diy solar

diy solar

Does Solar Pay for Itself? Is it worth it?

It is the end of the world..have you guys seen electric car prices...
 
niktak11 said:
Yearly? More like monthly some years.
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I was thinking of real power outages that last 12 hour or longer. In 1998 we lost power for 8 days due to an ice storm and if we weren’t on a main line at the time we would have been out of power for 2 to 4 weeks.
 
Risky Rob said:
It sounds like a leftist paradise!
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No we collect 1:2 ratio in corporation taxes ( 12,5%) to income tax. , as opposed to 1:8 in the US. Those taxes fund things including a very reliable Grid and free public transport for the elderly. ,!
 
So all kidding aside, maybe..we here in South Texas learned last year that if you don’t want your power to go out for days, move into a house on the same circuit as a hospital, fire station, police station, or perhaps the main office of your utility company. ?
 
Vigo said:
So all kidding aside, maybe..we here in South Texas learned last year that if you don’t want your power to go out for days, move into a house on the same circuit as a hospital, fire station, police station, or perhaps the main office of your utility company. ?
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Or they could elect someone that isn't a repub. Solar is the next best thing.
 
nc73 said:
Or they could elect someone that isn't a repub. Solar is the next best thing.
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Well, elections are a nice theory but Texas has more Democrats or ‘non-Republicans’ than most states have total population, but districts for state level office are so gerrymandered it basically doesn’t matter. But, for example San Antonio local government is reliably blue, and our utility is ‘semi socialist’ ? ie partially government owned and very hamstrung to the city council.

Doesnt mean they can handle a cold snap though. ?
 
Many grid systems are hanging on by a thread.
So, I'm doing my part to lessen the strain.
........ on my bank account. lol
 
BentleyJ said:
Yes, you are absolutely correct. In fact, if I was starting over today I would seriously consider going with a self consumption system rather than grid tie. I wasn't trying to be a solar cheerleader just kind of pointing out that sometimes people look at things from too short of a time period.
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A little over 3 years ago I installed a 15KW grid-tie system. I didn't opt for the hybrid inverters for several reason. At the time they were only rated for a critical load panel and not for whole house backup. Unless I bought both the hybrid inverters and the batteries, they would only act like GT inverters. The hybrid inverters offered were not even rated for outdoors at that time. The GT inverters had a 5 years warranty, so I figured in 5 years that I could buy a whole house hybrid inverter and not need to rewire my house for critical loads. In most houses rewiring for critical loads is fairly simple, but in my home I have 5 electrical panel scattered to the far reaches of the house, so for me it is a major rewiring project.

I could had simply waited, but my savings for a little over 3 years is almost $15K. In 5 years, my system will pay for itself, so I don't regret spending the money for the GT system. This year, new whole house inverters are appearing in the market with 200A bypass, which wasn't available 3 years ago. The batteries prices that I'm seeing now are much less than what my installer quoted me 3 years ago. My electric bill has reduced by over 90%, so I have enjoyed the savings.

I do intend to convert to a hybrid system. For me, the blackouts and brownouts are not worth $10K, although, I will enjoy not having them. My motivation is for my family to have power for the necessities, like the well ... should there be a natural or man-made event that causes an extended power outage. Converting to a hybrid system is like insurance and it is something that I hope that I will never need.
 
If the rest of the system is doing well you may actually be suitably served by several dedicated UPS devices for individual or at least ‘same proximity’ critical loads, assuming they aren’t too large or too many. The well doesnt need ‘seamless coverage’ and might be able to be powered by a generator for short duty cycle to pump up a bunch of water into ‘house level’ storage (jugs/buckets/tub/actual tank etc). Kinda depends on whether you expect to be there during the outage. A system to keep your food from spoiling until you can get home and take manual control wouldn’t need to be 10k, but if you want everything in the house to stay up on solar and battery even if you are out of town while the power goes out for days.. yeah its gonna require that investment. Glad your system is doing well and you didn’t wait!
 
Vigo said:
If the rest of the system is doing well you may actually be suitably served by several dedicated UPS devices for individual or at least ‘same proximity’ critical loads, assuming they aren’t too large or too many. The well doesnt need ‘seamless coverage’ and might be able to be powered by a generator for short duty cycle to pump up a bunch of water into ‘house level’ storage (jugs/buckets/tub/actual tank etc). Kinda depends on whether you expect to be there during the outage. A system to keep your food from spoiling until you can get home and take manual control wouldn’t need to be 10k, but if you want everything in the house to stay up on solar and battery even if you are out of town while the power goes out for days.. yeah its gonna require that investment. Glad your system is doing well and you didn’t wait!
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I actually have a 9500 watt generator for my deep well. I also have over (3) tanks with about 1200 gallons of water and (2) are actually on the roof. I have ran piping from the roof tank to a gooseneck faucet in the laundry room and another to the kitchen. The laundry room has double deep laundry sink, which makes it very easy to refill 5 gallon bottles. The kitchen gooseneck is over one of the kitchen sink compartment, which is obviously there for cooking.

I have probably a dozen UPS, but they often stop working in about 3 years and cost another $200 each to replace. I probably have several that are not working and just don't know it. I prefer to stop wasting money on these UPS and simply add a hybrid inverter and some batteries. Besides the new hybrid inverters have a UPS function, which will work for the whole house and all appliances. However, when on battery power, I will need to be conservative with the available KWH.

I do appreciate your suggestions and nice remarks. Thank you!
 
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Yep, sounds like you’re way ahead of me on all the contingencies planning and are looking to automate and minimize maintenance over ‘saving a buck’ at this point. Sounds like you’ll do it right and get all the proper result when youre good and ready.. but maybe remember to downcycle some of those UPS’s or even inverters down to a budding solar enthusiast when you’re done with them! Might be just the bug they need bitten by to end up ‘going big’ like you somewhere down the line. ??
 
Vigo said:
So all kidding aside, maybe..we here in South Texas learned last year that if you don’t want your power to go out for days, move into a house on the same circuit as a hospital, fire station, police station, or perhaps the main office of your utility company. ?
Click to expand...
Good advice!!!
 
Vigo said:
Yep, sounds like you’re way ahead of me on all the contingencies planning and are looking to automate and minimize maintenance over ‘saving a buck’ at this point. Sounds like you’ll do it right and get all the proper result when youre good and ready.. but maybe remember to downcycle some of those UPS’s or even inverters down to a budding solar enthusiast when you’re done with them! Might be just the bug they need bitten by to end up ‘going big’ like you somewhere down the line. ??
Click to expand...
Well, even when they don't work anymore for battery backup, they are still good as a power strip for additional receptacles and for surge protection.

At least that is what I had assumed.
 
Only the strongest will survive. If you can't protect yourself. You might want to choose your means of suicide, now. When things get ugly, humans can be very inhumane.
 
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