# Solar panels or wood stove? What to build first?



## Swe

Next year (summer or autumn) we will move from a small apartment to our own house. The house will be newly built, just outside of a medium sized town in Sweden. The area is semirural. We won't be able to afford everything at once, so...

How would you prioritize?
- wood stove. Adjacent forests, but not enough trees on our small piece of land (approx 2500 square meters) to suffice. Cold, long winters.
- solar panels. Deep well, will need electricity for water. Dark winters, plenty of light in summertime.
- wind power. Would give some power year round.
- root cellar. Ok, maybe not the most urgent.
- green house. Can probably build a small one by myself, not so expensive.

Suggestions and discussion most welcome! (Please excuse any grammatical errors, English is not my first language)


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## Swe

Sorry, multiple treads. How do I delete?


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## tirednurse

I would say the wood stove first. you can buy and store the wood. I don't know about the rules in your country but here we can get a permit and go cut our own, which decreases the expense. you can cook, as well as heat water (to sterilize) and your home with it. 
water can be stored until you find another way to get electricity for the well. or you can capture water and store to be filtered and cleaned for use also. 

To me the access to electricity is a luxury, not a necessity. If your only concern with having it is water then I wouldn't bother. get the basics set up first. Water storage, food/garden (greenhouse) shelter and fire would be my priority.


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## tinkerhell

If you have the money for solar panels for your well, I hope you also have a mechanical pump that will come in handy whenever your daylight (or night) is not sufficient to move the water. A mechanical pump should take priority even if it is hard work.

My vote is to stay in the same order as your priorities if in a survival situation:
- water 
- heat/shelter
- food

with that said, how long can you live if you over do it on your water system, then ignore the heat? and so on and so on.

Best of wishes to you.


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## Ripon

Just my suggestion and that's all its worth:

1) A most affordable and temporary stove would be my first priority so you don't freeze to death.
2) Spend the money on solar panels as they are down to a $1 a watt - we just had some hit .75 cents a watt here.


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## rjd25

Federal subsidies on wood stoves are ending this year I believe, plus you would get immediate use of the wood stove. I am not sure how much use you would get out of a solar array. Take the savings you get from heating with wood and get a solar in 2 years.


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## HuntingHawk

Don't forget the additional costs of a wood heater. Like a chainsaw & skid or trailer to move the wood. There is also the splitting it. But it is what would be my priority. Water pump doesn't need to run 24/7 so an appropriate size generator till I could afford the solar would be my choice.


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## alterego

Wood stove is a certainty with out fail.
A solar panel is a partial partial


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## Slippy

In Sweden, I guess I'd go with wood stove.


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## Smitty901

Wood/coal stove first. They work first time very time most often for a life time. Lot of the other stuff is of questionable return


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## Notsoyoung

Hard to judge since I have only been to Sweden once and that was in the Autumn of the year. I don't know how hard it is to get water, but I seem to remember that you get allot of snow in the Winter and Rain in the Summer, so for myself I think I would go with the wood burning stove first. That's just my opinion but since you live there you have a better grasp on the situation then I would. By the way, you have a beautiful Country.


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## Mad Trapper

Woodstove and means for water storage, then a mechanical well pump. You can boil snow on the woodstove and have hot water as well as drinking water. You can also cook on it.

Is there surface water nearby that can be treated? 

For lights some rechargeable bats and a small solar panel will keep LED lights going. You can make a universal charger with parts from radio shack. As a more reliable source look into some good oil/kerosene lamps, 5-gal of kerosene will last a long time in a lamp(s). I keep several oil lamps around the house each with a pack of matches taped to it (if I put lighters out the GF steals them to light her tobacco)


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## BagLady

Wood Heater. That's all we use.


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## Stick

As for a greenhouse, a perfectly serviceable one can be made with some lumber or whatever for framing and that nylon reinforced plastic. Snug it up to the studs and staple it down, then screw furring strips over it along the studs. Stuff is pretty durable, easy to work with, strong and available with UV protection, too. I had seen it used to cover scaffolding and protect workers in bad weather in big construction projects. I got a 10'x100' roll for $68. Using scrap lumber laying around, my greenhouse/sunroom (it's attached to the shack) cost about twenty bucks, maybe.


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## Moonshinedave

Yeah, I am going with the wood stove too. Of course, I don't know about the area you are moving to, but here it's pretty easy to get free wood if you are willing to work for it. If that is the case for you also, then wood stove without a doubt.


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## thepeartree

This is a little off the beaten path, but I've seen it in operation. First buy your woodstove. Then:

Build a swimming pool.

Yes, swimming pool. You attach an enclosure to the house via sliding glass door. So it is like a room with maximum windows coming off the house using one of the short sides. Heat the water in the pool by solar heat panel and buy a wood stove with water heating capability. This gives you water at some temp like 35 C to use for heating the air in the pool room, warm water to swim in year round, and a huge drinkable water reserve. Regulate warm air into the house by using the sliding glass door as a regulator. You can either sit a fan just inside the pool room to aid in circulation or just rely on convection currents. This system gives warmth and the ability to swim all year round AND very low cost per btu. It simply gets better as time goes on. I think that if you put up trays around the walls it can even be your greenhouse as well.


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## wallyLOZ

You can survive without food for a month or more. Water for a few days. In extreme cold, a matter of minutes. First proirity should be the wood stove, IMO. You also get the side benefits stated above, a way to cook or sterilize water. Good luck and let us know what you decide.


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## Deebo

I'm going with both, in my retirement house. 
Me, Inor, and a few friends are building a retirement Vista in Arizona. Pm me for details.


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## HuntingHawk

First, I don't know what your weather is like but want to provide another option. Rain catch system with the storage containers in the basement. A simple 12VDC pump like used in travel trailers & motorhomes to move water where you need it in the house. Cold winter you can melt snow on the wood stove & add to the water containers. Just one larger solar panel fed to a small controller & one deep cycle battery should be enough for plenty of power for that water pump. Ofcourse, that is if the house is going to have a basement.


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## Denton

If wood is at a premium and maximum output mandatory, look up rocket stove. Ingenious!


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## Deanhowe

I love my wood stove, and it has saved me so much money. Like. Ow in December my gas Bill was 48.00 dollars. You have to love that


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## rickkyw1720pf

I would say at least some solar panels as if SHTF they will be unavailable and with a small charger you could at least keep your electrical devices working. Wood stove can be made any time even out of the water heater in your house if it became useless. My first rule is have enough to survive for a few months that should be enough time that you can make just about anything you need for the long run.


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## pheniox17

Wood stove - no brainer there, your in Sweden according to your location... A very cold location


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## GTGallop

In North Phoenix? No brainer - SOLAR. Gotta have a fan or something for the hot months.


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## jimb1972

On the other hand, the cooler it is in the house the more likely the wife is going to want to cuddle. Depending on your powers of persuasion that can be a good thing or a frustrating one.


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## Smitty901

Right now a nice fire is going in the add on wood furnace . Some how it just feels like a better heat. Time to run down and throw another log in


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## Moonshinedave

Wow, I thought I was going senile I could've swore I had replied to this post before. I back tracked my post till I found it. Why the duplicate post? Only difference is one says "build" says buy. http://www.prepperforums.net/forum/...solar-panels-wood-stove-what-build-first.html


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## Strider

heat or water you need both.Can you get another source of water then heat sounds best.


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## graynomad

Looks like there's a trend towards the wood stove, I agree as (I assume) heating is very important in your area. You can always add a simple (and cheap) solar setup for a few lights and phone charging etc., no need to go the whole hog at first.


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## paraquack

Deanhowe said:


> I love my wood stove, and it has saved me so much money. Like. Ow in December my gas Bill was 48.00 dollars. You have to love that


Hey newbie. Welcome to the group from Arizona. Land of Sun, Surf, and Sand. Ok, I lied, no surf, but enough sand to fill all the sand bags I'll ever need! Go to introductions and tell us a little about yourself.

I vote for wood stove.


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## Deanhowe

Hello my name is Dean and live close to Kansas city like the simple life. I'm just a normal man nothing special just a normal man, what ever normal is So just hear because nothing else to do. A little country but live in the city good night people


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## Swe

Thanks everybody! I'm leaning more and more towards a wood stove as prio one. It DOES rain and snow a lot here. Didn't think about that... A simple rain catching system would help a lot and maybe if I added a water filter and some stored water that would be enough? 

Accidently (total newbie) I posted this thread twice, and didn't manage to delete any of the threads. Sorry for that, will do better next time ;-)


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## HuntingHawk

"Didn't think about that... A simple rain catching system would help a lot and maybe if I added a water filter and some stored water that would be enough?"

You will want to get a month by month average rainfall for where you live. That will dictate where you need to collect extra for times of lean.

Rule of thumb is for each one inch of rain on a one square foot area you will collect 0.6 gallons of water.
Lets say your roof is 40x40 which would be 1600sqft. If you collected all the water from one inch of rain that would be 960 gallons. You are going to need to be able to store it also.
And yes, rain water from roofs need filtered. Mostly because birds crap on roofs. Ceramic filters with activated charcoal are fine for that.

Most places there are homes on islands that is how they get their fresh water.


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## shooter

wood stove, wind power, then solar power. But make sure you have a genny with enough fuel to run your well and provide extra power when needed.


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## graynomad

We installed this one 2-3 months ago

















It has hot plates and an oven. plus as you can see a window in the fire box. I don't know if that's good or not from an efficiency point of view but we love it aesthetically.

We still use propane for cooking but do cook on/in this a lot and will do so even more when we move out of our truck and into the new "house", eventually we will use this for all cooking, at least in the winter, probably not in the summer.


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## survival

Swe said:


> Sorry, multiple treads. How do I delete?


I merged both threads for you.


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## HuntingHawk

Here is what I had seen in the Caribbean islands. Nicer homes had a cistern both front & back yard. Every year one would be drained & cleaned. They have a wet season & a dry season so they have to be able to store a lot of water.


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