OT - Solar Panels

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2014: OT - Solar Panels
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Saturday, August 02, 2014 - 07:13 pm:

We're adding a handicap room to our T era house. It's Spanish style, and has half flat roof and half pitched roof, so we can do either on the new room. Which is better for solar panels: flat roof, or pitched with a south face?

Due to a ChiCom $30 Billion investment in solar panel manufacturing, the price has dropped drastically. It's no longer a ten year payback, especially at our top rate of 30-35 cents/kwh.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tony Bowker on Saturday, August 02, 2014 - 07:17 pm:

We have a 3:12 slope facing south and both the solar hot water and electric generation work very well.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Milne on Saturday, August 02, 2014 - 07:39 pm:

The optimum is to have your solar panels at the same angle as your latitude and facing the equator.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mark Strange on Saturday, August 02, 2014 - 07:44 pm:

Here's an interesting site that talks about optimum solar panel tilt:

http://www.solarpaneltilt.com/


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michael Deichmann, Blistrup, Denmark on Saturday, August 02, 2014 - 08:05 pm:

Bonusinfo: We have had an extraordinary sunny July here in Denmark this year. 14% of the country's power consumption was satisfied with solar panel made electricity. As it have also been pretty windy I wonder how much was made by wind.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Saturday, August 02, 2014 - 08:10 pm:

Thanks, guys.

At 33.7 degrees North, then, they should be at 8:12 pitch.

Hmmm..


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Hycner on Saturday, August 02, 2014 - 08:23 pm:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-jH1h8txaJY&list=UUTR4CE2btN1bnbadW6DfWvQ
Here is a link to my panel installation. Payback was a little over three years. They produce more than we use a year. Great getting a check back form the power company at the end of the year.
Any qualified installer can site your property and tell you what the system will produce based on the roof direction and angle.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Saturday, August 02, 2014 - 08:27 pm:

I just saw that Germany got 24% from renewables.

Thanks for the calculator, Mark. It says my ideal tilt is 29 degrees. That makes more like a 6.6:12 pitch.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kenneth W DeLong on Saturday, August 02, 2014 - 09:25 pm:

Good on ya but i'm surprised a right winger has not suggested a coal fired steam engine on your roof!!!!!!!! Bud.PS,Ran both cars today.Bud.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Noel D. Chicoine, MD, Pierre, SD on Sunday, August 03, 2014 - 12:05 am:

We have 6 panels on our 30 degree dormer roof at our Black Hills cabin that don't do well in the winter with snow. There is no way to climb up there on a steel roof to sweep it off. We thus have an additional 3 panels on a post we usually leave at 45 degrees in the winter. I can brush them off. Our cabin is off the grid so we can't sell back. We rarely need to start the generator unless the system is covered in snow and dead when we get out there in the winter.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dave Hjortnaes, Men Falls, WI on Sunday, August 03, 2014 - 09:19 am:

The pitch of the roof is determined by rain and snowfall. The pitch of the solar panels is determined by your latitude.

So you can make your roof whatever you want and then attach the solar panels and pitch them the appropriate degree.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Walker, NW AR on Sunday, August 03, 2014 - 09:59 am:

Ralph -- I don't have any personal experience using solar panels, but most of the installations I've seen use a framework to raise the tops of the panels to the desired angle, rather than putting the panels directly on the roof slope.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Norman T. Kling on Sunday, August 03, 2014 - 10:28 am:

Here's a picture of mine. They are on the Model T garage and face due south. Interestingly, there is one more row which does not show in the picture and it is on less of an angle than those which are mounted directly on the roof. It provides enough electricity to handle almost every day except yesterday when it was very cloudy and slight rain. Without the air conditioner it just held its own with the meter neither running forward nor backward. On a sunny day, it will still run backward with the air conditioner on.
Norm


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dick Fischer on Sunday, August 03, 2014 - 11:02 am:

Norm,

When you said, "held its own", do you mean that the solar panels keep up with the power requirements of the garage, or are you providing power for your house (& house air conditioner) as well ?

I'm curious about how many square feet of solar panel are required to support a given area of residence. I know climate is a big factor, so you might indicate what part of the country you are in.

Thanks,

Dick


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dick Lodge - St Louis MO on Sunday, August 03, 2014 - 01:11 pm:

Dick, you can click on Norm's name to see his profile. He is 316 miles south of you near San Diego.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kenneth W DeLong on Sunday, August 03, 2014 - 01:42 pm:

The two axis on pipe stands look the best for me in the frozen North? I have doubts about getting any money from [our]power company because they sell at one price and buy at another.There is a place South west of Midland that has a back yard full and i need to ask questions?I'm not sure if my Wind lease will let me install solar? Great link Mark,and thank you! Bud.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Norman T. Kling on Sunday, August 03, 2014 - 03:39 pm:

Those solar panels serve both the house and the garage. Also the pump in our well. The house is all electric. There is no gas or propane. Most of the year, the solar gives enough for everything and some to spare. The electric company serves us after dark and provides what the solar doesn't provide. The meter has arrows which go either forward when the electric co is providing or backward when the solar is providing more than needed. Yesterday the arrow didn't go either forward or backward, so the solar was providing enough. If we use the oven or the clothes drier, the arrow will go forward, but that only lasts for a short time in the period of one day.

We live in southern California so don't need a furnace on around the clock. We use small space electric heaters in the rooms we are occupying and the wood stove in cold weather gives us enough. We do have the electric furnace set at 55 in the winter so that in the rare occasion of unusual cold weather the pipes won't freeze.

Norm


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