the hard question about electricity bills on STX

That's brilliant. Don't know if my neighbors would care for me doing that though haha

I have a home depot driveway solar shower. One long coiled black hose to a pcv fitting to a spray head. I get about 2 minutes of sciolding hot water, two minutes at the correct temp and the rest cool. Turning on and off the hose at criitcal points (when sudsing) evens the temp and prolongs the hot. A black plastic concrete mixing tub acts as shower pan and rinse pail for my swim wear or work out clothing. dump out the tub and hang up the gear. And presto, laundy and bath and plants watered in less than five minutes. VI high tech!

Wow that sounds really cool. Was it hard to set up?

not at all. the key is a long hose (black) coiled in full sun. best if you can coil on asphalt. My pal (oncrete patio) puts a "space blanet" under his,

not at all. the key is a long hose (black) coiled in full sun. best if you can coil on asphalt. My pal (oncrete patio) puts a "space blanet" under his,

Your post inspired me to start a Word file of random helpful bits of info for when I move there.

I had a friend staying with me in Jan for 2.5 weeks and she increased my bill by 30 USD just by her showers alone. In PR electricity is .20 and there it is .50 so that would have been 75 bucks for her showers for 2 weeks.

Anyway I will be able to conserve will be great. By the way what do you guys pay for water? Most places in PR include it and I am so spoiled that my land lord has a washer and dryer for 3 of the tenants to use for free. I do laundry every other day. I love it. I know that would be unheard of in the USVI.

I would venture to say that almost all water situations are different - a private house will likely have a cistern supplied by rainwater and depending on location on the island and usage you may never have to buy water at all - an apartment in that house will usually share the cistern or may have its own - some buildings have 2 or 3 apartments and share a cistern, they usually share the bill in some proportion if they need to buy water - sometimes this causes some dissension between conservative users and water wasting users - some apartments have a meter on each unit to share the cost more fairly - some apartments and condos especially have a meter and charge a fixed price per gallon - if you have public -WAPA- water there is a fixed charge and a meter otherwise water is delivered by truck and pumped into the cistern.
Many people drink the cistern water - many people don't and buy drinking water - usually 6 one gal. jugs in a case - or 5 gal. bottle dispensers.
Assessing the water situation in a potential rental is a worthwhile question to ask for every situation is different.

Yes ask the previous tentants if they ever purchased water and how often and what the average electric bill is. Also ask the size of the cistren.

THanks Exit Zero and blu4u that was very helpful. So the cistern catches rain water. What a trip!

All drinking water has to come from somewhere! In Louisville, we capture and process water from the Ohio River. Why does collecting rain water seem so strange to you?

more places in the states should do that, the states that get enough rain

Why does collecting rain water seem so strange to you?

Well I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that it seems strange because for a person born and raised in the states, especially in a major city, the idea of all of your water coming from a tank below your house that is filled up by rain flowing in from your roof top is extremely unusual and thus meets the exact definition of the word "strange."

"Like"

Why does collecting rain water seem so strange to you?

Well I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that it seems strange because for a person born and raised in the states, especially in a major city, the idea of all of your water coming from a tank below your house that is filled up by rain flowing in from your roof top is extremely unusual and thus meets the exact definition of the word "strange."

Why does collecting rain water seem so strange to you?

Well I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that it seems strange because for a person born and raised in the states, especially in a major city, the idea of all of your water coming from a tank below your house that is filled up by rain flowing in from your roof top is extremely unusual and thus meets the exact definition of the word "strange."

Sorry I don't know why this is bugging me but all the responses I read to posts this morning were negative and it put me in a bad mood. People on this board seem unhappy and it makes me second guess this move.

In addition to trainwreck82's comment about the states. I have lived on 5 continents including an African villiage and Indonesia. In Africa I lived on the lake and I bathed in the lake and water came from the lake but my shack (5 USD a month rent) didn't have running water but the neighbor let me use his outside sproket for brushing teeth and for cooking. The water in the village came from the lake not rain water.

It is a very good idea and should be used more but in my travel of over 70 countries I have never came across it. So I found it unique, in a positive way.

OK I am getting away from these boards before I loose it.

Sorry I don't know why this is bugging me but all the responses I read to posts this morning were negative and it put me in a bad mood. People on this board seem unhappy and it makes me second guess this move. ... OK I am getting away from these boards before I loose it.

If simply reading a few posts on this pretty small site is negatively affecting you, maybe moving here is worth a second thought. Hopefully today is just going to be an example of just one of those which for some reason evokes hypersensitivity. Phase of the moon maybe ...

Omg blu4u! Ingenious! And funny to boot!!!

When I learned I'd be using rain water collected in a cistern when I got to STX, the idea was strange to me as well, even though my husband informed me that he grew up wiith one in western PA - 200 miles away from me. If it's not part of your experience, and you're not sure how it works, it's strange to you. That's not a bad thing.

The tone of some posts on this thread and others leans toward the negative side, IMO. Some people don't mean to be negative. But it comes out sounding that way. It has no bearing on whether a person should move to STX or not. There's more negativity on this forum, and others like it, than I've found in real life on STX.

It's easy to be negative on Teh Intarwebz, much more so than in Real Life. Gotta let it pass over you and through you, as Muad'dib said. 😎

As to cisterns, yeah, we Pennsylvanians aren't used to them. I just figured out Kass and I (she married me on purpose and sober, would you believe) have one now! Hasn't been used for heaven knows how many years, but it's there.

Cheers,

Bob

There's more negativity on this forum, and others like it, than I've found in real life on STX.

That you for saying this. I needed to hear it. 😎

There are many obvious and wonderful reasons for relocating to the Caribbean. This board, IMO, has always tried to make people stop and think about the less obvious challenges and problems related to such a move, so we often sound negative.

Cisterns with rain water are seen in KY, so they did not seem strange to me. My larger point was this - the more you focus on how "different" things are than the way it is your hometown, the less the chance of making it here. The more you can go with the flow (water pun) the better off you are.

Good point Linda!

Before I lived in Japan, everyone was trying to explain how different it was there -- they didn't have central heat, you weren't going to have your own bedroom, etc. But when you get there, you just kinda say to yourself, "This is a different country!"

I'm approaching STX with that attitude. It is a different culture and in your head you have to "burn your boats" so to speak and just decide to be there.

The tone of some posts on this thread and others leans toward the negative side, IMO. Some people don't mean to be negative. But it comes out sounding that way. It has no bearing on whether a person should move to STX or not. There's more negativity on this forum, and others like it, than I've found in real life on STX.

I agree with this 100%. I visited both islands and people are very friendly.

I most definitely think this forum has a much higher proportion of negativity then any other internet forums I frequent. I am in offline contact with several people I met from this board that agree with me 100% about the abundance of negativity that comes from here.

Obviously it is not everyone or I wouldn't be here and I have learned a lot from these boards.

My larger point was this - the more you focus on how "different" things are than the way it is your hometown, the less the chance of making it here. The more you can go with the flow (water pun) the better off you are.

I have lived all over the place. Every place has been different from the previous place in both good and bad ways. Every place I move to in the future will be different from the last. I like things to be different. All I posted was comment below saying thank you and mentioning that I thought it was a trip. I didn't by any means say it was a bad thing and I felt like I got a slap in the face.

Anyway, I know now some of the people who like to antagonize others and I'll just ignore it next time.

THanks Exit Zero and blu4u that was very helpful. So the cistern catches rain water. What a trip!