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I understand why some people don't have many options and it sounds like some places regulate it more. Ground mount makes more sense to me for most situations if you have the room, for all the reasons already mentioned. I ended up putting mine on the shop because it made sense at the time. Now...

Showoff 😁

We ended up installing a mini split in the garage to keep the system functional in the summer. The unintended consequence is we now have another 400 sq ft of climate controlled storage space, which is wonderful. I'm sure there are a number of others, but that's the one that comes to mind.

I've got a couple of the 100 lb tanks from years ago. I still use them occasionally to run a torpedo heater in the shop. What I should do is put an NG heater in the shop but I don't know that it's worth the cost. A project for sometime down the road. And three or four of the 20 lb tanks for...

Good point. I'm not sure how they handle that but it does have a temp rating for outside, all seasons. I don't recall the high temp rating but it should be in the specs.

Depends on your load on the gen size. We have a 27kw Generac that runs on NG. It has no problem running everything but I think a 20kw would probably do so most times. Especially now that we have the heat pumps.

No personal experience with them but Signature Solar and Current Connected sell the EG4 Power Pro, which is rated for outside. I referenced that one earlier hoping Markus with EG4 would give us a report on how his fared during the freeze.

I don't think I've seen any feedback on this thread on systems installed outdoors, but I could have missed it. I'd like to hear how those are faring in low temps. Maybe @Markus_EG4 could give us a report on the EG4s with the Power Pros he installed a few months back?

It varies here. It was running 9.5 cents but when demand is up it goes up to as high as 13 cents. This past month's bill it was 11 cents.

Yeah, she was really happy to have it. Easier to mess with than the gas gen and as it turned out they couldn't get the gas gen started either. Old crazy dad got some points on that one. :ROFLMAO:

My daughter lives just east of you an hour or two. It's been pretty miserable up there. She got to use the cart I built for her back in the summer. Their tractor died on the road going to put out hay on the first bad day of the freeze. They ended up putting a tarp over the whole tractor and...

They do offer them with heat strips in the air handler, but down here they don't install those unless you ask for it specifically. Not needed is the theory. Based on this round of our version of bitter cold, I'm gonna say they're right. Not needed. Part of me wants to have them installed as...

Mitsubishi claims these are efficient down to 4F. We got down to maybe 15F at the lowest and one unit did a lengthy defrost cycle, which definitely impairs the efficiency, but otherwise we never noticed a change in the inside temps. We had two nights with it around 15F to 16F and only the one...

Similar here on next week. Sixties and lots of rain. I'll probably still be on the grid. Oh well, we need the rain and it beats freezing my butt off.

NG. It was here when we bought the place so I can't take any credit, other than I keep it maintained. Wonderful as long as we don't lose NG, which happened quite a bit during the first big "Texas freeze". So far it hasn't been an issue here.

That's way better production than I'm getting but it's mostly the flar roof of the shop. Similar situation on the winter storms. I already have the gen, 27 kw Generac. So I have to decide how far I want to go with batteries. The addiction is real.

I do know, and I think most of us southerners know, that what we're getting is nothing compared to the frozen north. In our defense, nothing down here is built for that kind of weather. Including me! I worked in relatively cold conditions when I was in my late teens, early twenties. Some...

I think it's worth more investigating on my end. It would solve more than one problem. My house roof is close to a 12/12 pitch. I wouldn't go roof mount on the house anyway but definitely not on that. Didn't you run something like 400' to your panels? Or am I thinking of someone else?

I'm going to second this. In lieu of "around the world", maybe just around the country (USA) or even within a day's drive of LV. If you feel like driving all the way to Texas, I'm sure several of us would cover your room and board for a while. I mean, you can't move in for a year or anything...

I'm envious! I know a major part of my problem is the near flat roof on the shop but I'm just going to have to live with it. I'm not putting them on the house and there's no good place to put a ground array. I've kicked around putting up something in the pasture behind the house between us...

The efficiency lost is much less on the newer equipment. The Mitsubishi's are way more efficient than the heat strips in my old units. I doubt they're as efficient as NG but I didn't want to do that whole conversion and I got a deal on the units I have. In any case, we work with what we have...

I was on Lake Anahuac for 20 years, which shares a levee with Trinity Bay. Who knows - I may have known them. Small world.

Those piers do great for storm surge but yeah, they're cold in winter. I have several friends on Trinity Bay. Talked to one before the freeze and she was planning on just shutting off the water and draining pipes.

I hear ya on taking care of the animals. That's one area I just won't compromise. My daughter is in northern Arkansas and runs cattle. They have been miserable. Tractors wouldn't start or died after a few minutes running. Side by side wouldn't start. pipes burst that never have before. But you...

We're getting another round this weekend as well but nothing as bad as yours. Mid 20s at night. For a lot of the country it's been pretty brutal. I wish I could take 10 degrees off last August and slap it onto this January.

I've looked at those as well, along with the wood fired boilers. I don't think that's a route we want to go but I've thought about buying one and sticking it back. The biggest complaint I've seen in reviews is the volume of wood required, but maybe they have improved the efficiency. I may take...

Not a bad idea. It's hard to leave when it's that cold because we have cattle and they require some attention when it's cold. Mostly water related issues like breaking ice in the troughs and ponds. We could certainly survive with the house at 60 even staying here, and would do so in a jam...

We looked at those too, and decided against it. At least for now. There's no good place to install one with the layout of the house. It grieves me a little because we have 45 acres or so of mostly red oak.

We looked at adding a fireplace but it's just not practical on this house. I envy you for that! I keep kicking around adding a couple of NG wall heaters or something. It's hard to justify either considering how few days we have when it's really cold.

For me, the most important lesson was this. Without a separate heating source, and if you're in a climate where temps drop below freezing for multiple days, you are not going to be able to sustain the same level of comfort with solar alone. I mean you can, but the cost of panels and batteries...

We talked about doing that but I really wanted to see if the heat pumps could keep up, and they did. If there had been a power outage we would have almost certainly done so, although the gen is capable of carrying the load easily. I agree that it makes a major difference to lower it by only a...

Just curious how everyone's solar and/or batteries did/is doing during this last freeze. I'll start. Mine didn't. Let me preface this by pointing out I am heating and cooling about 4,000 sf and of that about 3000 sf has 10 ft ceilings. So, if you compare to typical 8 ft ceilings and go by...

SA isn't always that accurate and there is almost always a lag between changes in actual load and production and what is displayed. I agree with @timselectric that you are definitely using it. Maybe try rebooting your raspberry Pi that's running SA.

Good points. I always assume I did something wrong and go from there. Triple check my stuff before making myself look foolish by blaming the equipment. I watched your video. Well I did skip through some if it. ? Yep, it's boring, but proves your points on production.

I looked on 18650 Battery and I can get 32 of the 304ah cells for $3,760. That's just a hair over the kWh of a six pack of EG4s at a few dollars less than half the cost. I realize you have to add in the busbars, BMS, and come up with a case or cabinet but that's a substantial savings. I've...