House solar panels

[Jaros]

We had an electrician install a timer to the hot water so that it only uses the solar to heat up the water and if we have a few cloudy days it has 3 days storage of hot water as a back-up. We have a heat pump hot water system. It cuts out the biggest user of power in the house.

 

[Nightjar]

Our electric bills before the solar were 800-1100$. After the panels we are usually around 100 to 200$. My wife recons we paid off the panels last year. We only have a 6.5kw system but it is cost effective. The next project is to put the hot water system on the solar with a power diverter. That should reduce the bills even more as we have peak and off peak metering.

Have seen many households with bills like the above.
Our regular bill (two occupants) was around $200.00, this is now halved with the installation of the 10 panels/3.2KV???, no battery.
We have had solar hot water since '93 and only turn the (one hour timed) electric booster on during winter cloudy days.
SWMBO always only ever does washing in cold water and clothes are hung out to dry either in the open on rain free days or under patio. (Do not own a dryer.)
Wood fire, no electric heater.
Gas stove with electric oven.
Surely the lack of a solar hot water system wouldn't take an average bill from $200 to $1000?
What are residents using to rack up such a high bill?

 

[Solid Luck]

What are residents using to rack up such a high bill?

Three teenage daughters to start with

I've had mine for 9-10? years now and I'm pretty sure it's paid itself of.

 

[Jaros]

Everyone on pc's in different rooms watching individual tele's. swimming pool filters, clothes driers, lights left on in unmanned rooms etc.
Basically unsupervised households.

 

[user 14190]

I have been known in the past when our 3 teenagers were at home and I felt they had been in the shower long enough I would go and turn the hot water off, only took 3 or 4 times and 2 them soon learnt to have a quicker shower and the one that had not been caught did not want to try the cold shower at all. :lol:

 

[Rodt]

Does anyone here just have solar hot water? Our electric one is now looking like it needs replacing so thought I would look into solar as an option. Don't have any solar panels and won't be getting them due to our usage patterns.

Interested in how much of a difference going to solar hot water has been for those that have

They are not the cheapest things going to purchase and I have concluded that there would need to be a pretty good payoff to justify

Thoughts?

Rod

 

[Dihusky]

I'm yet to hear of someone who's actually in front with solar.

Hope someone can prove me wrong

We're way ahead with ours, 5kw system installed 8 yrs ago, already had solar HW and changed all lights to LEDs, actually had to change a lounge globe yesterday and found I'd marked it, 23/3/2013 gotta be happy with that. Anyway the system earns us around $2.5k per year and it cost us $10k.

Rebate started dropping and the cleaner found some burns in the panels, had them changed under warranty so now back to peak again.

Proper cleaning is often overlooked, dirty panels cost a lot of power.

 

[Lesgold]

Had a system installed when the gov was paying 60c per kWh. At the end of the scheme, the $17000 that was outplayed was recovered plus a 2% profit. The system now subsidises my power bills. Batteries are apparently coming down in price but still have a lifespan of about 10 years. If you spent 10k on a battery, it would still cost you $1000 per year.

 

[PabloP]

I am no expert at this, but I believe that I am way ahead with my solar and it is only a 12-panel system (about 3kw). But I have had it for >10 years. What most people don't do is to analyze their power bills or use "properly".

To further understand/analyze my use, I also recently had a small device called a PowerPal fitted to my meter and it allows me to monitor the use continuously on an App on my phone via Bluetooth. You can also have it work on a computer but I haven't done that yet. But this device and app don't tell you what you have saved, just what has been measured by the meter, and therefore doesn't "see" the power that has been provided by the Solar. It does show hourly use charges, daily summaries, etc. By using this I can avoid using some devices during the peak charge times and move that use to off-peak which is typically daytime with max solar or after 9pm.

But after having said this the main problem that many have is in understanding the rebate that they get and how it can change over time. Over the years my rebate has fluctuated from 63c, down to 30c, then currently back up to 70 odd cents. So take care to not get stuck with a low rebate for a long period of time.

Rob P.