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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>I Went Solar Power Today for My Home
Michael 04:23 PM 06-04-2014
Living in California has its pros and cons. On of the upsides is the 350 plus days of sunshine every year. I decided to go solar and it took two days for it to be set up on both sides of my roof. 50 solar panels which equates to 60 amps. That's a lot of power. Since I just purchased a gas guzzler I now have a reason to feel a little better.




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SilverSabre25 04:32 PM 06-04-2014
super cool Michael! My dad uses solar for his home in Canada. I bet yours is more effective, lol!
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coolconfidentme 04:43 PM 06-04-2014
How long will it take to pay for itself, if you don't mind me asking? Do you have a rough idea?
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Michael 05:36 PM 06-04-2014
I would guess around 10 - 15 years. My electrical was around $600 a month. So, night time is Con Edison and daytime is mostly solar.
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CraftyMom 05:37 PM 06-04-2014
Nice! I'd love to do that!
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Lucy 05:53 PM 06-04-2014
Sorry to be completely off topic, but do you have 2 garages??
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coolconfidentme 06:18 PM 06-04-2014
I'm totally electric, but in Indiana. I'm trying to figure out using hydroelectric. I have 3 ponds & a big creek with waterfalls. If I could hardness that, humm....
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midaycare 06:31 PM 06-04-2014
That is great! And such a beautiful home.
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TwinKristi 06:53 PM 06-04-2014
My dh is an electrician and hopes to eventually work in the solar field managing a crew or something. That's such a great investment!
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spinnymarie 07:00 PM 06-04-2014
Awesome! We hope to be there someday as well.
Are you able to sell some back to the company?
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e.j. 07:36 PM 06-04-2014
Nice! I'd love to be able to afford to make the change to solar power. The orginal part of our house was built 60 years ago and has very little insulation. We live in the northeast and this past winter was soooo cold. Our oil bills were horrible despite trying to keep the heat in the house as low as possible. I'm very jealous!
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Michael 01:06 AM 06-05-2014
Originally Posted by Lucy:
Sorry to be completely off topic, but do you have 2 garages??
Yes

Originally Posted by midaycare:
That is great! And such a beautiful home.
Thank you. Moorpark is a beautiful town.

Originally Posted by spinnymarie:
Awesome! We hope to be there someday as well.
Are you able to sell some back to the company?
That is how its supposed to work. The extra power not being used goes to the electric company for our credit.

The panels are supposed to last at least 20 years. They say that panels will probably get more efficient and powerful in later models in the future. So we may want to change them at some point but really don't need to. The 50 panels are all we should need. We installed a infrared sauna and that is on a 240v outlet. The panels can also support two central air conditioners so this summer should be pretty good for us will all the sunshine here.
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playground1 02:06 AM 06-05-2014
Awesome! I love the idea but we live in an apartment.
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LysesKids 04:40 AM 06-05-2014
So jealous… my uncle just got his solar panels in December (Hollywood area)
That would be the ultimate for my "green" childcare
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Sugar Magnolia 05:03 AM 06-05-2014
Sweet.
Cool pad
Florida Power and Light has a plant that is a combination of solar and natural gas. First in the country, I believe. I think solar is under-utilized in the "Sunshine" state.
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originalkat 05:41 AM 06-05-2014
Oh wow! That is awesome! Love the house too.
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DaisyMamma 05:57 AM 06-05-2014
We use A LOT of electric. I don't know why. A recent chart sent out by our elec company showed we use 4x that of our neighbors!
There might be an open circuit somewhere but we can't figure it out.

Anyway, do you mind telling me what it cost to do this? You can PM me if you like.
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Blackcat31 06:05 AM 06-05-2014
@Michael...your set up looks fantastic and kudos to you for being green!! I wish more people were willing to spend the money to save the money (and the earth)


We use solar power for our houseboat. Two solar panels power the boat (for 9 people) for an entire weekend. Including ALL the amenities of "home" (TV, microwave, hot water, stove, oven, fridge...)

We are currently looking to change over to wind power and install a giant windmill.

There are so many ways to be green now in regards to power companies...it is AWESOME!!

We have alot of people up here who live completely off the grid and provide their own power much greener and cheaper than any electric company could offer.
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Chellieleanne 09:54 AM 06-05-2014
That is awesome

I can't wait to buy a house and get solar. We need it with the insane heat during summer!
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sharlan 10:02 AM 06-05-2014
I would love to go solar.
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dalman 10:04 AM 06-05-2014
Being off the grid, for the most part, is a wonderful feeling. We had that freedom when we lived out in the country, but in the 'burbs of Minnesota, it's a whole different situation. I am wondering how this will affect the sale of your home down the road? Will you recoup your investment? Will it make it harder to sell by narrowing the pool of buyers that are interested in solar power? Or is solar power really desirable in California? I would tend to think that it is. Just wondering. Kudos to you for taking the plunge.
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Fjordbak 10:28 AM 06-05-2014
Congratulations Michael, it looks great!

We got a windmill three years ago, and it is a great feeling to produce your own power.
We have thermal heating and have managed to turn our 107-years old farmhouse into a 'plus-house', meaning we produce more power than we use pr year.

I have a photo of our estate and the mill, if anyone would like to see it. Don't want to photobomb Michael's thread

Rikke
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Blackcat31 10:31 AM 06-05-2014
Originally Posted by Fjordbak:
Congratulations Michael, it looks great!

We got a windmill three years ago, and it is a great feeling to produce your own power.
We have thermal heating and have managed to turn our 107-years old farmhouse into a 'plus-house', meaning we produce more power than we use pr year.

I have a photo of our estate and the mill, if anyone would like to see it. Don't want to photobomb Michael's thread

Rikke
Feel free to add your photos...

Most of our threads start on one topic and end on another...

It's a great way to share so please do
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Fjordbak 10:42 AM 06-05-2014
Photo of our farm and the windmill
Attached: image.jpg (138.5 KB) 
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sharlan 12:24 PM 06-05-2014
Originally Posted by Fjordbak:
Photo of our farm and the windmill
I LOVE your home and farm. I would love to have a nice piece of property for the kids to run on.
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Michael 03:15 PM 06-05-2014
Originally Posted by originalkat:
Oh wow! That is awesome! Love the house too.
Thanks, we have a beautiful back view.

Originally Posted by DaisyMamma:
Anyway, do you mind telling me what it cost to do this? You can PM me if you like.
We have a larger system. There were 6 workers that started at 7am to 4pm for two days. They said they usually only take one day but ours was a very large install. The cost is around $50k and some states also give tax break incentives.

You can also lease to buy. They will calculate your needs and lower your utilities bill by two thirds. Lots of ways to get into solar out here and there are several good companies. We called Con Ed and asked them who was the best in their opinion.

Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
@Michael...your set up looks fantastic and kudos to you for being green!!

There are so many ways to be green now in regards to power companies...it is AWESOME!!
We are the only ones in our community. So we are looking very obvious. People will start asking.

Originally Posted by dalman:
I am wondering how this will affect the sale of your home down the road? Will you recoup your investment? Will it make it harder to sell by narrowing the pool of buyers that are interested in solar power? Or is solar power really desirable in California? I would tend to think that it is. Just wondering. Kudos to you for taking the plunge.
Good question. I think people frown upon having solar panels on a home. That it somehow detracts. I think it looks modern and that we are environmentally conscious about our environment. I hope we start a trend here and more do it. After all, when we get earthquakes, the power is the first thing we lose. So we will be the ones that will be powered up.

Originally Posted by Fjordbak:
Photo of our farm and the windmill
That is a great looking place! Nicely done!
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mom2many 03:35 PM 06-05-2014
We've had our solar panels for 3 years now and LOVE them! We actually had a credit on our energy bill this past month and it's great not having a huge bill each month.
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spud912 04:57 PM 06-05-2014
We just viewed a house the other day (looking to purchase) that had solar panels already on top. Unfortunately the house was too small for our needs . I'm surprised we don't have more use of solar energy here in Arizona.....we get sooo much sun! And our electricity in the summer is painful!

Originally Posted by Fjordbak:
Photo of our farm and the windmill
Wow ....nice!
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franwoodruff 11:24 AM 03-17-2015
Keep shade issues in your mind when installing solar panels. A panel that loses 25 % of the company's light can lose half its power production. The biggest thing to make note of is tree foliage. Are any trees gonna grow among the sunlight and panels? Consider trimming rid of it somewhat.

When working with solar energy, there is no need to bother with harming the surroundings at all. Non-renewable fuels send harmful greenhouse gases off to the atmosphere, and they also help with global climate and warming change. However, solar panels haven't any influence on the planet and they are stable.
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