I'm sure you are going to laugh at me but what is vacuum tubes and what do they do for heating? Not to chance the subject but i was on another forum and they were talking at cheap seed starting heat mat. Most of them were taking Xmas rope lights (indoor/outdoor use)and putting them into sand ( just enough to cover them) and then setting the flats with potting mix and seeds on top of the sand. This was to help heat the soil the seeds were in. Theses light were to help maintain 70-80 degree needed to germinate seed. What i want to know is can these rope light really put out that much heat? They just seem so small and inefficient to me. and maybe this is a down right stupid thing to be think but if those rope lights work like they say. why couldn't i used them in my raised bed (like the soil cables). I'm only going to primely use the raised bed to start seeds in because i can't grow in them in the winter. Does my thought seem WAY out of this world or is it workable. East

I have a generator that I can backfeed my electrical system in my house. I installed the wiring to allow "me" to hook up the generator during a power outage. If I were doing it agan I would put in a transfer switch and a generator that was designed to start and auto transfer on power outage. The reason I would do it differently is it would add value to my house if I were to sell it, the way it is I have to remove "my system" if I sell the house (very simple process, remove the 220V recpt on the outside wall and the 220V breaker in the main panel). I would also remove the sign inside the door of the main panel of which breakers on and which breakers off before going on generator. I had this setup for several years - the biggest problem - its a pain in the a$$ to exercise the generator (every 6 weeks or so). The auto setups, you can now buy for the homeowner, exercise the generator weekly. I have electrical 2 issues with my system. As far as back feeding the line to the power company I don't worry about it - When I throw the main breaker off I'm disconnected (the 1st issue is the breaker for the generator feed is not interlocked to the main. The 2nd issue is the chance of overloading and destroying my generator is great, either by my own load being to great or the main power breaker being turned on while the generator is connected. Most if not all power companys now in the U.S. are equiped to handle backfed power into thier systems because of people generating thier own power by wind or solar and selling excess power back to the company.

That's a fairly large subject area. Look up "The Renewable Energy Handbook" on Amazon ... the book is great value and contains a ton of information on a variety of energy sources.. it makes things seem easy. You're basically looking at buying 1 - 2 deep cycle batteries, a solar panel (50 watts or more), a charge controller, and an inverter (unless you can find a pump that runs on DC)... you may want to look at a sturdy means of mounting your panel as well. Reading the book is my best advice though. Here is a link that might be useful: My Homesteading Adventures

There was a post quite a way back about a farmer who needed power to run a pump to water his fields and he used a generator to do this instead of running power out to the water shed - that made a lot of sense. But running a standby generator for a long period of time will be expensive. My generator is a 12 kilowatt unit and burns about 2.5 gallons of propane per hour when it is at 50% throttle (idle speed) - generating about 25 amps at 240 volts. That would cost you about 6 dollars per hour of run time using the latest price per gallon of propane here ($2.30). And then you have to have the propane delivered - is there a supplier closeby? It sounds like a very remote area. If you plan on running that generator for very long periods of time you might want to consider a water cooled unit which will be more expensive unit than the air cooled versions. How is the wind in your area? You might want to look at a wind powered generator (maybe even a small solar power system) to handle your basic lighting needs. Then maybe propane for heating and cooking. A hybrid approach might be more cost effective than running a generator 24x7 or for very long durations. You might still need a generator for a well pump and emergencies but a small portable unit might do the trick.