Container setup - What issues and extra cost will I have to think about?

[Tony S]

FYI - I plan on having an All-in-one system
We purchased a 20' shipping container to install the array and house everything else.
It will be away from the house and have everything inside the container. (Our house is small at 1,000sf slab on grade.)
I'll have to run wires all the way over to the house from the All-in-One system that I plan to use.

What issues will I need to address?
Will wire size and cost of run over to the main panel be one of them?
Anything else I need to know/think about? (This is all new to me and I must say "over my head" as I'm still having a hard time grasping what I want and how it can be done or if it can be done.)

Many Thanks ahead of time,

 

[PreppenWolf]

Questions.

Where are you? Need to know for climate considerations.

Will container only house solar equipment?

How far is container from house?

Will you be using grid power at all, or full offgrid?

Do you have any underground conduit in place or are you planning on doing overhead service from container to the house?

How many amps of what I will guess is 120/240VAC do you want to run from container to the house?

 

[Jack Rabbit Off Grid]

When placing the container do not lay it directly on the ground. Block it up about 6” so air can get under it. Where I use to work they just put them on the ground and a few of the floors rotted out.

 

[Tony S]

Questions.

Where are you? Need to know for climate considerations. Ontario Canada above NY

Will container only house solar equipment? It will house everything form array, batteries and All-in-one unit

How far is container from house? Not 100% sure yet.

Will you be using grid power at all, or full offgrid? Planning for an All-in-one system to provide us with more options.

Do you have any underground conduit in place or are you planning on doing overhead service from container to the house? I'll be putting it underground

How many amps of what I will guess is 120/240VAC do you want to run from container to the house? Not sure - Like I stated I'm still having a hard time grasping this. We would like to run our house as we are now. With the change of doing laundry "high demands" during the day when we have solar and sun vs doing high demands after 7pm when Hydro fees are cheaper. FYI - I think I posted our monthly usage, for 2 years, somewhere on this site.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Tony S]

When placing the container do not lay it directly on the ground. Block it up about 6” so air can get under it. Where I use to work they just put them on the ground and a few of the floors rotted out.

Unfortunately, I place it on the ground when it was delivered and until we move it. It's been there 2 years now. But I do have plans of moving it and raising it up. Thanks

 

[PreppenWolf]

Definitely get it off the ground. I'd also put some sort of skirt to keep the snow/ice from piling/blowing under it.

If you are going to place the grid and what would be considered your "grid main panel" in the container I would personally do the following:

- Get (2) 4" SCH40 and (1) 2" runs buried to house. One 4" for power from your inverter to house, one 4" cap off for future use in case you (or any future owner) ever wants to run grid power later and the 2" for comms wiring like CAT cables. You're going to dig a trench, do it once and future proof yourself.

- Have a utility pole put next to the container. Move your grid service and meter to the new pole and run it into the container. Install a 200A panel with at least 10 breaker slots. This will become your new main panel and you can use it to feed your inverters for pass through or grid tie for sell back.

- make sure you install a grounding rod near/at the pole.

- Install a new sub-panel in house fed by your inverter. Use a full "main panel" and just separate the ground and neutral.

Issues you need solutions for:

1) How are you going to insulate and heat/cool the container to keep the temp acceptable for batteries?

2) Consider building an A truss roof on the container with galvanized steel corrugated roofing to shed snow and extend the container life. Extend the roof out at least 4 ft on either side to prevent the shedding snow from stacking against the container.

 

[PreppenWolf]

Will just reviewed a solar direct mini-split with grid backup which might be a perfect solution to heating/cooling the container. You could mount the panels to power it direct on the container or roof I recommended.

The inverters will supply some heat if you really insulate the container, but given your location likely not enough in deep winter.

 

[WYtreasure]

I like the idea.

You may want to set up some video & audio monitoring so you don't have to go out there to keep an eye and ear on things. An inexpensive security system will make it easy to see and hear if your equipment is doing something wrong. Snow and ice accumulation could be monitored as well.
Audio & video cables don't always enjoy spending time in close proximity to electrical wires. Maybe consider another dedicated run of conduit.

 

[Koldsimer]

Keep an eye on moisture and mold inside the container. I live in east Texas and we have very humid conditions with lots of major temperature fluctuations. There are lots of mornings, especially in the winter, that i find everything inside my container drenched from condensate dripping from the roof. Cold, sunny mornings are the worst. I was under the impression they would do a better job of keeping moisture out but they certainly don't in my neck of the woods. Container is a nice, new one trip 20' with plenty of ventilation.

I wouldn't keep anything inside that i didn't expect to get wet, especially electrical gear.

 

[PreppenWolf]

He's definitely going to need to insulate it and frame in at least one full wall for the panels/inverters with concrete board.

 

[OT Ducati]

He's definitely going to need to insulate it and frame in at least one full wall for the panels/inverters with concrete board.

44th parallel here, I wouldn't use a container to put my electrical supply in unless it was heated and air conditioned also.

I know they are quick and easy structure but not for this intended use, you need to build walls, insulate and air condition.
Looks like you end up spending more money to make it work.
I'm all for recycling, I just cannot justify using these in this area for sumpin' like that.

Might paint one black and season firewood during the summer.

 

[Tony S]

I plan to have the room climate controlled. I hope to use an entire house heat exchanger to pull fresh air in from one side, heat it up as it passes through and exhaust the old air out the other side. Even if I have to enlarge the current holes. For that matter I could do the entire container space this way. If I'm willing to insulate the complete container.

 

[Tony S]

My concerns are more in line with hooking up an All-in-one system - so far away from the main panel in the house - to still be able to allow it to do everything it was designed for.
Having to run wires - Will I have to up size the wires and so forth.

The reasons for the Container and having it away from the house with the solar panels and all the equipment:

1. We have very large evergreen trees on the South and West sides of our house.

2. Our house is only 1,000sf and no space to put the equipment and batteries.

3. I also thought the container would give us the option to take it with us - if the buyer of our current place did not want to pay for it. (As we all know - people love to talk you down in price when buying your house. GRIN Buyer - I only want to pay XYZ for your house. ME- Okay, I'll take the entire solar setup and container. LOL )

 

[OT Ducati]

OK, nice plan.
You going to make shed roof with panels on top?
If not correct orientation, easily moved with backhoe.

 

[OT Ducati]

Did you ever tell us the distance other than "all the way over"?
Maybe I missed it. It's late for me.?

 

[PreppenWolf]

For wiring let's talk some numbers.

Let's say you want to run a 100A main panel 200ft between house and container. That would require 3/0 AWG copper or 300KCMIL aluminum for 3% loss.

If you're only 100ft away. That drops to 1AWG Copper or 2/0 Aluminum for 3% or less voltage.

If you're OK running 120V at the inverter but getting 110V in the house you can run numbers for that too. Use this site:

Voltage Drop Calculator | Southwire

www.southwire.com

You need to know the distance of the run and what max load you'll use. As an example we have a 200A main panel, but I've never used more than 9kW at any one moment in time. Meaning I have a 200A panel but never use more than 75A. I have a big panel to accommodate more circuits, not more load.

 

[OT Ducati]

If this helps https://www.engineersedge.com/instr...capacitive reactance, and inductive reactance.

 

[Tony S]

OK, nice plan.
You going to make shed roof with panels on top?
If not correct orientation, easily moved with backhoe.

No.. It will not be fixed panels on a roof. Funds going to better things. I also need to capture as much sun as possible in our climate. I plan to have an adjustable setup attached to the south side roof edge, so I can tilt the array for seasons. Most of the panels will be high to help with the tilt and due to how much snow we get / that can pile up on the gorund.

 

[sunsurfer]

Why go AIO ?

 

[Tony S]

Did you ever tell us the distance other than "all the way over"?
Maybe I missed it. It's late for me.?

Have not confirmed where container will have to sit to get full sun. NOTE: Evergreen tree in container picture. That is the smaller one of them. The long container wall you see - is south facing. However, across the driveway from that south wall is many more LARGER evergreen trees. I need to spend some time - checking out the sun's movement during winter with the trees in the way.