Hacking my way through off-the-grid survival
nunodonato.github.io
nunodonato.github.io
I'm honestly suprised when I hear an off-gridder is even considering a dishwasher, which is replaced easily by another 10 minutes at the sink, uses no wattage, less water. Seems it would be a smaller sacrifice in the big picture than the other issues.
Also consider passive heat options. Painting one side of your home a dark color is shockingly effective, even moreso passive heat exchangers.
Find old car batteries, and learn to recondition them. They are a bit bulky, but can provide cheap amperage if you understand the concepts involved. Most just need a bit more water and acid, and a desulfation to hold a majority of their original capacity.
Dishwasher, no way to go without it with 2 kids! Unless you enjoy doing lots of chores :) And actually, a dishwasher is more efficient (water-wise) than washing manually. I dont buy the "romantic" idea that offgrid = cave-age living. My whole point is to be off-grid, in nature, but with some useful modern technologies :)
I've been looking into many passive heat/cooling solutions. We just moved in, so lots of experiments going on :) We do have extreme winters and summers, so a dark color would grill us during summer ;)
In off grid situations are common "hybrid" water heaters, with either a plain enough solar serpentine or with a heat exchanger connected to the wooden stove.
Serpentine is definitely in the plans for next year!