New England B.S. Thread

Been doing my research for a few months and finally getting ready to call some local companies for consultations - but wanted some input from anyone here. Anyone have solar on their house?

A new bill as pushed through in MA that is specifically aimed at letting residential home owners purchase solar equipment through a pretty very affordable 10 year loan. Finding this kinda changed the game for me - instead of leasing them through viviant or solar city, I could purchase them and receive all the incentives and SRECs directly, dump them into the loan and get the thing paid off quicker.

I had a quick look at my roof done when my neighbor had solar city install his panels, and the contractor that day more or less said my house is an excellent candidate for panels. I feel like there is a major point I am overlooking here though....take my $140/month electric bill, eliminate it with panels, and replace it with a $140/month loan. Seems almost too good to be true. Any input again is definitely appreciated.

 

Diesel tundra 2016!!!!!!

 

Just saw a new trd sport in person for the first time. The grill is definitely less offensive, not a bad looking truck. I like the headlights a lot

 

I say go for it, but I'm biased because I want solar on my roof and I'm a bit of a nut for the renewable energy stuff. Dollars to pesos says that power costs are only going to go up in the next ten years, so if you're paying a fixed $140 for that whole stretch then you're ahead of the game even before you pay the panels off, let alone for the 10+ years of free power you'd be getting after they're paid off.
$.02

 

I have looked into it and talked to many people that have had it done. Most say they wouldn't bother doing it again. There are a lot of problems in the equation. First, make sure the guy you talked to knows his stuff. Often times you will get sold a system that doesn't eliminate your bill at all. You need a lot of panels to cover $140 a month power bill. Now consider this is likely a $50k system that with incentives you might get for $30k. I did your math and 10 years at $140 a month is $16,800 not figuring any interest. That is going to buy a very, VERY low powered system, trust me. So make sure you do your homework on how many megawatts you use every month compared to the system you are interested in, because a lot of people are finding themselves with a big monthly payment for the install, a token $25 power credit for your input to the grid and a power bill 80% of what it was. So I can almost guarantee that your looking at more like a $30k system. So let's say you can do something for $200 a month that eliminates your bill. The panels have anywhere from 15-25 years in them before the entire system needs to be replaced, but after 10 years you own them outright. You might get 5-10 years of no power bill, but when the system dies you either pony up another $30-50k or start buying power again. That same $140 a month power bill for 20 years would cost you $33,600 and you have no liability of owning a system you need to repair if something fails. Is all this worth saving like $5-10k over 20 years? Well maybe, because the hidden factor is how much power is going to cost in the future. It might cost double what it does now, then you might make out- as long as your input back to the grid remains good. One last thing to consider... what happens if your roof fails and needs work? Well, you will be on the hook for removing and installing the system again. The people I have talked to all say the only real tangible thing you are guaranteed to get out of it is being able to brag to your friends that you are saving the earth.

Finally, one last point for you to ponder. As I am sure you know there are all sorts of federal and municipal incentive programs going on for solar. First, this should make you suspicious. I mean, if solar was all it is cracked up to be, why doesn't every house have it and why does it have to be pushed with incentives? Because it's not a trouble free commitment. But more importantly it has created a huge influx of shady, fly by night solar companies that are just looking to cash in. If you aren't scared away yet, make sure whoever you deal with gives you a guarantee on the output of the equipment for a certain amount of time because the quality of the panels varies greatly.

I'll be interested in how you proceed so keep us posted!

 

Maybe. Maybe not. That's the problem.

 

Wifes cousin has one on their house. Very similar to what you said on average they save about 20% on their bill. Some months are obviously more, some less. Not sure what their loan is but the savings don't cover the cost of the system. They got theirs after they had Masssaves come out and do an audit a few years ago. At the time the state had a bunch of incentives and masssaves had some recommended installers which is where there's came from.

 

Shrug. How much was the average power bill 20-25 years ago? Odds are likely that going 10 years at a fixed cost, then 10 years at no cost, they're going to come out ahead of the game vs 20 years of a gradually increasing power bill.

I've visited a couple of solar-powered houses, both off-grid and grid-tied, and they've all been ahead of the game vs what they'd have paid if they'd been buying power from the grid. The guys that are grid-tied are generally much more ahead of the game, since they're not supporting the cost of a battery stockpile, but there's been exceptions (two of the houses I've visited went with batteries because CMP wanted an exorbitant amount to run power to their house in the woods and it was cheaper to buy the batteries) There's a house in Southern Maine that's had their panels for over 20 years (grid-tied) and they're still producing more than enough power to cover all of the energy needed each month.

 

Full disclosure their house was built in like 1920 do I'm sure there are inefficiencies there.

 

yeah, but I'm sure it's had wiring updates since then, right?

 

your electric bill is $140/mo with or without ac?

 

it was $140 with a marginal AC use at night. It goes up in the winter due to running a pellet stove 24/7 and the need for additional space heaters in the corner of my house, specifically my office.

I am for saving a dollar where needed, and I may just end up not doing anything, or at the very least leasing the panels. It am cautious by nature and still have this tingly feeling in my stomach that I would get screwed somehow down the line. Trying to find a way to avoid the high electric bills we faced last winter (seeing bills up around $250 hurt like a motherf*cker). Granted I am aware that winter solar production is shitty to begin with, but with leasing I at least can tap into a reserve I build up during the summer.

 

Flywheel looked good no discoloration at all I didn't even bother to replace it. My clutch actually looked pretty good. Bearings were a bit rough but that was it.

I have the crawler permanently attached and the Tcase is ready to install after I change the input seal. Shifters are set up. I'm going to need to chop apart the trailgear skid that I'm using to fit though.

 

i can't stop watching this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoUEQYjYgf4

 

...

 

Didn't trail gear make a tcase skid specifically for double cases?

 

As others have said about solar, be aware of who is installing. The ones I have seen around here just get bolted to roof and tarred to seal. They don't actually pull shingles and flash any of the penetrations

 

Yea but I have CBI bolt on they mount to the same place easier to chop the skid than the sliders

 

we've come full circle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbYWhdLO43Q&feature=youtu.be

 

Saw that video on Facebook which was how I found the site. Got a good laugh