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Author Topic: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks  (Read 91294 times)

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BonerJoe

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #120 on: May 14, 2011, 11:05:24 PM »

If you live in Arizona, and get the full-package of panels, batteries, grid tie-in, and stuff, the break-even point is 14 years.

Are you including failure and maintenance, such as battery replacement?
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Turd Ferguson

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #121 on: May 14, 2011, 11:11:33 PM »

If you live in Arizona, and get the full-package of panels, batteries, grid tie-in, and stuff, the break-even point is 14 years.

Are you including failure and maintenance, such as battery replacement?

The best deep cycle batteries I know of have a life span of about 15 yrs, assuming no defects. So once you reach break even point.................. time to pay again.
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Diogenes The Cynic

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #122 on: May 14, 2011, 11:14:13 PM »

If you live in Arizona, and get the full-package of panels, batteries, grid tie-in, and stuff, the break-even point is 14 years.

Are you including failure and maintenance, such as battery replacement?

I am not a mathematician, so no. Plus, I don't know the numbers for those variables. It includes professional installation, and assumes the cost of energy is stagnant.
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Diogenes The Cynic

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #123 on: May 14, 2011, 11:25:18 PM »

If you live in Arizona, and get the full-package of panels, batteries, grid tie-in, and stuff, the break-even point is 14 years.

Are you including failure and maintenance, such as battery replacement?

The best deep cycle batteries I know of have a life span of about 15 yrs, assuming no defects. So once you reach break even point.................. time to pay again.

Its shit like this that makes people hate capitalism. The problem its not. Its bullshitism when you try to pass off a product as something it isn't. If you have a few summers that are cloudy, it will never pay off, and cost more than its worth.

The guys really getting shafted are people buying solar in the Northeast thinking it might be a good idea. Its not. They're better off with geothermal heat sinks. Or they could reduce their absurd gas bills by coating the walls with spray-on porcelain. That's something nobody is doing yet.

Out west, if you're assured of getting enough water, you could build your pool into a heat sink for the summer.
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Dude, I thought you were a spambot for like a week. You posted like a spambot. You failed the Turing test.

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BonerJoe

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #124 on: May 14, 2011, 11:58:00 PM »

I would only install solar if I was on some remote piece of land and the cost of running power was near or exceeded the cost of installing a system. Then it would be worth it.

That, or if I thought the Apocalypse was coming.
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alaric89

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #125 on: May 15, 2011, 08:07:48 AM »

A self contained home has to be planned and built from the ground up. It is actually pretty simple when thought of that way. My Dad built a underground house back in Montana that was so well designed it very seldom needed to use any of the backup systems. It used solar for heat only. Solar heating units work really well. There was a company that built some good ones in Great Falls Mt. back in the 70's. As I understand it the power companies bought them out to close them down.

Riddler

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #126 on: May 15, 2011, 02:15:39 PM »

solar hot water is much more viable & cost-realisitic....even in the frigid northeast
pv (photovoltaic) is still in its infancy, vis-a-vis cost to benefit ratio.....we just don't have the technology yet to mass produce this shit & convert/store electricity in a cost-effective manner.

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mikehz

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #128 on: May 15, 2011, 07:47:52 PM »

I have a ham radio buddy who lives remotely in the mountains with no outside power. He's pretty handy, and put in his own solar system. Did a good job of it, too. (Funny, but his name is "Edison.") We chat over the air on the popular 2-meter band, which uses a system of repeaters to cover the entire state. Given his situation, he often has barely enough power to hit the repeater. (Most VHF radios have a two-watt and a five-watt output, and he usually has to use the lower setting. Often, this is fed into an amp ranging from 20-watts on up to the full legal 1500-watts.) The only time I can really hear him is late at night, when his batteries finally give out and he kicks on the generator. "Then, I can run 'er on up on the amplifier," he says.

Edison also uses solar for hot water. "The only time we really get a good shower is on a cloudy day, when the propane burner has to replace the sun."
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BonerJoe

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #129 on: May 15, 2011, 08:10:09 PM »

Edison also uses solar for hot water. "The only time we really get a good shower is on a cloudy day, when the propane burner has to replace the sun."

Why wouldn't you just use solar to pre-heat the water? Less energy to heat up with the propane.
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Riddler

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #130 on: May 15, 2011, 08:15:44 PM »

your pal ''edison'' is , apparently, a moron.
with 2) 30 year+ old panels, i make 120 gal of 145-150 degree water on sunny summer days
i make @ 80 gal. of 120-130  deg. water during the winter.
i will post pics of my assembly when i can.
tell edison to get off the pipe
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Diogenes The Cynic

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #131 on: May 16, 2011, 09:06:29 AM »

your pal ''edison'' is , apparently, a moron.
with 2) 30 year+ old panels, i make 120 gal of 145-150 degree water on sunny summer days
i make @ 80 gal. of 120-130  deg. water during the winter.
i will post pics of my assembly when i can.
tell edison to get off the pipe

But you cant shower with warm water in the morning.
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Dude, I thought you were a spambot for like a week. You posted like a spambot. You failed the Turing test.

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mikehz

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #132 on: May 16, 2011, 11:00:46 AM »

your pal ''edison'' is , apparently, a moron.
with 2) 30 year+ old panels, i make 120 gal of 145-150 degree water on sunny summer days
i make @ 80 gal. of 120-130  deg. water during the winter.
i will post pics of my assembly when i can.
tell edison to get off the pipe

But you cant shower with warm water in the morning.

Or during weeks of overcast winter days in the mountains near the Canadian border.
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Riddler

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #133 on: May 16, 2011, 04:15:07 PM »

your pal ''edison'' is , apparently, a moron.
with 2) 30 year+ old panels, i make 120 gal of 145-150 degree water on sunny summer days
i make @ 80 gal. of 120-130  deg. water during the winter.
i will post pics of my assembly when i can.
tell edison to get off the pipe

But you cant shower with warm water in the morning.


ah,
the storage tank should be super-insulated.
if you use an indirect water heater (ie: superstor) for your heat exchanger/storage tank, it loses only 1/2 degree per hour
you won't lose all your hot h2o overnite
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Riddler

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Re: Mad Max / Off the Grid tips n' tricks
« Reply #134 on: May 16, 2011, 04:17:22 PM »

your pal ''edison'' is , apparently, a moron.
with 2) 30 year+ old panels, i make 120 gal of 145-150 degree water on sunny summer days
i make @ 80 gal. of 120-130  deg. water during the winter.
i will post pics of my assembly when i can.
tell edison to get off the pipe

But you cant shower with warm water in the morning.

Or during weeks of overcast winter days in the mountains near the Canadian border.

how many days a year is that?
20-30?
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