Residential Solar Panels
- Thread starter VTXCyRyD
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I would look at a LP powered generator for your back up, are you planning on using LP for for anything else or were you planning on going all electric in the house.
i'm looking at getting some used solar panels and a battery pack.... running a window AC off solar only...
just had my first electric bill in Texas.... $290.. and our AC is set at 78
just had my first electric bill in Texas.... $290.. and our AC is set at 78
The snow will definitely slide off a little quicker so watch for the possible small avalanche at times unless you plan to use a snow broom to clean off. I do have a long reach snow broom and clean ours off enough they melt pretty quick once the sun hits them.
I use a roof rake that screws into a 28 foot paint pole. Works really well and keeps production going in the winter. Sunny days with snow on the ground is as good as some summer days with the light reflecting off the snow. You do have to be proactive and get the snow off before it thaws and freezes though as ice is basically impossible to get off panels without them heating up. Usually takes me about an hour to clean them, but it’s a nice excuse to get outside in the winter
https://www.roofrake.com/Productpages/snowpro2.asp
Yep. I got a telescoping pole one. Stand on our deck and can reach most of the panels. The suckiest weather is when it starts as rain or wet heavy snow and then turns cold as hell. **** just freezes on. Always kind of wished they could somehow make it so you could run a little heat/current through them to warm the panels just enough. A good sunny winter day is a great production day. They are more efficient in cold air. It is the shorter daylight hours that hurt in the winter and obviously cloudy days. Ours are on our south facing roof so directly in line with the winter sun.
Wow! Don't know the rules in your state and what your utility has to do for payback or net metering, etc. But the bill for my two story house was not that much per month in the summer with A/C set at 71.
ya well. Texas has its perks and its drawbacks. I'm just planning on doing an off grid system. no metering
Alliant is the best for payback. They used to do monthly net metering. I am on a cooperative and it’s 15 minute net metering. With Alliant, a battery would not be as useful. With a cooperative like mine, if the price would be about half its amount then it would start to make sense.
No. The electrical contractor is behind the installation by a few weeks. 1source does the panel installation and the programming. A subcontractor (I thought they were good) does the wiring for them. Then 1 source is supposed to follow up with the final programming and witness test after all the final approvals come through.
Bump. I have a guy coming out to my house on Monday to give me an estimate on installing solar panels on my house.
All you guys out there that have solar power, how is it working for you?? Have you saved much off your electric bill?? What questions do I need to ask. Thanks in advance.
Mike
All you guys out there that have solar power, how is it working for you?? Have you saved much off your electric bill?? What questions do I need to ask. Thanks in advance.
Mike
Had a few quotes in the past month. Honestly the payoff time was much shorter than I anticipated (around 7 years). Need to knock out a couple other projects then will prioritize this one.
ECG in Anamosa did mine and they are really good. Eagle point gave a good quote too, but Rabe was high and very slow responding.
Also, dont lease solar. Buy. Google for the many many reasons NOT to lease.
I just recently finished a self install of residential solar. Got a few quotes for contractor install but wasn’t pleased with the cost nor high pressure sales pitch from some of them.
Ended up finding a company that would quote me the design, engineering, and all materials (including some of the necessary tools) all for one cost. Got permits and interconnect agreement with utility and was able to install by myself in 36 hours. That’s 36 hours of labor spread over about 10 days as I had to work it in between things. Been producing electricity for about a week. Very satisfied with it.
Not a difficult project, but I must stress, you need to be confident in being on a roof and basic construction techniques. Also please be sure you are knowledgeable about electricity if you decide to try it. In reality if done correctly, there is very little exposure to any live electricity.
I got a larger system - maximized my roof space - and spent about half. Let me know if anyone has questions. I’ll do my best to answer.
Ended up finding a company that would quote me the design, engineering, and all materials (including some of the necessary tools) all for one cost. Got permits and interconnect agreement with utility and was able to install by myself in 36 hours. That’s 36 hours of labor spread over about 10 days as I had to work it in between things. Been producing electricity for about a week. Very satisfied with it.
Not a difficult project, but I must stress, you need to be confident in being on a roof and basic construction techniques. Also please be sure you are knowledgeable about electricity if you decide to try it. In reality if done correctly, there is very little exposure to any live electricity.
I got a larger system - maximized my roof space - and spent about half. Let me know if anyone has questions. I’ll do my best to answer.
I’ve had mine in for a month and have generated 1.25 MWh. We have used less than 1 MWh. So we are pleased. I can check every day how much we have generated. Finding out from midamerican how much we have drawn takes every billing cycle. Overall I think we will find ourselves very pleased with the project. Especially now that we have a 30% tax rebate on the project from our federal taxes.
Just got my solar turned on Tuesday and so far very happy. Most frustrating part was mid-american taking their sweet ass time doing their part.
Would also say stay away from leasing.
Biggest piece of advice I’d give is to stay away from the outfits that offer a loan with a payment equivalent to what your average electric bill is per month. I talked to one company offering that and pushed it real hard. When I let them know I had another company getting me bids then he let me know there was a “cash” option. Turns out the finance company doing the loan charged a 28% fee just to do the loan with them. I kicked their asses right out the door.
Went with 1SourceSolar and their bid was 60% of the financed bid thru my first company and $8000 cheaper than the “cash” bid. My experience with 1Source has been awesome the whole way thru.
Would also say stay away from leasing.
Biggest piece of advice I’d give is to stay away from the outfits that offer a loan with a payment equivalent to what your average electric bill is per month. I talked to one company offering that and pushed it real hard. When I let them know I had another company getting me bids then he let me know there was a “cash” option. Turns out the finance company doing the loan charged a 28% fee just to do the loan with them. I kicked their asses right out the door.
Went with 1SourceSolar and their bid was 60% of the financed bid thru my first company and $8000 cheaper than the “cash” bid. My experience with 1Source has been awesome the whole way thru.
