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Help!! Need any opinions about converting home to solar power. Don't know a thing about it! My son lives in Palm Springs so not a big lack of sunlight. He was told initial cost would be about $35,000., but would pay itself off in 3 years or so. Does this sound right? How about long term? Maintenance and things? Any opinions/help much appreciated! Thanks, Jim
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http://www.carlsonsolar.com/index.html
http://www.californiasolar.com/index.html
When I was looking for a 2200 sq ft house solar was going to be about 65K after all was said and done.
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Help!! Need any opinions about converting home to solar power. Don't know a thing about it! My son lives in Palm Springs so not a big lack of sunlight. He was told initial cost would be about $35,000., but would pay itself off in 3 years or so. Does this sound right? How about long term? Maintenance and things? Any opinions/help much appreciated! Thanks, Jim
Only if his electric bill is $972 per month. It is more like 10 years plus. I would say a complete waste of money unless he has a rural property that will cost him a ton to bring in conventional power. The systems do run well over $20,000 for any decent amount of wattage and $35,000 should get a nice set up, but why?
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Here is my system. It was $56,000.00 which the state rebated half. I do not have batteries. The meter runs backward when generating and runs forward when it isn't(night time).
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y20...1/DSC00937.jpg
This is my house. It is 3300sqf and have a pool. I always have it climate controlled so I am never uncomfortable. I run the pool filter 4-6 hr a day. I have 2 A/c units. 3 computers that run constantly.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y20...sinessCard.jpg
Last year I paid 400.00 total for electricity. My neighbor who has same size house and pool averaged about 350.00 per month.
350.00 per month x 12 = 4200.00 -400.00=$3800.00 savings per yr.
28000.00 (my Cost) / 3,800.00 = 7.37 yrs to pay for itself. They have a 25 yr warranty. So I will have about 18 yrs of free electricity. The only maintenance is rinsing them off about every 2-3 weeks.
Bob
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Damn how many panels and watts you got there?
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Not sure how many watts, but there are 48 panels. In a little over 2 yrs I have produced 2.1 megawatts
Bob
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My neighbor who has same size house and pool averaged about 350.00 per month
How do you spend $350 per month on electricity in San Diego? My bill only runs $250 when its 115* running 2 ACs and a pool/spa automated cleaner (2 pumps) for 6 hours a night. House is smaller at 2,600 SF but that is a huge electricity bill. When I was in Cali my bills were cheaper than AZ. Your neighbor must have one of those John Travolta Saturday Night Fever light-up dance floors in his bonus room :D
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28000.00 (my Cost) / 3,800.00 = 7.37 yrs to pay for itself. They have a 25 yr warranty. So I will have about 18 yrs of free electricity. The only maintenance is rinsing them off about every 2-3 weeks.
Bob
If you discount your savings using 6 or 7 percent or something then the breakeven point will probably be closer to 10.
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Don't forget to factor in the increasing costs of electricity yearly. More and more it will become cost effective. Nice setup by the way.
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How do you spend $350 per month on electricity in San Diego? My bill only runs $250 when its 115* running 2 ACs and a pool/spa automated cleaner (2 pumps) for 6 hours a night. House is smaller at 2,600 SF but that is a huge electricity bill. When I was in Cali my bills were cheaper than AZ. Your neighbor must have one of those John Travolta Saturday Night Fever light-up dance floors in his bonus room
Do not know. Going by what he told me when I asked him. He said it is closer to 400.00 in the summer. He does have the wife and 2 girls. :jawdrop: I think they tend to use more energy. We do live inland in San Diego. Rancho Bernardo so it gets pretty warm here also. Not 115*. Rates use to be a lot cheaper until that electricity Fiasco a few years ago. Now it cost a lot more. In my old house my bill was about 110.00 a month with no a/c and only 1750 sqf. It was near the beach so we did not need it.
Bob