hydro-powered turbine

Hi Ken:  Your post had a lot of good information.  Some of which I've already considered, but very helpful thanks.  Lets take the issues you covered:

Energy conservation:  Rest assured this has been considered thoroughly.  I am having a lot of windows, but they will be triple pane.  All our walls will be 8 inches of insulation, as will under the house.  I am seriously considering an in-floor heating system to be heated by a central boiler wood furnace system.  You may be familiar with them. http://www.centralboiler.com/home.html   This may fulfill some other energy needs as well.  I agree about the on-demand propane hot-water system, but a boiler may remove that need.  The propane tank system in the house that is currently there was ordered by my parents who only built the place for a summer house; it has never been designed for long-term living.  Whereas, my house will be.

You asked about shipping propane vs fuel.  The logistics of getting fuel is the issue.  Shipping is prohibitively expensive and only available 5 months a year, especially considering the weight of 50 gal drums.  There are no options for bulk fuel delivery, as there is no way to get that to the property.  The barge is 3 miles from the property with a rough road just one step up from a 4-wheeler capacity.

It might be helpful for you to understand that I was born and raised near this land.  I am a pre-statehood Alaskan who grew up on wood stoves, outhouses and hunting/fishing for food, so this living isn't something that I would be dealing with as a newbee out of the cities, to wilderness living.  But the hydro-electricity is totally new to me.  We already make coffee the old fashioned way, so the coffee maker isn't imperative.  However, I would really like a hair dryer.  Some luxuries are important! ha.

There is a large salmon cannery a few miles from the land and they can fill propane tanks, but they won't fill 20 50/gal drums of stove oil or gasoline.  We can fill our vehicles and some jerry jugs, but not enough to run a house generator for month on end.  So, bringing 100 gal propane tanks to the property is pretty easy towing a little trailer, but bulk fuel is another issue.  Storing a bunch of propane tanks is easier than hauling all the drums.  Interesting concept though because just last month I checked into a bulk fuel delivery by a landing craft to the beach and I got a big, no way for a bunch of reasons I won't go into.

So, it sounds like batteries are going to be part of my life by the way you describe things.  I am quite interested in the top of the line batteries, but the well of money doesn't go too terribly deep, which is why I'm so interested in the hydro.  I think I'm agreeing with you that working towards a hydro system and diesel genset combination with batteries and an inverter may be the way to go, because I think I can reduce my diesel need enough to get from summer to summer without too much trouble. The house will be heated by wood, there will be a wood cook stove as well as propane range, the fridge needs to be on 24/7, so that will be propane, but a chest freezer only needs about 3 hrs a day to keep frozen.  During the daylight hours, I will be using virtually no power, but unfortunately in the winter daylight is only about 4 hrs a day and I hate fuel lamps for lighting, but battery system lights would be fine.  I would like to have a satellite compute system and television, but again, that will be turned on a nominal amount of time.

On your question about the 300 ft vs the 200 ft.  We have the water tank at about 200 ft, but the water source CAN be accessed at apx 300 ft uphill.  We could move the tank further up, but its just more pipe.

If you would be interested, I can give you my email address and I could send photos of the property and water source.

Maureen