommely more efficient.

Like Polaris 6×6, I've had one for many years....✌️

I want to connect the generator engine cooling system to the wood stove to keep it hot using less wood. However I would plan to run the generator much more often but using waste oil for fuel.

Been doing laundry in a mop bucket for three yrs no prob, led lights have many options now like yellow Amber white specs, life is not about being comfortable it's about teaching our children the will of heavenly Father, thanks for your uploads they help those whom diligently observe

I'm with you on the LED lights. The light from them is very unpleasant and I can't stand them. I have stocked up on incandescent bulbs when they were phasing them out.

Love your videos I’m working towards the same

nice setup i would try out the oil heaters the would make more sense you have fore ever burners to fore them you can maby even run your wood burner on oil heaters what can safe you huge amount of time and maby somthing to deal with the snow around and on the solarpanels

Curious on your boiler set up your doing. You mentioned you are doing propane backup boiler. With all the diesel you have stored on site already have you thought about doing a fuel oil boiler instead of propane since fuel oil is diesel. Just curious about that because you mentioned for you diesel is easier to get/store on your property.

I like the warmer LED lights, but the flicker is a problem. One of my personal off-grid goals is a network of low-voltage LED lamps running on 12/24vdc, that don't flicker.

Those server rack batteries have battery management systems already built into them except they do not communicate with your inverter. I think what you need as a Schneider Connext battery monitor. It’s a $900 item and it has a prescaler box which then connects to the major positive and major negative of the DC bus. All of the current that goes in and out of your battery pack goes through a 500 or 1000 amp shunt and it acts as a precision resistor to determine the current exactly. This is measured overtime and when programmed properly to the size of your actual capacity it will give you a read out in percent of full. That will provide a very accurate means to determine your actual state of charge. I have one. I live off grid too. Lithium iron phosphate batteries have a very flat discharge curve. It’s very hard to determine the actual state of charge through voltage. I like your system thanks for posting the video.

Can Power Diesel engine off of hemp seed oil as well. Only need to press seeds for oil and pretty much golden, very little refinement needed. Another reason to have Diesel engine for bad scenario, can generate new fuel w/ little homemade input

if solar panels all broke(or if you opted out of solar).. how many hours per day would you need to run the generator to charge the batteries and live like you do now?

Have you seen high CRI LED lights that also have good R4 (red) values and are flicker free? These are photo/video grade and are more expensive, but much much better. They generally don’t have all of the fluffy features such as dimming (which just slows flicker rates) or color adjustments, but they are incredibly good.

It’s the First time I seen your dog in the video…I wondered what you had..😆

Hey Curtis, what about one of those cheap diesel heaters attached to some sort of spinning drum to dry clothes? that 37kwh gallon of diesel will be almost fully utilized that way. Might even pay for itself in that year alone

Nice setup. Me, I want to know when the generator is running. I don't want it loud but if I can't hear it at all then I want some strategically located indicator light calling it to my attention. "Not real light" eh 😂 That made me laugh.

Gen will all ways be AC normally, I really aut to put in a master bypass but then again 21Kw plant is thirsty at partial load (3Kw cont) it uses 10L every 4H apx

I used to hate LED's, until they were manufacture as a warm white light. I don't like the blue wavelength either, but very acceptable warm wavelength units are available. Off grid 23 years.

I personally think your doing AWSOME - I've been 100% off Grid for over 5 years FORGET the IDIOTS - Keep it up VERY impressing system you have designed

Pay no attention to the “armchairs”. Your vids are informative & inspiring! Thank you! I love what your have built for your family, but one word comes to mind: faraday. Protect you & yours; many economic ways to do it.

❣️🤗❣️💯💯Nice setup! 🕊️🦅🦁

Were offgrid in central BC and need to run our generator every few days for a few hours to keep up with the house. This the first year ever needing to run it past the 5th of February, it's an older system but over the last summer I noticed a big difference in the suns energy output. Have you noticed this same problem? Or maybe our panels are just getting old.

You are one person, but when the pebbles grow to be rocks, they will be extra hands to work and put effort into the homesite, then grow into valuable people worthy of the name Stone.

Hello Curtis, family (and crew). I came across you I think just before the covid debacle really kicked off...definitely before your move. I really liked what you had/have going on. And the political/life talks were a bonus. You and I made the property purchases nearly at the same time. I'm a year ahead of ya on my exodus. And it has been a wild ride for us during this shit show. We are all paid off and there is no debt. We are debt free and we absolutely love our imperfect property and more perfect location. We are blessed. We are on the more diy end of the spectrum but, definitely not out of arrogance; like off grid elitist snobs. Our position is one of worldview and financial. Of which our worldview has affected our financial...hahaha. My wife and I were both govt employed and while she liked her job working with elderly in a community connections capacity, I already was becming disenfranchised with govt polcies and public burdens that I was entangled in on a daily basis. Forward to CV. My wife was the first to exit her employment. She couldn't stand what was being done with the elderly and the the whole of the spirit of her job was being oppressed. She was greatly saddened and I supported her in her decision to leave. We were both, "no maskers" and our fight, though similar, were different. I was right in the fight due to the profile of my job and I felt double crossed due to a lot of reasons. First and foremost our county is a rural county on the opposite side of the state of oregon. We were and have already been in a fight for our livelihoods and culture. And my fight was and is of a position that, we can win. Through the years it started to become evident that, my community was too weak to win. Personally and individually too weak to win. The audacious thoughts that, "it is not our position to chop off the hand that feeds us" type bullshit; grant money clinging. CV sealed my fate and reinforced the bulwarks of my/our very existence. And so, I too left. It is quite a story ours. The details left unsaid here do no justice to the totality of both Canada's and America's struggle. But it is a story many know. Any whoo...never at loss for words to say this; you do you. I watch you when I can and am stoked for ya. Stoked I found your channel. And those of us who cannot or choose to not build at your capacity can always find scalability from what you are doing. From layout and resource arrangement to building styles and ideas. There is plenty to gain from, in information alone. Fk the naysayers. Happy to know your channel...sorry I cannot always afford the membership. I sign up when I can. But I have to make choices. And my choices lead to other choices...none of which are beholden to curtis stone's choices...or yours to mine. "Community" always has it's jealous cowards...and they should set themselves free. But they cannot. They are the clawing panicked victim of drowning, the lifeguard will not save.

Not sure if its an issue for you in the effin cold climate but us in semi tropical need to add fuel 'conditioners ' or stabilizers to stop fuel going off when stored. Less of a problem for diesel, but you can still get microbial growth that can totally destroy your fuel and clog up the fuel lines and filters. Just something to be aware of.

You should run the generator under load for at least 15 minutes a week just to keep your oil circulated and to verify usability. Would hate for the shit to hit the fan and you haven't run it for 11 months

Love your honesty and down to earth context. However I DO like LED lights. Just my choice...

What you really need is a producer gas system with gasometer.

They make “far red” LED lights that could produce better light spectrums than inefficient lighting. “Real Light” isn’t more real if you are able to mimic any range of light spectrum. I would agree in saying that it would be good to stick within specific light ranges for different rooms and time of day.

Another great video, wondering if you find it worth your time to do one that educates us on how you deal with household waste that cannot be thrown into the Johnson su bioreactor such as plastics and glass, thanks in advance.

yeh I have a honda eu10i and I use it a lot everyday as well as solar

an extension pole and light broom or squeegie on them panels will yield more output.

How cold can it get in the winter where you are at? Do you have any worries about cold starting the generator, without any block heater, in cold temperatures?

Light bulbs produce heat, and heat the space they are in. LED are more important in a warm climate b/c not only are they a "less efficient" form of light, they also work against your Cooling unit. In a cold climate, they are slightly reducing your need for Heating so it doesn't really matter that they use more energy than an LED. However, if you say you don't like LED light that's probably your choice of bulbs. I once claimed to be bothered by LED lights until I found 3w "warm" bulbs (claiming 25w equivalent). We even use five 1w bulbs above our dining table. Early LED generally came in "cool" color and way too bright so I thought it was bad EMF or blue light but it's just not the case. Main source of blue light is sunlight. Keeping lighting dim and pleasant is of value More lights of a lower intensity so that your iris doesn't close, then a dimmer room seems brighter. Under counter lighting also helps in this way, even though it's less efficient as much of the light lands on surfaces you don't see. Overall, I agree that lighting is not a place to be trying to gain efficiency, just make it pleasant and save elsewhere.

viessmenn used to make awsome hydronic solar panels for hot water heating , I want to try and heat a greenhouse with them connected to a 1000 gallon water tank