My idea is not to go off grid though I may invest in a generator for the freezer. The idea is to pare it down to a working minimum with only one thing ever working at one time (apart from refridgeration) think of how many times you boil a kettle and watch it while the tv is on. Extend this into other areas and you begin to see a pattern of use that squanders your own money and time.
The reason I was saying look at it as an off grid system, is a lot of the people who have gone from grid, to off grid, have some very interesting things to say about a lot of stuff. My favorite was the bloke who was being driven nuts by a mysterous power drain, until one day he looked down at the cooker, and a led blinked back at him.
Biggish one. Its the startup demand that can knock out the genny (there is a surge in drain as the freezer kicks in). There should be a plate on your freezer giving wattage - find a genny at least twice that size (for surge).
One of the new systems, seems to be, go offgrid, and then choose your charging method, so the sort of last resource being grid power. No grid power, use genny if needed.
All that said, it a lot of money to do right, or get wrong. One of the big things they have found is having your house aligned right can make so much difference, and life so much easier.
Just as a bizarre question, why could you not now take your house 12 volt? I know there is the odd item that has to have big juice so step up, instead of stepping down. They are doing it with lighting circuits, so it must be in theory possible.
