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When does solar make sense?

Ace in the Hole

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@Xtrmwakeboarder I’m flying back from a conference right now, I’ll reply tomorrow. Texas is a unique place in terms of companies/utilities and how the buy backs work.

Do you have space for a ground mount?

In Texas I will steer you away from battery backup for a multitude of reasons…the NG whole home is a good idea, along with a system sized appropriately for your house/NEM.

You are in one of the higher rate areas. There and Georgetown are 2 of the highest in the state.

It makes sense depending on your NEM, which I need to look up. I sold a lot of solar in Texas..second only to hawaii about in terms of deals I personally sold to ppl. It’s all about the NEM. I’ve got someone I can refer you to without the BS.
@Xtrmwakeboarder I've got some time over this weekend to chat if you want. I remember some pics of your roof and that's the limiting factor. I don't think you will be able to do a full coverage system tbh..but I need the actual address and an arial image to know for sure.

for what it's worth...my natural gas bill did not change at all during the snow storm...it was always within a dollar each month the entire time we lived there. Shoot me a PM with an address and ill put some data together, and thoughts. You can post what I send you back if you want so people can see it.


For cliff notes: You won't be at 100% coverage (IMO), battery isn't a cost effective method for your area, and lastly a NG generator is the ticket for backup, if you are worried about that I would do propane with a large tank....maintenance on those is very low. Some good opinions in this thread, some really inaccurate ones as well.
 
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Ace in the Hole

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Whole home or portable?

Whole home looks like a big investment, like solar, but it just sits there most of the time. Probably $15k plus several hundred a year in maint. and then who knows how much for the NG when the lights go out. The good thing is, if the gas is still on, it seems like it can run indefinitely.
Pricing has cooled significantly in TX on these since its been a while since the panic buys of the last storm. 10-12 has been the numbers I've been seeing on 22kw ish size. Generac and Kohler are the two bigger players down in TX as far as supply. Generac seems to be easier to get in terms of supply chain.

Most have an automatic cycle monthly where it runs etc. Oil change and battery service is about all you typically need to worry about beyond that.
 

Justfishing

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I would say first step is an energy audit. Identify weakness in the energy effiency of the home.

A heat pump water inside the house my be worth looking at. Basically its an ac. The heat is dumped into the water

Air sealing is of critical importance. It will increase the comfort too.


Do you have ducts in the attic? Have them evaluated it my show some real problems.
 

Ace in the Hole

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I would say first step is an energy audit. Identify weakness in the energy effiency of the home.

A heat pump water inside the house my be worth looking at. Basically its an ac. The heat is dumped into the water

Air sealing is of critical importance. It will increase the comfort too.


Do you have ducts in the attic? Have them evaluated it my show some real problems.
It's a brand new home, but on an older house absolutely agree with an audit.. Old windows are a sink, so are ac leaks, etc. 60% or so of homes we audited as far as energy combo projects had at least 3 duct leaks. Lack of insulation is another big energy loss point.
 

Justfishing

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In todays age anything should be built to a net zero standard. The size of equipment i see looksso small
 

Uncle Dave

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Looking for input from the experts and users on here. I've heard solar doesn't make much sense in TX, but after getting my first bill from Coserv, I thought I'd double check.
  • ~3,300 square feet house
  • N/S Facing
  • Charging of electric car maybe once a week
  • No pool yet
  • Single story
  • 2 AC units, one on each side
    • One side at 74 24/7
    • The other side is at 74 during the day and cranked to the max at night. It's supposed to hit 60, but it's never been below 66 because it's still hot AF at night
  • Lights are rarely on. It's only two of us
3,163 kWh resulting in $440.93 bill + additional BS fees for a total of $476.30

I'd like to get a whole house backup and was leaning towards a NG generator, but with these bills, does solar + battery backup make sense?

@BasilHayden @Ace in the Hole

If you divide your bill into the KWH used you get the real KWH charge - which in your case is .15 a KWH

Pretty damm cheap. I pay over double that.

Its going to take along time to get an ROI with that price.


Im very happy with my whole house gen but needed something like that because I have to run two water pumps concurrently - a well pump and a sewage xfer pump on top of a 5 ton central AC multiple fridges etcetera. The NG part has been great. I had over 100 hours of outages last year.


IMG_1106.jpeg
 

LargeOrangeFont

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historically prices increase by average of 3-5% in a lot of areas...just saying.

Exactly my point. Your bill is not going to double in 10 years if nothing changes. My SCE bill probably went up 25-30% in So Cal in 13 years.
 

Ace in the Hole

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Exactly my point. Your bill is not going to double in 10 years if nothing changes. My SCE bill probably went up 25-30% in So Cal in 13 years.
Going to disagree with you in part...

14.4 years to be exact in most places...its in a lot of leasing disclosure statements especially if they have an escalator clause.

https://www.sce.com/regulatory/tariff-books/historical-rates SCE right at doubled in 12 years.. Electricity is absolutely going to rise more rapidly now however IMO with the governments actions on coal, impending lack of water for hydro generation, the push for all electric no NG homes in populated areas, demand increase etc.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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Going to disagree with you in part...

14.4 years to be exact in most places...its in a lot of leasing disclosure statements especially if they have an escalator clause.

https://www.sce.com/regulatory/tariff-books/historical-rates SCE right at doubled in 12 years.. Electricity is absolutely going to rise more rapidly now however IMO with the governments actions on coal, impending lack of water for hydro generation, the push for all electric no NG homes in populated areas, demand increase etc.
I went through the solar calcs yearly, and even went through them with the solar guys on RDP.

Every user is different but my bill didn’t double in So Cal. Not even close, and nothing changed power consumption wise, in fact I added a mini split to my backyard office. My highest bill from the first year to last year was $200 vs $260.

Solar made 0 sense for me at my usage levels there, and I could have put enough panels to power my house 2x over.

I also had friends that has $1500 electric bills in the summer. His solar ROI was 5 years.

I agree power is going to get more expensive faster in the future.
 

Ace in the Hole

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I went through the solar calcs yearly, and even went through them with the solar guys on RDP.

Every user is different but my bill didn’t double in So Cal. Not even close, and nothing changed power consumption wise, in fact I added a mini split to my backyard office. My highest bill from the first year to last year was $200 vs $260.

Solar made 0 sense for me at my usage levels there, and I could have put enough panels to power my house 2x over.

I also had friends that has $1500 electric bills in the summer. His solar ROI was 5 years.

I agree power is going to get more expensive faster in the future.

You are exactly right...it all depends on the end user and whether it works for them (ie makes sense). It's going to be an interesting next few years. Sales and installs are up this year by a decent chunk and likely would be higher if supply crunch wasn't so bad in our industry.
 

Angler

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I have a friend who bought a system, and after 6 months, the company went bankrupt, but by that time it was installed, and I think he had a loan of $30k. At month 9, a part failed in the system, and he had to call someone else to service.

He needed a part, but they could not find one. So he had to upgrade part of the system with s differs manufacture. $3500 more, and his 9 month old system is running again, but when the power goes off, he has problems with errors when it turns on.

It took 5 days just to get someone out to look at it.

Bottom line, if you like fucking with service repairmen, who have no idea what their doing, and have time to sit around and wait for them, and like headaches, solar for you.
Your friend should have used a reputable company for his investment.
 

Uncle Dave

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Even if the company was short if they used popular stuff he'd have been ok.
Almost none of these guys have any spare parts, and then you ask where do the spares come From? Europe - Israel?

What the procedure is it APE? (advanced parts exchange) in case of problem or imminent failure ?
Or is it RMA only and can individuals open RMA's without an account?
Or do you have to pay for a new part and shipping then, ship back the old part to then hopefully get a refund or a pro rated refund like a tire?

Architecture also makes a difference - losing a panel vs losing the whole roof on a central inverter.
 

Fastdadtsmith

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Just an off topic comment, I'm doing a 24kw standby generator in Havasu right now. 15k all in with generator, 500 gallons propane tanks (no propane included), ATS by licensed electrician, permit, GC fees. House currently has no gas or propane so that added the most of the add in. The electrician for the ATS was 2k, probably could shop that and save a buck or do it yourself, or post it on here and have somebody type you thru it.
 

Xtrmwakeboarder

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View attachment 1143755 View attachment 1143756 @Ace in the Hole here is the south facing roofline. Back of the house is damn near exactly south facing.

First pic is right rear corner perspective and second is left rear corner.

A little context on this from left to right. That little bump out by the AC condensers is 10', the start of the main house to the patio is 26', the patio is 15', and the last bit with the three big windows is 18'
 

Xtrmwakeboarder

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Just an off topic comment, I'm doing a 24kw standby generator in Havasu right now. 15k all in with generator, 500 gallons propane tanks (no propane included), ATS by licensed electrician, permit, GC fees. House currently has no gas or propane so that added the most of the add in. The electrician for the ATS was 2k, probably could shop that and save a buck or do it yourself, or post it on here and have somebody type you thru it.
500 gal is what, 4 days? $1,500 to fill up?
 

Not So Fast

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I;ll find out tomorrow, they will be here at 5;30 am with 30 pamels to be installed on my patio roof, hoping it was a good decision. After reading about Lake Mead and Powells demise I thought it was a good time to have it done because unless you live outside the southwest, electricity is going to be hard to get and expensive pretty darn soon. Its a shame it has come to this, I saw it happening many years ago (running out of water) I pray tp God they come up with a reasonable fix for it but the so west has just grown in numbers way too much for the river to support us. The solutions that I read about are many years in the making.
Say what you want but this is a very serious situation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NSF
 

Xtrmwakeboarder

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6632D798-6F18-478D-AD5D-C7C49E89963A.png
2nd bill came. Is it me, or am I using a bunch of electricity? Anyone have a line on a reputable solar guy in N. TX? @Ace in the Hole @BasilHayden

Gas is just the water heater and pilot light for the fireplace. Not looking forward to that bill in the winter.
 

Done-it-again

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View attachment 1153158 2nd bill came. Is it me, or am I using a bunch of electricity? Anyone have a line on a reputable solar guy in N. TX? @Ace in the Hole @BasilHayden

Gas is just the water heater and pilot light for the fireplace. Not looking forward to that bill in the winter.
Your power is cheap, like 0.14 kwh! But you must have a grow operation going on. Or the builder is using your power to build other homes, lol

How cold do you keep it? We had 800 kwh last month and looking at 1000 kwh this month, if we keep the current trend for the month. House is 75 and 73 at night. 2900 sq feet 2 story. Do have zoned ac (upstairs/downstairs)
 

TCHB

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Looking for input from the experts and users on here. I've heard solar doesn't make much sense in TX, but after getting my first bill from Coserv, I thought I'd double check.
  • ~3,300 square feet house
  • N/S Facing
  • Charging of electric car maybe once a week
  • No pool yet
  • Single story
  • 2 AC units, one on each side
    • One side at 74 24/7
    • The other side is at 74 during the day and cranked to the max at night. It's supposed to hit 60, but it's never been below 66 because it's still hot AF at night
  • Lights are rarely on. It's only two of us
3,163 kWh resulting in $440.93 bill + additional BS fees for a total of $476.30

I'd like to get a whole house backup and was leaning towards a NG generator, but with these bills, does solar + battery backup make sense?

@BasilHayden @Ace in the Hole
This is the way I look at it. If you are going to stay in the house for 8 years it should work out
1. I believe the solar system adds value to your house if you sell it. I use 50% of what you paid. I think this is very conservative estimate.
2. Energy prices will continue to go up.
3. I put a system on our house almost two years ago and so far zero glitches and a $13.24 Ebill.
4. I would really understand your usage and do not let them sell you more than you need.
 

Ace in the Hole

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Your power is cheap, like 0.14 kwh! But you must have a grow operation going on. Or the builder is using your power to build other homes, lol

How cold do you keep it? We had 800 kwh last month and looking at 1000 kwh this month, if we keep the current trend for the month. House is 75 and 73 at night. 2900 sq feet 2 story. Do have zoned ac (upstairs/downstairs)
He's on the high end of the pricing for power in Texas, but it goes with the area. The other high spot is Georgetown. Power usage isn't out of the norm honestly. Other than AZ, TX has the highest consumption of any place I've ever sold/worked in solar. @Xtrmwakeboarder saw your tag and will try to reply today or tomorrow.
 

Xtrmwakeboarder

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Your power is cheap, like 0.14 kwh! But you must have a grow operation going on. Or the builder is using your power to build other homes, lol

How cold do you keep it? We had 800 kwh last month and looking at 1000 kwh this month, if we keep the current trend for the month. House is 75 and 73 at night. 2900 sq feet 2 story. Do have zoned ac (upstairs/downstairs)
Lol! I should start one to offset these costs.

76 during the day for the East and West side of the house. Single story with an A/C for each side. West side stays at 76 at night and I drop the East side to 60 after 6. It never gets down that far unfortunately so it runs all night. Lowest I’ve seen it is 62 one night, but mostly 64 when I wake up and then set it again to 76 for the day.
 

Havoc Powesports

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Coserv as well in Northlake 3300sqf 1 story 2ac's 1 1yr old 1 14yrs old

this month 2705kw used $408.00

The month before was $415.00

Good friend did solar here in my hood, 100% with 3 back up batteries, if you want to check his system out, were just up the road and he will go thru it all with ya. He has only been paying the basic meter fee since he put it all in.

Have 4 other homes in the hood that just did solar as well.

The biggest downfall for solar up here is the large size of hail we get, I have seen panels busted up big time on roofs in Flower Mound
 

Done-it-again

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He's on the high end of the pricing for power in Texas, but it goes with the area. The other high spot is Georgetown. Power usage isn't out of the norm honestly. Other than AZ, TX has the highest consumption of any place I've ever sold/worked in solar. @Xtrmwakeboarder saw your tag and will try to reply today or tomorrow.
But why the consumption? It’s hot in the IE where I’m at and to think I need to triple my power to get to 3000 is crazy to think about.

Our base is .28per to 605 then it goes .36 per to 2419 then it jumps to .46 per at 2430 and higher

Just trying to understand why the high consumption. I did see @Xtrmwakeboarder sets the thermostat to 60 🤦‍♂️ At night.
 

Done-it-again

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Lol! I should start one to offset these costs.

76 during the day for the East and West side of the house. Single story with an A/C for each side. West side stays at 76 at night and I drop the East side to 60 after 6. It never gets down that far unfortunately so it runs all night. Lowest I’ve seen it is 62 one night, but mostly 64 when I wake up and then set it again to 76 for the day.
Damn. Must be the thermostat set to 60 then. Did ever set it that low back in CA?
 

Xtrmwakeboarder

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Damn. Must be the thermostat set to 60 then. Did ever set it that low back in CA?
Every night, but it also hit 60 so the AC would cycle on and off vs. run continuously. Much smaller place though. Less than half the size.
 

Xtrmwakeboarder

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Coserv as well in Northlake 3300sqf 1 story 2ac's 1 1yr old 1 14yrs old

this month 2705kw used $408.00

The month before was $415.00

Good friend did solar here in my hood, 100% with 3 back up batteries, if you want to check his system out, were just up the road and he will go thru it all with ya. He has only been paying the basic meter fee since he put it all in.

Have 4 other homes in the hood that just did solar as well.

The biggest downfall for solar up here is the large size of hail we get, I have seen panels busted up big time on roofs in Flower Mound
Yah, that was one of my biggest fears. I assumed panels would get serious damage, but I’ve never been through a spring here. Several people in the neighborhood have panels and trucks that won’t fit in the garage. I always hear “that’s what insurance is for” when asking about hail. Probably why insurance here is more than CA.
 

Ace in the Hole

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But why the consumption? It’s hot in the IE where I’m at and to think I need to triple my power to get to 3000 is crazy to think about.

Our base is .28per to 605 then it goes .36 per to 2419 then it jumps to .46 per at 2430 and higher

Just trying to understand why the high consumption. I did see @Xtrmwakeboarder sets the thermostat to 60 🤦‍♂️ At night.
I'm not originally from texas..so my usage mirrored more of what it would be in CA or HI as we were used to having to conserve bc of cost. Our house was small on purpose in texas and built very efficient, 1400 sq feet, spray foam insulation, reflective metal roof, 17 seer ac unit, etc. Even with the plug in BMW hybrid we never broke 1k kWh...ever keeping it at 72 degrees. When we were living in HI, we rarely broke 500 kWh with our window ac in bedroom etc. Neighbor in the same exact house averaged almost 1500 kWh per month. Once you start getting larger on floor plans the energy use exponentially grows.

I think @Xtrmwakeboarder's house is all electric and a pretty decent amount of sq footage...all big factors...and lastly humidity levels make the system work hard..

Average until bill I saw in TX doing solar was in the 1800-2600 kWh range for a 3/2 house. if it had a second story it went up etc. Going back to what I said earlier..it was always a trip to me that EVERYONE leaves EVERYTHING on for no reason. We're engrained to be proactive about shutting stuff off so it was foreign to me walking into home after home doing presentations where 2 people would have 2-4 tvs on, lights on everywhere etc.. Cultural difference as power is dirt cheap so they just don't care. It's VERY difficult to get net zero on solar in TX for this reason. My handful of HI/CA transplants bills were usually way lower than the "native texans." Something that sticks out was a guy I sold 2 systems to in HI. One on Maui, one on Oahu. They moved to Converse, TX to be close to their grandkids/kid. I think 14 325w panels got him a net zero..but they had the same conservative use pattern that they did back home... I think its goes back to what I said earlier..its cheap so people just excessively use...especially in the areas it's under 10 cents.
 

Ace in the Hole

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Yah, that was one of my biggest fears. I assumed panels would get serious damage, but I’ve never been through a spring here. Several people in the neighborhood have panels and trucks that won’t fit in the garage. I always hear “that’s what insurance is for” when asking about hail. Probably why insurance here is more than CA.
in two stints in TX, one 3 years, and one 2 years. We had two blowout storms.. Never had one of my direct customers loose a full system, Just a few panels here and there..but I did broker a fair amount of insurance replacements for USAA. Your roof pitch is at a level that you won't likely have hail damage unless you get serious wind at the same time...thats actually a big factor in setting up ground mounts and ag mounts out there believe it or not. The flatter the roof the more likely panels are to get wrecked. Panels are surprisingly strong.

TX is the only place I've ever worked that installers keep back some extra of the panels that hit EOL for this reason.. Geico and USAA are good to work with when it comes to hail just FYI. State Farm can suck a fat one. There are more videos than you could ever watch on YT/TikTok etc about the shit their adjusters pull to avoid claims down there.
 

Xtrmwakeboarder

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I'm not originally from texas..so my usage mirrored more of what it would be in CA or HI as we were used to having to conserve bc of cost. Our house was small on purpose in texas and built very efficient, 1400 sq feet, spray foam insulation, reflective metal roof, 17 seer ac unit, etc. Even with the plug in BMW hybrid we never broke 1k kWh...ever keeping it at 72 degrees. When we were living in HI, we rarely broke 500 kWh with our window ac in bedroom etc. Neighbor in the same exact house averaged almost 1500 kWh per month. Once you start getting larger on floor plans the energy use exponentially grows.

I think @Xtrmwakeboarder's house is all electric and a pretty decent amount of sq footage...all big factors...and lastly humidity levels make the system work hard..

Average until bill I saw in TX doing solar was in the 1800-2600 kWh range for a 3/2 house. if it had a second story it went up etc. Going back to what I said earlier..it was always a trip to me that EVERYONE leaves EVERYTHING on for no reason. We're engrained to be proactive about shutting stuff off so it was foreign to me walking into home after home doing presentations where 2 people would have 2-4 tvs on, lights on everywhere etc.. Cultural difference as power is dirt cheap so they just don't care. It's VERY difficult to get net zero on solar in TX for this reason. My handful of HI/CA transplants bills were usually way lower than the "native texans." Something that sticks out was a guy I sold 2 systems to in HI. One on Maui, one on Oahu. They moved to Converse, TX to be close to their grandkids/kid. I think 14 325w panels got him a net zero..but they had the same conservative use pattern that they did back home... I think its goes back to what I said earlier..its cheap so people just excessively use...especially in the areas it's under 10 cents.
That’s the crazy thing with us. It’s only two of us and lights are off all day because we have large windows that provide plenty of light. At night we are in one room, most if not all lights off, and our TV on. Laundry once per week. Tesla charging maybe 30 mi/day. Only one entrance light stays on outside all night. Wife cooks maybe one meal per day in oven or induction cook top. Makes no sense to me.
 

Xtrmwakeboarder

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in two stints in TX, one 3 years, and one 2 years. We had two blowout storms.. Never had one of my direct customers loose a full system, Just a few panels here and there..but I did broker a fair amount of insurance replacements for USAA. Your roof pitch is at a level that you won't likely have hail damage unless you get serious wind at the same time...thats actually a big factor in setting up ground mounts and ag mounts out there believe it or not. The flatter the roof the more likely panels are to get wrecked. Panels are surprisingly strong.

TX is the only place I've ever worked that installers keep back some extra of the panels that hit EOL for this reason.. Geico and USAA are good to work with when it comes to hail just FYI. State Farm can suck a fat one. There are more videos than you could ever watch on YT/TikTok etc about the shit their adjusters pull to avoid claims down there.
I’ve got Progressive now. Fastest one to get us in the house. They were great with the Tesla windshield, and hopefully just as good if anything happens to the house.
 

Ace in the Hole

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That’s the crazy thing with us. It’s only two of us and lights are off all day because we have large windows that provide plenty of light. At night we are in one room, most if not all lights off, and our TV on. Laundry once per week. Tesla charging maybe 30 mi/day. Only one entrance light stays on outside all night. Wife cooks maybe one meal per day in oven or induction cook top. Makes no sense to me.

Either buy or borrow something like this. We used these a lot in TX. It will tell you a lot...and I'd say to look at this before you even consider solar etc.

Side note.. I don't know if I'm going to tackle it before the end of this year but the house in havasu is going to get one of these before solar goes up and genset goes in.

 

TPC

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Powerwall is essential.
It stores solar power for blackout and all night running, every night.

Our AC has been running all night long all day long in this heat, charging the EV and keeping the RV plugged in too for over a week. RV draws over 1000 watts with the refer on, 2500 with the AC running too.
Wife running shit loads of laundry.

Net cost of the Solar system $21k.
We’ve already saved $1000 in electricity since the system was installed in July. It tells you on the app, you simply enter the Edison power plan you are on.

Wife paid $43k for her EV and got $7500 back on taxes. + State and local local kickbacks.
It is one fast, free-to-fuel burning sunlight, fun-to-drive dog hauler.

You hard-ons need to simply walk into Kia dealer, show your DL and they’ll flip EV6 keys to you because they know one drive and you’ll be sold.
Ford Lightning same dealer and vehicle experience. Flip ya the keys,, enjoy!

We have a generator too. I’ll take solar.

You guys are like those old buzzards that wore “Diesel Engines Forever” hats and T shirts when the Navy went Nuclear.

Wife’s off 6 12 hr all nighters sleepwalking & screwball, house upside down & full of energy from the girl's and their friends blasting music and dancing & giant dogs bouncing off the walls chasing giant tennis balls,, air conditioning on full blast never cycling, girls have their cars plugged into the house too. We're pulling 90 AMPS.

D89EE937-C560-4479-9737-568173DC927A.jpeg


I go out to the RV, lock the door, flip on the AC, pop a beer and watch the ball game,,, all the above powered by solar free in silent peace.

I remember I went to a RDP members party and a few people there wanted to argue against early detection of cancer. "Waste of time and money" went their tales. Some guy with dick cancer wrote a book against it, has some snake oil remedy and all they bought into his fairytale.
I sense that same attitude from others with solar.

Get with the times friends. It ain't getting any cheaper.

By the way, those of you with the Electrify America EV charging app check it. This morning they just gave you 1000 free KW hours of charging. Holiday weekends are free with no deduction from that as well.

I digress.
 
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Christopher Lucero

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I see you in summer consuming about 70 kWhr/day.
(seems like a lot for 2 people...we are also 2 person household consume around 17kWhr/day in summer. can you upgrade to LED lighting and/or assess what is the deal?)

Rough magnitude of system should be around 15kW, or 35 440W panels. WITHOUT pool considered.
Your roof is tricky, that wlll add to design/install cost, BUT roof is also high angle, and if N/S will be advantage for a roof mounted system.
Backup system (gen/Batt) is mostly a gee whiz thing, really, though it is particularly fun to never have to worry about shutoffs
BUT IT also means something else to replace in time, and to maintain.
A 15kW system will cost about $40-50k, grid tie only. Add another 10-25k for 20kW Inverter and battery/generator.
So, you are at around $75k. You are spending about $500/mo, so breakeven on $75k is 350 months in future, ( i don't know about TX rebate/incentive - subtract that if any)
Doesn't sound like you'd ECONOMICALLY want to do it...UNLESS you want your Independence from ERCOT/utility mistakes or price increases
( I heard during the outage a year or so ago the free market caused a ridiculous spike in per kWhr charges to customers that are still working their way through the courts)
Only you can answer how valuable that is to you.
 
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bowtiejunkie

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We used 1750 kWh up the road in Prosper. 3000 sq ft 2-story, one unit spit to 2 zones (upstairs & downstairs). Stats at 78/77, respectively, 24/7. May run downstairs at 76 here and there. Family of 4, w/2 home all day. No real extra appliances (except a small beer fridge) or garage equipment.

I think running your one unit at 60* non-stop for ~12 hours each day is your energy hog. Might be better to turn your bedroom into an actual walk-in freezer 😀. Can the unit feeding your master bed side of house, be split so the master suite is a separate zone? Is that master suite on west side of house? If so, the heat soak from the sun takes a long time to dissipate, which I’m sure is working that unit harder to draw down the inside temp.
 

badgas

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Powerwall is essential.
It stores solar power for blackout and all night running, every night.

Our AC has been running all night long all day long in this heat, charging the EV and keeping the RV plugged in too for over a week. RV draws over 1000 watts with the refer on, 2500 with the AC running too.
Wife running shit loads of laundry.

Net cost of the Solar system $21k.
We’ve already saved $1000 in electricity since the system was installed in July. It tells you on the app, you simply enter the Edison power plan you are on.

Wife paid $43k for her EV and got $7500 back on taxes. + State and local local kickbacks.
It is one fast, free-to-fuel burning sunlight, fun-to-drive dog hauler.

You hard-ons need to simply walk into Kia dealer, show your DL and they’ll flip EV6 keys to you because they know one drive and you’ll be sold.
Ford Lightning same dealer and vehicle experience. Flip ya the keys,, enjoy!

We have a generator too. I’ll take solar.

You guys are like those old buzzards that wore “Diesel Engines Forever” hats and T shirts when the Navy went Nuclear.

Wife’s off 6 12 hr all nighters sleepwalking & screwball, house upside down & full of energy from the girl's and their friends blasting music and dancing & giant dogs bouncing off the walls chasing giant tennis balls,, air conditioning on full blast never cycling, girls have their cars plugged into the house too. We're pulling 90 AMPS.

View attachment 1153285

I go out to the RV, lock the door, flip on the AC, pop a beer and watch the ball game,,, all the above powered by solar free in silent peace.

I remember I went to a RDP members party and a few people there wanted to argue against early detection of cancer. "Waste of time and money" went their tales. Some guy with dick cancer wrote a book against it all they bought into it.

I sense that same attitude from others with solar.
Oh brother, get with the times friends. It ain't getting any cheaper.

I digress.
Net cost of solar was $21K ? That does not include the batteries correct ?

Who did you use for your system ?
 

Xtrmwakeboarder

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I see you in summer consuming about 70 kWhr/day.
(seems like a lot for 2 people...we are also 2 person household consume around 17kWhr/day in summer. can you upgrade to LED lighting and/or assess what is the deal?)

Rough magnitude of system should be around 15kW, or 35 440W panels. WITHOUT pool considered.
Your roof is tricky, that wlll add to design/install cost, BUT roof is also high angle, and if N/S will be advantage for a roof mounted system.
Backup system (gen/Batt) is mostly a gee whiz thing, really, though it is particularly fun to never have to worry about shutoffs
BUT IT also means something else to replace in time, and to maintain.
A 15kW system will cost about $40-50k, grid tie only. Add another 10-25k for 20kW Inverter and battery/generator.
So, you are at around $75k. You are spending about $500/mo, so breakeven on $75k is 350 months in future, ( i don't know about TX rebate/incentive - subtract that if any)
Doesn't sound like you'd ECONOMICALLY want to do it...UNLESS you want your Independence from ERCOT/utility mistakes or price increases
( I heard during the outage a year or so ago the free market caused a ridiculous spike in per kWhr charges to customers that are still working their way through the courts)
Only you can answer how valuable that is to you.
Every light is LED. Brand new house.

$75k is crazy. That would never pencil out for us.
 

Done-it-again

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Have you asked your neighbors how many Kw they are using?
 

Xtrmwakeboarder

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We used 1750 kWh up the road in Prosper. 3000 sq ft 2-story, one unit spit to 2 zones (upstairs & downstairs). Stats at 78/77, respectively, 24/7. May run downstairs at 76 here and there. Family of 4, w/2 home all day. No real extra appliances (except a small beer fridge) or garage equipment.

I think running your one unit at 60* non-stop for ~12 hours each day is your energy hog. Might be better to turn your bedroom into an actual walk-in freezer 😀. Can the unit feeding your master bed side of house, be split so the master suite is a separate zone? Is that master suite on west side of house? If so, the heat soak from the sun takes a long time to dissipate, which I’m sure is working that unit harder to draw down the inside temp.

Haha I need my cold air to sleep! I'm sure my wife would love 80 degree nights, but that isn't happening. The master is on the East side of the house, with the large windows facing South.

I wonder if the real fix here isn't solar, but possibly getting an efficient mini split installed in the bedroom if the HOA approves. That should have a quicker payback, and then I could just get a large portable generator with a manual transfer switch hooked to the mini split and a few other lighting, fridge/freezer, water heater, induction cooktop circuits rather than heating/cooling a nearly empty house in an emergency. Am I missing something here?
 

Done-it-again

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They are in the $5-$600 range with no pool, but have 5 people in their house. Also a few hundred square feet larger.
Then it seems like its inline... in any case I would ask the power company to audit the consumption use as your believe there is a mistake on the usage..

But I would think its due to the AC running all night non-stop. I would agree and think a mini split just for the master would be ideal.
 

Ace in the Hole

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Haha I need my cold air to sleep! I'm sure my wife would love 80 degree nights, but that isn't happening. The master is on the East side of the house, with the large windows facing South.

I wonder if the real fix here isn't solar, but possibly getting an efficient mini split installed in the bedroom if the HOA approves. That should have a quicker payback, and then I could just get a large portable generator with a manual transfer switch hooked to the mini split and a few other lighting, fridge/freezer, water heater, induction cooktop circuits rather than heating/cooling a nearly empty house in an emergency. Am I missing something here?
This is your better option..its what we did in havasu. I keep my bedroom at 66, house is 72-74.
 
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