generator

I live off the electric grid. I get the bulk of my electricity from solar and store it in batteries. I also rely on a diesel generator to fill in the gaps when the solar can't fill the load or the batteries are being finicky. What I have learned about diesel generators in the six years I've been here is that they're loud, they need maintenance, they're heavy, and they're hard to move.

The great thing about being unemployed is the time off. Time to do projects. Time to get outside. Time to just enjoy ... well ... time. Of course the flip side of that is that you're also broke, or at least on a budget. So you can't afford to take that trip to Europe, or that fancy new iGadget, etc. So of course that makes it so much more galling when things break.

Off the top of my head these are the unexpected problems that have come up this year:

Radiator ($800+)
Grundfos well pump ($850)
1500 AmpHour deep-cycle batteries at 24v (~$7000+)
Generator controller (~$100-500)