Solar Panel ??

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

For those of you who have solar panels on your house. Please tell me the pro's and con's of these panels. Also, feel free to share any other info on the panels. Thanks for reading and replying.

 

[lucigo]

For those of you who have solar panels on your house. Please tell me the pro's and con's of these panels. Also, feel free to share any other info on the panels. Thanks for reading and replying.

We made our own solar pool heater, in case that might be what you are interested in I could share info on that.

 

[pat fan]

We have solar hot water. Are you looking for hot water or electricity?

For the HW, we LOVE our panels! We have two, and the water tank has an electric coil in it on a timer with a sensor so that if the water isn't to temp at 4:30 in the morning, the electric coil comes on to heat water for showers and then shuts off at 5:30 or 6:00. It does the same thing at 5:00 in the evening for dishes etc...

We live in NE, so they do get covered with snow in the winter, but generally thaw off pretty quickly. When that happens, it just means that the electric works a little more. Not this winter, but the one prior when we had a TON of snow, our electric bill went up $10-$20 a month during the winter. This year, not so bad. Maybe $10 a month.

In the summer, boy howdy, you need to only have the hot water dial on a eeensy bit with a lot of cold mixed in or you will scald yourself! I LOVE taking a long hot shower and not having an ounce of guilt! Haven't bought one drop of oil since we put it in 3 years ago!

 

[magsmum]

We have solar hot water. Are you looking for hot water or electricity?

For the HW, we LOVE our panels! We have two, and the water tank has an electric coil in it on a timer with a sensor so that if the water isn't to temp at 4:30 in the morning, the electric coil comes on to heat water for showers and then shuts off at 5:30 or 6:00. It does the same thing at 5:00 in the evening for dishes etc...

We live in NE, so they do get covered with snow in the winter, but generally thaw off pretty quickly. When that happens, it just means that the electric works a little more. Not this winter, but the one prior when we had a TON of snow, our electric bill went up $10-$20 a month during the winter. This year, not so bad. Maybe $10 a month.

In the summer, boy howdy, you need to only have the hot water dial on a eeensy bit with a lot of cold mixed in or you will scald yourself! I LOVE taking a long hot shower and not having an ounce of guilt! Haven't bought one drop of oil since we put it in 3 years ago!

We are also in MA. What company did you go with?

 

[pat fan]

We used Conway Trader. He was out of Hadley, but, unfortunately, I think he passed away this past year. Not sure how that affected the business, but he was an old hippie who kept it simple. In the event something wasn't working, it would be a very easy fix as it was not a complicated system. Some systems you need a NASA degree to work with Hopefully the company is still going. They were very nice, clean and prompt and we haven't had any problems at all.

 

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

We have solar hot water. Are you looking for hot water or electricity?

For the HW, we LOVE our panels! We have two, and the water tank has an electric coil in it on a timer with a sensor so that if the water isn't to temp at 4:30 in the morning, the electric coil comes on to heat water for showers and then shuts off at 5:30 or 6:00. It does the same thing at 5:00 in the evening for dishes etc...

We live in NE, so they do get covered with snow in the winter, but generally thaw off pretty quickly. When that happens, it just means that the electric works a little more. Not this winter, but the one prior when we had a TON of snow, our electric bill went up $10-$20 a month during the winter. This year, not so bad. Maybe $10 a month.

In the summer, boy howdy, you need to only have the hot water dial on a eeensy bit with a lot of cold mixed in or you will scald yourself! I LOVE taking a long hot shower and not having an ounce of guilt! Haven't bought one drop of oil since we put it in 3 years ago!

I am looking for electricity for the whole house.

 

[mom2lns]

lucigo, I'd be interested in hearing more about your solar pool heater. pm me, please.

 

[lucigo]

lucigo, I'd be interested in hearing more about your solar pool heater. pm me, please.

I have had a couple of people ask, so I'm going to go ahead and upload some pictures and post to this thread, hope OP doesn't mind!!

 

[lucigo]

Here is our solar pool heater. My husband would like to cover it with plexiglass so it will be prettier, but it definitely does the job. Our pool water yesterday was 86 degrees!!

The pipe going straight up was added with a valve to divert some of the water that has gone through the filter up into black hoses before going back into the pool.

The water then circulates through these hoses, which we purchased for $30 each at Wal-Mart.

Then out through the green hose and back into the pool.

Another thing we have done to maximize the heat, is to have the pump come on and go off in 15 min intervals, so that fresh water will sit in the hoses and heat up for a bit before going back into the pool. I'm not sure I would recommend this as it may not be good for your pump, but our pump is on its 4th summer and we are preparing to buy a new one soon, so we figured we might as well get our money's worth out of it. When the pump first begins the water coming out of the hose is VERY warm!

A couple more pictures.

The kids have been swimming since April 14th!!

Oh yes, and another thing we have done recently is to keep the cleaner bug in the bottom of the pool so that the water coming into the hoses is from the bottom of the pool, so that its the cool water that is being exchanged for hot water.

 

[sukhakuli]

Our solar pool heater is totally different, but its not DIY, there are companies that will install them for you. Ours is on our roof.

We tried to get solar panels on this house, but getting anything installed in Texas is a lost cause. Over the phone they told me that for a 3 kw system it would cost about 6,000 (and then they never showed up to do the work). That includes the battery for back up, too. Be aware that you don't have to go 100% solar right now, you can get a smaller system that will just help out, and then add more on later if you choose. Any little bit helps.