Deciding to live off-the-grid means you begin sustaining your life without all of the modern technologies. You find ways to source your own water. You plant gardens and harvest fruit from trees. You begin to source your energy from more renewable sources than those that deplete the earth. Plus, you likely have a few animals to care for as a means of food and protection.
Homesteading is a conscious choice to be more sustainable in every aspect of your life. It has become increasingly appealing to younger generations as it takes away many of the creature comforts that society and technology have provided. Plus, it is more environmentally friendly than most other ways of life. The transition to off-the-grid living takes a bit of practice, but you might find that you live a more wholesome and down-to-earth lifestyle once you get used to it.
One of the factors that may affect your lifestyle as a homesteader is how you heat and cool your home. It’s an essential skill to hone as you learn the best practices to effectively and efficiently keep your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Ultimately, it’s up to your personal preferences how you decide to maintain the internal temperature of your home.
As a homesteader, you want something reliable and readily available so you can keep smooth operations for the other parts of your homestead. Additionally, depending on your property, different tools to heat and cool might make more sense than others. There are many tricks and tips for staying comfortable on your homestead. However, there are also some common misconceptions about heating and cooling your homestead necessary to navigate.
Burning Wood Is the Best Way to Heat Your Homestead
Perhaps the most popular method of heating your homestead is through a wood-burning furnace or stove. It’s a traditional method of heating that people have used for many generations. They have a high heat efficiency, and a significant benefit is that they’ll still pump out heat even if there is a power outage at your homestead.
Heating with wood is a great option, but it doesn’t make it the best choice for every homesteader. Some who decide to live off-the-grid may not have access to the amount of wood they need to heat their homestead in the winter. Plus, heating with wood is a labor-intensive process as you need to find the wood and chop it to the proper size to fit in your furnace. It’s still a good idea to learn how to build a fire as a homesteader survivor skill, though.
Using a Modern HVAC System Isn’t True to Homesteading
Although homesteaders typically try not to rely on modern technology and systems, it doesn’t mean you can’t use a modern heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. Technology has allowed these systems to be highly efficient and great for the environment. Electricity is a bit more expensive, but you can use it in conjunction with renewable energy like solar or wind to heat and cool your home.
If you’re just starting with homesteading, it can be challenging to let go of every modern amenity. Take it slowly as you ease into your homesteading life. This means you can hold onto your HVAC system a bit longer! Even homesteaders who have been self-sustaining for years use HVAC systems, especially if they live in hotter climates where it’s more difficult to cool the home adequately.
Working Systems Don’t Need Professional Care
This is a common misconception whether you live on a homestead or not. Many people believe that if their heating and cooling systems work correctly, they don’t require care or maintenance. However, it would be best if you got your system checked professionally every year.
Just as people have yearly doctor and dentist check-ups, your HVAC system needs a check-up as well. Throughout the year, your HVAC system works hard to ensure you live at a comfortable temperature inside your home. Many small moving parts go into it. Regular professional maintenance ensures that the system works at maximum efficiency and lasts a long time so you won’t have to spend a lot of money on costly repairs.
Heating With Oil Is Bad for the Environment
Many households across the United States use oil to heat their homes. The misconception is that heating with oil is one of the worst things for the environment. However, it is a clean, safe and efficient way to heat your home. Although it is a fossil fuel, it has a lot of stored energy, meaning a little bit goes a long way.
Technology has advanced enough that heating oil is safer for the environment than ever before. Plus, it’s an economical heating system as well. If you use this to heat your home, ensure that you keep it in a safe location.
Cooling Your Homestead Is Impossible Without Air Conditioning
A great comfort of modern living is air conditioning. Every store you enter and nearly every home in well-developed neighborhoods uses central air or air conditioning in the hot summer months. For the homesteader, it may seem impossible to cool your homestead without newer cooling technology.
However, people have been using different ways to cool their homes for many years. You can effectively stay cool in your homestead using other methods that don’t count on the grid. Open windows on breezy days, use a fan if needed, mist yourself with some water or spend time outside on warmer days so you’re not trapped in a sauna.
Knowing the Weather Patterns Is Pointless
The weather and climate are far from pointless when it comes to heating and cooling your homestead. Homesteaders should become their own weathermen. Weather is more than a conversation topic when it comes to living and working off of the land. Becoming knowledgeable about weather patterns can help you manage your homestead as well as heating and cooling.
Your living and working environment directly relate to the weather. Install a weather monitor and stay up-to-date with weather conditions. Keep a log of typical climates for different months so you know what to expect with the weather and can adequately prepare your home for cold and hot times of the year.
Cooking Outside Won’t Help Cool Your Homestead in Summer
Homesteaders typically try to make use of their outdoor living spaces as much as possible. This means they clean, cook and complete most of their daily tasks outdoors. The easy route for cooking meals is staying inside, where all of the pantry items and kitchen utensils reside. During the summer, though, cooking indoors will drastically heat your home.
Instead, cook outside as much as possible during the summer. This keeps the heat from boiling water, cooking over a fire or stove and baking things in an oven from going inside of your home. When you cook outside, all of that heat stays outside so your home stays cool!
Cooking Inside Won’t Help Heat Your Homestead in Winter
Consider the opposite as well — in the winter, cook inside rather than outside. Each time you cook indoors during the colder months, the heat produced stays inside your home, which keeps it warmer and requires less fuel for your woodstove or other heating sources.
Make sure that you seal your windows and doors, though. Any gaps in the frames of your windows and doors will let warm air out and cold air in, which is the opposite of what you want to happen.
Window Placement and Strategic Opening Don’t Matter
If you’re building your homestead fresh, you have more say with window placement. Window placement can actually play a huge role in your home’s heating and cooling. With the proper placements, you can take full advantage of the sunshine and shade your surroundings have to offer.
Be cautious when opening windows. Don’t assume that if there’s a breeze it will cool your homestead. Instead, only open windows when it’s cooler outside than it is inside in warmer months. Usually, this is in the early morning and later evening. Keep windows closed when it’s hot outside, and invest in drapes so you can shut them to keep the sun out.
Smart Designing Plays an Insignificant Role in Heating and Cooling
This goes along with window placement. If you purchase land and design your own home, this works a bit better than buying an already-established homestead. Carefully consider your landscaping. Placing your home near a tree line can offer shade and protection from strong winter winds, which aid in heating and cooling. Additionally, you can add windows with opportunities for passive solar.
Even if you cannot design your home from scratch, you can still alter your landscaping and home to keep things cool in the summer and warm in the winter. In the summer, you can build a makeshift covered porch for extended outdoor living space cooler than inside your home. Also, you can craft drapes and window coverings for the winter to keep the warm air sealed in tight.
Buying a Fan Won’t Make a Difference in the Summer
Sometimes, it gets so hot that you need something that will instantly cool you down in the summer. Purchasing a single fan does not make you any less of a homesteader — you’re just doing what is necessary to stay cool and healthy.
On days where the air is still and full of humidity, you need something to keep you cool. A fan circulates the air, offering a cool breeze to take the temperature down a bit in your homestead. Purchase one that works with solar energy to be more environmentally friendly and not have to rely on electricity from the grid to power it. It will make a big difference in the way your home feels on a hot day.
Changing Filters Often Isn’t Important
Part of your regular heating and cooling system maintenance needs to be a change of filters. Even if you use a furnace or wood stove to heat your home, there are still filters involved in the system you need to change regularly.
Each time you use your heating and cooling system, air particles and debris fill up the filters. While many people might wait a full year before replacing the filters, you should replace filters every few months. This will keep the air inside your home clean, and it will boost energy efficiency. Do your research to find a filter that works best with your heating system.
Cleaning the Chimney Isn’t Necessary
A misconception for those who own homes with chimneys is that cleaning the chimney isn’t that necessary. However, maintaining and cleaning the chimney adds a level of safety to your homestead, and it leads to more efficient heating during the winter.
Every year, after you’re done using your fireplace and chimney, either clean out the chimney yourself or hire a chimney sweep to clean it for you. Chimneys easily build up with ash and soot. Plus, if it’s an older chimney, it can be more prone to air and water leakage. A chimney sweep will properly maintain the flue to ensure it has the best heating efficiency when the weather turns cold.
Closing Vents and Doors Saves Energy
Another common misconception about heating and cooling your homestead is that you’ll save energy if you close vents and doors. This is not true, no matter how logical it seems. Closing vents will cost you more money in the end because it interrupts your home’s airflow. Your system will have to work harder because of blocked vents.
The same is valid with doors. Closing a door or two might help you heat or cool certain parts of your home faster, but eventually, the warm or cold air in rooms with closed doors will slowly seep back into those rooms you want to be at a comfortable temperature.
Any Type of Wood Will Provide Great Heat in the Winter
Those who have been heating their homesteads for many years with wood know that some wood types are better than others for keeping the fire going and keeping your home warm. Stick to hardwoods, such as oak, walnut and hickory. These burn long, and they release the least amount of debris.
Softwoods like pines and other evergreen trees tend to burn hot. That means they’ll heat up chimneys and flues quickly, which can cause them to crack if they are cold. Since hardwoods burn slower, they’ll slowly heat the flues, which avoids damage. Ensure that the wood you use for your furnace is aged well, and avoid burning any invasive lumber or other harmful products to the environment, like charcoal or plastics.
Rethink Your Heating and Cooling
Living on a homestead, you want to be as off-the-grid as possible and sustain yourself and your family. Heating and cooling are essential for work, play and relaxation, as well as staying healthy. As with most topics, there are misconceptions. Being aware of the misconceptions surrounding heating and cooling for your homestead can help you realize the truths to make this integral home system as efficient and effective as possible.
Author Bio: Jane is the editor-in-chief of Environment.co. She is passionate about sustainability, gardening and homesteading.
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