Need help converting cargo trailer into a sustainable home.

I have a dream...

Converting a 7x12, or 7x14 cargo trailer into a house that includes...

Solar Power! At least enough to run a 1500 watt space heater for the winters up here in Canada, as well as power an LED lighting system, a small tv & ps 3, an internet rowter, and my laptop. As well as a few household appliances like a blender, a dehydrator and a coffee pot. I am a raw foodie so I don't need a stove or microwave or any of that other crap.

Rain water collection system. That includes a filter and a way to make hot water. I am picturing just a sink and maybe something like an external hook up for showers in the summer.

Insulation either out of plastic bottles or aluminum cans taped to the walls, plastic bags to fill in the gaps and then ply wood over top. For actual experts: How does this sound? Better solutions?

Sky lights yeah skylights!

Compost toilet or a better solution?

Bunk Bed to save space.

And of course a biodiesel truck to pull it all.

I haven't yet bought any of this I am still in my research phase. So any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

 

Well, a couple of things.

You will need a lot of solar panels to run a 1500W heater for any length of time. Plus a large storage capacity for overnight usage. You'd be better to go with a propane furnace. I know that it can cost a fair bit to heat a trailer when it hits -20 or lower, and you can easily burn through a 20lb bottle in a day. (I know this from experience)
To size an array, you need to calculate your total consumption and try to factor in the shorter days in winter, to try to ensure that you don't run too low. You'd be looking at a large battery bank to run what you are wanting. It is better if you have a location where you can connect to grid power, to shore up your solar. Also, use one or more wind turbines. There is a very good reason why they have put up so many wind farms around Lethbridge.

For your insulation, I would recommend using some solid foam insulation, probably a minimum of 2" thick, more is better. And don't forget that you need to insulate the roof and floor. Any gaps in the envelope will cause significant heat loss (or gain in the summer). Put a 1/8" plywood veneer over top of the insulation. You don't really need to put in any studs, unless you are putting in a doorway. beyond that, the trailer structure and the foam would have more than enough strength to support windows and the like.

For your water, you can collect rainwater, yes, and it can be easily filtered using a Brita or other similar system. For hot water, you can put up a second solar unit, and collect a fair bit of heat in that fashion, but you'd likely need some supplemental heat. Of course, you can combine your heat and hot water systems, and possibly some electrical into one system, and save energy in that manner.

A composting toilet is probably your best bet. You can build your own for very cheap.

All of this being said, you should look into an old holiday trailer for your construction. I would tear everything out, and rebuild it, but then you'd have most of the parts that you'd need for the rebuild, just adding extra insulation.

For the truck, look for an older diesel truck that is still in good shape. You may need to blend in regular fuel in the winter, as biodiesel will cloud and gel at relatively high temperatures. Cloudy or gelled fuel will plug your fuel system in a heartbeat. At this point in time, most of the commercial diesel sold in AB is B5 during the summer, and thinned out to B0 for the winter. (B5 means 5% biodiesel. AB requires that there is an average of B3 sold throughout the year). I have had diesel trucks for years, and have looked at running biodiesel myself, using WVO. The only downside is the processing that is required. With today's prices though, I am going to look into it again.

Unfortunately, all of this will cost some money. A used trailer should run you around $1500 for something decent. The equipment and such just for the trailer will likely run around $5000, possibly more, depends on what set up you go with. For a decent truck, you want to spend at least a couple of grand. All told, I would want at least $10,000 to start with.

I don't want to sound like a killjoy or anything, it is just what I've learned from my research into various ideas. Believe me, I have had this same dream. I haven't done a lot of research in the past 6 months, but most of it is fairly up to date. There is some awesome information on the web, use as much as you can.

Good Luck.

 

+rep......Nice Reply...



Cheers Glen.

 

Most places in Canada, being well above 45deg lat, you're probably better off with wind turbines than solar. Guesstimating $15-20K for that much solar. You must consider average daily duty of solar may be as low as 4-5 hours in some places. Wind might cost half that, or consider a combination of power and heating sources.

I'm looking in to building a cheap solar collector reflective trough to heat pipes of water or oil. A 12' long by 2' wide trough could potentially collect the equivalent of 2000 watts of heating. Could be fairly cheap too if you can find the right materials from scrap.

 

Thanks Glen.

I agree, Wind is a better option for most parts of Canada. I do know that a solar heat collector will work, when I was growing up, we had some neighbours who were using a solar collector. I'm not sure what kind of output it had, but I assume it worked fairly well. (This was SE of Taber)