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We have power outages about every two months in our neighborhood. Just this morning, a branch fell and took out the power lines for a couple of hours. We have a sump pump in the basement that has a 12 hour backup battery and must be kept running.
We do have solar panels but those don't feed the house; they go to the grid. We have a typical 3 bedroom house, a fridge and a freezer chest, a computer and printer, some window A.C.'s, the usual stuff.
My understanding is that a Tesla Powerwall or similar storage battery would solve the power outage problem. I heard they have come down in price so I went to their website and priced two Poweralls and they said a bit over $4K "after incentives", plus installation (which might be a couple thousand, I'm not sure).
Is it worth it? A house generator is probably similar. I like the battery concept because it's quiet, "green", and recharges from solar. However, an old fashioned generator, for example Generac, will run indefinitely as long as you refill the tank.
Is the Powerwall the right thing to get these days? Are there any maintenance issues to think about, e.g. keeping it from overheating, or lithium batteries decaying over time?
We have power outages about every two months in our neighborhood. Just this morning, a branch fell and took out the power lines for a couple of hours. We have a sump pump in the basement that has a 12 hour backup battery and must be kept running.
We do have solar panels but those don't feed the house; they go to the grid. We have a typical 3 bedroom house, a fridge and a freezer chest, a computer and printer, some window A.C.'s, the usual stuff.
My understanding is that a Tesla Powerwall or similar storage battery would solve the power outage problem. I heard they have come down in price so I went to their website and priced two Poweralls and they said a bit over $4K "after incentives", plus installation (which might be a couple thousand, I'm not sure).
Is it worth it? A house generator is probably similar. I like the battery concept because it's quiet, "green", and recharges from solar. However, an old fashioned generator, for example Generac, will run indefinitely as long as you refill the tank.
Is the Powerwall the right thing to get these days? Are there any maintenance issues to think about, e.g. keeping it from overheating, or lithium batteries decaying over time?
I don't know enough about the power wall, but if the power went off in the whole town, and you had a gas generator you would not be able to get more gas if you had to run it for days and there is no power at the gas station to pump the gas. You just have to figure out what you need and go from there.
I don't know about their powerwalls, but my personal friend circle of those who went solar includes 2 people who used tesla for solar and had awful experiences. I wonder if www.energysage . com has powerwall reviews?
Other options include portable battery pack. They’re as large as a small to midsize portable generator. Keep pack charged until needed. Some are large and powerful enough for refrigerator or window AC. Some are only powerful enough for computer and TV as well as charging devices. Some people use a portable gas powered generator to keep food cold in refrigerator. They run it for 30 minutes to an hour then turn off to conserve fuel.
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