Home Base

My lovely wife and I slept in. Eventually we got our act together and headed into town to take care of business. The house water filter housing cracked so that had to be replaced before even attempting to get the water flowing.

While out and about we had a light lunch at our local coffee shop. We happened to run into friends of ours who just got back from Florida. Their water supply line has been frozen since March. That had me worried as I didn't know the condition of my supply line. After all, last year it took me the better part of a week to thaw it.

When I finally tested it the supply line was clear. Back flowing nontoxic antifreeze down the line in January paid off. My plumbing is divided into different zones so they can be isolated from each other. That way I can flood different sections and check for leaks before moving on. Now all the cold water lines are working. The hot water system will wait until tomorrow. After months of camping just having cold water on tap feels like a luxury.

In energy news a survey appeared in my e-mail in-box from the electric company. The old power company was bought out by Eversource. I'm not sure if they are a worse company than the old one, but so far it looks like they are no better. People tell me their electric bills went up a lot this past winter. Since I turned my main breaker off before heading south I didn't use any power during that time period.

Anyway, the survey asked a lot of questions about what was important to me about energy management. Apparently they have some sort of system set up. After a couple pages I gave up on the survey. Frankly, it's none of their business how I want to use their electricity. I don't want their experts telling me what to do. In short, if their bill gets too high I'll just add more alternative energy power until the bill shrinks or I cut them off completely.

On average I generate about 80% of my power with solar electric. The problem is that there are times when I use much more than that and times when I use less. The grid allows me to bridge the bad weeks, like during a wet and dark November. Right now the electric bill is a tiny part of my budget. If Eversource becomes too troublesome they'll get the boot. It's nice to have options.

-Sixbears