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Anyone using solar power? Anyone thinking about it?

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  1. I buy what's cheaper. Electric is NOT!
BTW, I can drive my car for a year on just what it costs to replace the timing belt in your econobox!
 
Originally posted by: Ornery
AFAIK, gas is a LOT cheaper than electric. My house is converted as totally to gas as I can get.

Tankless heaters cost a lot, like $1,500, and have limited capacity. They can only heat so much water at a time. If somebody tries to wash clothes, while you're in the shower, the flow would drop to a trickle. Not sure solar would fair much better.
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With the solar power, a tank is used that is similar to the hot water heater tank, but larger. So taking a shower and washing clothes etc shouldn't likely be a problem. We don't often have those types of conflicts anyway.
 
..give it a shot. Get a good proven system. Don't buy an untested kludge that might be a maintaince headache and doesn't work.
 
the number doesnt sound too realistic, for that price you could probably buy a large array of photovoltaic cells.

what kind of parts are you paying for?
 
You should check out if the company offers services to lower electricty bills.

I know they came over switched all the bulbs to those $18 ones :Q
and I think slowered the electricity
 
In response to the bit of sense that last post made, he did come out and speak to me about cleaning my A/C, about tinting windows, about my insulation, etc.
 
Originally posted by: MS Dawn
Originally posted by: Howard

There's a lot more than 2 cups of water in 100 feet of 5/8" hose (ID or OD, doesn't matter).
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Well I can honestly say two because I've never made more than that. 😛

And hose is always measured in I.D. Unless you're into doing kinky things with it. Kinky hose hehe. :laugh:
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bwahahaha.....

😛
 
Originally posted by: intogamer
You should check out if the company offers services to lower electricty bills.

I know they came over switched all the bulbs to those $18 ones :Q
and I think slowered the electricity
Click to expand...

OMG it Slowered the Electricity!!!1!11one!
 
Speaking of that, I picked up three 90w equivalent floodlight-style bulbs for the inset items in my kitchen, and sometimes I will turn them on and they won't be bright. I'll have to turn them off then on a couple of times before they will fully fire up. WTF? This is why I don't use them everywhere.
 
Originally posted by: homestarmy
Speaking of that, I picked up three 90w equivalent floodlight-style bulbs for the inset items in my kitchen, and sometimes I will turn them on and they won't be bright. I'll have to turn them off then on a couple of times before they will fully fire up. WTF? This is why I don't use them everywhere.
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The only time I ever have that issue is with my 150w equivalent in my garage. Cold temperatures tend to make them light up in stages.
 
Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Originally posted by: homestarmy
Speaking of that, I picked up three 90w equivalent floodlight-style bulbs for the inset items in my kitchen, and sometimes I will turn them on and they won't be bright. I'll have to turn them off then on a couple of times before they will fully fire up. WTF? This is why I don't use them everywhere.
Click to expand...

The only time I ever have that issue is with my 150w equivalent in my garage. Cold temperatures tend to make them light up in stages.
Click to expand...

Well these are three 90w equivalents that all light up at once. And I'm in FL, so cold shouldn't really be an issue.

 
Originally posted by: homestarmy
Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
How hot does the water get, and does it stay hot through overcast days?
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I was hoping someone here who already has it could answer that.
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There's still a single (versus double in regular electric) heating element in a solar tank, which serves the purpose of making sure the water temp is what you want it to be. Most keep it at 120 degrees or so, for which your panels should be able to heat the water up fully on clear days without problems (if it doesn't then your installer has mismatched your panel size). On cloudy days you wont get at max, obviously, but the solar system still warms the water up to maybe 100-110 degrees. That's when your electric coil kicks in to boost up 10-20 degrees. So it does still eat electric, but you're taking it from 100-110 degrees instead of 65 degrees or whatever you inlet temp is. Even on the most storming days I usually get water temperature solely from the panels about 90 degrees.

Clear summer days makes the tank effortlessly hot. I'm talking averages exceed 150 degrees, peaking up to 160 degrees.
 
This sounds like a bad deal to me.

First of all, I find it hard to believe that your hot water heater is using $55 a month of electricity. I'm not saying it's impossible, but that seems a little high to me, especially for 2 people in the house - you probably don't use THAT much water. And however much electricity it is using - you can probably save 20% by simply turning the thermostat down on the heater you have now.

Second, $4500 for a solar hot water heater sounds like a ridiculous waste of money.

The panels themselves may be good for 180 mph winds (yeah, right) but your roof is not. Nor are they impervious to flying tree branches (which will go right through a sheet of plywood). Also, how long do you think it will last? 5 years? 10 years? And then what is the cost to replace?

A much more economical route would be to get a tankless hot water heater. A decent unit with professional installation should cost under $1000. This uses ZERO energy to maintain water temperature, and only turns on when you start using it. They are remarkably effective in Florida because the ground water isn't very cold to begin with.

I don't think you are going to see tremendous savings, but if you honestly think you are wasting that much money by simply having a tank of hot water lying around, then the tankless heater isn't a bad choice. However I would encourage you to do some more research on what it's really costing to keep that hot water heater around...

In my opinion you could probably find better ways to save electricity for a lot less $. (like using compact fluorescents instead of indandescents.. your kitchen light problem is because you got bad CFs, go to home depot and buy their cheap contractor pack of CF (consumer electric brand?) bulbs - it is like like $15 for nine 60-75w equiv bulbs, they work great and light up instantly. color temp is a little off but very livable)
 
Originally posted by: MS Dawn
In the Caribbean you can lay out 100 feet of black 5/8" rubber hose full of water for an hour in the sun and have enough hot water to make two cups of instant coffee.
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haha. you're better off using empty coke bottles or spring water bottles, fill them with water and leaving them outside all afternoon.
 
I'd say that guy is full of sh!t.

Lets see what the US Department of Energy states:
[*]Average house uses $1500 of electricty per year.
[*]Average house uses 14% of that energy to water heating.
[*]$1500/yr * 14% = $210/yr = $17.50/mo.

Basically, that guy overpredicted the cost of the water heater by three times!

Of course, you may not be an average house. You may use more or less hot water than the average 4 person family. Since there are just two of you, would you wager that you use less?

Even if we pretend you could get that $4200 interest free, it'll take 20 years to break even at a $17.50/month savings. Of course, with solar power, you won't save that full $17.50 since it does use some electricity. And you have interest to pay on that loan. And you probably aren't at that $17.50/month level anyways with just 2 people. If instead you saved $10/month, it'll take you 35 years to break even.

I say there are better investments to make with your money. Heck, even if you just replace your old water heater with a fuel efficient heater for a few hundred dollars, you'd break even in a fraction of the time without having an ugly solar panel degrading your house value.

Solar technology would be great, if only the price was 1/4th of the price it is now.
 
I'm thinking about doing this sooner rather than later. First of all, if you stay at your house longer, you'll reap the savings especially given rising energy costs. Second of all, you'll make your money back when you sell your house and potential buyers discover that their energy bills will be significantly lower.

And, lastly, there are state and federal rebates right now and they stack.
 
Originally posted by: vegetation
Originally posted by: homestarmy
Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
How hot does the water get, and does it stay hot through overcast days?
Click to expand...

I was hoping someone here who already has it could answer that.
Click to expand...

There's still a single (versus double in regular electric) heating element in a solar tank, which serves the purpose of making sure the water temp is what you want it to be. Most keep it at 120 degrees or so, for which your panels should be able to heat the water up fully on clear days without problems (if it doesn't then your installer has mismatched your panel size). On cloudy days you wont get at max, obviously, but the solar system still warms the water up to maybe 100-110 degrees. That's when your electric coil kicks in to boost up 10-20 degrees. So it does still eat electric, but you're taking it from 100-110 degrees instead of 65 degrees or whatever you inlet temp is. Even on the most storming days I usually get water temperature solely from the panels about 90 degrees.

Clear summer days makes the tank effortlessly hot. I'm talking averages exceed 150 degrees, peaking up to 160 degrees.
Click to expand...

So it sounds like you have it? How much did it cost you?
 
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