Cold weather is bad at any time but when off grid it can really become a problem. Heating the living space with a wood stove may not be the solution needed when coping with frozen pipes, non starting vehicles and non-functional water pumps.
Last winter, when our pipes from the water well froze I attempted to use a propane heater to warm up the place where the pipes were located. The propane torch started off fine but within minutes the flame dwindled to nearly nothing. The temperatures were -35F below so I brought the torch indoors to see why it did not work. Nothing seemed wrong. The tank apparently had some gas left in it. Tried again with same results. Finally changed tanks and it did work.
A post mortem gave me the answer. It was so cold that the liquid in the propane tank would not vaporize. Lesson learned propane will not vaporize at extremely low temperature. Butane and Gasoline will continue to vaporize at -35 below.
An emergency generator should be fuelled by gasoline, not diesel in order for it to start in extremely cold weather. A diesel relies entirely on heat to ignite the fuel /air mixture. In extremely cold weather most diesels require glow plugs to assist starting but how to power the glow plugs when no power is available from a flat battery.
If you are going to depend on any kind of solar charger be sure it is the kind that will work with UV and deliver some kind of charge even under cloudy skies.
The Canadian Coast Guard has a design specification for their ice breakers that could be adapted for use in off grid situations.
The design criteria calls for the ability to let a breaker be abandoned in the ice for a year or more. A two or three man crew should be able to air lift by helicopter and using only a butane torch and muscle power be able to get the ship restarted and all systems up and running in only a few hours. Sound crazy? Here is how.
The key is to have a small one cylinder engine that you can pull start by hand, even in the coldest conditions. The hand held butane torch will ignite even at very low temperatures. The small engine intake manifold is entirely metal so a blow torch can be applied directly to heat up the manifold as a way to preheat the air going into the combustion chamber. Be careful when applying this method to consumer engines because they use many plastic parts instead of solid metal.
This small engine drives a compressor to pump up the compressed air bottle used for starting a generator motor. Cold diesels will require glow plugs or some kind of starting fluid. ( actually vaporized fluid) Ether is considered too harsh for use on a diesel so use propane or butane. With the generator started, you can now get lights and drive the bigger compressor to recharge the main engine air start bottles. The big electrical generator will also facilitate using electric glow plugs for getting cold diesels going as well as driving big heaters for the interior of the ship.
So how does this relate to being off grid? The ice breaker is off grid when frozen in the arctic ice. Consider a homestead in the frozen winter after a week or so of cloudy, snowy weather. The battery bank will eventually become so depleted it will not even light up an LED light never mind power any fans for moving warm air from the wood stove to other rooms in the house. There will not be enough power for driving heat trace cables to thaw out frozen pipes or run the well pump.
Snow blowers have electric start engines for cranking in cold weather. These electric starters are 120V AC based on the assumption the house is grid connected.
I have looked but failed to find any 12V DC starter equipped small generators in the 2kw size. All of them are intended for camping use in warmer climates.
It is only when you get into bigger sizes do you get an optional electric start from a 12V battery. For technical reasons so large a generator may not be a good bet for an emergency generator.
Bear in mind that a lead acid battery needs regular and periodic maintenance and use to remain usable. Sitting unused in cold weather is sure to ruin a battery.
There are portable power packs available in the automotive stores specifically intended to boost cars with flat batteries. These packs are perfect for starting small generators which in turn are good for recharging the depleted battery. I have personally started big V6 and V8 engines four times with such a portable power pack that was fully charged. A solar charger can maintain such a pack at peak charge after being charged up by other means. With enough time, a solar panel could even recharge such a pack from complete discharge.
For off-grid emergency restart after the wind or solar powered battery bank got depleted by a prolonged winter storm a very small gasoline fuelled generator is the solution. It will not be large enough to power your whole house hold but it will get you going again.
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