Whole house system??

[TanksHill]

Well I took the plunge. Today I had a rep from a solar company come to my house. He looked at my last year of bills, my roof angle, exposure and ran the numbers. What I am loooking for is a system that when financed will have the same cost as my current average electric bill. Well, because I have lower than average usage the inital payments would be a bit more than I wanted. But I would be able to produce all my own power in the peak months and sell enough back to the power co and collect enough credit to cover my winter cost. They never pay you for anything you don't use so the trick is only installing a system large enough to cover what you need. I would love to be off grid but that is not a good thing to do where I live and isn't economically feasible right now. The batterys only last 5 years and are wayyyy to expensive.

I need to think about this one... The reason I thought I would share this info was because of the rebates. As of right now the state of Ca has a rebate program that covers 20% of the cost. Until the end of the year the Federal gov will pay a flat 2000.00 but because of the 70 billion bailout. Next year they will cover 30% of the remaining system cost. Which makes the whole thing look way more attractive. Now I will need to cover that cost until I get my 09 tax refund and am reimbursed. But I think it makes for a very lucrative deal right now.

Just wanted to share.

 

[MorelCabin]

We have looked into solar very deeply and have decided against it. It is just too expensive...and you are not going to make much selling it back to the hydro company either. The hydro company is still going to charge you...for the privilage of having a meter on the house...and I can almost bet they will incorporate another service charge of some kind just because they can:>)
http://www.windsun.com/Photovolaic_Systems/Home_basics1.htm
Here's a site that has pretty good information both good and bad on the whole subject. You have to remember that any sales person is going to have a pitch for you...

 

[2dream]

That is a great site Morel.
We use solar panels and batteries on the products we sell at work and have discussed most of this in depth trying to figure out a reasonable way to make it work in our homes.
Due to the very facts they state - it is not cost efficent for any of us who live in older homes. To much cost to replace appliances plus it would take years to recover even a fraction of the initial outlay.
We are in the process of building a room that we plan to use as a small guest house if necessary and also for just in case we need to downsize in a big way. Fortunately most of the plumbing is already in place. Our plans are for gas and wood stoves with solar power for lights and hot water. It will be next year before we see any fruits of that particular plan and it may take longer. But for our existing older home, solar is way out of my price range.

 

[FarmerChick]

I saw a tv show that said if everyone just replaced their electric hot water with a solar hot water system....the savings is nice and the saving to power usuage is huge.

I saw a system and it is about 2-3 smaller panels on the roof....just for the hot water system...reasonable price and might be the way to go if a person can't handle the big system and price.

I to can not afford to go full solar. just ain't happening for me cause even if the cost and savings of usage is great, I am not willing to finance and possibly get caught in debt ever again...LOL..I can't swing it.

I have checked solar out alot. I will do what I can...LOL...cool to think about a whole house system. I wish.....

As much as I say no to this, I keep coming back to research more and more...LOL...but who knows, maybe some day for me!

thanks for the info on the rebates!

 

[TanksHill]

Thank you for the page referance it had great information. I to do not want to go into tremondous debt over a solar system. I discussed with my DH last night, and I think it's probably not right for us, right now. I do not want to pay more than my current elect bill. Even with both rebates and saving 50% of the cost my system is a HUGE chunk of money I would need to finance. See the kicker is that my husband has a couple of connections to this company. I did not tell the sales rep this but let him give his spiel.. Then when I showed my DH the breakdown he instantly new what they were marking up. Panels, electrical stuff etc.. He suggest I call the panel manufacturer direct and get a quote. I don't know it sounds like a ton of work and money for something that will not have a return for a very ong time. Who knows if I will even be in So Cal in ten years. I hope not. My it is a great resale factor.

 

[Homesteadmom]

You can get system that you start small with & add on to as you can afford to. It reduces the intial cost & starts saving you money within 1 yr they say. There is a system that costs about $1k that will supply a RV with all the power it needs from a company called Sierra Solar Systems. www.sierrasolar.com We are thinking about getting this system for our ttravel trailer to use on our property up north(no elec available) & do away with the noisy generator.

 

[FarmerChick]

HM
I saw those for the campers. Cool. If I go more camping where there isn't electrical, I will be getting one. right now not in the plans or the budget...LOL...budget is tight with tony on lay off right now...but I researched those and am interested.
smart for your other property!!!

 

[Homesteadmom]

Wow did not know about Tony being on a lay off, hope you will be okay. Although now is the time for him to get that "honey do" list done isn't it?

 

[FarmerChick]

oh yea HM usually the company does lay off like Dec 1--just a few weeks cause they "shut down" 2 weeks at Christmas. But it came early. The layoff started last week. UGH ...money is short definitely! Being very careful.

I can only pray that come January it is all back to normal and business as usual. I hope this doesn't go part Jan....I don't think so....but it is scary!

thank goodness for SS ways now right? well, you know!

remember he hasn't been feeling good and doing dr. stuff now..had a gallbladder ultrasound this morning....now he is at the cow auction with his Dad. they want to buy a new bull. they dont like the one they got a couple weeks ago. And Thurs he has another gallbladder test...something more involved but easy and then we get the results.....always something huh HM? LOL

all good though. I can't look to the bad, I gotta find the good and smile!

 

[Homesteadmom]

Thank goodness for SS ways. Pretty sure Don's job is safe & secure working for the prison & the other lady that can do his job, is always late & takes a lot of days off. So we think he would be kept & she would be let go. And we think the boss likes him better too. He is a lot more effecient & always getting awards so from that point of view he is a good cadidate to be kept on if the state had to cut back in the warehouse. Plus I think they would go to 4 days a week before they started letting people go in the warehouse. They were supposed to do this last summer but boss never put in the paperwork(darn him) they would work m-th, that way they would still get their mon holidays off. So they would only have 3 day work weeks those weeks.