Sounds good Rusty. It's the way to go for sure.

We put on a 5kw solar system mid last year. Before solar, our hot water was a 315lit off-peak with a 3.6kw element. I considered a dedicated solar hot water, but after talking to the consultant, we determined the best outcome, for us (two people only) was to reduce the element to 2.4kw and run it off the solar from 10AM to 4PM via a time switch. That's over 14kwh of free power going into the hot water. As well as the hot water we run our 2HP pool pump during the day in solar hours only, and try to use as much free power during the day as we can.

After just over a year of use, we have never run out of hot water, and have proved the settings work for us. I've put the readings into a spreadsheet each month (on the 1st). We are averaging a saving of $100 every month off our previous mains power bill. 60% of our daily use comes from solar, the 40% remainder is for nighttime usage, i.e cooking evening meal, refrigerator, lights, TV, etc. - we run the dishwasher in solar hours only, as well as the washing machine.

In spite of our total usage, we still manage to export 60% of our solar production back to the grid - but we only get 10c back for each kwh we export.

The biggest problem is the bxxxxy daily Access charge of $1.50 - that's $550 a year we are paying out to the supplier just to have the cable connected to our switchboard without even consuming a single watt - what a total rip-off.

In a few years when the price drops to realistic levels, I'm seriously considering a battery system, go fully self-contained and get the mains cut off totally - then the B...'s wont get another cent out of me.

I have an instant gas HWS, gas heating and cooking (but electric oven). However I do note that all the new houses built is a new street opposite us have the newer type tube solar HWS.

Purchased an air-fryer a few months ago. That reduces power considerably. It's really a compact 2 serve, 1600w, fan-forced oven. Not any quicker but no need for a 15min warm up heating up a large area that one doesn't really need. Even works with our 2kW van generator.

Looking at the Power Walls but I'm thinking even if the cost does come down I still may not be around long enough to get the return, just my kids when they sell off my house when I move upstairs (or downstairs). Watching the SA / Elon Musk project intently.

Victoria's feed-back rates was legislated at 11.3c on July 1. Better than the 6.5c I was getting.

Being retired, we use all our major appliances during the day and the big payback when we are travelling. Also, spending on my house reduced my capital and increased my pension. PV panels have a short payback in my situation.

I'm also thinking my wife's next vehicle maybe a full EV. Been reading up on the BMW i3 and the Tesla 3. Out of my dollar range now and want over 350 km range. The i3 with the 650cc motorbike engine generator makes sense to me while battery is still limited.

Better off having HWS "ON" when the solar panels are at their peek . Then maybe top up if required through off peak ? Early A.M . If you run out of hot water in early morning ? Taking FULL advantage of solar .

Yea could be right ! Now we've retired. We used shower / hot water etc around 10 am . So we have all day to heat the HWS . Mainly have solar to compensate for air conditioning . Here we are allowed 5KW per phase . Lucky I have 3 phase for welders and air conditioning . Wouldn't mind up grading to 8KW and fitting 3 phase inverter ? The inverter is the costly part !! Other than having a house to fit them on !! Going off grid ? Another type ( more expensive ) inverter is required as std type use mains to keep the A/C frequency !! Ahh !!

Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Thomas Edison & John Burroughs all had water wheels.

Actually I reckon (and lots of others) what you should do is pump water up in a tank with wind (when it blows) and solar power (during the day) and then run it back out thru a water wheel (kinetic energy) during the day to a ground level tank. The battery being water high up (potential energy). Same that is done in the Snowy power scheme that has been touted as being a lot more feasible when the coal runs out (or the greens stop us from mining the stuff).

TV and lights use bugger all power . Parents had an air pump that pumped warm air in cealing to maintain warmth .

The way Elect is going .. Even running a generater in peak ? Will possibly save . Houses up Napean river have been doing this for years . Solar and battary packs for light & TV ..

Rusty.

A lot of homes run both now. Most, through the grid Inverter.

ONE of mine does Grid, T'other goes a mix of grid or\and battery.
when set to loads.

A lot of mates (I'm sorting mine now.) Have Panels on roof to max limit
through grid.
With a separate set of panels, through separate Inverter\Reg.
to own battery system. Or pool pump systems.
NONaffiliated to Main grid System at all.

You'd be surprised how quickly you can recoup the outlay. even without the grants.
If you set it right.
And the prices you paying for systems nowadays.
well.....

 

Plus. when you change the existing 17w globes for 3 or 5w LED's.

Lovely WHITE\not yellow light and virtually zilch  consumption.

Magic.

GOOD ones are down to $23 ea now on net.

Our firstlot in Kitchen cost me near $100 each,

X 3. for 3 w.

-- Edited by macka17 on Monday 10th of July 2017 12:08:02 AM

Yea.
Then you come into the "shades" of white.

Neutral white is a yellowish. Stay away if you want "white".
It ain't.

There are around 7 differing levels of white.
With Yellow,Blue,Purple, Green tinges.

Go to a LED light forum and check tinges out.
BEFORE deciding on what shade to get.
"Candlepower forum" is a good one for reference.

RustyD wrote:

---

Aus-Kiwi wrote:

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TV and lights use bugger all power . Parents had an air pump that pumped warm air in cealing to maintain warmth .

---

As long as lights are flouro or LED. I replaced 7 x 150w filament globes in my living area in last house with 7 x 18w flouro globes. That was in early 1980s when the globes first came out. Big difference.

In current house just replaced all those stupid halogen downlight globes (11 of them) with various LEDs. Also a big difference and now I can actually see.

TVs are not bad but use more than you think mainly because of how long they are running. The plasma TVs use heaps, more than the old CRTs. Just feel the heat coming out of them. Some people I had lunch with today were saying how much heat their plasma TV pumped out. I just have smaller LED/LCD that are essentially 12v. I reckon the transformer gets hotter than the screen.

What was the air pump? Pump warm air into ceiling? Hot air rises and goes there anyway. Ceiling fans can run both ways to circulate the hot air back down in winter or circulate upwards in summer.

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 Was in NZ .. Would work well here especially away from coast where Day temps are over 20* and down around 6* over night ..The pump was basically an extractor fan or fans .. It was computer controlled that when temps inside got to cold setting before roof temps dropped it would turn on and pump warm air trapped in roof .. usually between 11pm to 2am .. If your awake ? You can really feel the warmth .. Keeps house free of condensation too.. The top section of roof had extra tinfoil type insulation under rafters .. In hot conditions it can work the other way . I had Mercury vapour lights in house years ago . One or two light the whole house up.. Used in factories and street lights..

-- Edited by Aus-Kiwi on Friday 14th of July 2017 12:36:14 AM

@ Rusty

The numbers this time of year looks pretty good
How long will it take to earn that outlay back ???

Regards John