Chile Forum

I am looking to build off the grid even though services will most likely be 100 metres from our front door. My Chilean wife could care less if the house is energy efficient or not… just as long as it is warm and nice.

We just need to find the right property in the area we want to build. The ideal property would have wind, water and sun (all used for generating electricity). The house will be fairly similar to what you would find in Canada or the northern US… except the insulation will be about R30 in the walls (instead of the R20 most commonly used) and the heating/cooling system will be an energy efficient ground source heat pump. In the end I hope to build house with all the modern comforts I enjoy, no energy bills, but still have a reliable power source.

But to get back to the original question... from what I have found everything you had asked about should be available. It just a matter of tracking it down, or rigging it up your self. (I heard that some people on Chiloe have been using car altinaters with fan blades to produce power with a fair bit of success and the Home builder I work for in Calgary uses a window and door supplier that has a sales rep in Santiago. So you can get triple pained windows with low-e glass and vinyl frames fairly easily… but they probably need at least a month or 2 of lead time but you won’t have to worry about customer or shipping.

j. Ro wrote: My Chilean wife could care less if the house is energy efficient or not… just as long as it is warm and nice.

I´m a little thin skinned about comments like such.I´m also chilean and I do care very much about energy efficiency which our home will be.Probably she never got rid off her ¨chilean show off syndrome" ( "Oh, the neighbords have a garden and pool indoors, we must have one too" thing) is something that I don't have, never did and never will, therefore for me a comfortable, energy efficient, practical, cozy and minimal room for "summer company" is our thing.You should be able to find almost everything you need (I hope your spanish is good).I have never seen triple pane windows, however is something that would be overkill with the "mild" ( for us NY east northerners) weather here in the south unless you intend to live in P.Arenas.

Gloria wrote:I´m a little thin skinned about comments like such.I´m also chilean and I do care very much about energy efficiency which our home will be.

Sorry Gloria, I didn't mean to offend. I should perhaps explain my line of thought a bit more... it's not that she doesn't care (bad choice of words). She just doesn't know any better, but she is learning and starting to understand why we do things differently here. Her mother on the other hand will have some words for me when she sees how we are going to build the house. I can just hear it now... "But Jason, why do you need insulation and heat in this house? Such a waist of money, you can't do it like that"... ahhh, mother-in-laws... you gotta love them. But when the house is done she will be asking to come out every month.

And I am not using triple pained windows either... the difference in energy efficiency is about 25%... no me it’s not worth the price tag. I was just trying to point out that almost any product is available... you just have to search for it.

j. Ro wrote:

Gloria wrote:I´m a little thin skinned about comments like such.I´m also chilean and I do care very much about energy efficiency which our home will be.

Sorry Gloria, I didn't mean to offend. I should perhaps explain my line of thought a bit more... it's not that she doesn't care (bad choice of words). She just doesn't know any better, but she is learning and starting to understand why we do things differently here. Her mother on the other hand will have some words for me when she sees how we are going to build the house. I can just hear it now... "But Jason, why do you need insulation and heat in this house? Such a waist of money, you can't do it like that"... ahhh, mother-in-laws... you gotta love them. But when the house is done she will be asking to come out every month.

And I am not using triple pained windows either... the difference in energy efficiency is about 25%... no me it’s not worth the price tag. I was just trying to point out that almost any product is available... you just have to search for it.

Not a problem, I understand now.Once in Chile and you start building, you'll have many "lookers" as we did and still do plus you'll also have tons of "advice".Keep yourself focus at all times and don't listen to anyone's "well intended" advice.Chileans do things different here and there is a "stingy mentality" when it comes to building and basic necessities however they don't think twice about buying the latest in cell phones, but that's another story.It's after all as I call it,a culture full of contradiction.

I forgot to mention, I wish I was able to see my favorite canadian tv show "Holmes on Homes". Mike Holmes is my hero!! loved his weekly shows..a true education in home building! Make it Right!

Gloria wrote:I forgot to mention, I wish I was able to see my favorite canadian tv show "Holmes on Homes". Mike Holmes is my hero!! loved his weekly shows..a true education in home building! Make it Right!

The world would be a great place if there were more guys like him, both with his compassion and work ethic. I can't believe I'm even saying that about some smelly Canuck!


Just kidding j. Ro.

j. Ro wrote:I am looking to build off the grid even though services will most likely be 100 metres from our front door. My Chilean wife could care less if the house is energy efficient or not… just as long as it is warm and nice.

We just need to find the right property in the area we want to build. The ideal property would have wind, water and sun (all used for generating electricity). The house will be fairly similar to what you would find in Canada or the northern US… except the insulation will be about R30 in the walls (instead of the R20 most commonly used) and the heating/cooling system will be an energy efficient ground source heat pump. In the end I hope to build house with all the modern comforts I enjoy, no energy bills, but still have a reliable power source.

But to get back to the original question... from what I have found everything you had asked about should be available. It just a matter of tracking it down, or rigging it up your self. (I heard that some people on Chiloe have been using car altinaters with fan blades to produce power with a fair bit of success and the Home builder I work for in Calgary uses a window and door supplier that has a sales rep in Santiago. So you can get triple pained windows with low-e glass and vinyl frames fairly easily… but they probably need at least a month or 2 of lead time but you won’t have to worry about customer or shipping.

I would try to push the R values even higher if you can. I am going to either go with a Larsen Truss system, or Straw Bale whenever I come down to building my home. R30 is great, but I still think you could increase it at a relatively low initial cost and it would definitely pay for itself in the long run...much quicker if energy prices are going to do what I think they are going to do.

pohler wrote:I would try to push the R values even higher if you can. I am going to either go with a Larsen Truss system, or Straw Bale whenever I come down to building my home. R30 is great, but I still think you could increase it at a relatively low initial cost and it would definitely pay for itself in the long run...much quicker if energy prices are going to do what I think they are going to do.

Well I am already going with 2x6 construction and 2 lb. spray foam insulation.

We could use 2x8 construction but I even think that might be over kill for where we are building. I am equally concerned about sealing the house from air leaks as I am about insulating so we have to draw the line some where.

When I was studying we did a case study on a retirement home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. But to make a long story short the contractor didn’t get done by the time winter came around. So there was no insulation in part of the building… basically they sealed the building so good that even with out the insulation the heating bill for the retirement home for that winter was considerably lower than any they had in the last decade.

Jason, can you PM me the contact info for your window supplier? I am about to pull the trigger on a set of thermopane pvc doors and windows from VEKA and would like a comparison quote. I'm very close to the ocean so maintenance (lack of) is my primary concern.

Hey cali.... lets just turn a blind eye and all live in a big pile of poo shall we? I dont think you really got the point of what I was saying....

and

...your earth doesnt sound like the place I want to live.

dude....calm down. you don't even know me, and from what you wrote, YOU are the one who missed the point. i walk the walk, and i've been doing it for many years, probably since before you were born. as far as i can tell, i'm the only one in this barrio who recycles anything. i understand and accept my responsibility as a global citizen....but i also understand that one person is just one person and that the overwhelming majority of people don't get it. this is the reality of the world we live in....and BTW...it isn't MY earth...if it were mine, there'd be a lot fewer people on the planet and (speaking of poo) a lot fewer dogs leaving piles of shit in front of my house here in puente alto. too bad dog meat isn't popular in chile.

Ah....I see...

I have a property on the coast and I’m planning the build. It will have 6Kw Solar and 5 Kw wind along with solar hot water to supplement the power mains and gas. I expect not to use much from the mains or gas. The community has to approve my building plans and I have needed to do all sorts of design twists to hide the energy components, they were very discrete, now they are all but invisible. I will be importing all the components at 50-75% import duty (that is somewhat offset, as I buy manufacturer direct). I wish they had grid return like here in Canada because on windy-sunny summer afternoons the meter would be running backward for hours. I will be putting the extra power into the spa, swimming pool and a battery storage system instead of back into the grid. Along with the alt energy components I’m importing the high E value glass and several appliances. As noted above the first why to defer new energy projects is through conservation, simple things like compact florescence light would help allot.