Also if you have good amount of homemade smoked Kielbasa in the freezer. I've been lucky with power outages with these storms, the last one we had ( Irma ) we were with out power for only 12 hours while our neighbors were out for 8 days. The 12 hours was spent cleaning up and clearing the road.
Your Daily Rant
- Thread starter DaveM
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Well I looked into getting a generator but it will mean it will need to run for at least 180 hours a month, that is just over a week. So the cost of this is just not affordable .
Dave, can you get a propane powered generator? Here those are much less expensive to operate.
Never seen anything like that our side we have diesel and petrol that is it. These days both these fuels are expensive for long term use like this.
Even here with petrol and diesel prices less than half of yours, it is expensive to run a generator 24/7. Here most whole house generators are propane or natural gas. Bigger generators like at hospitals are usually diesel. Diesel gives better gallons per hour consumption rates than petrol.
This is why the only way to get around this is solar power but that is really expensive to setup right now but the prices are coming down.
The family next door to me is having a massive solar system installed on their roof.
It's costing them an arm and a leg, and it will take years to break even, but they're young and intend to stay there for many years.
Regardless, it will be a great selling point should they decide to sell.
It's costing them an arm and a leg, and it will take years to break even, but they're young and intend to stay there for many years.
Regardless, it will be a great selling point should they decide to sell.
Well years ago when I wanted to do solar I had them come around and give me a quote for my house. The quote was more than what I paid for the house when I purchased it, so I did a miss on it
Rocky, I looked into this two years ago. Between the federal and state incentives, there were no out of pocket expenditures. It would have cut my electric bill by about 30%. Basically, the solar company becomes my new electric utility company, They sell the excess energy produced during daylight hours back to Duke Energy, our electric grid provider. I then pay Duke Energy for the electricity I use from them - which has been reduced 30 to 40 percent. All of the installation, the materials, switches, solar panels, and wiring are installed by the solar provider at no out of pocket costs to me. Why did I not do this? It involves a 25 year contract. I more than likely do not have 25 years left! We are probably going to sell and full time RV in the next two years. The contract with the solar company would be paft of the house sale could adversely affect the sale. Thirty years ago, I would have jumped on this.
Many people think solar gives them power when there is a power outage. That is not the case unless you have a battery backup system as part of the solar. What you are doing is letting a solar power company use your roof.
You are spot on and installing the battery backup system does come out of pocket and it is not cheap.
If it can supply 95-100% of your power needs, then the payback time is reduced to between 10-15 years.
Some things a lot of solar companies do not tell their customers:
1 - the panels should be washed every year. They collect dust and dirt and become increasingly less efficient.
2 - solar panels are more efficient at cooler temperatures, not high temperatures. So, combining temperatures with hours of sunlight, winter is least effective, spring & summer are most effective, and summer is good because the hours of sunlight compensates for the high temperatures.
3 - You still have no power during a power outage of the grid, because you have no battery backup. This makes some sense at night, because the panels can't produce power without light. But, because ,in most cases, the power from the panels is going to the grid, not to the house, when your connection to the grid is lost your power is lost.
4 - As you mentioned, CarlS, the solar company now has a lien on your house, so not only does it raise the cost of the house when it goes up for sale, the house can't be sold without the agreement of the solar company.
I am not saying it is a bad idea, but the consumer NEEDS to be informed. In principle, I support solar power, I just wish they could improve the efficiency of the panels, which has not significantly improve since the 1980's.
I agree with this article 100%. 
Good questions I don't have an answer for.
Your home owners insurance takes care of your roof. The solar company comes and dismantles everything in advance. The solar company inspects your roof prior to the installation. Thus your roof must be fairly new.
You are welcome. I chose not to go solar.
