$6000 off grid whole house Solar System

rhoda_bruce

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I bought a book...one of those Dummies books, explaining the general principles and several solar projects to do with solar power. To tell the truth, I don't get it. I think I should read it again, cover to cover, because I just don't understand the math involved from watts to KW's to amps....whatever. I need to break it down to a very elementary level, more so than the man above even explained.
I would gladly pay 6,000 to go off grid, if I could just understand how to set it up and care for it afterwards. Our power company has something called rate adjustments, which incude any overall expenses, not explained by just tallying up our fuel useage and its unbelieveable sometimes. It would be awesome if I could figure a way around the grid.
I think I should do away with as much electrical appliances as I can and go gas, before taking the plunge though.
 

Denim Deb

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I'd love to go off the grid as well. My problem is hubby. And I also hear ya on understanding the stuff. I've tried to read up on it, but even the "simple" stuff makes my eyes glaze over.

I'm not sure that I want to get rid of my electrical appliances. But then again, I'm fairly frugal when it comes to using my electric. Last month, we had just over 700 KW hours that we used. And some of that was for heat. If I could figure out a system that would produce an average of 1000 KW hours/month, I'd really be tempted.
 

rhoda_bruce

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I really believe what the origional poster put is accurate....give or take a thousand, one way or the other. The cost of solar, is probably mostly going to the contractors that install. If we'd just understand the concepts and math, we'd be better off. If we call a contractor to take advantage of the tax credits,we'd still end up paying 6,000 or more, after all the benefits are applied, but we'd be trapped on the grid, by law. They want us to get solar, but have us give power back into the grid.
If I have my choice, I'd pay the 6 and be on my own. At least from the electric company. I'm a little less intimidated with the thought of going off grid with gas and water....I much more understand the instructions to make a methane digester and water....hello..really not a problem there.
 

CrealCritter

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I've researched solar, it's been about 6 years ago though. I came to the conclusion that it was not worth it by a long stretch. Mainly you have to have a battery bank big enough to supply your daily x 365 (24 hour) needs plus 20%. Batteries degrade quickly and will need to be replaced at least once every 5 years. (huge expense) the "solar" part of a solar system is nothing more than a battery bank charger. Then you have to invert Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current (AC) because batteries and solar panels produce DC but just about everything in your home runs off of AC atleast if it plugged in to the wall it does. Nothing in the electrical world is 100% so you loose "power or wattage" in the form of heat" when you convert DC to AC. It's called ohm's law and there is no getting around it.

OK so let's say you dropped a big stack of cash and got everything sized correctly. What happens when the sun doesn't shine fully for days or weeks like in the winter here in the Midwest? Sorry honey there's no power left in the battery bank, here's a battery powered flashlight. So you'll need a generator (or some other means) to recharge the battery bank when the sun doesn't shine enough. Remember batteries degrade over time so every day you use them they become less efficient.

I am an electronics engineer that's my degree from college, although I haven't used it in decades. I'm not saying solar can't be done with a big stack of Benjamin's you can do most anything. But what I am saying (for me) being on the grid is much more simple and cheaper. You get a bill every month and you pay it. You flip the light switch and the light comes on. You have a problem, call the electric company and they come out and fix it. Easy... Solar with a backup not so much...Trust me when I say if solar "where all that" every house and business would have it. But it's not all that, at least when I looked into it about 6 years ago. The battery technology is just not there yet... I give it 10 to 20 mores years and it might become practical for the masses but it's just not there yet.
 
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Britesea

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Everything I've read about solar, it doesn't seem to be worth the expense. And if the stuff hits the fan, as @CrealCritter says, you've got about 5 years before they give up. It costs a lot environmentally to make the parts too.
I'd rather enjoy the grid as long as it works, with non-electric backups. If my grandparents could live in a non-electric world, so can I.
 

Mini Horses

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Hmmmmmmmm….whole thing is byond my true understanding. But, I'd sure like the sun to provide the electric fo me! LOL
 

CrealCritter

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Everything I've read about solar, it doesn't seem to be worth the expense. And if the stuff hits the fan, as @CrealCritter says, you've got about 5 years before they give up. It costs a lot environmentally to make the parts too.
I'd rather enjoy the grid as long as it works, with non-electric backups. If my grandparents could live in a non-electric world, so can I.

One thing my research taught >me< was that if you want to go solar its all about conservation. The "watt" becomes very important. Let me give you a simple example. Let's say you have those old incandescent light bulbs in your house. And let's say this one bulb is 60 watts. So using ohms law at 120 volts AC the moment you flip the switch to turn on the light bulb your consuming 1/2 amp. If you leave it on for 1 hour (60 minutes) your consuming 1/2 amp hour, 2 hours 1 amp hours, etc... That's just for one measly 60 watt light bulb. Now take into consideration that if you replaced that 60 watt incandescent with an equivalent LED bulb that consumes 5 watts for the same amount of light that you would get from a 60 watt incandescent. Using ohms law for every hour you leave that LED light bulb on you consume .04 amps, so basicly give or take you could leave that LED light bulb on for around 12 hours to consume the same amount of amp hours that you would have used by just leaving that 60 watt incandescent on for 1 hour. Kind of makes you think hu?

Link to ohms law calculator ---> http://www.ohmslawcalculator.com/ohms-law-calculator

When LEDs bulbs first came out they were expensive, but now they are cheap. Dollar general has them for a dollar. A few years ago I changed out all of our old incandescent bulbs and those stupid CFLs for LEDs from dollar general. My wife actually thought the electric company made a mistake on the next months electric bill. Nope... It was just your husband trying to save some money.

With a solar system you would always be looking for ways to conserve wattage. About year 3 you would be concerned, about year 4 you would be desperate and come year 5 you would be kicking you own ass wondering how in the world I'm going to come up with a big stack of Benjamin's for a new battery bank. And I didn't even mention degradation of the solar panels themselves, they also degrade (become less efficient) as time moves on. Besides who is gonna get up on the roof and clean those panels at least once a week? You know a dirty panel is way less efficient than a dirty one.
 
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flowerbug

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the best thing to do currently is to encourage your utility to invest in larger scale projects like wind, solar and battery storage or other forms of energy storage systems (pumped air, molten salt, large battery banks, etc.). these are much more practical and can be done by them for not much $ in comparison to what you would pay yourself for similar. plus they can take advantage of the changing technology and improvements each year as they happen for new projects while you are stuck with sunken costs in your own system.

to me having clean energy generation is more important than a personal solar supply. as long as i have a source of heat in the winter i don't need much electricity every day if there is a storm so having a backup generator is an unneeded expense. yes, it would be nice to have a generator, but it's not worth that $ to me to have it as we don't have power outages much any more.

like has been said, replacing power hog devices with more efficient ones is a good way to help things out too. LED lighting, replacing old computers with newer more efficient ones, replacing an old refridgerator with a newer one (the power company here gave us a $50 rebate for doing it too), better insulation, caulking up and foam sealing cracks if you can, keeping the thermostat turned down or using zone heating, wearing a few more clothes, using fans instead of AC, furnace replacement, thermal mass, better sun shading on the windows, better windows, ... there's a lot of things that can be done to help decrease energy usage.

for one i sure don't need a huge house (even if the space is nice i don't really need it to be happy - i'll work around less space as it means i don't have as high of taxes and i don't have as high expenses). etc...
 
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