maize Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 Any experiences welcome. I would also love it if someone could direct me towards a resource that would explain different system components etc. I don't know how to even compare bids if I don't understand what exactly I am getting bids for. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 (edited) DH just installed 4 solar panels on a hinge system attached to the side of our house, coupled with a little wind generator. I will ask him to give me a rundown of what he bought, where he bought it and how he installed them. Currently those 4 panels are hooked up to a battery system and quite a few lights, plugs and even our refrigerator are now running on that system. Not the AC, though. Edited September 18, 2017 by OneStepAtATime 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 My best advice (lived in off grid home for 12 years) is--- If you live where it snows, do NOT put them on your roof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 Whatever you decide to do, keep in mind that roof obstruction can be an issue in the case of a house fire. In my mind, that isn't a giant problem. I know that if my house catches, the entire thing is going up no matter what. But it's an issue my firefighting family keeps talking about from the perspective of people taught to cut holes in roofs. I still want solar shingles. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 A friend of mine in Florida put in rooftop solar. She ended up having to replace it with a tin roof. I think it didn't last that year Charlie and all the other hurricanes went through and it was more trouble than it was worth. So I think it depends on where you live and what kind of weather you get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne in ABQ Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 (edited) We put up 14 panels in February. We live in a very sunny place though -- we get about 350 sunny days a year. It seldom snows, and when it does, the snow melts off the roof within a couple days. We had a couple snowy days last year, and the snow melted off the panels even faster than the roof. We have a pitched metal roof that faces directly south, so it's ideally situated for solar. Under normal loads, over the summer, we typically produce more electricity than we use, so our electric company "banks" those kWh's for the future, when shorter days and occasional clouds and snow prevent us from producing electric. Edited September 18, 2017 by Suzanne in ABQ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okra Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 My best advice (lived in off grid home for 12 years) is--- If you live where it snows, do NOT put them on your roof. Can you elaborate on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted September 18, 2017 Author Share Posted September 18, 2017 If you have solar panels and your power goes out like it did for hurricane Irma, do you still have electricity? Sorry, if that's a stupid question. I know nothing about this, but after three days without power, I'm thinking about other options... I think this depends on how your system is set up. Hopefully others who know more will chime in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 Call your local fire department and ask their advice, too. I read awhile back that some FDs are not willing to go into burning houses that have panels on the roof; the extra weight causes earlier collapse, endangering the lives of people inside. I don't know what our town's rule is on this, but I have noticed more people setting up the panels along fence lines, at ground level. My dh also looked at using our pool as a heat repository don't ask me my eyes glazed over about halfway through the description but it is another way of using solar alongside a place to "reserve" the heat. Given that we live in the Seattle area, I think there is something interesting here, that apparently you don't need to have sun sun sun to gain a benefit from the panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 We live off grid and get most of our power from solar. Dh installed it, it hasn't skipped a beat in 2 years (we only have 4 panels but supplement with a generator) The batteries are more important than the panels. It's not just about generating energy, it's storing it for when you need it. We aren't connected to the power grid at all so we have power as long as there's daylight. If your generated energy is fed back into the power grid then you might need to ask how to flip it to feed only directly to the house in an emergency. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 If you have solar panels and your power goes out like it did for hurricane Irma, do you still have electricity? Sorry, if that's a stupid question. I know nothing about this, but after three days without power, I'm thinking about other options... Only if you go completely off grid. You can have solar panels but still be connected to the grid and your power will go out like everyone else's. If you want power to stay on no matter what you need to set up a battery system which is significantly more expensive and means you need to generate enough to cover all your usage. However with the battery system you won't have a power bill at all whereas with a system connected to the grid it depends what kind of feed in rate you get. Another option for backup power though less green is a diesel generator. These have dropped a lot in price and are quite affordable now. They are also reasonably cheap and efficient to run. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 Any experiences welcome. I would also love it if someone could direct me towards a resource that would explain different system components etc. I don't know how to even compare bids if I don't understand what exactly I am getting bids for. DH did ours so I don't know all about it. However I know that with a 5kw system most people are topping up power whereas a 10kw system generates enough for an average family (depending on your heating and cooling requirements). Some panels generate better than others on cloudy days. Most panels do best on a moderate sunny day as they become less efficient as it gets hotter. Feed in tariffs vary a lot of you are still on the grid so do your cost estimates carefully. Adding a battery is quite a lot dearer but makes you totally independent. You can now get smart systems that will tell your hot water heater to start beating whenever you are generating more than you use rather than feeding into the grid which can help if you don't get a good deal from your power company. (For is we pay for power at 35c and only get paid for what we generate at 7c so making sure our power usage lines up with our generation makes a huge difference). We used a company called Canadian Solar I think and they were good and professional. The panels need to be cleaned occasionally to maintain peak performance. If you go for battery option you may need to think about location and long term disposal when it's life span is up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 (edited) Can you elaborate on this?Sure. If you put your panels on the roof, they get covered in several feet of snow that may not melt off for weeks, leaving you in the dark.(We shoveled ours with a roof rake which meant hanging out a skylight, shoveling with one hand). The roof was very steep, but still snow built up, we get a lot) I'd recommend Put them on supports built on the ground, so they can be cleared easily. We were completely off grid at the time & would need to run everything or charge our batteries with the generator when not enough sun. Edited September 19, 2017 by Hilltopmom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 There are Solar Panels on the roof of the office of our HOA. I think 4 but possibly 8, if there are some on the other side that I cannot see. I think they can power most of what the office consumes in electricity. They feed a bunch of batteries and I think can power the office for hours, if the power company service is interrupted. Our neighbor for a cell provider was the designer of that. He's an E.E. That was some years ago and technology changes very rapidly. In some places, possibly where we live in Colombia too, you can sell back excess electricity to the power company. NOTE: We live in a Tropical Valley so there is a lot of sun and I think even on cloudy days the Solar Panels work. As someone pointed out, if you live where there is Snow or Ice, this might not be a good thing to contemplate. OT: Late dear friend and his wife had some kind of Solar Water Heating system on the roof of their house in TX. It did a lot of damage to their house. They had that repaired and shortly after, a house fire. I would NOT recommend Solar Water Heating, but for generation of electricity, if you do not have snow or ice, take a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 we have panels on our roof. we produce more than we use, and so we get a cheque in the mail instead of bills, which is nice. We live in a sunny country and it never snows here. We wash the panels once a year to remove dust to make them more efficient. As we are connected to the grid, when the power goes off then our inverter shuts down. this is a safety feature as it would not be good for the linesmen to be working on what they think are dead wires only to have people feeding electricity into them with their solar panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotherGoose Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 We had a guy come out and talk to us about it. For us, (southeast us with lots of sun) the deciding factors against it were that a). Our particular electric company wouldn't buy the extra electricity generated and b.) the technology didn't exist for us to affordable have battery storage for power. So when the main power went out, so did ours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 We had a guy come out and talk to us about it. For us, (southeast us with lots of sun) the deciding factors against it were that a). Our particular electric company wouldn't buy the extra electricity generated and b.) the technology didn't exist for us to affordable have battery storage for power. So when the main power went out, so did ours. Our utility company is moving away from net metering. If you buy before mid November you get grandfathered in, which is why we are investigating solar at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted October 2, 2017 Author Share Posted October 2, 2017 I'm still trying to make up my mind on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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