got a phone call today...

[birdhouse]

so this guy josh called me today wondering if i could install a grid tied wind turbine on his property.  first off, i started asking him questions. 

turns out he's looking for a roof top mounted turbine in the 4-5' dia. range that will put out a KW or more.  then he told me he's had an anemometer up for over a year and has an average wind speed of 7.6 Mph.  THEN he told me his house was part of some HOA where they wanted the turbine kinda hidden for asthetics reasons. 

i almost laughed out loud on the phone!   granted this guy is trying to do good things as he already has a 7.5Kw grid tied solar system, and stopped there because he ran out of roof.  but he's got something wrong as his elec bills are still over $200 usd a month. 

i suggested to forget a wind turbine, yank a few PV panels and do some DHW panels with an aux tank before the HWH. 

he was stoked to speak with me, but i don't think he really grasped what CONSERVATION MEANS!

funny conversation i thought you folks might get a kick out of!

adam

[rossw]

granted this guy is trying to do good things

.... and all you could do was ruin his day with FACTS.   Killjoy 

[bj]

   Adam, as you say, he's trying to do good things, and he will probably get it some day, as long
as he has people like you trying to tell him how it really is.
  But, he is also probably a prime candidate to get taken by someone with no ethics.
  All you can do is try.

[philb]

With 7.5 Kw of power and he needs more? I could understand that if he has a business but that is a lot of power for a residence.

I was approached by a man several days ago about putting a home made wind generator on his property too. He didn't know what was involved and didn't know about the addiction it can create.  I gave him a basic rundown on what he needs and sent him email with this site and a few others for some light educational reading. I think another person is going to become an addict.

[birdhouse]

yea, it was a pretty interesting conversation.  the 7.5 KW system is just for his house.  that's it.  i should've asked the square footage of the place.  maybe it's a 7000 sq ft house??  who knows. 

i started out my "rant" with "there's a lot of junk being pedaled by shotty companies, trying to sell turbines".  then started talking about payback with a ~$10,000 install for a bergy xl1 that maxes at 11 cents per hour in a GOOD wind location.   told him i'm not trying to sound like a debbie downer, but it's just not feasible. 

he came around pretty quickly, as apparently i was the third guy he talked to that basically said the same thing.  so, apparently there are at least two other professionals out there that aren't trying to take folks money for a system that will never pay back!

adam

[Rover]

" 7.5Kw grid tied solar system, and stopped there because he ran out of roof.  but he's got something wrong as his elec bills are still over $200 usd a month."

hmm interesting....Lot's of reasons (maybe) why.

1. House is huge , uses lots of electrical, large AC units parked outside.. etc
2. Solar install is questionable, did he know anything about it... quite easy to NOT get what is expected from such an array... pointed wrong... etc. Wiring/Installation comes into play.
3. Area where there some strange buy back phenom.. if this is a grid tie... maybe gets a check at the end of the year?

Can't assume anything.

Awesome that you informed him correctly about the potential of the wind unit he was thinking about. Also makes me think about decisions he made about the solar.

Rover
 

[rossw]

yea, it was a pretty interesting conversation.  the 7.5 KW system is just for his house.  that's it.  i should've asked the square footage of the place.  maybe it's a 7000 sq ft house??  who knows.

I live and work 100% offgrid. My solar makes the majority of my power, most of the time.
I have a fairly modest solar install thats a little under half his (3.4kW). My home is in the order of 8000 sq ft. It includes two home offices (with all their computers and equipment), workshop with lathes and lots of power tools, and a lot of other power-consuming devices many folk never think of (complete aerobic water treatment plant, water pressure pumps, transfer pumps, many computers running 24/7 etc).

With 7.5kW solar, I reckon I'd have power to burn, most of the time!

[ghurd]

yea, it was a pretty interesting conversation.  the 7.5 KW system is just for his house.  that's it.  i should've asked the square footage of the place.  maybe it's a 7000 sq ft house??  who knows.

I live and work 100% offgrid. My solar makes the majority of my power, most of the time.
I have a fairly modest solar install thats a little under half his (3.4kW). My home is in the order of 8000 sq ft. It includes two home offices (with all their computers and equipment), workshop with lathes and lots of power tools, and a lot of other power-consuming devices many folk never think of (complete aerobic water treatment plant, water pressure pumps, transfer pumps, many computers running 24/7 etc).

With 7.5kW solar, I reckon I'd have power to burn, most of the time!

Adam,
Add what Rover said to the above.
Something, somewhere, is not adding up, somehow.
This might be one of those times someone is pulling your chain.
G-

[Wolvenar]

I agree with all the other evaluations..
At 750 watt I can nearly power my house in the daytime but only just *if* I am taking it easy on the power drain
At 7.5KW I would be partly heating the house in the winter with the waste!!

Either he has the total capacity of the solar wrong, only claiming what his inverter is??
Or maybe the inverter cannot USE all that solar power to send it back the the grid or do anything with it otherwise??

[Norm]

Roughly speaking (the wife) pays about $80 maybe $120 a month
I figured maybe 20 KWH a day so with his system 7.5KW I'd need
only 3 Good hours of sunshine and sell the rest at even 1cent a KWH
and the grid would be owing me money.

Ah but who knows how some people pay their bills....If you never pay
your electric bill on time and just pay on it.....and what you pay
on it doesn't even pay for the electric used that month.....the grid just
loves people like this......of course they make a pretense of helping us
all out ....but we don't really believe that do we ?

   So this guy could be still  be paying on his electric bill from 3 or 4 years ago
they're not really going to pay you for your electric you give them as long as
you owe them for theirs.

Norm (pedaling away .....saving a whole bunch of money....Heh heh ! )

[bj]

   No matter how you slice it, there is something we don't know/understand.  But it got us thinking.
   Got to love this place. 

[birdhouse]

yea, who knows.  i really don'y wanna call the guy back to find out! 

i do know he's got a hot tub.  probably AC set at 67 all summer in a giant house, and probably an electric three phase smoker that runs for 22 hours a day for each and every dinner,  maybe a heated driveway to keep the ice/snow away?  or maybe he just really like seeing toast perfectly toasted, but never eats it...  repeating the toasting hundreds of times per day while sitting in his 15 person hot tub??

adam