I have a generator at my house, along with a geo thermal heating g and cooling system. My neighbor out back of me put in a whole house solar and he says he's loving it. I guess the trick to making it work for you is to get an installer that will turn down the rate that the system charges back to the grid until the inspection, and then crank it up so you they owe you. I'm pretty sure is what he told me, that IO didn't understand fully I think.
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Solar power for home
- Thread starter Spas-12 Owner
- Start date
I have built and installed 30+ solar systems buses cabins and 2 1000+ SF houses. Very very rarely makes sense for a house over 1000SF with conventional HVAC and inverted power (Solar requires a radical shift in power consumption) real practical results with solar in a conventional house in a subtropical climate is pretty much fantasy right now
Ok- I understand the solar water heaters work very well with a relatively quick payback from initial expense.
Not that it is much, but it should reduce total energy required by the house assuming you use an electric water heater.
Good luck OP.
Not that it is much, but it should reduce total energy required by the house assuming you use an electric water heater.
Good luck OP.
I have a good friend that was working with Tesla to move a lot of their facilities "off the grid". He said this technology was scalable and what they were proposing (or something similar). Not sure how the cost is or if it even works.
Not the system we have, but the system, in retrospect, that would have probably worked better for us.
Generally utilities are the cheapest route. If I were you, I'd look at a LP or natural gas generator and maybe a small solar combo. But only if the dollars made sense. The portable gen I have would have worked my old house, never needed it. I bought some a/c window units to run if I had to use the gen. It's a 30AMP and won't run the A/C at our new to us home.
My first in encounter with solar power I ran into old gentleman he was also a builder
by trade in U P. This was back before Solar was a big deal. I forget how many solar panels had and he was using golf cart hooked up in line plus he had diesel generator for when their wasn’t he sunshine and in U P in winter can be a lot cloudy snowy days . He said off his system he would have power to run his lights tv frigdrater for 5 days without cranking up generator to recharge the batteries. He heated with wood &propane cooked on propane stove. He told he had replaced his solar panels once since had rigged this system this was back in early nineties. I have been thinking bout a genrace system for my house since I heat with propane.
In my judgement the best solar power system is to utilize a net meter - no batteries necessary. The net meter draws from the grid only when the demand exceeds the solar power capacity and when demand is less it supplies the grid with the excess. Unfortunately GA only has 5000 net meters with a long waiting list. Lobbyists have convinced the GA PSC that the strain net meters put on the grid exceeds the amount net meter users are paying for power.
I understand the Inflation Reduction Act allows a homeowner to write off 1/3rd of the cost of installing solar in 2023 and 2024 over the next 4 years on their taxes. That is a strong incentive.
I understand the Inflation Reduction Act allows a homeowner to write off 1/3rd of the cost of installing solar in 2023 and 2024 over the next 4 years on their taxes. That is a strong incentive.
