When I built my house in 2009 I put in a conduit through the poured basement wall so that I could later install a whole house generator powered by natural gas. I did get a quote, which I thought was way too high (12K).?ÿ
Turns out that the power has gone out very few times in the almost 14 years I have been here. It did go out today, high winds in the area. I have a 6000 watt generator that I fired up for the first time, and just hooked up my fiber optic box, router, and one TV/cable box so that I could relax and watch TV on a Saturday. I was going to hook up the 2 refrigerators (one in the kitchen, one in the garage) and one freezer (garage) that I have if the power was out for more than 4 hours. Came back on after about 2 hours, so no need for that.?ÿ
I have several small UPS units for my computer, router, backup drives, etc. They don't last long, and the cheap batteries inside need replacing every few years. About the only thing they are good for is to give me time to close files and power down.
Since solar is becoming so popular, I know there are now a lot more options for batteries and inverters. I think I can build a pretty hefty backup system that would power all the electronics for a day or more, and use the generator for the refrigerator, etc.?ÿ
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Has anyone done this type of a project? I found a lot of info online, but would appreciate any advice.?ÿ
I am also considering solar with battery backup, one of my daughter's friends owns a solar install company. I figure I could always hook in whatever I do assemble if I decide to add solar. I have plenty of land for the panels, but I don't live in the sunniest place (western PA).?ÿ
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The recent advances in power management and storage are amazing. If you hire professional help, research the tech they intend to install. You don't need to learn enough to be an expert, just enough to spot BS. There are too many 'designers' and 'installers' out there to count. Most of them are better at taking money than putting together a system.
Simple example.. Our neighbor went solar. His panels are fixed under large trees on the north-northeast roof face. His storage is an RV bettery pack labeled 'not for residential use'. But he got a deal..lol
I have plenty of land for the panels, but I don't live in the sunniest place
I recently had a solar company access my house and electricity usage for panels. The panels needed to cover our average annual usage would occupy only a fraction of our roof. Even those needed for peak daily usage would easily fit with room to spare. And I'm guessing that Oregon is comparable to Pennsylvania for sun intensity. You don't need a lot of area to make solar work.
I've had a couple of reports from people who have taken the plunge and they report that the real world electricity production is consistent with the salesman's pitch.
The payback period seems to be around 15 years, but if rates rise as much as the sales pitch insists they will, that will get a lot shorter (this without a battery backup system).
We put a 2kw solar system on our house in 2001. It lasted about 18 years, and generated around half (maybe a little less) of our annual usage. In 2019 the inverter died, and since we were in the middle of a roof-off remodel we replaced it all with a 4kw system. It's been a couple of years since I checked, but I think it's putting out just about all the electricity we use. (We have gas space and water heating.) (*Mostly* gas heating; we added 400 s.f. in 2019 and had to install a minisplit to cover the additional HVAC demand.) Our climate is very sunny most of the year, so solar is a no-brainer.
Our regional electric utility (Pacific Gas & Electric) used to be rock-solid reliable. We routinely went years --even decades -- without an outage. But in the last few years PG&E has fallen behind on maintenance and upgrades, and as a consequence we've had 3 outages in the last 3 months. One of them was around 24 hours. I've been wondering what it would cost to get enough battery backup to keep the fridge and the gas heater (just thermostat and fan) going, but I haven't gotten around to looking into it yet.
One of the advantages to having an EV is the vehicle can serve as a backup power system for a home in the event of a power outage. If the vehicle can be charged using a solar array (the front 20’x40’ wall of my shop is nearly perfectly aligned south and gets a lot of sun except in the dead of winter and overhang of the roof would protect panels from snow), the vehicle’s battery could easily provide the 6-7kw I’d need to be able to run the well, furnace and fridge/freezers. Only problem is it’s typically the dead of winter when storms take down the power here.
I have a Cape Cod style home, a modest 2,000 sf. When my brother went solar I decided to pursue it as well and had the company that he used come out for an estimate. After looking at my roof's orientation and configuration they told me that I would be wasting my money on solar because I didn't have enough southern exposure to make it work and the dormers would cast too much shadow on the panels.
After nixing the idea I got prices on a whole house natural gas powered generator that would also power my well pump, central AC and the inground pool equipment including the outdoor lighting. The price for that came in at around $11K from soup to nuts. Call me cheap or whatever but I balked at that too because I rarely lose power as all the electric and cable in my area was installed underground in the early 70's.
I've owned my house since 1994 and only had one major power outage when a tornado and straight line winds came through town and decimated the power grid. I was without power then for three weeks but had a portable generator to use at night for a window AC unit, the fridge and some lights so it was no big deal as I spent most of my time either at work or at my GF's house where there was power.
