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jshane
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# Posted: 13 Oct 2011 11:24pm
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I'm in the planning stage of going completely off grid to a remote wilderness location. I've planned a small solar system to power lights and such. I've worked out water, heating the water, composting toilet you get my point. The one problem I keep stumbling on is food storage of meat. I've read articles about gas powered refrigeration and freezing and I'm not keen on the idea I don't want to pay for gas and I don't want to have to lug it through the woods. I've read about curing and smoking meat and that is something I'd like to do but I'm concerned about it's shelf life. I don't want to discard a large portion of a beautiful animal because i couldn't eat it all in time. I'd like to hear how you pros are doing it. Thanks in advance!
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 14 Oct 2011 12:23am
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It is possible to build a PV solar system that can supply enough power for refrigeration. Bit it does take more money that a system that does not power refrigeration. So it becomes a trade off of whether to buy sufficient numbers of PV modules and using solar trackers and proper sizing of the battery bank vs spending money for propane over a long period of time. Of course if this is to work well it helps to be located in a location with plenty of effective solar, like the SW USA.
Depending on how remote you may be able to find a propane supplier who would be able to lease a tank to you and refill twice a year.
Another propane option would be to purchase an ASME approved tank and mount it to a trailer. That way you can haul the tank to the propane station. The usual home tanks are DOT and they can not be legally mounted to a trailer, refilled and moved. ASME are quite pricey though. Even a used 80 gallon one from a large RV can cost $500. And unlike DOT tanks they never have to be re-certified as long as the exterior is kept rust free.
Or one can become a vegetarian.
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smitty
Member
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# Posted: 14 Oct 2011 06:12am
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Can it..
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jshane
Member
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# Posted: 14 Oct 2011 11:56am
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@MtnDon
Everything I've read has agreed with what you said about the impossibility of a PV solar system to power refrigeration units. I think I seen a setup that cost around 45,000 that would power a unit. Even the energy efficient models use around 800 watts a day!
@smitty
As soon as I read those two words a light bulb went off in my head and I started reading articles (Backwoods Home Journal, Mother Earth News) and I couldn't believe how easy it was to can meat for storage! Thanks for the tip!
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smitty
Member
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# Posted: 15 Oct 2011 05:34am
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You betcha I hope it helps. We can a lot of stuff, we use the Ball blue book for most recipes. If you don't have the blue book, you can get it any place that sells jars. Getting ready to pick a pear tree clean this weekend, and can the pears for the winter. We have fun doing it together.
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