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| Thread ID: 143052 | 2016-11-08 07:51:00 | Solar electric | gary67 (56) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1428492 | 2016-11-08 07:51:00 | Anyone using solar panels for electricity as in off grid? I think Karamea Dave is |
gary67 (56) | ||
| 1428493 | 2016-11-08 08:49:00 | Was, we shifted to a place with mains 3 years ago. | KarameaDave (15222) | ||
| 1428494 | 2016-11-08 18:40:00 | I was most interested in this subject some time ago but if you took into account all the likely cost of maintaining a system over several years (replacement batteries and updating the setup as technology improved) it was not an economic investment if you have access to the grid. | CliveM (6007) | ||
| 1428495 | 2016-11-08 19:08:00 | To start with it's more cost effective to deal with the things that use more power than they should like Fridge's/Freezer's as quite a few have two of with the keeping of the old one's in the garage Old Fridges/Freezers use twice the amount of power as new ones What is the hot water heating content of your power bill?,there could be a saving here with a better one or more insulation and solar has been proven over the long run with the right one LED lighting,your most used lights could be replaced by LED(bit skeptical on these as most don't give warranty but say they last up to 50,000 hours) |
Lawrence (2987) | ||
| 1428496 | 2016-11-08 19:47:00 | Lights are a fairly good suggestion but can only make small savings. When I changed from incandescent to compact fluorescent when they first appeared it took $10-$20 off the monthly power bill on average. Now 15 years+ later They've all been replaced with LED as they've failed and the difference to my bill is too small to notice even though they are approx. half to 3/4 the wattage ratings. If you had say 5 x 100W bulbs running 8 hours every night @ .30c a KW/H (aiming for worst case) that's $36 over 30 days. Swapping them all out for 10W LED's and reducing the run time to 5 hours a night (aiming for best case) it'll cost you $2.25 over 30 days. In practice most people spend less than $20 a month on lights and can save most of that. I really like the Idea of off grid solar but so far when I've looked into the numbers just don't stack up. EECA has some info and a calculator here www.energywise.govt.nz and consumer did an article a couple of years ago that concluded it's not economical for most people with grid access. Still panels keep getting cheaper and batteries improve so I'm keeping an eye on it, tesla's home battery product is interesting. The appeal of never paying a power bill is great but I think you'd have to save the money you would have spent towards maintenance and batteries anyway. On the other hand if it was going to cost a significant amount to get connected to the grid then it makes a lot more sense. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1428497 | 2016-11-08 21:15:00 | Would solar water heater be a better option ? used to preheat the water going into the hot water cylinder . | 1101 (13337) | ||
| 1428498 | 2016-11-08 21:35:00 | Consumer did a story on that as well, the roof mounted systems have a very high buy in price and take a long time to pay for themselves while being prone to needing repairs and difficult to tell if they are working properly. They did say a cheap ground level pre heating system on a north facing wall is a much more cost effective option but I don't know of any such systems on offer here, maybe an option for a DIY enthusiast. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1428499 | 2016-11-08 22:01:00 | A friend in Central Otago went off grid - well sort of anyway. He stayed connected so he could use the grid in overload situations; eg if friends or family came to stay. He didn't just think "solar panels" - the first thought was "what can I do to get away from huge power bills?" The outcome was: 1. What electrical appliances can be done away with? E.g. he swapped his electric range for one that ran on bottled gas. 2. He installed solar panels on a ground mounted stand that could be gradually turned/tilted during the day to follow the sun (he was retired Gary!) 3. He installed a wind turbine to supplement the battery charging by the solar panels. 4. He replaced his old inefficient wood burner for a modern more efficient equivalent. 5. He replaced his electric water cylinder with a gas hot water system. Some things couldn't be changed eg the water pump. I recall him having a petrol generator, but don't know whether he used it. I guess the point is not to just think about panels, but think more widely about how you could use other sources of energy/reduce your use of electricity. Incidentally I replaced the fluorescent lights in our camper van with LEDs and the guy that upgraded our solar system/batteries considered there would be an appreciable reduction in power use as a result. |
John H (8) | ||
| 1428500 | 2016-11-09 05:22:00 | Its a consideration on our next project as we have access to them at cost. Still working the ins and outs of it all. Hot water will probably be gas and fire for heating as we have now but wetback won't be an option this time around. Also gas cooktop, been checking out gas ovens full size but nobody can tell me so far how much gas they need to run. | gary67 (56) | ||
| 1428501 | 2016-11-11 03:23:00 | What's special about gas? As opposed to electricity. Still has to be collected, still uses resources. Not that cheap anymore either. | pctek (84) | ||
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