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Solar Hot Water Quote.

Waxman

Waxman

Super Moderator
I just got a quote for solar hot water for my carwash; production water as well as floor heat. I'm in the Northeast.

PV Panel powers system, and it uses vacuum tubes to preheat all the water for Hot Water storage as well as floor heat (2 heat exchangers). Most stuff is USA made, which is great.

Cost of materials plus installation seems very high and I was wondering; who else has a system like this installed within the last couple years I can check figures with?

TIA.
 
Curious if the solar quote came from Marc Tyndall in Harrisburg. Let me know.
Thanks,
Buzzie

Ps your pm folder is full!
 
Using the CR4 forum, I think I have developed a pretty cost effective way to circulate my floor heat solution using passive solar...

As a sidenote, I was quoted 100k+ for a solar system to take me off the grid.
 
Buzzie8 said:
Curious if the solar quote came from Marc Tyndall in Harrisburg. Let me know.
Thanks,
Buzzie

Ps your pm folder is full!
Click to expand...

No, the quote was not from that place. It was a local guy I know.

The system cost seems high for what it is but I am just learning about all of this.

Seems like a simple concept and simple equipment/installation.

Am I missing something or is the mark-up exceptionally high on these systems?
 
Bubbles Galore said:
Using the CR4 forum, I think I have developed a pretty cost effective way to circulate my floor heat solution using passive solar...

As a sidenote, I was quoted 100k+ for a solar system to take me off the grid.
Click to expand...

Care to share the link from CR4 for your ideas???
 
Waxman, every year I attend a sustainable energy festival here in PA ( http://www.paenergyfest.com ), its a good opportunity to talk to 8 or 10 solar/wind/etc competitors in one day. Every year I come to the same conclusions:
a) Show me the BTUs. In other words, the least common denominator in any heating system is heat output (measured in btu) per dollar.
b) Solar systems - based on what I can see - never turn out to be cost effective. Unless the government gives you $ to do it.

That said, yes I agree that there are still other reasons to install solar... but "$ saving changes" is not one of them. For me (in my county). Today. Yes I still look at it every year, and someday I hope to be able to do it.

My shorter response to your question is yes, IMO the costs are higher than they should be, but no I dont have a quote to compare.

btw, one of the main reasons is that the sun usually isnt shining. Where I live, between nighttime, clouds, rain... the sun shines about 20-25% of the time. That dramatically lowers the actual # of btu's you can get... or quadruples the number of collectors and adds a storage requirement.
 
I would second what Paul said. I researched solar power two years ago for my home. Basically unless the government kicks in a large portion of the cost it might never prove to be economically sound. While the systems I looked at ranged from fairly basic to sophisticated the common denominator was that they were not cost effective or maintenance free. The only time it seemed to make a system economic sense was when I got the pitch from the companies trying to sell them.
 
I have both solar pv and solar hot water. You are all right--if not for the grants and the sale of srecs, no one would do solar pv. But since all those goodies are there in Delaware, it makes pay back 4-4.5 years. I have 3 car wash locations with solar pv, and I just did a 7.2kW system on my home. Srecs are guaranteed through 2021. My systems are well paid off by then, so they can do what they want at that point.

Regarding solar hot water, I just did it for wash water. To me it really does not make sense to do floor heat, because it would take so many panels and a large exchanger for something you use 3-4 months. The wash hot water is a quick 2-3 year payback. $20k or less should cover a system to do all you hot wash water and pre-soak. I spent $11k at two locations, but it is not enough to completely heat my wash water. But I am reaping good savings.
 
I am building a passive solar drainback system that I will be installing in the spring at my wash. I got most of my ideas from builditsolar.com

Check it out, there are a ton of ideas on there!
 
One of the problems I see with this, aside from the fact that it is not cost effective without subsidies, is that it over complicates the systems. When this happens, reliability goes down and maintenance goes up.

I guess I just don't want to deal with more equipment without a substantial benefit.
 
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