| Re: Solar calculator and tax credit info. |
Subject: Re: Solar calculator and tax credit info. by bogus on 2020/4/3 16:54:16 Our house came with solar electric and hot water. They were installed by the prior owner about 20 years ago. There are two arrays on the garage roof, with two inverters. I don't remember the output at this time. I would have to check the inverter ratings. What I do know, they were saving us about $75 a month on our electric bill. As for the hot water, our summer gas bill would drop down to about $7.00 a month. During the winter it still saved us some $30 a month, IIRC... The solar hot water has an array on top of the house, with a 75 gallon storage tank in the basement. There is a pump with thermistors that test the temp in the tank and in the array. When the temps change, the water is swapped from the tank to the array and back again to maintain temps. The next step is the standard gas hot water tank. The only gas used is the pilot. Once the tank gets hot, the water flow from the solar to the gas powered tank, and that water is more than hot enough - and I mean hella hot - to keep the gas heater from firing again!! This renders the gas heater more or less a long term backup if the weather gets gnarly. The downside, the solar hot water is DOA right now. I need to get someone in to fix it... just finding someone with reach to get to the peak of the roof - and it's really high!! Tommy - you have seen that peak! Apparently, some critters chewed through the wire to the thermistor on top of the roof... and the pump controller died or the thermistor died... not sure which. Our electric system is aging... and at some point, I would like to upgrade it. However, that is not today. I like the discount it offers, but the technology has changed SO much in the last 20 years, that what was good then is merely tolerable today. One thing, Tommy, make sure the installers are actually good. Our realtor had solar installed on their house a few years back. There was a nasty storm with some stiff winds... ripped the panels right off the roof, destroying the panels and the roof. Might have even shorted out the inverters... don't remember for sure. IIRC, $100k in damages!! The rain did water damage, too, I think. Either way, they screwed up big time. This was also a common problem here 4-6 years ago. So many fly-by-night operations came up and caused a ton of issues. Knowing the cost of electricity in FL, I would not hesitate doing it. Just be damned sure the panels are hurricane proof!!! After things settle, I am going to look into a Tesla battery wall. The solar would recharge it and it runs the entire house. It is more expensive than a generator, but we would not need a huge propane tank or have to by 500 gallons of the gas at a time, either. Less space, less complexity and a full house backup when the power goes out! I need to do more research... the Tesla is about 2x the cost of a full house propane generator (Gencom). One other thought... windmills... John - The Linc - The Eagles football stadium has windmills. The stadium, IIRC, is 100% powered by those windmills. 1 or 2 windmills would generate a ton of wattage. |
