In the beginnings of looking into panels for the house, and a whole setup. It looks like by some calculators that the return would be 7-10 years depending on usage and current rates. Considering usage typically doesn't go down, and rates don't either, it could be sooner.
Right now I have heat pump heat, and oil backup. I assume both of these would still function, but was also reading about ditching the oil backup in favor of electric units. Seems like the total systems wattage would need to be adjusted to account for that though. Right now I go through about $500-$650 a year for the cold weather oil heat.
For those that have made the leap, what downsides have you noticed? If you were to go through the process again, what would you do differently?
Has anyone here gone full solar?
- Thread starter HemiHawk
- Start date
- Status
If you are going off grid you would want to keep the oil or some other backup heating system. Enough solar panels and batteries even to run a heat pump seems like it would expensive in your climate, and winter cloud cover. You don't want all your heating to rely on the sun to be shining even for 1 day out of 4 in winter.
We thought quite hard about going off grid at our place, built in 2004, but it was just to expensive. We still have a propane tank and run a gas stove, and a gas hot water tank for heating,hot water, and would have bought a gas dryer. Running a large freezer though was going to cost like $4k more and getting power to our house went down to $11k, as Hydro1 decided to put in two poles for free on our road, so we went with the grid.
We also had second thoughts on solar after visiting a fellow who had a relatively huge budget for off grid electricity and still was running a generator quite often...
That was 14 years ago though, and prices and technology have changed for the better, so go find someone local who's doing it and talk to them.
If your house runs pretty well passively, with little energy needed you have a chance. If you need to have a forced air fan blowing most of the time or have a sump pump that can run for days at a time in the spring, or after heavy rain. Even a house full of ac-dc power supplies and electronics plugged in 24/7 will cost real money in sizing the system.
Most of the time when the solar is producing, people aren't home to use it, so it goes to the grid.
Then you draw on the grid when everyone gets home from work.
If you want to be "full" solar, you need batteries...and double your payback.
My employer does a system called "redback", which can schedule things like HVAC, washing machine and drier to run while you aren't home. Can be coupled with batteries and time of use meters to reduce daily costs.
I think it's about 3.5Kw panels, 3.5KW batteries and the smarts for $10k Oz.
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Most of the time when the solar is producing, people aren't home to use it, so it goes to the grid.
Then you draw on the grid when everyone gets home from work.
If you want to be "full" solar, you need batteries...and double your payback.
My employer does a system called "redback", which can schedule things like HVAC, washing machine and drier to run while you aren't home. Can be coupled with batteries and time of use meters to reduce daily costs.
I think it's about 3.5Kw panels, 3.5KW batteries and the smarts for $10k Oz.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Are you going to be doing net metering or is solar subsidized in your area?
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
Having moved to Az from Pa and familiar with how many winter days are overcast it would seem you'd need a lot of panels to be net zero energy through the the dark months.
Adequately sizing the system is important. I suspect most solar contractors and companies assume an optimistic weather profile in their calculations. We installed a max-allowable system here 3 years ago, with satisfactory results, so far. The first year was great, and there was only one month our previously banked kilowatts did not cover, resulting in a small shortfall. IOW, I was only out of pocket for about $50 worth of electricity for the entire year. But the weather was pretty great here all that year, too. Last year was on average, about 20% cloudier overall and it directly translated to electric bills in Jan, Feb and March (the short daylight months).
PA is going be a hit on the weather factor. Go big or stay home.
Originally Posted By: HemiHawk
I was looking into battery solutions (like tesla powerwall), but mostly for low energy appliances in the evening.
Those ROI calculators have the recent adminstration's tariffs in them?
If I were to do off grid solar with battery for evening use in cold climate, I'd still not take out oil / propane based heating for electric. That's suicidal.
I'd definitely buy a laundry dryer that has a timer and run them during day time on low heat, maybe also a freezer in the garage with a big ice pack, and only run it during day light hours. Those 2 would be the low hanging fruits to reduce battery need.
Last edited:
Most people who install solar panels stay on the grid and use it to cover electricity but heat with oil or gas.
If your going to try and use it to heat also with a heat pump it should be a new very efficient one with booster coils. You need to stay on the grid. The booster coils will take enough power there is no way you could power them off grid.
I have a great roof for solar... and great light exposure.
Unfortunately, in MN, there's no WAY I could ever go off the grid completely. Just too darn cold. Good thing natural gas is still cheap...
However, I could see myself producing enough electricity in a month to cover what I use. I'm almost never here, nor is anyone else, and when I am I use relatively low-energy devices. TV, almost all LED lighting, phone charger, etc. My monthly electric bill is somewhere between $40-$75, and with my perfect sun I could probably start selling electricity back to the power company immediately.
Took a one week solar course at the local college. The prof said, if you are on the grid, stay on it and just net meter. Our power is cheap (8 cents U.S. per kWH), so it takes a long time to pay out the system. 10 to 25 years depending if you do it yourself or pay someone who is doing it for a living.
For off grid, you get a generator, large propane tank, panels, inverter, etc and a battery bank large enough for 3 days of cloudy skies. If it’s cloudy for more than 3 days the generator charges up the battery bank and you coast for another 3 days. Repeat as neccesary. The house heat in the winter is a propane furnace or boiler, passive heat and a wood stove. Also propane stove but electric fridge.
Last edited:
There are statements here that are [censored] if you think about it. They are not from the mindset of someone whos offthegrid first, but someone who's lookong to just seamlessly keep their same full consumer lifestyle.
If you're going off the grid and solar you start thinking about every watt. For example, you don't run the dryer midday to save energy, what you do is not run the dryer at all and just line dry or air dry everything.
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Home-Kitchen-Clothes-Drying-Racks/zgbs/home-garden/695488011
you dont watch tv at night you read a book or go to sleep.
Put yourself into the mindset of no electricity like you are camping or maybe RV camping with a generator as the baseline, and the solar just gives you back the ammenities you feel are most important. E.g. internet.
If you cant do that, put yourself in the mindset of a second or third world country where you have no electricy. do you think they have dryers or huge freezers? You will need to change your lifestyle to be more simple.
There also exist propane fridges and feeezers, they are not too efficient but the waste heat goes to your house so its not completely wasted. Downsize of course
Last edited:
Although freezers are great to stock up on sale priced items, I’ve found mine becomes a time capsule and the stuff in the bottom becomes 5 plus years old. Living without a freezer (having just the fridge freezer) would be an example of the mindset described by Ratseng in the post above.
SF
Originally Posted By: Snagglefoot
Although freezers are great to stock up on sale priced items, I’ve found mine becomes a time capsule and the stuff in the bottom becomes 5 plus years old. Living without a freezer (having just the fridge freezer) would be an example of the mindset described by Ratseng in the post above.
SF
Originally Posted By: raytseng
There are statements here that are [censored] if you think about it. They are not from the mindset of someone whos offthegrid first, but someone who's lookong to just seamlessly keep their same full consumer lifestyle.
If you're going off the grid and solar you start thinking about every watt. For example, you don't run the dryer midday to save energy, what you do is not run the dryer at all and just line dry or air dry everything.
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Home-Kitchen-Clothes-Drying-Racks/zgbs/home-garden/695488011
you dont watch tv at night you read a book or go to sleep.
Put yourself into the mindset of no electricity like you are camping or maybe RV camping with a generator as the baseline, and the solar just gives you back the ammenities you feel are most important. E.g. internet.
If you cant do that, put yourself in the mindset of a second or third world country where you have no electricy. do you think they have dryers or huge freezers? You will need to change your lifestyle to be more simple.
There also exist propane fridges and feeezers, they are not too efficient but the waste heat goes to your house so its not completely wasted. Downsize of course
The common method of solar panels in the USA is very, very simple and one that needs no further thought for the average consumer.
You have a company install the panels, you get your tax credits and all is good.
That simple, no batteries required, no maintenance required and you always have full power.
When the sun is out your solar panels are generating more power then your house can use and your electric meter goes in reverse and your power company pays you for the power as the excess power is sold back to your electric company.
When the sun is not out, the electric meter goes forward and you pay for your power.
Net result in an ideal world is zero cost for electricity from your power company and also possible that you might actually get paid for your electric because you produced more power during any given month then you used, its also possible you pay for your power but will be much less then without panels.
You do not change your heating or AC system just because you went solar.
Dont over think it, its really as simple as I just typed it.
Very simple.
Options and variations are simply location and position of your home in relation to the sun.
Last edited:
Thanks for all of the advice everyone. I think the first place to start will be to sit down with some local installers and really see what they can do, and for how much. I'm kind of looking at this for a couple reasons. The main motivating factor will be to save (eventually) money. I realize there is a good chunk of money up front, but that it will hopefully pay off in a shortish amount of time <10 years.
The second reason is being able to have power in the event of outages. Of course I have a gas generator, but it sure would be nice to run some things for free during daylight hours. Where I am I get outages fairly often, but none that last more than a couple days. I've looked into instant on type generators, but it seems putting that money into a solar setup would be nearly as effective and have more daily benefits.
It also sounds like I jumped the gun on the heating/cooling. Sounds like that will still require power-grid energy, as well as probably oil heat. Not a big issue.
sounds like this just about sums it up!
Originally Posted By: alarmguy
The common method of solar panels in the USA is very, very simple and one that needs no further thought for the average consumer.
You have a company install the panels, you get your tax credits and all is good.
That simple, no batteries required, no maintenance required and you always have full power.
When the sun is out your solar panels are generating more power then your house can use and your electric meter goes in reverse (as well as your electric bill), the excess power is sold back to your electric company.
When the sun is not out, the electric meter goes forward (and you pay for your electric) and you get your electric from your electric company.
You do not change your heating or AC system just because you went solar.
Dont over think it, its really as simple as I just typed it.
Very simple.
Options and variations are simply location and position of your home in relation to the sun.
- Status
