A newbies DIY solar install

[Oaktree]

Ive run numbers on solar and wind, cause i hate paying utility companies. Problem is i live in an area served by hydroelectric, and we only pay about $0.065/kwh. So the rates are cheap. But then they add line maint and meter charges. So unless i totally ditch the utility power, i would never produce enough power to break even.

Yeah, that's where they get you. My actual electricity is slightly under 9¢/ kWh, but all the other fees come to twice the cost of the power itself.

Unfortunately, where we're situated, we really don't get all that much sun 4 months out of the year, so solar's payback would probably exceed my lifetime at this point.

 

[jk96]

I guess I have to ask, what do some of you with considerably higher electric bills do that uses so much electricity?

2200 to 3700 kWh per month with an average of about 2,800 per month. 4500 sq/ft home. 100% electric. HRV, whole house humidifier, 3 kids and usually 3 loads of laundry a day. Heated dog house until this winter (lost our 2 Mastiffs the last 2 years). Fans going in all rooms all night, etc etc. Lots of lighting. Counted 42 lights living room and loft alone lighting everything up. Timber Frame home with 26ft ceilings so takes a bunch. 2 refrigerators, 2 deep freeze. All adds up quick.

 

[beowulf]

I forgot to mention something in my last post here. I said we were saving about $4,000 a year with solar. But our on-the-grid bills (total of two meters) prior to solar were much less than they would have been if we had everything on one meter. This is because the perKW hour rates increase the more you use - lowest use, lowest rate, higher use, higher rate. So with two meters we never reached the highest (i.e., most costly tier) on either meter - or rarely did.

 

[grsthegreat]

Holy cow….. in the dead of winter our elect bill could hit $250. Thats due in part to 6 heated water troughs, heated storage/garden shed, heated tack rooms, among other junk. For maybe 8 months out of the year it barely reaches $90. And ill admit we waste electricity. Im slowly swapping over to led lighting, as the incandescents fail. But they actually dont seem to save much $ per month on the bills….weird.

our yearly elect hill is about $2,400 ish. totally manageable financially, and considering how long and cold winters here are, really not unexpected. But if it was ever upwards of seeing a savings of $4k, that would be another matter. Looking at my past bill, were being charged about $700/ year for service availability … ie meter, emergency repair fees, etc as were an electrical cooperative. So the most i could ever save, and still keep my utility provider for backup, would be about $1,700 per year. It would take a major long time to get my investment back on solar or wind.

if i lived in the desert, with lots of sunlight, that would be a different matter

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I converted almost all lighting to LED and never noticed a difference in my usage. Hvac, hot water, electric dryer accounts for the big usage

 

[LD1]

2200 to 3700 kWh per month with an average of about 2,800 per month. 4500 sq/ft home. 100% electric. HRV, whole house humidifier, 3 kids and usually 3 loads of laundry a day. Heated dog house until this winter (lost our 2 Mastiffs the last 2 years). Fans going in all rooms all night, etc etc. Lots of lighting. Counted 42 lights living room and loft alone lighting everything up. Timber Frame home with 26ft ceilings so takes a bunch. 2 refrigerators, 2 deep freeze. All adds up quick.

Yup. It adds up quick.

Two kids, each with a TV in their room...plus either our bedroom TV going or the living room. Two side by side fridge/freezers and one upright freezer, electric (geothermal) heat and AC. Electric dryer, 20 loads of laundry a week, toaster, microwave, stove, etc for cooking, electric water heater and 4 in the house taking showers a day. 3600gph goldfish pond pump, various lights and electronic chargers, I don't think our bedroom ceiling fan ever shuts off, etc etc

Even when it was just the wife and I before the kids were born....our lowest usage months in spring and fall (not much heat or AC) only ever got down to 800ish kWh a month for an all electric house.

Having natural gas for water heater, stove, and heat cut out the three biggest energy users right there for the average house

 

[LD1]

Holy cow….. in the dead of winter our elect bill could hit $250. Thats due in part to 6 heated water troughs, heated storage/garden shed, heated tack rooms, among other junk. For maybe 8 months out of the year it barely reaches $90. And ill admit we waste electricity. Im slowly swapping over to led lighting, as the incandescents fail. But they actually dont seem to save much $ per month on the bills….weird.

our yearly elect hill is about $2,400 ish. totally manageable financially, and considering how long and cold winters here are, really not unexpected. But if it was ever upwards of seeing a savings of $4k, that would be another matter. Looking at my past bill, were being charged about $700/ year for service availability … ie meter, emergency repair fees, etc as were an electrical cooperative. So the most i could ever save, and still keep my utility provider for backup, would be about $1,700 per year. It would take a major long time to get my investment back on solar or wind.

if i lived in the desert, with lots of sunlight, that would be a different matter

Sounds about like my situation.

Just not enough usage and manageable enough yearly cost that one just cannot justify solar.

 

[bmaverick]

I converted almost all lighting to LED and never noticed a difference in my usage. Hvac, hot water, electric dryer accounts for the big usage

Not all LED lighting systems are equal for energy savings.

True LED savings is when the LEDs work better with AC power direct vs. AC converted to DC LED use with heat losses. It's a marketing ploy to say that the LED bulb only uses 9W to 12W of power, but the converter (ballast-like) can use up to 40W. Thus the savings is almost nothing.

So, before changing to LEDs, ensure what you are installing first.

 

[cqaigy2]

Not all LED lighting systems are equal for energy savings.

True LED savings is when the LEDs work better with AC power direct vs. AC converted to DC LED use with heat losses. It's a marketing ploy to say that the LED bulb only uses 9W to 12W of power, but the converter (ballast-like) can use up to 40W. Thus the savings is almost nothing.

So, before changing to LEDs, ensure what you are installing first.

That's interesting. So basically LEDs are DC devices, though i'd imagine pulsed DC would work fine, so in the US, going from 120v down to whatever the LED will use, something like 3.2 volts. I wondered about those ballast on the LED fluorescent tube replacements, saw a youtube video where a guy named Andy living in Australia, took one of the LED replacement tubes apart and figured out he could remove the ballast completely, with a little rewiring of the light fixture. It reduced the load by 40 watts. So basically the ballast does nothing for the LED light tube, but sits there and eats 40 watts of power, when the light is turned on.

 

[grsthegreat]

You know, as many of the leds ive installed thru the years of being an electrician, i never actually placed my amprobe on the circuit to verify power usage. Truly i have no idea how much of a drop in power it has.
i guess when im bored im going to have to test this.