Beautiful Sustainable Country Estate for Sale
Asking $329,000.00
141 Tamarind Ct., Stelle, Illinois
A 2,380 sq. ft. two-story home with 2-car attached garage, full basement, large deck, organic garden and
orchard, country porch and attached tool shed. A large solar/wind renewable energy system with battery backup provides virtual energy independence. Located in the community of Stelle, IL. The home sits on a ¼ acre
residential lot. There is an additional 3-acre agricultural zoned parcel connected to the rear of the property.
Built in 1987, this home has been upgraded over the years.
House:
First story: 1,028 sq. ft. gross area
Living room: 16’-11” x 11’-4”
Dining room: 11’-”4” x 11’-4”
Kitchen: 12’-7” x 11’-4” The kitchen has lovely Quaker Maid cherry raised panel cabinets, gas Jenn-Air 4-burner
cooktop with grill, Kitchen Aid double oven, Bosch dishwasher and LG 25.7 ft3 French-door refrigerator/freezer.
Breakfast area: 9’-4” x 11’-4”, French door opens out onto the large deck.
Family room: 18’-2” x 13’-4” The wood burner is located in the corner next to the breakfast area.
Half bath
Second story: 1,352 sq. ft. gross area
Master bedroom: 17’-1” x 15’-2” with private bathroom, large walk-in closet and separate additional vanity area.
Large east and south facing windows offer a great view of the morning.
Bedroom #1: 17’-1” x 11’-4” with walk-in closet
Bedroom #2: 13’-4” x 11’-0” with large closet
Main Bathroom: Full bath with extra-deep soaking tub.
Laundry/craft room: 7’-7” x 9’-10” With washer/dryer hook-ups, gas and electric, built in counter and shelves
Study / library: 9’-9” x 21’-6” Off the master bedroom with heated floor and a high-efficiency wall-mounted AC
unit. One entire wall of book shelves.
Walk-in storage closet off hallway.
Linen closet
Solid Oak, raised panel doors throughout the interior
Basement:
Unfinished full basement with extra high ceiling.
Main room: 50’-1” x 12’-1” / 22’-4, 889 sq. ft.
Storage rooms under front porch: 18’-11” x 7’-0” and 8’-9” x 7’-0”, 196 sq. ft.
Garage: 21’-8” x 21’ x 6”, insulated, two OH garage doors with openers, wired for 240-volts (and 120 volts).
Covered front porch: 30’-0” x 7’-6”
Rear Deck: two-level, 11’ x21’, new composite decking in 2013.
Attached storage shed: 10’ x 11’
The house was built as a highly energy efficient home in 1987.
The walls are R28, 2x6 walls with OSB sheathing and 1” of rigid foam. New fiber cement board siding (Hardie
board-type siding) installed in 2013.
Ceiling Insulation - 8” of fiberglass with multiple inches of blown cellulose; +R50
New roof installed in 2010 (stripped to roof decking); Owens Corning Duration Premium shingles – limited
lifetime warrantee, 130 MPH limited warrantee wind resistance.
Poured concrete basement with 3” of extruded polystyrene (R-15) installed on the outside of the walls. 1” of
extruded polystyrene under the basement floor. The concrete walls act like a thermal mass, moderating
temperature swings.
Domestic water is provided by the Stelle Community Association. The home has a high capacity whole house
sediment filter, a high capacity water softener, and a 3-stage Reverse Osmosis under-sink water filter in the
kitchen. There is a 1,500 gallon cistern with an indoor pump and pressure tank for lawn/garden watering.
Sewage treatment is provided by the Stelle Community Association.
A Federal Airtight wood burner with catalytic combustor and Simpson Dura-Plus triple wall chimney is in the
family room, with a Durock/tile wall surround.
The house has a lightning protection system, with multiple surge arrestors.
There is a solar-powered attic vent fan.
Heating/AC: There is an electric forced-air central electric furnace with whole-house AC. A Honeywell electrostatic air filter is installed on the air handler. The wood burner provides supplemental heating and back-up in
case of a utility power outage.
There is an electric hot water heater with a lifetime replacement warrantee, and an AquaStar gas-fired
instantaneous hot water heater. This combination provides almost unlimited hot water.
Gas is supplied from a 100 gallon LP tank installed near the deck.
Renewable Energy System:
The home has a hybrid solar-electric (photovoltaic) and wind-powered renewable energy system. Power from
the solar and wind is used to charge a large battery storage system. The stored battery-power is converted to
standard 120/240 house power by a 6,000 watt power inverter (Schneider Electric XW6048). The output from
the inverter powers all the 120-volts outlets in the home. This provide ‘seamless’ back-up power for all the 120volt loads, no brown-outs, no power outages. When there is excess power being generated by the wind/sun,
that excess power is “sold” back to the electric utility via a net metering agreement. The system operates
relatively automatically and requires limited routine maintenance. Here are the system details:
Battery bank: 24 Concorde PVX-9150T batteries wired to create a 48-volt battery bank. These are premium,
sealed, maintenance-free, lead-acid batteries. Under all normal conditions these batteries do not vent any
hydrogen gas or acid fumes, and they do not require adding distilled water or equalizing charges. The battery
bank can store about 58 kWh of energy; that equals about 42 kWh of usable AC (house) power. Technically, this
is a 1,074 AH (@ 120 hr rate), 48-volt battery bank. The batteries are AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat), valveregulated lead-acid battery. The battery bank is now about 3 years old, with an expected service life of 8-12
years.
Power inverter: Xantrex (Schneider Electric) XW-6048 inverter/charger. This unit converts the 48-volt battery
power into 120/240 volt house power. The inverter is rated for 6,000 watt of continuous output and can surge
up to 12,000 watts for short-term loads, like a motor starting. The inverter can also automatically “sell” any
excess solar/wind generated power back to the electric utility for a credit.
Photovoltaic System (PV or solar modules): The PV system consists of 3 different solar arrays; a roofmounted 2,100-watt solar array (28 Siemens SP-75 solar modules), a pole-mounted 880-watt solar array (16
Siemens SM-55J solar modules), and a ground-mounted 2,400-watt solar array (24 SunWize 100-watt modules).
The power from each solar array is connected to its own charge controller. The charge controller optimizes the
output of the solar array and regulates the power flow into the batteries to insure proper recharging of the
battery bank. The PV modules functionally require no maintenance, have a +20 year warrantee, with an
expected service-life of +30 years.
Wind Turbine: A 3,600-watt Jacobs ‘long-case’ 48-volt DC wind turbine, mounted on a 115’ tall tilt-over tower.
This is a heavy-duty slow-speed turbine designed in the 1930’s. It has an exceptional track-record for long-term
durability and reliably power output. The turbine outputs 48-volt DC power that travels underground to the
battery bank. Like all mechanical devices, this turbine requires occasional maintenance. There are several grease
fittings on the turbine that require greasing every 12-16 months. There are also carbon brushes on the turbine
that should be check when the turbine is greased, they require replacement about every 5-7 years. The turbine
is mounted on a 115’ tall, tilt-over tower. The tower can be tilted over, via a winch mounted on the west guy
anchor, permitting maintenance to be performed on the ground.
There are several technically capable persons living in or near Stelle that could be contracted with to help with
maintenance of the system. There are also other solar and wind contractors in the region.
This system has provided reliable power for many years with limited maintenance required, mostly occasional
repair of the wind turbine.
3 Acres of Agricultural land out back:
Abutting the ¼ acre residential lot is 3 acres of land zoned agricultural; low property taxes and no Home Owners
Association restrictions. There is a large 40’ x 40’ garden that has been organic for years. Directly to the south of
the garden is small organic apple orchard with also two pear trees. The ground-mounted solar array and the
wind turbine are located on this land. Some of this 3 acre parcel has been maintained as a wildlife sanctuary;
rabbits, squirrels, and birds of all types abound. About a third of the land has a young Burr Oak Savannah with
trails wandering through them. Native grasses and flowers are starting to repopulate the meadow areas. There
is a large stone circle/medicine wheel in the meadow area. Norway Spruce, Silky Dogwood, and Red Twig
Dogwood create wind breaks and hedge rows along with various native Viburnums, Ninebark, Plums and Roses.
My next door neighbor, a professional landscaper/arborist, described the property as a nature arboretum.
Envision yourself on the self-sufficient, sustainable Prairie estate!
For further information, questions, or the schedule a viewing please contact:
Jan or Steve Bell
970-259-0396
bells644@gmail.com