NakeDiesel
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2022
- Messages
- 13
Please bear with me, I've been reading like crazy on here and other sites trying to figure out how I want to do this and try to come up with a planned approach into getting a system going. Right now I have more idle time than I like since I'm taking care of my dad and can't leave him alone. I work from home as a Data Architect so it works out well for him, but I can't work much on my 100+ projects here on the farm when I don't have someone to watch him, so those projects get sporadically worked on as I can get out of the house when my wife or son or other family members can give me a break.
Little about my place. It's a 120 acre piece of land in Osage County, Oklahoma. Bought this place little over 12 years ago and it had nothing on it. I've refenced it, put my 30x80 solitaire home on it, ran electric to the place, aerobic sewer system, water well, roads, internal fencing, planted ~45 fruit and nut trees (now irrigated as of this summer), built a 40x80 foam insulated shop and still building a corral as I get time. We raise Scottish Highland cattle, chickens (currently none as we are tearing down the 12 year old coop and building a smaller one just for us as we no longer plan on selling eggs, old coop was sized for 50 to 100 chickens), the occasional feeder pig and honey bees. Currently have 3 hives and plan on adding 6 more next year.
I have 400 amp service coming into my pole here on the corner of my land. It splits out to 2 200 amp feed through lug panels. The panel going on to the house also has the breaker for the water well in it (30amp). Well is 150' deep with 1hp pump that was replaced in 2020. All that is contained in a small pump house.
The other 200 amp feed through lug panel has a 50amp breaker for our hot tub and 2 15 amp circuits for our patio I built last year (where the hot tub is) and led security light up on the pole. Then goes on to the shop.
The first goal is to get backup power for the house when electric goes out, in a pinch I can hack in backup power for certain things with my 5kw gas portable generator or my 10kw welder/gen on a trailer if needed so I've not been in a huge rush. Winter is when we usually loose power for any length of time or maybe spring due to severe storms/tornados. House heat is 2 2.5 ton AC units with propane gas furnaces attached. We also have a fireplace at one end of the house and we have used that in the past when we've lost power in the past. We have oil lamps, lanterns, home made emergency candles, etc. as well stocked, along with plenty of food supplies on hand at all times if locked in, both long and short term food stuffs. But with taking care of Dad, really need more of a robust system, he's been off and on using an oxy concentrator, so powering it is also a possible need.
So with that, here is an Ariel of the home area with notes and lines drawn in.
And a diagram of our current electrical setup:
Some of the issues I've been thinking about is where to locate the backup generator. I could put it out by the pole and then build a shed for the inverters/batteries, etc... but I would need to buy another propane tank to power it or trench a 1 1/4" line from my 500 gallon tank to it so I can supply enough volume to it. Not ideal. If I locate Generator on the backside of my house, it's close to the 500 gallon tank, but then the well wouldn't be covered.
So what I've decided is to first put the Generator at the back of the house close to the 500 gallon tank and back of the house. Saves cost of another propane tank (3k to 5k) and may eventually upsize 500 gallon tank to 1000 gallons, but may never do it. For the well, think I may start with changing the small 40 gallon pressure tank to 2 - 120 gallon pressure tanks. This will allow more water stored under pressure for short outages and with me using the well to irrigate on a timer all my fruit/nut trees and garden boxes daily will reduce frequency of cycling the pump, may either convert the pump wires to a plug where I can run it from my big trailer generator or trench a new power line from the well house over to the house breaker. So I think I have a good handle on that.
The inverter I think I will be going with is the new Sol-Arc 15 as it seems to have all the features that I think I'll need and handle the house, backup genny and allow me to add more as I have time and funds. I plan on adding the Sol 14 load management system and moving all the big items to it (2 AC units, Well (eventually), HW Heater, etc... to it and what ever else circuits I can fit in there. That would be phase one:
I would put the sol-ark 15 inside the house in the utility room where the house panel is located as well. How loud does it get? One of my furnaces is in that room, along with the Washer/Dryer and one deep freeze. I'll have to relocate that deep freeze most likely. I have 3 big chest freezers in the house. One is dedicated to the Highland beef we sell to customers and the other 2 are our food stuffs we keep from the garden, etc... The reason I ask on the noise level is because across the hall is our master bedroom. I don't really think it will be an issue, but just wondering.
Phase 2 add solar panels:
With phase 2, I plan on starting to add solar panels most likely on the roof, I'll need to figure out useable space on my south roof face and come up with a combination to maximize the output I can get on it. I may have to run a string or 2 from pole mounts over where my chicken coop is located that I'll be removing to max out the 3 mppt's on the Sol-Ark 15. I'm still researching panels and how to configure them and wire sizing needed, etc... So don't have a full grasp on that yet.
Phase 3 add battery backup:
Eventually I plan to add a battery backup as well, something along the lines of lithium iron or the like, probably a system I can start with then expand as I have fund to dedicate to it.
Looking at our electric bills over the last 13 months, average cost was around 290 a month. kWh averaged over last 13 months was 2,834. Last month's bill was a doosy, last year it was 275.00, this year it was 625 with 200 some odd being a fuel surcharge. I'm currently adding a 5 ton heat pump system to my shop so usage will go up a bit when that comes online as well. Shop is very well insulated with 4 to 5 inches of spray foam on walls and ceiling. The biggest reason of the AC system is to reduce humidity in there more than anything. Winter time I've easily kept it above freezing with running 2 of those oil filled radiators running 24/7 on the west end where all the water lines are, work benches and commercial kitchen I've built in there. We have had 21 days of 100+ temps and with just the 3 ceiling fans going in there, the temps have stayed right around 80 to 85 degrees. But the humidity has been horrible, I know I'm getting some moisture up through my concrete floor. I just finished painting and sealing the floor in the honey room. Main shop will be later when I get my John Deere 4010 rebuilt, it's in a million pieces scattered in the shop right now:
I have quite a few sensor push devices scattered around the place. One outside, one in the living room, 3 in the deep freezes with alarms set, 1 under the house in the crawl space and 2 out in the shop (east end and west end). I've been fighting humidity issues here in the house as well due to fully closing in the crawl space that's now rocked in. I've been putting down a thick vapor barrier under there and have 80% of that done now with it taped on edges, that has helped. Plan on finishing that up hopefully in the next few weeks as I get time. I've bought a big dehumidifier for under the house with 50% as the set point and that's helped tremendously. I just got in the new foam tubes to redo the AC lines under the house and that will help a bit as well. Next step, I'll be spray foaming the rock inside as well under there to seal and insulate it. That should get the issue taken care of.
On the house front, I'm getting estimates on replacing all the windows in the house as most have lost the gas in them. Once I get the windows replaced, I'll be putting 1/4" double bubble on the outside and covering the outside of the house in Steel. That will seal the house up better and hopefully help with heating and cooling as well. Then I can get guttering backup on the house. Had to tear it down when I had the roof redone with steel a few years ago.
Hopefully I didn't ramble too much in this and make things too confusing. Tried to provide as much info without it being too confusing. Any help reviewing this phased approach would be helpful or just tell me I'm going about it all wrong....
Little about my place. It's a 120 acre piece of land in Osage County, Oklahoma. Bought this place little over 12 years ago and it had nothing on it. I've refenced it, put my 30x80 solitaire home on it, ran electric to the place, aerobic sewer system, water well, roads, internal fencing, planted ~45 fruit and nut trees (now irrigated as of this summer), built a 40x80 foam insulated shop and still building a corral as I get time. We raise Scottish Highland cattle, chickens (currently none as we are tearing down the 12 year old coop and building a smaller one just for us as we no longer plan on selling eggs, old coop was sized for 50 to 100 chickens), the occasional feeder pig and honey bees. Currently have 3 hives and plan on adding 6 more next year.
I have 400 amp service coming into my pole here on the corner of my land. It splits out to 2 200 amp feed through lug panels. The panel going on to the house also has the breaker for the water well in it (30amp). Well is 150' deep with 1hp pump that was replaced in 2020. All that is contained in a small pump house.
The other 200 amp feed through lug panel has a 50amp breaker for our hot tub and 2 15 amp circuits for our patio I built last year (where the hot tub is) and led security light up on the pole. Then goes on to the shop.
The first goal is to get backup power for the house when electric goes out, in a pinch I can hack in backup power for certain things with my 5kw gas portable generator or my 10kw welder/gen on a trailer if needed so I've not been in a huge rush. Winter is when we usually loose power for any length of time or maybe spring due to severe storms/tornados. House heat is 2 2.5 ton AC units with propane gas furnaces attached. We also have a fireplace at one end of the house and we have used that in the past when we've lost power in the past. We have oil lamps, lanterns, home made emergency candles, etc. as well stocked, along with plenty of food supplies on hand at all times if locked in, both long and short term food stuffs. But with taking care of Dad, really need more of a robust system, he's been off and on using an oxy concentrator, so powering it is also a possible need.
So with that, here is an Ariel of the home area with notes and lines drawn in.
And a diagram of our current electrical setup:
Some of the issues I've been thinking about is where to locate the backup generator. I could put it out by the pole and then build a shed for the inverters/batteries, etc... but I would need to buy another propane tank to power it or trench a 1 1/4" line from my 500 gallon tank to it so I can supply enough volume to it. Not ideal. If I locate Generator on the backside of my house, it's close to the 500 gallon tank, but then the well wouldn't be covered.
So what I've decided is to first put the Generator at the back of the house close to the 500 gallon tank and back of the house. Saves cost of another propane tank (3k to 5k) and may eventually upsize 500 gallon tank to 1000 gallons, but may never do it. For the well, think I may start with changing the small 40 gallon pressure tank to 2 - 120 gallon pressure tanks. This will allow more water stored under pressure for short outages and with me using the well to irrigate on a timer all my fruit/nut trees and garden boxes daily will reduce frequency of cycling the pump, may either convert the pump wires to a plug where I can run it from my big trailer generator or trench a new power line from the well house over to the house breaker. So I think I have a good handle on that.
The inverter I think I will be going with is the new Sol-Arc 15 as it seems to have all the features that I think I'll need and handle the house, backup genny and allow me to add more as I have time and funds. I plan on adding the Sol 14 load management system and moving all the big items to it (2 AC units, Well (eventually), HW Heater, etc... to it and what ever else circuits I can fit in there. That would be phase one:
I would put the sol-ark 15 inside the house in the utility room where the house panel is located as well. How loud does it get? One of my furnaces is in that room, along with the Washer/Dryer and one deep freeze. I'll have to relocate that deep freeze most likely. I have 3 big chest freezers in the house. One is dedicated to the Highland beef we sell to customers and the other 2 are our food stuffs we keep from the garden, etc... The reason I ask on the noise level is because across the hall is our master bedroom. I don't really think it will be an issue, but just wondering.
Phase 2 add solar panels:
With phase 2, I plan on starting to add solar panels most likely on the roof, I'll need to figure out useable space on my south roof face and come up with a combination to maximize the output I can get on it. I may have to run a string or 2 from pole mounts over where my chicken coop is located that I'll be removing to max out the 3 mppt's on the Sol-Ark 15. I'm still researching panels and how to configure them and wire sizing needed, etc... So don't have a full grasp on that yet.
Phase 3 add battery backup:
Eventually I plan to add a battery backup as well, something along the lines of lithium iron or the like, probably a system I can start with then expand as I have fund to dedicate to it.
Looking at our electric bills over the last 13 months, average cost was around 290 a month. kWh averaged over last 13 months was 2,834. Last month's bill was a doosy, last year it was 275.00, this year it was 625 with 200 some odd being a fuel surcharge. I'm currently adding a 5 ton heat pump system to my shop so usage will go up a bit when that comes online as well. Shop is very well insulated with 4 to 5 inches of spray foam on walls and ceiling. The biggest reason of the AC system is to reduce humidity in there more than anything. Winter time I've easily kept it above freezing with running 2 of those oil filled radiators running 24/7 on the west end where all the water lines are, work benches and commercial kitchen I've built in there. We have had 21 days of 100+ temps and with just the 3 ceiling fans going in there, the temps have stayed right around 80 to 85 degrees. But the humidity has been horrible, I know I'm getting some moisture up through my concrete floor. I just finished painting and sealing the floor in the honey room. Main shop will be later when I get my John Deere 4010 rebuilt, it's in a million pieces scattered in the shop right now:
I have quite a few sensor push devices scattered around the place. One outside, one in the living room, 3 in the deep freezes with alarms set, 1 under the house in the crawl space and 2 out in the shop (east end and west end). I've been fighting humidity issues here in the house as well due to fully closing in the crawl space that's now rocked in. I've been putting down a thick vapor barrier under there and have 80% of that done now with it taped on edges, that has helped. Plan on finishing that up hopefully in the next few weeks as I get time. I've bought a big dehumidifier for under the house with 50% as the set point and that's helped tremendously. I just got in the new foam tubes to redo the AC lines under the house and that will help a bit as well. Next step, I'll be spray foaming the rock inside as well under there to seal and insulate it. That should get the issue taken care of.
On the house front, I'm getting estimates on replacing all the windows in the house as most have lost the gas in them. Once I get the windows replaced, I'll be putting 1/4" double bubble on the outside and covering the outside of the house in Steel. That will seal the house up better and hopefully help with heating and cooling as well. Then I can get guttering backup on the house. Had to tear it down when I had the roof redone with steel a few years ago.
Hopefully I didn't ramble too much in this and make things too confusing. Tried to provide as much info without it being too confusing. Any help reviewing this phased approach would be helpful or just tell me I'm going about it all wrong....
