Does anyone have any experience/thoughts/opinions on solar powering a home?
I am looking into this for my house to power my well pump and to heat the pool. Anyone who has information on expectations for cost/maintenance etc would be awesome.
Does anyone have any experience/thoughts/opinions on solar powering a home?
I am looking into this for my house to power my well pump and to heat the pool. Anyone who has information on expectations for cost/maintenance etc would be awesome.
It really depends on where you live and how much you pay for electricity. Where I live in Québec, for example, electricity is clean and cheap, so there's really no good reason to go for solar unless you live far from the nearest power line and it would cost a fortune to bring electric to your house. Solar electricity requires a hefty up-front investment and if your price per kilowatt-hour of electricity is low it could take decades to recover the cost, although you can recoup faster if you are allowed to sell back your excess power through the grid ("net metering" in electricity lingo).Originally Posted by stinsont
Solar hot water, on the other hand, is usually economical and can pay for itself in a few years by reducing your water heating bills.
Here's a general overview to producing your own green power, with links to software and tools you can download to look into cost-effectiveness:
http://www.pollutionprobe.org/whatwe...guide/c2_3.htm
Living in BC, my solar power source works as follows...
Sun shines on ocean, water evaporates, clouds move east, striking mountains, fall as snow/rain, runs downhill, turning turbines, producing electricity. Still driven by the sun (clean) and yet much cheaper than solar panel technology.... plus it is not intermittent when stored behind large dams.
thanks for nothing.
Note that a friend of mine in Mt. Vernon, Washington (directly south of Vancouver) has been generating much of her home's electricity using solar panels for about four years now and is very happy with it. PV panels generate power even when it's cloudy or rainy, and they are used to charge batteries; you get your power from the batteries which means you can use electricity at night even though the panels are obviously not generating power.
In my earlier response I forgot to link to info on solar hot-water systems -- here's a good one:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/...b/hotwater.htm
And a link from the same source on photovoltaic systems:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/..._bib/photo.htm
These should help you make a decision.
Last edited by brad; 2010-04-21 at 03:25 PM.
Just thought I would throw this out there for heating your pool. Heard this from a few different guys in my trade.
They bought long spools of CPVC piping, the new kind they use for plumbing lines in new homes. It's ran in coils in your attic and connected to your pool with a in feed and out feed. Then to circulate it you can get a small electric pump from the local hardware store. All in, shouldn't cost you much more that a couple hundred at most I would think. It seems like a very good idea, anyone who has been in their attic in the summer knows the heat is unbearable so it's a great source. The pump won't use much electricity either so this setup would cost very little to run and could pay for itself in a year or two.
I would be concerned about condensation on the tubes causing mold in attic.
Best advice I can offer is to do your homework before hand. Don't go into this all starry-eyed without finding out the true costs. Search forums online to try and find rational discussions about this and find out the real truth and not some glossy feel-good hype.
What I've heard is that the infrastructure costs aren't worthwhile for the average white collar city slicker. Only do this if you've got land and space, time and money available. And don't expect to recoup your costs right away. It takes years. How much time do you have? For the average guy looking to save $20 a month on his power bill, meh, do your homework.
That very well could be problem but the water continuously moving threw the tubing would help to stop the condensation.
Royal-Mail is right. Solar is generally the most expensive option to power your home with. Even just for those few things you want to run you would need panels/cabling/batteries (+?) to store the power for night. It could even end up being more cost effective to buy more to run your whole home since the same components are needed for 1 or 10 items.
Wind is another option, there might be some self contained units to buy that would have everything you need. Geothermal heat/cooling is more cost effective if your looking to save on utilities elsewhere.
PVC doesn't really sweat as you might see in copper pumbling. The issue can be rather easily addressed with a fan attached to a humidistat, along with regular inspection of the connections, and cleaning. Unions in this case are your very best, albeit expensive, friend! I know this because I've been dealing with salt water, condensation, humidity and DIY projects for a very long time now.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote