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Having used alternative energy for many years, always go with propane for heating. Propane dryers work better than electric from my experience.
A 3-way (propane, 110ac, 12v DC) Dometic refrigerator is much more efficient than a Sun Frost.
When we run the fridge on propane, we have the temp set very low and if we go away for a weekend, everything in the bottom is partly frozen. They work almost too good.
We run all 12v lighting, and believe it or not, a car stereo (12v) system is better quality than a home system.
What I find amusing, but understand why, it that most of our electronics that are 110, are internally converted to AC. The actual 'juice' in the appliance is operating a DC current.
Also anyone messing with electricity, just because 12v DC is a smaller number than 110 AC does not mean it is less shocking. 12v can zap you pretty good. I got a good shock just from 5 volts DC.
12 volts won't get past your skin resistance, so for all practical purposes, 12 v won't shock you. If you poke a pin into your finger and hook it up to a battery, 1.5 volts will zap you.
I was having a discussion/argument earlier today about solar/alternative power with some friends and my husband's friend said that (1) if you do get solar power, you are taxed quite heavily for it (I thought there are tax incentives?) and (2) you are required to stay tied to the grid unless you're in an area so remote that there is no grid electricity available. Does anyone know if either of these are true and/or where I can find out? Especially with regards to being required to stay on the grid. I'm not having much luck researching, especially the second part.
It varies by state and by utility. While I'd say there is no place in the US where you are actually taxed on solar, I am sure there is some exception somewhere in which you might be, so let us never say never. In my state (Oregon), the assessor is not allowed to increase the taxable basis of a house based on solar, even if it increases the resale value of a property - pretty sure that is not true everywhere.
Usually there are federal and state tax rebates for grid-tie solar PV and often the utilities also have some sort of program, from net metering to tariffs. Not all do, though, particularly if your electricity is from a cooperative. In some places the net-metering (where you are paid by the utility for the excess energy you generate and supply to the grid) is a generous amt and some it is a fraction of the cost charged to you for electricity.
Our PV system is on a tariff, so we lost the state rebates in favor of the tariff. The difference was payback in about 7 years under the tariff program or payback in 10-12 years under the state rebate and net metering.
To find out what is available to you, pretty much google your state and "solar programs" and you should get pages of useful stuff.
Taking an as-built grid-tie house and converting it to off-grid PV solar is generally not cost-effective and is probably not even allowed in some cities, counties and states. If you were building from scratch, as other people have mentioned, you'd go for DC systems or AC systems designed with low turn-on currents. To take a "regular" house and entirely convert it over is probably not going to pay for itself.
As far as running 220 - our system, via the Aurora inverter, connects in at the meter at 240 (it was 220 when household voltage was 110, now that the usual voltage is 120, it is 240).
All grid connected PV systems are 240 at the meter. The inverters may be 120v but there will be a separate 120v inverter on the other leg of the house system.
What about a system with a switch that allows you to run on solar by day, and grid by night, hence avoiding all the net metering permit hassle and expense, and also avoiding cost of batteries?
You would still need either the grid or batteries.
If you run straight off your inverters, you will either have not enough power and break your electronics, or too much power and not be getting paid for it.
It would be tough to run the things you list- they all are heat based/producing and therefore draw a lot of wattage at any one time- but for a lot of things, including powering refrigerators (which generally are only drawing 200-300 watts, but not house air conditioner), a moderate sized system with a secure power supply plug set up off the inverter can supply a decent amount of power during peak sun hours.
My 4.2kWh (DC) solar PV system can switch off the grid and I can plug in to the attached outlet and power 1500 watts at any one time, (I can be producing up to ~3.3 kWh instantaneously, but I think for stability of current I am limited to what the plug will allow). Plenty of power for TVs, Radios, changing computers or mobile phones and, even run a refrigerator (of course you have to access the power cords). I don't have it set up for regular use like that but it did come in handy during a rare power outage out here last month.
To Joe Moving:
i'm only interested in powering an electric dryer and a couple fans and lights during the day.
(B+B laundry room, so maybe a washer, too...)
At another location, a different system would be for a fan or two and a small fridge.
We want to buy Tesla batteries after the price goes down; meanwhile, getting approval for inter-tie is not viable at the moment.
So how much (how many panels at say average wattage) would be "too much" power for the dryer system?
To T. Damon: I'm not the person with all the 'stuff'. What are your thoughts for the above specs?
As Solar electric system for drying cloths or an electric stove is absurd. Any on ever hear of a cloths line? That uses the solar energy directly. Doing the dishes by had in a sink fed with a solar water heated also works or you can use cold water detergent. Wood or coal fired cooking stoves are also available. You lose the convenience of grid electricity but that is one of the costs of going solar.
Use solar electricity for the higher value energy. Operating electronics and lights for instance.
GregW:
We start washing at dawn to get the sheets and towels out on the clothes line, but the humidity and rain are so high that, when I arrived to help out here, pretty much all the linens were mildew smelling from not drying completely. It's impacting their business. They use a propane dryer to 'finish', but the ability to tell light dampness is apparently a skill, and 5 gal tanks (also the cooking fuel) run out and it's a long way to town.
A friend who also does a lot of sheets recently installed solar, and an electric dryer was his main cost, now covered by a system costing only $4000 after rebates. This got me to wondering. I'm trying to exploring options here, so insults are not useful. Anyone else?
Last edited by green engineering goddess; 10-16-2015 at 07:56 AM..
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