Quote Originally Posted by offgrid View Post
If you are planning to run a fridge, freezer... set it up for 120/240vac.

Our offgrid home is wired 120/240vac.

100% self-sufficient would be tough, I'm married! Use about 300 gallons of propane a year for cooking, dryer, and radiant heat (boiler). Have solar hot water collectors for domestic hot water, works well, covers about 90% of our hot water needs. If I were to build again, would use solar hot water collectors for heating as well.
How well do the solar water heaters work? My wife takes EXTREMELY hot showers... the water temp is too hot for me.. But she can't seem to shake this "necessity". Could you run your water line through a solar heater before running it through a standard hot water heater (like a 20gal tank) to save on gas?