My solar is working for me

[orezok]

Directly under guest bedroom...

I have a hot water circulation pump that is off now because when the house is quiet the pump can be heard.

Might put it on a timer if need be.

Actually have two identical gas water heaters side by side... one domestic and one radiant for shop floor but NEVER need it and the owner builder used it once and never needed it... in retrospect radiant would have had more application upstairs in the living and dining areas...

I have hot water circulating pump and put it on a smart switch. I turn it on and off with my phone or put it on a permanent program.

KASA

 

[ponytug]

I have a circulation pump as well, and yes you can hear it throughout the house. I put it on two timers; one turns it on and off every fifteen minutes, the other turns the pump on only during hours that we would use hot water. The first cuts the power use by a third, and the second one by half, and we still get hot water to distant faucets reliably.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ultrarunner]

With the low flow shower head using the shower first thing in the morning takes forever for hot water yet the water going down the drain isn't very much.

I only turn it on if I have company...

Heater is situated so no damage if it lets go...

Mom's water heater I out in back in 1995... also installed a catch pan to crawl space...

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

What type of rate are you guys paying and what is the utility company buying electric at? Here it normally is 8cents per KWH and they buy back at 3cents. It would take an eternity to earn back or break even. Just on savings alone it would take 10ish years i think to break even minimum.

a 10KW system using the NREL.gov calculator nets an estimated 14000 kwh per year and at $0.03, thats about $420 a year. at $0.08 it saves 1120 per year.

hard to justify unless prices sky rocket.

 

[Jchonline]

I am serviced by SCE. Every year on my anniversary I get a bill for usage during the last year. It can be a charge or a refund.

This is this years charge. In addition this year i went total electric with the conversion of my HVAC to mini splits. That will save me $1400 in propane next year.

View attachment 757939

Is it working? What did you pay to put in the solar system? Relative value is a 50% savings, but absolute is only $60....which isnt much at all.

 

[ponytug]

What type of rate are you guys paying and what is the utility company buying electric at? Here it normally is 8cents per KWH and they buy back at 3cents. It would take an eternity to earn back or break even. Just on savings alone it would take 10ish years i think to break even minimum.

a 10KW system using the NREL.gov calculator nets an estimated 14000 kwh per year and at $0.03, thats about $420 a year. at $0.08 it saves 1120 per year.

hard to justify unless prices sky rocket.

Here is why the ROI is so short;

Yes, that is $0.45/kWh, or more from 3pm to midnight. The utility is literally telling customers to have cold cuts for dinner to save energy, and not to cook.

For many folks, this pricing actually makes adding home batteries a sensible investment to be able to live more or less normally as you can use your own solar power after the sun goes down and not draw power during peak times.

A family east of here a bit is paying over a thousand dollars a month; no EV, just running the AC at 78F.

All the best,

Peter

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

Wow insane. I was upset we are getting a surcharge pushing ours up to 12 cents.

 

[ultrarunner]

When I mention to friends prices they often think I'm mistaken...

The 3 pm to 9 pm gives many industry breakers but really hits typical homeowners cooking, laundry, A/C

At these high rates many options become viable...

One of the most used sales pitched for solar is asking if you think electricity will cost more or less in the future?

 

[ponytug]

Yes well, then there is the NEM 3.0 proposal in front of the state utility commission that will effectively shutdown all new solar installs in California, and may have some folks removing solar. The utilities are proposing 17 year payback periods for solar installations as "reasonable", and based upon pricing that hasn't been the case for a number of years now, making the payback somewhere between 25 years and forever.

Crazy times.

All the best,

Peter

 

[CoolTech]

My son and I installed solar on our house in SoCal in 2013. My annual electricity cost was ~$5,000. $500 and $600 a month in the summer months (air conditioning) and then 200's to 300's for the other months. I too was skeptical about solar and my mindset was to bring down the usage into the lower, less $/Kw tier brackets. We installed 30 panels - facing South (ideal) and within 2-3 degrees of optimum slope (got lucky with roof pitch.) Total cost of the system was about $15,000. 30% ($4,500) credit on federal taxes making incurred cost at about $10,500. Our annual electricity cost went from $5000 to about $300. Payback was just over 2-years.

When installing the system, I used new-at-the-time microinverters. You purchase a microinverter for each panel and it converts DC to AC right at the panel. Two big benefits - they're more efficient and second, the performance of EACH panel is monitored 24/7. I was VERY impressed with this microinverters made by a company called Enphase (ENPH). Right after the install, I purchased $1,000 of their stock... at about $4 share. Today that stock (which I still own) is trading at ~300. My initial $1000 investment plus some more I purchased along the way is now worth over $200,000. I am now a big believer in solar..... and a REALLY a fan of Enphase!