Your Own Off the Grid Solar System in California

[littleharbor]

. Anyone who claims otherwise is foolish at best or has some ulterior motive like earning a buck (AKA Ed Begley)

Funny, I bought a bunch of old Solerex 60 watt panels and other equipment from Ed Begley's house. It was an old grid tied with battery back up system.

[Sunking]

IMO you need to rethink your goals- obtaining permit/inspection is usually doable given you put efforts into learning the rules. It is not a problem if your location allows owner builder status and those rules while seem draconian/against you personally at first are usually for your own and others safety..

This made me laugh and started me thinking.

Think about this. If CA or really any other state allowed HO's to do what they wanted. Especially in CA with all the bums, homeless, and welfare life styles what the state would look like. Most are probable to young to remember the TV comedy show Sanford and Son. Look it up and you wil get an idea on what CA would look like. It would look like Detroit. You couldn't give away a home. .

[J.P.M.]

This made me laugh and started me thinking.

Think about this. If CA or really any other state allowed HO's to do what they wanted. Especially in CA with all the bums, homeless, and welfare life styles what the state would look like. Most are probable to young to remember the TV comedy show Sanford and Son. Look it up and you wil get an idea on what CA would look like. It would look like Detroit. You couldn't give away a home. .

I've thought about that very thing 1X/a while for some time. One surmise/conclusion: If such freedoms and building code laxities were generally allowed, CA might start to look more like a fly over state.

The types of folks you describe seem pretty ubiquitous and evenly distributed from my travels.

Seems to me some of the more belligerent types of DIY'ers share a trait with survivalists of not having as good an appreciation of the requirements and commonly expected behavior in a pluralistic society as some others. FWIW, sounds like the OP may have some of those tendencies. Maybe moving to a place with lax/no building codes would be a solution.

[Mike90250]

Well, there's the other side of that coin. We tried to permit some metal carports being used as carports. But now CalFire wants the driveway made to a county road equivalent, fire hydrant 3" system throughout the property, on it's own dedicated storage system (our 2AF pond is only a single point) and a 2nd ingress/egress point. WTF. Try to do the right thing and we can't. So I vote for rural property over 20 acres (not going to affect a neighbor) be exempt, and let the bank take care of assuring their investment is protected. Folks in cities think they mean well, but really are clueless

[J.P.M.]

Well, there's the other side of that coin. We tried to permit some metal carports being used as carports. But now CalFire wants the driveway made to a county road equivalent, fire hydrant 3" system throughout the property, on it's own dedicated storage system (our 2AF pond is only a single point) and a 2nd ingress/egress point. WTF. Try to do the right thing and we can't. So I vote for rural property over 20 acres (not going to affect a neighbor) be exempt, and let the bank take care of assuring their investment is protected. Folks in cities think they mean well, but really are clueless

I'm mostly on the side of libertarianism, but what do you tell the insurance co. ?, particularly if you're somewhat isolated in a fire possible area. Do you also waive the protection, such as it may be provided by CALFIRE or evac. services ? Or do the rest of the clueless taxpayers in non isolated areas get to foot the bill for providing fire services for your desire to live in a fire prone or a less accessible area ? Maybe there's 3 sides or more to the coin.

[Mike90250]

Kalifornia is a fire hazard. We're not allowed to burn the brush out like nature intended to have happen. How did trees in the area get to be 500- 1500 years old. Thick bark to resist natural fires.
Generally, metal carports don't burn. Cal fire is not evaluating on real hazards, they go by building count and imagine 6 people occupy each building, which is why they want a road that can have 3 trucks coming in, and 3 out, to rescue my wife and I. It's total nonsense and bureaucracy on their part, I could never get a permit from Fish & Wildlife to widen road, cut down trees, alter in-stream culverts.

[SunEagle]

Kalifornia is a fire hazard. We're not allowed to burn the brush out like nature intended to have happen. How did trees in the area get to be 500- 1500 years old. Thick bark to resist natural fires.
Generally, metal carports don't burn. Cal fire is not evaluating on real hazards, they go by building count and imagine 6 people occupy each building, which is why they want a road that can have 3 trucks coming in, and 3 out, to rescue my wife and I. It's total nonsense and bureaucracy on their part, I could never get a permit from Fish & Wildlife to widen road, cut down trees, alter in-stream culverts.

You can always build a helipad for a fast rescue.

[jflorey2]

We're not allowed to burn the brush out like nature intended to have happen.

We're allowed to cut it back, which we do every year. (Actually sorta glad none of my neighbors can "burn their brush out" given how quickly brush fires spread.)

Generally, metal carports don't burn. Cal fire is not evaluating on real hazards, they go by building count and imagine 6 people occupy each building, which is why they want a road that can have 3 trucks coming in, and 3 out, to rescue my wife and I. It's total nonsense and bureaucracy on their part, I could never get a permit from Fish & Wildlife to widen road, cut down trees, alter in-stream culverts.

I think such things start out with completely reasonable standards intended to prevent significant loss of life during a fire, with plenty of leeway built in to allow exceptions like yours.

Then someone starts a fire and the trucks can't get in quickly enough, and someone gets third degree burns over half his body. And he sues the state for ten billion dollars. The case is eventually thrown out, but not before the agencies involved rack up a few million in court costs.

The next time someone asks for an exception, the answer is much simpler - "absolutely not. I don't want to lose another few million."