Solar power

[FraggleRock]

All of you guys make very good points! The tankless hwh needs a minimum of 2.5gph to make hot water. Im deciding very heavily on getting one. I moved over the winter into my new house and tore down my 125. The dumbest mistake I made was when I left my 6 stage RO system in the back of my truck and it froze, busting all 3 pre filters right off. So now, does anyone have a better way of storing or coming up w/a top off system than what I had? I just ran my Ro water in a 36 gal rubbermaid tub.

 

[FraggleRock]

Sorry that would be 2.5gpm!

 

[dnjan]

That is a huge flow to get the sensor to turn on. Look at a different brand.

 

[Paul B]

I have those solar panels ordered and I have the building permit. I will be installing them next month. The cost is about $20,000.00 but I get it all back except for $2,500.00.
It's all rebates and tax cuts.
Paul

 

[jezzeaepi]

I have those solar panels ordered and I have the building permit. I will be installing them next month. The cost is about $20,000.00 but I get it all back except for $2,500.00.
It's all rebates and tax cuts.
Paul

Thanks Paul, that helps a lot with the math. I was about to call BS on this guy claiming that he could save $50,000 worth of electricity over 6 years... Thats 700 a month for electricity.

 

[forsaken541]

Go to this site. There are around 50 tips to reduce everything but your fish tank energy usage.

www.carbonsubtraction.com

Erik

 

[Paul B]

Thanks Paul, that helps a lot with the math. I was about to call BS on this guy claiming that he could save $50,000 worth of electricity over 6 years... Thats 700 a month for electricity.

According to the Solar engineer for my home I will save $611.00 a year. The system pays for itself in 5 years and in 25 years I am supposed to save $29,160 in electricity costs.
I will let you know

 

[burning2nd]

im willing to bet... (my life on it) that you will make that money back shortly.. and then some,

 

[xfisher]

Elements

Good points there MC and Dnjan...

But in my thread here...
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34261

I too am using a front loading (very new) washer dryer... Sometimes it makes me wonder, is it really saving me energy or just water? If its water then its no use since water is cheap. I want to concentrate in energy.

See.. for 7 years I have lived in a 800 SF apartment. And my electric bills range from 75 to 120 dollars.

Now recently we purchased a 1000SF (1978) house. Still using the same space heaters, still using the same schedule when its on or off. But now using brand newwasher and dryer compared to the old top loading washer and dryer from the apartment. My bills are hovering 220 to 250 dollars.

OBTW, I noticed that my water heater has two heating element compared to one from my apartment... If that makes a difference.

So I too am very interested on how fraggle rock will solve his energy issues.

My next step is to do a full wash on washer and dryer using a "kill a watt" meter... on both top load and front load to actually see if theres a big difference or is it just a hype...

Just means you have a bigger tank to heat, the bottom element heats the bottom section then satifies then the top element energizes and heat the upper portion of the tank:shock:

 

[Paul B]

im willing to bet... (my life on it) that you will make that money back shortly.. and then some,
__________________

Even if I don't, the solar panels should add a substantial value to my house and make it far more marketable.

 

[twilliard]

Hey guys!
I just had to read this thread.
Good thread, keep it going but watch the facts RE power has a LOT of factors to look into.
grid-tie (wont sell a single kW back to the grid unless you are producing more than your house is using) - batteries and inverters (pure sine wave, modified sine wave, grid-tie inverters, charge controllers and dump loads)
The biggest killer for me was the batteries. $4000 for 2 used forlift batteries that will need 24 hours to recharge at 1kW due to RE sources not being consistant. So my tank would be on utility for 2 days.
Hey Paul how many watts are you getting for the 20K$?

The coral tank will be RE powered one day!

 

[dieden]

There is some amazing research happening with solar technology these days. I don't remember the company but I watched a presentation of a new product that is applied as a multilayer ink. It can be applied to plascics, glass and other hard smoothe surfaces. Some of the benefits is that it produces much more energy in a broader spectrum of light. This means even indirect light from cloudy days, or household lights, still produce respectable amounts of useable energy. The U.S military has looked into using this material for coverings of temporary structures such as field medical facilities. The solar ink is applied over a camo pattern and when viewed from the sky it looks normal, but in fact every square foot of roof is supplying much needed electricity. Hopefully this can make it out of the testing phase and into residentual use.

 

[dieden]

hey, got the company name.... innovalight

 

[Paul B]

Hey Paul how many watts are you getting for the 20K$?

It is actually $14,615 without the cost of the connections which I will do myself. The panels put out 2,816 watts. 176 watts for each panel

 

[Katchupoy]

Keep us updated Paul B. Show us some pics... Where did you ended up buying your panels from?

Here is my little steps toward RE...


a 45 watts panel from Harbor Freight....

and my Lenz2 VAWT at the back....
Here is the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj2c4NreTSY




.

 

[Paul B]

This week I installed Solar Electricity on my roof. I just completed half of the installation and turned it on 5 hours ago. My system
(when I complete it in a few days) should generate 4,000 watts when the sun is shining.
Right now with only half the panels installed and the sun not too bright It is producing 800 watts.
Soon I can run my tanks for free and sell power to the utility and maybe make some money back.
I originally ordered 16 panels but I decided I could fit 22 panels so I ordered 6 more.
My rebate went up also.
In NY we charge about $8.00 a watt to buy and install the system.
Paul

 

[Scooterman]

Paul are you going to used battery banks to store un-used power or just spin the meter back?
I like it, we should all have solar panels on our homes. Solar Tubes also & wind generators.

 

[Paul B]

The power company is going to change my meter for one that goes in reverse. Instead of storing the power, my bill goes down. Right now with only half the system installed it is producing over 1,500 watts. My Power Cost meter tells me that power is costing me 3 cents an hour. It usually costs me 17 cents an hour.
So far it seems to be working and Idon't see any smoke,
Paul

 

[Scooterman]

At the rate of increased electrical cost, these will be more & more practical, If the rate continues to go up, you'll get your money back in no time.

No smoke is good smoke! Really, these are simple to install, I'd be more concerned to make sure you don't accidentally make a hole that would leak water rather than burn something up.
I read where there is a new type of solar panel that uses the Full Spectrum of light over what is used now, can you imagine the same solar cells producing 5 or 6 times the power?

Think about this, add a batter bank for at night or no sun & once the batteries are fully charged you still can turn your meter back! As much power you'll have I see it as another way to save but the batteries are expensive & take up lots of room.

 

[twilliard]

Right on Paul
Its great to see people freeing themselves from the grid. Solar is a huge investment but well worth it in the end.
Did you have any problems with county codes?