New Member Saying Hello!

[WStayton]

Well, I just finshed the process of getting approved and wanted to say Hello! and introduce myself!

I'm a sixty-something retired engineer (BSME, MSIE) who has been reading in the background for, literally, a couple of years.

I'm in the process of building my own system for heat, light, power, etc.

By "In the process" I mean, that, at this point, I am accumulating pieces/parts and still figuring how the whole mess will fit together - hence I finally got off of my butt and signed up so I can get a few other points of view while I can STILL chage things around a bit!

I'll stick my first questions about who/what/where/why/how in the apppropriate forums!

So, I'm here, Hello!!!

[dieselgman]

Welcome WStayton! I think you'll find a lot of support and good information here.

dieselgman

[vdubnut62]

Hello, and Welcome to the forum!
Ron

[mbryner]

Welcome!  Always happy to have more engineer types here! 

[rcavictim]

Welcome!  As you know accumulating all the parts, especially if you are working on a tight budget can literally take years.  I'd say it was nearly 10 years of collecting in order to source the main components of my own DIY off-grid system, and now another five or more years to actually fabricate it all.  The wind turbine is being the hardest physical challenge of my life and I had to wait until I was almost in my mid 50's before I could start it.  Be interesting to hear about your ideas and see what you come up with.  We will be happy to bounce ideas off of.  Where abouts are you located?

[luv2weld]

Welcome aboard!
Tell us a little more-----are you off-grid??? Or planning to be?

Ralph

[rl71459]

Welcome to the group

[WStayton]

I guess I left a little  (!!) information out of my intro! <smile>

So, I'll try to fill in the holes:

Location: I'm in the Soiuthern Tier of New York, Elmira/Corning to be more specific. 

Background: I was born and raised on a dairy farm slightly North of here in the FingerLakes and went from there to the middle of NYC to go to colleg at Columbia University.  It WAS a shock to see more cars on the sidewalks in NYC than we had on the road in front of our farm!!!  After six years and two degrees, I couldn't pull off professional-studanet anymore and went to work for Foprd Motore Company in Dearborn, Michigan.  Worked in Advanced Emission Control as a Senior Design Engineer for about ten years, learned to fly, and got fed up wioth the Big-Company way of doing engineering so I had a career change and went to work as a Pilot/Flight Instructor.   I figure that in aviation I made half as much money and was three times as happy, so the career move was a success!!!  Ground my way up the flying ladder until, finally I was Chief Pilot for a little Company in Miami, FL that had five SaberLiner jets.  Was cruising along in Miami towards retirment when I had a moderate stroke and, abruptly ended my flying career, and was forced to retire.  Felt the pull of family and the old stomping ground so I moved to Elmira in 2007 where I have been slowly recovering from the stroke (and a couple of subsequent minor ones) and getting my life sort of back on track, including buying a house and a few acres where I can play farmer and developing an off grid-capable comprehensive energy use plan.  Not sure if I will go completely off grid, but I want to have that capability, ultimately, with solar collectors for primary heat, solar panels for primary electricity, a diesel-generator for supplemental light and heat in the long dark winter, and a wood burning boiler to provide auxiliary heat in the same time period.

  Of course everything is completely dictated by the two principal axioms of living 1) Everything costs more than I want to spend, or am capable of spending.  2)  I'm always too late smart, and I suppose too soon dead is lurking there, too!!! <grin>

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!!! <smile>

Wayne Stayton