On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:15:14 -0500, "Robert L Bass"
wrote:

salty wrote:

Most of the time the solar panels make up for whatever the sporadic
running of the engine doesn't take care of. I'm pretty frugal about
using electricity, and I pay attention to my electrical budget out of
long established habit. I have all the wiring hookeups needed for
connecting to shore power if I am at a dock that has it available, but
I've never used it. Just don't need it if you are used to not having
unlimited power all the time.

I assume that makes for less problems with galvanic loss of any metal in contact
with the water. I've been told (don't know how true it is) that boats
comnnected to shore power need some sort of sacrificial anode. True or legend?


Even boats not connected to shore power need sacrificial anodes.

Sometimes, if there is a problem in a Marina's wiring, serious damage
can happen VERY quickly. Imagine what happened if a bronze thruhull
gets eaten. Your boat sinks!

It is also possible to be electrocuted swimming near marina docks with
shore power issues.

I don't have refrigeration or air conditioning...

Aha! I knew there was a reason I never took up sailing. :^)


It is exactly what I like about sailing. If I wanted it to be just
like home, I could save a lot of money by... staying home!

Going to all LED's was a very important part of how I manage power
usage. Just running the incandesent anchor light for 10 hours every
night when it drew 2 amps was a problem. That was 20 amp hours of
battery capacity just for that. Now it draws just under .2 amps. for
10 hours which consumes 2 amp hours. Big difference!

Huge. Designing fire alarm systems, we become accustomed to considering every
small drain on power because they have to be able to operate on backup battery
alone for 24 hours (in some cases 72 hours) and then run all sirens, strobes,
etc., for 15 minutes. Every small add-on impacts the battery requirements.

At home, I use CFL's everywhere practical, which is almost
everywhere.

I started using them a while ago and they serve well enough for everything
except my PC desks. There I use incandescant lights. Since I work online as
much as 12 or 14 hours some days I afford myself the "luxury" of incandescant
lighting. I have a number of recessed can fistures in the ceilings, which are
12 and 14 feet high in most of the house. Bulb replacement is a royal PITA with
those so any time one goes out it gets a CFL.

It dropped my electrical usage so much that it qualified
me for rebates on my electrical bill on top of the savings
from the lower usage itself...

We have a pool pump running 8 to 10 hours a day, two freezers, two
refrigerators, two central AC systems and, until recently, as many as 5 PC's
running for at least 8 hours a day. Somehow I don't hink I'll be able to get a
rebate on my FPL bill. Maybe they'll offer me stock in the company though. :^)

I'm currently looking into installing a geothermal system for heating
and cooling my house. My boiler will be nearing it's expected service
life end in about 4 or 5 years. Since I would be paying to replace
that at that time anyway, it helps make the numbers work very well.
Replacing it earlier would not be nearly as cost effective. What I
would pay for a new boiler and central air is about half of the total
cost for the geothermal system. Then of course, there are all sorts of
rebates, tax credits and "green" programs to cut the cost even
further.