another $%&*! Electric bill Thread

[House of Laughter]

I am installing them even as we speak (or type)
I finished all the wiring and I installed 6 panels today. Tomorrow I will install another 10.
I ordered another 6 panels which should arrive by the end of the month. At that time I will turn it on and see what happens.
It is supposed to save me about a third of my bill or $900.00 a year.
I am a retired electrician so I did it myself. If you have to hire someone it costs about $5.50 a watt or about $23,000.00. Out of that my power company is rebating me
$12,000 and the state and federal govt. is kicking in $5,000 in tax returns.
If you hire someone to do it, it will pay for itself in about 6 years depending on where you live.
Of course people in the mid west get more sun so they will do better and your reef needs to face south.
After I get mine going I will be selling these systems in NY. With the labor included by
union electricians. They sent us to classes to install it and the SHARP panels are built in the US.
Paul

Sign me up - i get direct sunlight on front and back of the house from 8:30 am til 3pm

House

 

[jhale]

I am installing them even as we speak (or type)
I finished all the wiring and I installed 6 panels today. Tomorrow I will install another 10.
I ordered another 6 panels which should arrive by the end of the month. At that time I will turn it on and see what happens.
It is supposed to save me about a third of my bill or $900.00 a year.
I am a retired electrician so I did it myself. If you have to hire someone it costs about $5.50 a watt or about $23,000.00. Out of that my power company is rebating me
$12,000 and the state and federal govt. is kicking in $5,000 in tax returns.
If you hire someone to do it, it will pay for itself in about 6 years depending on where you live.
Of course people in the mid west get more sun so they will do better and your reef needs to face south.
After I get mine going I will be selling these systems in NY. With the labor included by
union electricians. They sent us to classes to install it and the SHARP panels are built in the US.
Paul

Paul, so your retirement lasted about 6 months? :lol:

I have a house on the island I'd like to speak to you about getting panels for.

 

[Klewis]

I am installing them even as we speak (or type)
I finished all the wiring and I installed 6 panels today. Tomorrow I will install another 10.
I ordered another 6 panels which should arrive by the end of the month. At that time I will turn it on and see what happens.
It is supposed to save me about a third of my bill or $900.00 a year.
I am a retired electrician so I did it myself. If you have to hire someone it costs about $5.50 a watt or about $23,000.00. Out of that my power company is rebating me
$12,000 and the state and federal govt. is kicking in $5,000 in tax returns.
If you hire someone to do it, it will pay for itself in about 6 years depending on where you live.
Of course people in the mid west get more sun so they will do better and your reef needs to face south.
After I get mine going I will be selling these systems in NY. With the labor included by
union electricians. They sent us to classes to install it and the SHARP panels are built in the US.
Paul[/quote

Is the LIPA rebate a one shot deal or does the 6 panels on order also qualify for the rebate?

 

[fishguy23]

With a Boxer dog (Difficulty brething in 70 temps) and a tank w/ no chiller my con ed bill was consistently $400 a month, now that we have downgraded it's like $340 arrrrrrrrrgggggggggg:iamwithst

 

[Paul B]

The LIPPA rebate is a one shot deal but they upgraded it to include the extra 6 panels.

 

[Paul B]

I laugh at electric bills. (picture me laughing). Now I need to do something about heating bills. But you see that clear area at the roof ridge? That may soon be solar heat. Then maybe I can connect my roof gutters to my tank to feed the tank with rain water. Yeah, thats the ticket.:bablefish

 

[cb747]

Looking good Paul! Arent you glad you retired? LOL

 

[Paul B]

Looking good Paul! Arent you glad you retired? LOL

Chris, I may have to go back to work just to take a day off.
You have to come by and take a look at my solar panels.
Paul

 

[Klewis]

The roof installation was it really as easy as they made it look on the stage at the training class?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Yeah and what other equipment is necessary too? The panels have to sent the solar electricity somewhere right?

Lots more info is needed!!

 

[Paul B]

The roof installation was it really as easy as they made it look on the stage at the training class?

On my roof it was because I raised the dormer and there isn't much slant.
The system comes with an inverter that does all the work converting the power to feed the grid

 

[masterswimmer]

Paul, don't they make panels that are on a motor that tilts the panels to follow the suns' path? I ask because my rear roof is a 8/12 and my front is a 14/12. The 8/12 is the southern facing roof, so that would be the side to use, but with 8/12 wouldn't that require a raised rack to pick up the right angle?

Not sure if all this was clear (it was in my head :banghead: :lol2: )

Russ

BTW, nice work on the installation

 

[Paul B]

Russ I don't understand your fractions there but your roof must be facing south or at least near south. They do not have to exactly fact the sun but the closer to south, the better. These panels can not be tilted to follow the sun. They are built out of tempered glass on a sheetmetal frame which is kind of flimsy unless they are bolted flat. Also they will not let you tilt them on a roof due to the wind loads. You don't want wind getting under these panels. The panels put out 176 watts each so just figure out how many you could fit on the south roof. I forgot the exact size but they are about 3 1/2' by about 4 1/2 feet. Your home probably averages about 2,000 watts unless you have an AC on or a big reef tank. The more panels you can fit, the better and the shorter payback time. They also make (aprox) 190 watt panels which are a little larger and triangle shapped panels are also made which are twice the price.

 

[inkblue]

I pay $25/month for eLectricity on my boaT

 

[masterswimmer]

Paul,
The fractions are actually roof pitch.

8/12 = 8" rise on 12" run of roof

14/12 = 14" rise on 12" run of roof (very large slope)

Thanks for the schooling. My south facing roof is shaded heavily by trees. Hence my question about rotating panels and 'following' the sun.

Russ

 

[Paul B]

OK I got you. My roof pitches about 15 degrees but even 45 degrees is fine.

 

[masterswimmer]

FYI, 12/12 (12" rise on 12" run would be 45 degrees).

My front is north face, so no big deal. But it is even more than 45 degrees (just an fyi).

Thanks,
Russ

 

[ming]

You can look into getting a ductless air conditioning system which I've read is more efficient then the regular A/C most people have.

Also, turn off the A/C when you're not home. When the temp gets too hot when I'm not home, my lights turn off which keep my tank stable in temp instead of my A/C turning on. Also, don't micromanage your tank temp. Let it swing between 77 at night and 82 during night and day. I noticed some people like to only keep it at 78-79 which would be using the heater or chiller/AC all the time which is also a waste IMO. I let mine swing between 77-82 with the fan doing all the cooling work.

Switch out any incandescent bulbs in your house with fluorescent screw ins. Most spot lights use incandescent bulbs which looks cool to add some spice to your home but is a big waste of electric.

You can also replace your boiler with a tankless boiler. This will not only save on space, but it will use less electric because there's no huge tank of water to keep warm at all times. If you want to take this a step further, you can have a switch to turn it on/off and turn it on only when you use it.

 

[ming]

Whats there to understand? My fish are just fine, and just because I allow the system to go from 77 to 82, doesn't mean it will do that everyday. Those are the limits. On hot days, the fan will only cool it down to 80 at night and warm back up to 82 during the day. On cold days, it will be 77 at night, and water warms up to maybe 80 during the day. Unless the night is really cold and the day is very hot which isn't likely unless you live in a desert, its not going to happen often and the few times it does happen, your fish will be fine.

 

[masterswimmer]

My tanks swing between about 77 and 82 also. I've had no fish losses in YEARS.

swimmer