Our Solar Installation Journey - Day 2

Day 2 - Off to an earlier start. First workers were on site at 7:15, ready to start plumbing in the solar hot water heater. Than came the roofing crew to install the solar hot water heater panels on the roof.

Here is the new solar hot water heater.  It is a 115 gallon tank that heats water using an internal heat exchanger (which contains the fluid heated by the solar array).  Behind it is our existing 80 gallon tank, which will remain, and continue to store hot water (just not heated by electrical once I cut off the power!)

 Yeah - still no concrete in the holes!

The 2 components on the right are new.  The DC power goes in on the right, comes back out on the left into that small box (an AC disconnect accessible from outside if needed by the electric company to isolate the array from the power lines).  The meter will be replaced by a digital "net meter" that will "run backwards" if I generate more power than I use.

 Here is the solar hot water array frame.

With arrays installed. 

And finished.  Looks good!

 Here is the solar hot water heater.  There is a bit of plumbing needed to tie in the new tank to my existing tank (on the right).  The black box on the front will be covered, and houses the pump, gages, reliefs, etc.

 Here is the underside of the solar hot water array.  The green bar is what ties the array to the rafters.  The black pipe is a flexible hose carrying a solution that won't freeze in the winter in the array.  It carries the heat from the array into the heat exchanger in the hot water heater.

 Access for the hose in the 2nd floor.  This was the only area where finished house had to be cut into.

Here is the heart of the PV system.  This is a 5000kW inverter that electronically transforms DC to AC and parallels it with the line power from the electric company.  It just ties into the breaker box as another breaker, but this one is supplying power!

Our Solar Installation Journey - Day 1

Day 1 started early.  The first trucks started to arrive at 7:30.  I took days off to supervise the work.  Good think, as there are always questions and issues that come up.

First came the lay out of the site.  Orientation is critical, as you want to maximize solar exposure.  Most people have seen the solar panels on the roof.  Well our house is facing almost exactly the WRONG direction.  But that goodness we have lots of open space, so AtisSun recommended a ground mounted system (another thing that Solar City did not offer).  So we get perfect orientation and no shading.  That means same power, smaller array, less cost!

 Then the post holes were dug for the ground mount frames.  The PV array will follow the lay of the land, which turned out to be a little bit of a hassle in the end with alignment of the mounting rails.

In the foreground is the trench for the electrical cable.  Their primary (machine) trencher was broke, so the backup (electrician) went to work.

Finally the mounting struts were built, braced and waiting to have concrete poured into the holes.  And they waited and waited.  There was an issue with the scheduling of the inspector, so no inspector until Day 2.  Huge delay for this part of the work. The electrician did some work inside, but that was about all that got done.

Our Solar Installation Journey - Getting Started

This is Karl.  I have hi-jacked Karissa's blog. Don't tell her...

For a few years Karissa and I have been thinking and about solar power installations, trying to weigh pros and cons, and finances (it has big up-front cost).  Well, we stopped thinking.  Consider this my really big Christmas present (I started getting quotes while home for Christmas and New Year's break).

I thought I would jot down some thoughts, and share some of our experience with our solar installation, in case any of  you that read Karissa's blog may be interested.  So here we go.

First, I did get 2 quotes.  One from Solar City and one from AtisSun.  Solar City are the "big guys" and AtisSun is a local solar company in Annapolis, MD.  I chose AtisSun for 2 reasons:
1) Business model - Solar City started in the solar lease model.  They still seem focused on that.  Zero risk to the customer, but not sure where the gain was either.  AtisSun installs systems, and helped with financing, setting up SRECs, net metering, and applying for state grants.  But after their 1 year warranty, it is all mine (there are very good OEM warranties as well).
2) Solar Hot Water - Solar City only does Photovoltaic Cells (PV).  I think their business model is to get you to lease your roof to them, they pay a small part of your electric bill (surprisingly small if you put nothing down) and they keep the SRECs (more on these later).  AtisSun installed a combined package of PV cells and a solar hot water heater.  That was the deal maker for me.

What is the big deal with solar hot water? About 25% of your home electric bill (if you use electric hot water) is the hot water heater.  And solar hot water is over 70% efficient (PV cells are less than 20%).  So why would you install PV cells at 20% eff to heat water, when you could do it at 70%?

Next Post - Day 1