I came home from work and noticed a bunch of panels on the roof. He put them up friday. They are supposed to cut his bill by 40-60%.
It'll be fun watching how it all works.
It'll be fun watching how it all works.
My neighbor added roof bling!
- Thread starter EatenByLimestone
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
Lake Girl
Moderator
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
More details...
Leased from Vivent.
Should produce 40-60% of usage. He uses 800-1000 kwh/mo.
Price of electricity purchased from the company will be 10.6c per kwh.
Leased from Vivent.
Should produce 40-60% of usage. He uses 800-1000 kwh/mo.
Price of electricity purchased from the company will be 10.6c per kwh.
Wow...I thought I had some shading challenge's with mine spot...nothing a good chain saw can't fix with either set-up though.
Where2
Feeling the Heat
After seeing those photos, I will no longer complain about my one minor shading issue from a royal palm tree, that I knew about when I installed my system.
Not long.
Once they are down I'll be happy to help. There are power lines about 10 feet from those trees on my side. I'm not confident enough in my felling abilities.
If the shading is so significant, this is sign that your neighbor was ripped off. Contrary to popular belief, if there is strip of shade running from one side of the panel to the other side, the panel effectively shorts out producing little of no power. Vertical strips of shade are not as bad but there is still impact. Assuming they used microinverters, the other panels that are not shaded will still continue to put out power. If they have a central inverter then almost the whole array will be severely limited on output. There is a also a somewhat rarer system where individual optimizers at each panel limit the impact of a shaded panel on the entire array output. One rule of thumb is full sun from 9 to 4 but there are others and array orientation makes such a difference that it really requires a site check for each system.
Unfortunately the fed rebate has no performance requirements, the panels can be mounted facing north in a pine forest. I expect some unscrupulous firms are going to con homeowners into signing leases or selling marginal systems outright using the pressure of the end of the fed rebate in 2016. Very rarely does a dealer guarantee output. This was a major issue when the Solar Hot Water boom occurred 30 years ago, SHW systems were being installed in all sort of inappropriate places by high pressure dealers and many homeowners ended up with poor or non functioning systems that gave solar a bad reputation.
Luckily in NH and many other states, the state rebate programs require that the solar fraction (it takes into the shading and orientation of the array) is determined prior to the installation. In order to get the rebate, the site needs to meet a minimum fraction. If trees are in the way they need to be removed.
My original small array is starting to get shaded out. At some point I have to decide if I want to drop a curly maple or gain a few hours of sunlight. I think I will let the curly keep growing.
Unfortunately the fed rebate has no performance requirements, the panels can be mounted facing north in a pine forest. I expect some unscrupulous firms are going to con homeowners into signing leases or selling marginal systems outright using the pressure of the end of the fed rebate in 2016. Very rarely does a dealer guarantee output. This was a major issue when the Solar Hot Water boom occurred 30 years ago, SHW systems were being installed in all sort of inappropriate places by high pressure dealers and many homeowners ended up with poor or non functioning systems that gave solar a bad reputation.
Luckily in NH and many other states, the state rebate programs require that the solar fraction (it takes into the shading and orientation of the array) is determined prior to the installation. In order to get the rebate, the site needs to meet a minimum fraction. If trees are in the way they need to be removed.
My original small array is starting to get shaded out. At some point I have to decide if I want to drop a curly maple or gain a few hours of sunlight. I think I will let the curly keep growing.
I have a large redwood to the south of the house that causes significant mid-day shading. Bummer because the roof slope faces south. Instead of removing the tree our panels are in the field next to the house with a higher cost to wire them into the grid, but at least they are producing well. I did have taken out a large doug fir to improve solar gain at that location for both the panels and the gardens.
Hummm... Years ago, my neighbor remarked he was shocked by his electric bill being $250 a month in the summer. Ask what mine was and I said 'around $130/mo running my 1973 vintage AC unit'. We were both amazed that his house (~3/4 the size of mine and a newer / late 80's vintage AC) cost so much more. The only major difference we could figure is his house bakes in the direct summer sun all day long and mine is literally surrounded by mature shade trees.
If the trees go, the roof will still have some shading from the panels, but seems like the walls would take a lot more heat load. Luckily the house appears fairly light in color, and possibly the cooling load isn't as big in NY as it is in the 'desert' midwest - but would still be interesting to see what it does to the overall bill.
If the trees go, the roof will still have some shading from the panels, but seems like the walls would take a lot more heat load. Luckily the house appears fairly light in color, and possibly the cooling load isn't as big in NY as it is in the 'desert' midwest - but would still be interesting to see what it does to the overall bill.
The house was originally constructed in the mid 1800s, but was gutted and flipped maybe 7 years ago.
It should be fairly well insulated, but I'd bet money that they did a "looks good from 30 ft" job on it.
That should still keep a good amount of heat out.
It should be fairly well insulated, but I'd bet money that they did a "looks good from 30 ft" job on it.
That should still keep a good amount of heat out.
I have a fairly well insulated attic and I still noticed that my attic heats up slower from adding a small array on my roof.
jharkin
Minister of Fire
I can tell you from first hand experience its very hard to insulate a house of that age to modern standards without destroying ALL its historical character. Which is why I wish the flippers would just leave old houses alone and build new ones. But that is a rant for another day. (Based on that grainy picture the house looks like it could just as well be 1980 as 1800....
)Back on topic... Vivint is a ripoff outfit that goes door to door. They wanted to put solar on my roof claiming it was a perfect southern exposure... I declined stating that
#1 its not south, more southwest.
#2 Its shaded about half the day by a couple of large Hemlocks that practically touch the roof. (cant you see that?)
#3 Being that the house is almost 220 years old I nether want to see the look of panels on it nor do I trust the roof framing can take the load.
(there was also my distrust of the lease scheme and knowledge im not going to be in this house long enough to make it worthwhile, but I didn't want to get into that argument)
To this the Vivint guy says, " No problem, We will put them on your garage!"
The garage is behind and shaded even worse than the house
Last edited:
Salesmen can be an interesting breed.
There isn't any historical character left in the house past the first floor beams only visible in the basement.
The original center hall 1 story house had internal brick walls for thermal mass. They were torn out in favor of drywall.
There isn't any historical character left in the house past the first floor beams only visible in the basement.
The original center hall 1 story house had internal brick walls for thermal mass. They were torn out in favor of drywall.
Lake Girl
Moderator
No respect for old homes I've done my share of removing deteriorated plaster and lathe so can only imagine what removing interior brick walls would have been like. Hopefully, engineers where consulted as that would have significantly changed load bearing capabilities. The 1900 house the we had years back was already significantly altered when we got it. I tried to return it to some of it's original look with the large pine baseboards and window casings. Staining to match the remnants of the originals was interesting!
Looks like your neighbour is due to be stung with buyer beware... Those panels will produce some but can't imagine what the payout return will look like. Always a little leery with salesman knocking at the door. If the story seems too good to be true, it usually is
I've done my share of removing deteriorated plaster and lathe so can only imagine what removing interior brick walls would have been like. Hopefully, engineers where consulted as that would have significantly changed load bearing capabilities. The 1900 house the we had years back was already significantly altered when we got it. I tried to return it to some of it's original look with the large pine baseboards and window casings. Staining to match the remnants of the originals was interesting!Looks like your neighbour is due to be stung with buyer beware... Those panels will produce some but can't imagine what the payout return will look like. Always a little leery with salesman knocking at the door. If the story seems too good to be true, it usually is
VIvent just got bought by SunEdison. Odds are Vivent's owners got rewarded for high pressure sales and marginal installations.
If folks haven't figured it out, there are major Ponzi schemes being implemented to monetize solar incentives. The players don't care what happens to the customers down the road and really don't care about their long term business model as they plan to sell the liabilities to other suckers or go bankrupt and cash out on investment credits. This happened during the solar hot water boom of the seventies and it took years for solar to recover when the credits disappeared. Its going to get worse as the end of the federal tax credit approaches.
NH just ran out of money for incentives, so I expect the companies who expanded in the state will disappear quickly.
If folks haven't figured it out, there are major Ponzi schemes being implemented to monetize solar incentives. The players don't care what happens to the customers down the road and really don't care about their long term business model as they plan to sell the liabilities to other suckers or go bankrupt and cash out on investment credits. This happened during the solar hot water boom of the seventies and it took years for solar to recover when the credits disappeared. Its going to get worse as the end of the federal tax credit approaches.
NH just ran out of money for incentives, so I expect the companies who expanded in the state will disappear quickly.
Well, he's still waiting for his electrical inspection.
I'm pretty surprised his installer doesn't have things in line to knock these out quickly. He said they had the panels up within days... That's probably so they can apply for the rebates and the customer can't back out.
I'm pretty surprised his installer doesn't have things in line to knock these out quickly. He said they had the panels up within days... That's probably so they can apply for the rebates and the customer can't back out.
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
When you say, "PV powered solar hot water", does that mean you have panels powering an electric water heater?
- Status
Similar threads
