Posted on 12/15/2023 5:29:42 AM PST by MtnClimber
I found a solar package with batteries on Amazon for $9,000 but it says it is window air, not anything about whole house air conditioning.
I’ve got a small 1600 sq foot house.
I’ve searched a few times through the years on how to calculate how much water I need for water turbines.
Today I learned that it’s all in terminology.
It’s called Closed Loop Hydropower and there are tutorials galore.
As a side note, I was sitting at my drafting table as a tool and die designer when an old man walked in.
This was about 1973.
He gives me a solar cell about 4 inches in diameter and tells me his plan on interconnecting them into an array.
I designed his die and gave him the parts it stamped.
The next time I saw his old station wagon it said ARCO Solar on the door.
It wasn’t long before I saw an ARCO Solar manufacturing plant being built.
Thanks for the help Tell It Right.
About the $9K solar package and air conditioning, it comes down to what you want from solar (i.e. just lower your power bills, or also be able to run your whole house if the power is out) and what's called "surge power" for starting appliances. Many appliances with a motor have two specs for power consumption: one for starting it up (surge power) and one for keeping it running (sometimes called constant power).
For example, in Phase I of my solar project (installed May 2021) I had an inverter that can provide 9kW continuous power (converting DC power to AC power), 16kW surge power for 10 seconds, and 25kW surge power for only 100ms. Because my old central A/C unit needed more than 16kW to start up, I couldn't run my A/C when the grid was down (thus my AC circuit wasn't on the critical load electrical panel that my inverter could power at all times, even when the grid was down). So I couldn't start my A/C the few times the grid was down (here in Alabama we're talking about only for a few minutes unless there's a tornado in my area, which hasn't happened in 12 years as far as taking out the power goes). However, solar was still able to save me tons of power running the A/C.
After owning solar for about 4 months and seeing my solar input track as expected regarding average daily peak solar hours as it changes per month in my area (as per the tool https://tsi.tyconsystems.com/html/nrel_lookup.htm, which was spot on for me), I converted my two natural gas appliances to high-efficiency electric ones to prepare for the winter. As part of replacing my natural gas furnace, I also replaced my old A/C unit with a variable speed heat pump, so that I now cool and heat my house with the heat pump unless it gets too cold for the heat pump, in which case the system uses heat strips.
With the variable speed heat pump, I need very little surge power to start it, so I was able to move the heat pump circuit to the critical load electrical panel and be able to cool or heat my home even if the grid was down (as long as it wasn't bitter cold, because the heat strips need a constant power of about 10kW). This Phase I system for a year provided 58% of all the power I needed in my all-electric home (which back then didn't include charging an EV). Of course, after upgrading my system in August last year to what I call Phase II (doubling the inverter capacity and solar input, tripling the battery storage), I can now run everything, including the heat strips, as long as I have solar and/or stored battery power. Mind you, I can't run all appliances at high speed simultaneously (i.e. charging the EV at 9.6kW instead of 5.6kW, plus running the clothes dryer on high at 6kW, plus running the water heater in "normal mode" which is normal heat strips at 4kW because I have company staying over instead of the usual efficiency mode at 300W, plus running the central air heat strips at 10kW because it's below freezing outside, while I'm in the hot tub with the jets on high drawing 3 or 4 kW, the sum of which would greatly exceed the 18kW continuous AC power my inverters can provide).
My recommendation before going solar is to make the home more energy efficient first. Even if you don't convert your natural gas appliances to electric like I did, a variable speed heat pump would probably do wonders. And don't forget simple insulation, sealing cracks, and door gaskets.
Another thing to consider is a hybrid water heater. Obviously if you have a nat gas water heater, then switching to a hybrid one would add to your power demand -- possibly. I use the cold air output from my hybrid water heater to help cool the home. My water heater is in a closet within my laundry room, which is in the living quarters of my house (off the small hallway near the living room and master bedroom). In the floor next to the water heater is a new air receiver for my central air. Thus, when the water heater runs, the cold air it produces is drawn in by my variable speed air handler and distributed throughout the house, which means my variable speed heat pump can run at lower speed for about 2 to 3 hours per day (how long the water heater runs on average in the warm half of the year). When winter comes, I flip a couple of levers for duct dampeners near the water heater, so that the cold air output from the water heater is ducted up into the attic (so that the cold air won't be drawn into the HVAC while I'm trying to warm the house). I also make the water heater run more efficiently by ducting the air input from the attic (where most of the year the air is very warm, sometimes hot) so that my water heater's heat pump doesn't have to work as hard to find heat from the air it draws in.
Before getting a hybrid water heater, though, look up the specs. There's a max length on the duct work coming in and out, so there's only so long you can run the duct work to get warm air from the attic and/or run duct work to direct the cold air output to somewhere useful for you to utilize.
Intentional fraud by evil incompetent people.
Your house sounds very efficient.
My house is over 100 years old.
Built with lath and plaster and no insulation in the walls.
The AC is new and I just put in an on-demand water heater.
I checked with my wife who pays the bills and we pay about $160 a month during the hottest months for electricity.
I charge $300 a month to board horses for friends.
The going rate at nearby stables ranges from $600 to $1,000.
A national park starts in my backyard and people trailer their horses here for the trails.
Boarding more horses sounds like my best option.
Like I said earlier, I love my neighborhood and the people are all so friendly.
This conversation is kind of like me thinking out loud on what to do when my wife retires.
My wife retired a few years ago at 55 and I’ll retire a few years from now in my late 50’s. My #1 purpose for the energy project is protecting our finances for decades of retirement from inflation, particularly energy cost inflation, since the Dims are hell bent on doing that.
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