What yall think about "solar pods"?

[jeanw]

SAw an article in 'Farm Show" magazine..... searched and found out Northern Tool sell the 4 part I mean panel system
Asked local and only solar dealer an Amish guy, said we could do something for over $5000. I have not yet asked for a list of particulars....
we have some money left.. from sale of our paid off former home. Hubby and I ARE RETIRED SENIOR. HUBBY IS A GENIUS AT DIY. sorry for the cap I AM MOSTLY A PECK TYPIST....
Our " money pit,pergatory(we call this house, house "we own outright is 30 by 40 ..only will do a yard mounted solar. No way will I let new standing seam roof be penetrated...
recently Hubby installed Hardy H4. Nice to be warm for a change//// well anyway wanna be able to do some solar esp for a backup if elec goes out. our well pump is 220...Hardy H4 to my dismay need electical juice to run. LOL
Our little Yamaha genny wont do it.. might run a refig and Hardy pump...some light,etc
thoughts yall ?
Now going ask about Gennys on a new post....

 

[jebatty]

well anyway wanna be able to do some solar esp for a backup if elec goes out. our well pump is 220...Hardy H4 to my dismay need electical juice to run. LOLOur little Yamaha genny wont do it.. might run a refig and Hardy pump...some light,etc....

The Solar Pod looks interesting. I suggest consulting with a local qualified installer and electrician [edit: and local code requirements/electrical inspector if grid tied] before making a decision. I considered PV for backup, but after considering the cost of batteries for backup of more than a couple of hours, grid-tied is where I ended up and a backup generator. Does KY and your utility offer net metering? Net metering would substantially reduce the cost of a PV system vs non-grid tied.

 

[peakbagger]

Please whatever you do, don't do anything until you have done extensive research. Keep in mind that the Amish folks are inherently biased against grid power due to their religion.

Stay away from Harbor Freight, the equipment they sell is low quality and overpriced. No matter what gear you buy if you go off grid, the price of power over the long run is 10 times the cost of grid power. For the rare occasions that you lose power buy a generator, you will be far better ahead. Odds are you need to find an electrical firm that is experienced with solar to walk you through the process as solar is not DIY.

The cost to do a ground mount system is expensive compared to roof mounts. The good news is that you do not have to drill holes in your new roof to install solar. There are special mounting systems that clamp over the standing seams and don't compromise the roof (you will possibly need one hole for the cables but in some cases you can even avoid that).

Grid tie will allow you to generate power year round. Please check out the links on this link (broken link removed to http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/index.cfm?re=0&ee=0&spv=0&st=0&srp=1&state=KYs) website it looks like there is a lot of possible help.

There is a federal tax credit for 30% of the installed cost of the system, but being retired, you may not be able to take full advantage of the credit (you need to owe at least as much taxes to the IRS to be able to use the credit). If you can take the credit your $5000 equals $7,142 to spend. Using a conservative installed cost on a roof at $4 per watt , the grid tied system would be around 1785 watts of panels. Using the Louisville 40202 zip code and a south facing roof you would be expected to generate around 2100 kilowatt hours a year. At ten cents a kilowatt hour, the system would generate about $210 dollars a year of power. This is about a 4 percent simple rate of return unless you get other incentives or your power price is a lot higher.

 

[jebatty]

Good advice from Peak -- grid tied has a return and makes money over time, off grid never will where grid tied is available.

 

[jeanw]

Yeah, I have been on forums for years asking, and even subscribed to Home Power for a while....
Oh, the Amish guy also I believe did grid tied.....
they may not use electric but they sure use batteries..... even some either had cell phones or their main drivers and coworkes,do.....
Also I about fell over when I saw them pull out debit cards,,, and the hdwe store Amish owned etc,,,, had the cc machine..... wow even saw the younger ones drink Mountain Dew.... that was a real shocker
yeah, but what to do, with ice storm outages etc.... we are no longer in Big Louie. heck last outgage was 11 days back in 2009.....
we got a liittle quiet a Yahamaha... but it wont run the 220 pump.......
I am going to ask in another post about genny
thanks yall

 

[peakbagger]

There are hybrid grid ties systems but with such a small budget the cost per watt will go sky high. A 5 KW generator which is in the $600 range will drive a 220 volt well pump unless its a very high load.

Amish vary from area to area on their tolerance for technology.

 

[Circus]

I watched Northern Tools video about the solar pod you mentioned. It's a kit including 900 watts worth of panels, grid tie micro inverters and a mount of light weight channel resting on patio blocks and anchors for about $3000.
Quite a bit of money just for hardware. If your electric grid go's down so will these panels. Useless powering a well.

 

[Where2]

They may not use electric but they sure use batteries. Some either had cell phones or their main drivers and coworkers, do. Also I about fell over when I saw them pull out debit cards, and the hardware store Amish owned had the cc machine.
Heck last outgage was 11 days back in 2009. We got a liittle quiet a Yamaha... but it wont run the 220V pump..

The owner of the farm adjacent to our new farm in Maine is Amish. As others have noted, each settlement is slightly different. In some cases, we understand they are permitted to utilize devices like phones for work purposes. My wife has been reading and learning more about their customs so that we can be good neighbors, rather than offend their customs and beliefs. In our case, our neighbor has neither a cell phone nor a home phone. My wife has talked to our neighbor on the telephone, but he doesn't have one. She spoke to him via his neighbors phone, which he can talk on for work purposes. There are days that I get nothing but telemarketer calls on my "do not call" listed home phone where I think I should learn to be more like my Amish neighbor...

As Peak noted, there are plenty of "clips" intended to grip the pinched seams of a true standing seam roof without putting holes in it. (I have a stone coated decorative metal roof and I understand your reluctance to putting holes through it. I went thousands of $$ out of my way to avoid drilling holes in my roof.) Getting the panels elevated reduces the chance of a rock getting whipped up by a mower or weed eater and damaging a panel. I'll also tell you from experience that they shade the roof, keeping the attic cooler and reducing the A/C load in the summer.

I've looked at the PODS systems in the past. My thought was that they were an ok, "basic" system. They weren't stellar in price/performance in comparison to what could be assembled on your own if you did enough research to know how to pick the same parts they used and assemble the same functionality a pod system has. I've got a 4.4kW microinverter based array on my roof. The only part I contracted out was the structural engineering design to survive a 3-second gust of 170mph (South Florida wind code). Using the structural engineers plans, I mounted the racking and panels. I also did my own NEC 2011 compliant electrical design, drew my own three line diagrams, pulled all the wiring, installed a PV combiner panel and made all the electrical connections.

Despite having 4.4kW of PV on the roof, in a power outage, my house goes dark like all my neighbors (other than a few things I have on UPS). If the power is out for any serious length of time, my 5.5kW generator comes out of the garage to run my modern conveniences. The cost of the generator, the generator interconnect, maintenance on the generator, and $5/gallon ethanol free fuel for the generator once every 10+ years was far less expensive and cumbersome than a battery based PV system. Include the generator interconnect when the PV system gets installed, since your electrical inspector will be there anyway.