Category Archives: Glamstead / Homestead

Glamstead Q & A : What was the #1 change you made at your place in 2025?

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  • What was the #1 change you made at your place in 2025?

That is an easy one, a very easy one. But, the #1 wouldn’t be possible without the #2. Let me explain…

The #1 change that made the most difference is us installing an 18kBTU mini-split in November. And that is an easy #1. Why? Because we’ve not had a fire in the wood stove since last spring!! Yeah, that means no hauling in firewood, no building fires, no carry out ash, no worrying about snow or rain on the wood pile, and…SLEEPING ALL NIGHT!!!

When we are using the wood stove I would have to get up a minimum of once a night, sometimes 2 – 3 times to feed the fire. While that may not sound like a big deal to you…it is to me. I’m a light sleeper and if I wake up after about 3am – 4am it is hard, nearly impossible, for me to get back to sleep. Now, I don’t feed have to the fire coz there isn’t one!

Another benefit is not worrying about having to cut firewood. I still have, do, and will cut more firewood but it is for cleaning up the place and having a back-up source of heat. We already have about 2 years worth of firewood and will continue to add to the supply. But I don’t have to cut it.

Now, what was the #2 I referred to? The solar system. And, technically there were two different events with the solar system this year that made #1 possible. Let me explain…

Change #2 – Event #1 : I upgraded my battery bank for the solar system in February. I previously had about 600ah / 30kWh of battery storage. That storage capacity was in 3 batteries; 2 x no-name batteries (generic China) & 1 x Trophy battery. They were “open-loop” and just not performing as well as they should. I sold them off and replaced them with 8 Midnite MNPoweFlo5 batteries; 800ah / 41kWh. And I was able to go “closed-loop” with my Victron system, and the charging process was vastly improved as well as 37% more storage capacity. Net cost for the upgrade was $1,600. < click here to read about this >

Change #2 – Event #2 : I revamped my solar panels in August. The 3 arrays had “evolved” over 5 years and were nowhere near efficient in producing power for the system. So I sat back, assessed, planned, and then worked over the course of a couple weeks to completely re-do the arrays. I also had a few panels laying around not doing anything, so those got added correctly to the arrays as well. The result was far more efficient solar panel arrays and an increase of production; 5.2kw to 8.5kw…64% more power coming from the sun! < click here to read about this >

Just FYI…I have another 2700w of panels that I will be adding to the existing arrays sometime this year. Oh yeah!!! Over 11kw of solar production…SWEET!!! Living the good life.

Back to the #1 change…the mini-split is 220vAC and 1350w, very efficient but a power hog when running 24/7 on “heat” during the winter. For you numbers folks…the mini-split uses about 20kw per day. On good winter days my system produces about 30kw per day. That means the mini-split is using about 2/3 of all the power I am generating. Without the Event #2 upgrade I would not have had the power to use that mini-split. And without the increase in power storage in Event #1, I would not have had the power to run the mini-split overnight. So the two changes go hand-in-hand…without Change #2, Change #1 would not have been possible…but Change #1 was the biggest change here for me personally…made my life considerably easier and far more pleasant.

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