Own power for a house

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Hfalz1

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Houston, Tx.
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Electrician
Just curious, can you have your own power to your house without having an electrical provider? Ex: hooking a perpetual generator to the main disconnect then to the panel feed. Is there any law saying you have to be on the elect. providers grid?
 
I know of no area the requires you to use any particular power source.
 
augie47 said:
I know of no area the requires you to use any particular power source.
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I seem to recall a case, discussed on this forum IIRC, that somewhere in Tennessee(?) someone was being required by the city to connect to the grid. If you do a Google search you can find several instances where local jurisdictions are or are trying to compel connection to the grid or city water/sewer.
 
Hfalz1 said:
Just curious, can you have your own power to your house without having an electrical provider? Ex: hooking a perpetual generator to the main disconnect then to the panel feed. Is there any law saying you have to be on the elect. providers grid?
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Some places may require wiring to be installed and inspected, and even if they made you install a connection to the utility company, if you don't pay the bill you don't get any power from the provider.

Water/sewer connections are a different game because there is risk to health of others depending on how that may be done.

They could also have regulations prohibiting certain power sources - maybe they don't want to see wind turbines in some places, or solar equipment may be allowed but needs to meet certain standards.
 
Can't do it with generators here in California unless you are willing to subject yourself to the 2,000 hour annual limit for running a diesel or gasoline generator enforced by the California Air Resources Board. I'm not sure, but I THINK you can run a Natural Gas generator longer.

Other states have similar laws, although not likely as restrictive.
 
Jraef said:
Can't do it with generators here in California unless you are willing to subject yourself to the 2,000 hour annual limit for running a diesel or gasoline generator enforced by the California Air Resources Board. I'm not sure, but I THINK you can run a Natural Gas generator longer.

Other states have similar laws, although not likely as restrictive.
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What if you have a huge herd of dairy cattle and you run a generator off the methane given off by the bovine excrement?
 
kwired said:
What if you have a huge herd of dairy cattle and you run a generator off the methane given off by the bovine excrement?
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Why not just teach the cows to pedal bicycles with generators. I've seen those Chick-fil-a cows do some amazing things.
 
Hfalz1 said:
Just curious, can you have your own power to your house without having an electrical provider? Ex: hooking a perpetual generator to the main disconnect then to the panel feed. Is there any law saying you have to be on the elect. providers grid?
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Yes,
How do you think Amish power there homes? If they decide to, but tends to be more solar D.C. Systems for lights.
 
Coppersmith said:
I think you are forgetting the males. Try milking one of those. :happyno:
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They have a place on dairy farms, breeding stock, the cows don't magically produce milk without being pregnant first.

Those raised for beef production are not as skinny as those on the Chick-fil-a commercials though.
 
kwired said:
They have a place on dairy farms, breeding stock, the cows don't magically produce milk without being pregnant first.

Those raised for beef production are not as skinny as those on the Chick-fil-a commercials though.
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I dated a dairy farmer's daughter for a while many moons ago. Quite interesting for a city boy. She and her brothers made sure I got the full tour: milking machine, barn boots, harvesting hay. I hear lots of stories about farmer's daughters. None of them were true for her. :) Yes I knew they needed a few bulls for the milk production process. A few very happy bulls I assume. One of the unlucky ones was my guest for dinner tonight: beef stir-fry.
 
kwired said:
What if you have a huge herd of dairy cattle and you run a generator off the methane given off by the bovine excrement?
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Actually that's becoming more common all the time around here. The methane is considered worse than CO2 in terms of being a greenhouse gas, so there are incentives to make use of it.
 
Coppersmith said:
I dated a dairy farmer's daughter for a while many moons ago. Quite interesting for a city boy. She and her brothers made sure I got the full tour: milking machine, barn boots, harvesting hay. I hear lots of stories about farmer's daughters. None of them were true for her. :) Yes I knew they needed a few bulls for the milk production process. A few very happy bulls I assume. One of the unlucky ones was my guest for dinner tonight: beef stir-fry.
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If they didn't take you to breeding and vet areas, you missed out on all the good stuff.
 
kwired said:
If they didn't take you to breeding and vet areas, you missed out on all the good stuff.
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Did you get to try out those plastic gloves that go all the way up to your shoulder (but even then seem too short):p
 
kwired said:
Chick-fil-a needs to learn that a Holstein is more likely to be milked then to be turned into hamburger.
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It used to be that when a milk cow's production dropped off, she was sent to slaughter and hamburger was the only thing it was good for. IDK if that's still true or not.
 
kwired said:
What if you have a huge herd of dairy cattle and you run a generator off the methane given off by the bovine excrement?
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There is a dairy operation in Durham, CA that uses the manure to power the place, their biggest hurdle was PG&E as they did it years ago, so it's not off the grid.
 
retirede said:
It used to be that when a milk cow's production dropped off, she was sent to slaughter and hamburger was the only thing it was good for. IDK if that's still true or not.
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likely is. Lesser quality meats also can go to things like dog food.
 
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