Steam power for the homestead or farm

While looking for back up power sources for our place I ran across something that has my curiosity up. A stationary steam engine that runs an electric generator. I thought I would share it with the group. Here are a couple links, any thoughts??

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/goebel43.html

http://thelibertyman.com/steam_generator.php

Looks interesting, but steam is dangerous without careful attention to the details.

We opted for solar for our alternative source. One of my conerns with steam would be the availability of wood to keep it running. Right now we use firewood for heating and can use it for cooking, but if we had to use fire 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, I'm not sure we would be able to get enough wood for that.

I think steam powered generator is a great idea, if you have the fuel for it of course. Steam engines have always interested me. I think it would be a neat back up. Those articles look interesting and I will be checking them out more when I get the time. Thanks for sharing them, 12acrehome.

I think the steam power would be best used (most efficiently used) as a back up charging system to augment a solar array charging a battery bank and feeding an inverter. I would not want to feed it 24-7-365

It would probably be good to have as a back up to a solar set up for times when you have several cloudy days.

I’m interested in the wood gasifier to fuel current combustible engines. I’ve seen a lot of prep info on this and it seems to be pretty efficient. My main concern with anything (solar, wind, steam, etc.)Is initial startup cost. Maybe the Government will initial a Preper bail out and give people like us free money to buy much need Prep items….LOL

Here are some of my thoughts from New Zealand about steam generated power vs wind or solar. I have both and would seriously consider steam next time for the following reasons:

A wind turbine needs to be sited on an elevated knoll for wind and away from the house to avoid noise. This means an extremely expensive section of copper cabling to the house or battery shed. The text books are right, a wind turbine only produces one third of the time. The turbine itself is the cheapest part of the set up. A 30ft tower, concrete footings, guy wires, controller, fuses and cabling cost much much more.

Solar panels really need to be mounted on a turnable frame or wheeled trailer. Need to be sited in full sun for much of the day and likewise require cabling and controllers.

A steam engine with boiler and alternator has the advantage of being able to be sited anywhere included right next to the house dramatically reducing the cable costs. It is quiet to run and will produce power in any weather night or day. Coupled to a battery bank and inverter, as would a turbine or solar panel, it needs only to be run a few hours as necessary to charge the batteries. Of course you need a good wood supply but with some ancillary solar panels this system would provide a more certain electrical supply and be cheaper.

Welcome to the forum rama. Thanks for sharing your experience with the various forms of energy.