Any of y'all using solar panels? (1 Viewer)

[Cody]

My electricity bill keeps going up and up, and I'm considering getting solar panels. For instance, even in May my bill was about $500. I dread what August will look like. Just curious if anyone has them and what your experience has been like.

 

[Ostentum]

This is an in person conversation. I used to run the personal rooftop solar program at NRG.

 

[Team Turtle]

Honestly not worth it Cody unless you get the battery backup and loose power a lot. Panels are expensive. Unless you are producing 90+% of your own power you will still be paying the electric company, plus the cost of the system. Thinking about night time or overcast as well. Without the battery that power comes from the grid as well.

 

[reeftopia]

My reasoning against solar panels, Takes too long to recover your investment. There claims are not valid your panels will never last long enough
to justify the cost. They claim warranty but see how many co last long enough to honor a warranty. When you redo your roof the whole things
needs to come down and be reinstalled. Consider how hard to take something apart that has been weathered for yrs and now find replacement parts.
Looked into it several times myself just see too many pitfalls. Now they even have lawyers claiming you can sue to get out of your contract must
be some reason so many people want out.

 

[Cody]

I started looking at ways to reduce my electricity bill. I think I need to do new insulation in the attic first before I look at solar or anything else. Problem is, my neighbor keeps four trash cans with no lids right along the fence that we share, and a year or two ago, the rats chewed their way into my attic. I've fixed the issues where they got in, but now there's rat droppings in the current insulation, and I need to remove all that before I blow in new stuff. That sounds like a project for this winter though.

Anyone ever removed their own insulation? Blowing it in should be easy with a blower rental, but removal might but tough.

 

[gregg]

I started looking at ways to reduce my electricity bill. I think I need to do new insulation in the attic first before I look at solar or anything else. Problem is, my neighbor keeps four trash cans with no lids right along the fence that we share, and a year or two ago, the rats chewed their way into my attic. I've fixed the issues where they got in, but now there's rat droppings in the current insulation, and I need to remove all that before I blow in new stuff. That sounds like a project for this winter though.

Anyone ever removed their own insulation? Blowing it in should be easy with a blower rental, but removal might but tough.

hire the guy!

 

[Cody]

hire the guy!

Yeah removal might be a hire situation. Apparently, they spray some enzyme spray that breaks down any potential urine or fermones that leaked out. Always good to save money, but I think the removal might be a hire situation.

A lot of my attic is decked though. I might have to empty the attic and remove the decking for them to work.

 

[Team Turtle]

As long as they can get the length of the rafter you won't have to remove everything. Guess it also depends on how you decked. That part of it I would hire out for sure. Insulation is a big part of energy. If you had a problem with rats I would also check your exterior walls insulation as well. Windows are another place to check

 

[Cody]

As long as they can get the length of the rafter you won't have to remove everything. Guess it also depends on how you decked. That part of it I would hire out for sure. Insulation is a big part of energy. If you had a problem with rats I would also check your exterior walls insulation as well. Windows are another place to check

Oh I believe I found where they were gettign in and fixed it a year or so ago. No traces of rats on the motion cameras since then. My crappy neighbor, well, I haven't gotten rid of him yet. I'm open for recommendations on that one

 

[gregg]

Oh I believe I found where they were gettign in and fixed it a year or so ago. No traces of rats on the motion cameras since then. My crappy neighbor, well, I haven't gotten rid of him yet. I'm open for recommendations on that one

contact the HOA and have them send him a letter asking him to put the lids on the trash cans... oh wait, arent you on the HOA?

 

[RR-MAN]

My buddy bought his panels (~$20k) and after 3 years very unhappy with solar panels. He sells corals so his garage is insulated and full of tanks.

I say buy your panels add a few 200-300 ah deep cycle batteries and you should be good to go. Start with 6-8 panels ( newer panels 400 watts each) and slowly add more.

Do not lease the solar panels - basically they put a lien on your house even selling the house gets more difficult.

 

[DwPolcyn]

Only buy solar panels if you are getting tax breaks or gov incentives, until efficiency improves its not really worth it at the moment. As for insulation I ran a crime scene clean up company and we would just go in with TIVEC suits, shop vacs and contractor trash bags. Take you some diluted cleaner (microban/bleach) and go up there after everything is cleaned and spray it before you put down new insulation.

 

[Ostentum]

Oh I believe I found where they were gettign in and fixed it a year or so ago. No traces of rats on the motion cameras since then. My crappy neighbor, well, I haven't gotten rid of him yet. I'm open for recommendations on that one

probably cheaper to move but it can be done

 

[Ostentum]

The quick math on solar is the following, if you pay cash you get a tax credit that depending on your tax situation usually will take multiple years to receive back in full. Additionally if you were to finance with all of the escalators they build into the contracts it roughly will cost you 16 cents a kw/hr, so unless you think the price of electricity is going to go above that amount in the near future then your overpaying. Additionally if you take my house as an example the price to remove them if I needed a new roof is about 5k. To put them back on is another 5k and roughly $500-600 yr in preventative maintenance and cleaning.

I wouldnt rule out buying a house with them already on it, but I would only add about 15k in value to a system that generates 25-32kw and battery backups already in place, if and only if they were fully paid off.

 

[Ostentum]

Followup- Just checked the Tax Credit expired 12/31/25 under the Big Beautiful Bill, so no more 30% Tax Credit for solar.

 

[karlmuth]

No easy answer. If you own your home and don't plan on moving and are up 40 years old easy yes any thing past that is up for debate. Me for example over 40 own home don't plan on moving charging an ev with leased backup battery. May bill was $ 11 plus Abbott tax

 

[anibud]

After doing a bunch of research myself, I can echo what others have already said. Solar is not worth it unless:
1 - you buy used equipment for dirt cheap
2 - you do all the installation yourself
3 - You don't have to get permits

Even then you are looking at 1-3 years of ROI

Otherwise it is just not worth for this area of the country. Now if we start paying prices like they do in other states, then it starts making more cents.. lol