Hidden Places

From Devon:

We're at least ahead of the ballgame....

We've lived in a 1700 sq ft undergound home since 2006... went fully solar this spring.

I get a check from my electric company each month.. I have no other utility bills except the phone and cable connection.

Which the electric company pays for now... ;)

I prefer belowground, just because of the math.

1./ I have to heat it year-round... think radiant heat. It costs me... nothing.

2./ I've an average of 9 feet of soil, 2 feet of concrete and steel above me... So no worries about, well, anything really.

3./ If the world goes to hell, I lose solar grids and the heat grid, I'm stuck in a place that is 58 degrees with water on tap and a few years of food. I can think of a lot of ways to make heat, if I have to... lol.

4./ Underground you can control your air... so you can filter it, if need be.

5./ If this is all just BS, I've a really comfortable place that makes me money to live in.

:)

I designed the metalwork and concrete.. I was going for zero effect of a 5 megaton nuke. Call me paranoid... ;)

My father did the subsystems... he's done goodies like this before for underground homes in Aspen, Alaska, DC, etc.

It's actually rather simple... it is a half-cylinder under a minimum of 9 feet of soil, sunk into the bedrock. The heat is radiant... the floors are interwoven with 3/8" plasic hose embedded in the concrete floor. A small solar pump hooked to a thermostat regulates temperature. The fluid is glycol and water.

For electricity, we've a solar array attached to 12 deepwell batteries. A computer regulates optimal charges for the batteries, which in turn run the house.

Water is an indoor artesian spring... water pressure is done with a holding tank over the structure but under the soil. Hot water is again solar... same panel as the radiant heat.

Sewage is a conventional septic setup, with a twist... it can be diverted directly to the lake if the septic system is compromised.

Air is a ductwork series that goes through a Ram Earth tunnel to dehydrate... moisture was a concern because of humidity. If necessary, the inflow can be filtered to .5MM, or cut off altogether so you just live off of the contained air.

There is one way in, two ways out.. we've a bolthole that can only be accessed through the inside. It is a concrete tube with a plug that can only be opened from the inside.. then you've 4 feet of soil to get through. So indetectible by metal detectors.

The front mudroom has a collapsable ceiling and 3 steel doors that flood with floam between the doors when they close. So once you're in, you're in...lol.

There are a lot of other tricks to the place as well that I won't get into... but this was a labor of a combination of love and paranoia.

I'm pretty sure there is nothing else like it.

We couldn't do wind, because of the whole ~we have tornados~ issue.

The solar part we just got installed by a local firm.. we were on the grid until this spring. They used Evergreen grids with a Xantrex inverter. The whole thing is tied into a nifty little computer that monitors KW/H, battery life, etc.

So far, no issues at all... we've pretty much a 87% lower peak level, with a stupid amount of stuff tied into it.

This guy...
http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/172/p/2604/pt/25/product.asp

:)

Couldn't help adding.. we normally had a 60 -70 dollar electic bill, which pissed off my neighbors to begin with.

With this setup, we've a $2600 tax credit and we make 90ish dollars a month from the electric company.

:)

Just common sense.. why pay somebody for something I can have for free?

Besides, we no longer worry about a tornado. The house is rated to take a 7 earthquake, which we don't have any of. Or a 5kt atomic warhead. Which I'm not going to worry about... ;)

We live on Indian land... ;)

Territorial.

We couldn't do wind, really. Oklahoma. So while we have enough wind to sustain an electrical setup, we occasionally have 100mph+ gusts... and then there are the tornados.

NOT good for a wind setup, I was told!

We have a guest house with a shelter.. but that's pretty much always in use by a family member or someone.

:(

But if the shtf, gimme a call!

This is a subject that is near and dear to me as well.. I keep watching it.
We have a stock pond on our property that holds bass and bluegill... it is one of our sustainable food sources. It is filled by an artesian spring that we use for household water as well.

We were thinking of running a hidden line sometime soon to the house so that if they ever decide to go attach a meter to our pump we can work around it.

Scary times, indeed...