Wintah Bantah

[Brewbeer]

2 hours ago, BrianW said:

You forgot about solar and heat pumps.

Moving this to banter, I installed a 8.5 kw system about the same time you did and also have 1 for 1 net metering.  I don't have a minimum charge and have a large credit with the POCO, system generates more power than my family uses on average.  The credit was up to $1,200 last summer but the inverter died and was replaced (under warranty) and lost 2+ months of good generation (August-October).  This winter has also been bad, November December and January are usually net negative months, and this February was the lowest generation month I've recorded since install, persistent snow and cold kept the panels covered.  I still have 7 panels with some snow on them even now.

I would consider a heat pump but I don't like forced air heating.  When the badly designed and installed forced air heat system in my house died 10 years ago, it was replaced with a high efficiency warm water baseboard system.  That system operates at less than 130F and could be run off a warm water heat pump some day.  But for the now the gas boiler installed 10 year ago has been economical and has operated flawlessly and also provides hot water.  

 

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

22 hours ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Not weather related, and not AI, but saw 2 bald eagles having a snack on one of the ponds near my house this afternoon.  Sorry about the crappy picture quality 

Thanks Steve.

[dendrite]

1 hour ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Thanks Steve.

Is that an ineedsnow ensemble map

[HoarfrostHubb]

13 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Is that an ineedsnow ensemble map

I couldn’t get very close and just had my phone.  I had never seen them on the ice before.  They were there again today.   Pictures were even worse 

[dendrite]

4 minutes ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

I couldn’t get very close and just had my phone.  I had never seen them on the ice before.  They were there again today.   Pictures were even worse 

I’m just kidding. Nice pic.

[BrianW]

23 hours ago, Brewbeer said:

Moving this to banter, I installed a 8.5 kw system about the same time you did and also have 1 for 1 net metering.  I don't have a minimum charge and have a large credit with the POCO, system generates more power than my family uses on average.  The credit was up to $1,200 last summer but the inverter died and was replaced (under warranty) and lost 2+ months of good generation (August-October).  This winter has also been bad, November December and January are usually net negative months, and this February was the lowest generation month I've recorded since install, persistent snow and cold kept the panels covered.  I still have 7 panels with some snow on them even now.

I would consider a heat pump but I don't like forced air heating.  When the badly designed and installed forced air heat system in my house died 10 years ago, it was replaced with a high efficiency warm water baseboard system.  That system operates at less than 130F and could be run off a warm water heat pump some day.  But for the now the gas boiler installed 10 year ago has been economical and has operated flawlessly and also provides hot water.  

 

I am actually using 2 12k btu high efficiency mini splits. 1 floor console upstairs 1 wall unit downstairs. Works great for my open 1800 sqft split level that is very well insulated and air sealed. These things operate at just stunning efficiencies at low speed. They can run as low as like 100-200 watts at their minimum with the compressor on. I literally never turn them off and they just run low and slow all day. They were rated 30.5 SEER 14 HSPF which was like double any other heat pump available at the time. 

I have been monitoring my solar/electricty consumption including my heat pumps for almost 10 years. My average winter usage has been around 2500 kwh for Oct-Mar heating usage. Its been steadily around.5-.75 kwh per HDD. So last month BDR had 1000 HDD and it was crazy cold and I used 644 kwh for heat. So .64 kwh per HDD but often much lower in mild months. 

This is almost all powered from solar. Ive run short around 500-1000 kwh a few winters due to clouds. Even if I had to buy the electricity at CT's crazy high rates last month would have cost me 644 kwh x .33 it would have cost me $212 to heat my house. The one big benefit with electricity for heat pumps in the winter people often overlook is the stable electricity fuel price. Electricity in almost every market is adjusted twice a year for summer/winter. So your fuel cost doesn't skyrocket over night like the now nearly $5 a gallon heating oil. Electricity prices actually went down here at the winter rate change and doesn't adjust untill June 1st. 

 

 

[Brewbeer]

20 minutes ago, BrianW said:

I am actually using 2 12k btu high efficiency mini splits. 1 floor console upstairs 1 wall unit downstairs. Works great for my open 1800 sqft split level that is very well insulated and air sealed. These things operate at just stunning efficiencies at low speed. They can run as low as like 100-200 watts at their minimum with the compressor on. I literally never turn them off and they just run low and slow all day. They were rated 30.5 SEER 14 HSPF which was like double any other heat pump available at the time. 

I have been monitoring my solar/electricty consumption including my heat pumps for almost 10 years. My average winter usage has been around 2500 kwh for Oct-Mar heating usage. Its been steadily around.5-.75 kwh per HDD. So last month BDR had 1000 HDD and it was crazy cold and I used 644 kwh for heat. So .64 kwh per HDD but often much lower in mild months. 

This is almost all powered from solar. Ive run short around 500-1000 kwh a few winters due to clouds. Even if I had to buy the electricity at CT's crazy high rates last month would have cost me 644 kwh x .33 it would have cost me $212 to heat my house. The one big benefit with electricity for heat pumps in the winter people often overlook is the stable electricity fuel price. Electricity in almost every market is adjusted twice a year for summer/winter. So your fuel cost doesn't skyrocket over night like the now nearly $5 a gallon heating oil. Electricity prices actually went down here at the winter rate change and doesn't adjust untill June 1st. 

 

 

how did you fair during the snow and cold of February?  my panels were completely covered nearly the entire month.  

[BrianW]

1 hour ago, Brewbeer said:

how did you fair during the snow and cold of February?  my panels were completely covered nearly the entire month.  

I am fortunate that I can clear my panels really easy by just standing on my deck with a broom on an extension pole. Most of the time I just clear the bottom 2 feet and it melts or slides off. Took me quite a bit more work though in that big storm but I remove the snow regardless as I dont want ice dams. I definitely wouldnt be climbing up on a ladder or anything crazy like that to clear it. If I had a ton of land I would do a ground mount in New England. 

Production is really starting to ramp up with that increasing sun angle. Here is the production from my small 1.2 kwh system that really shows the increase well.