You wouldn't use the $30K of Powerwall once every 15 years, you would set it up to use it 24/7. A couple refrigerators and power for some small items really wouldn't tax it much and yet help with lowering electric costs. The same minimal items you would want to power during an outage. ROI on panels is often around 4 - 5 years. ROI on battery storage is 9 - 10 or less, with electricity prices climbing like they are. Still a lot better than the ROI on a fossil fuel generator. Especially one that doesn't start.
Battery back up is a temporary solution to a long term problem. the amount of BTU and energy stored in gas/ diesel still can not be beat. batteries are a good supply to allow getting a longer term solution implemented.
Dual fuel (gasoline/LP) gennys can solve the long term storage "won't start" issues that gasoline powered ones can have...plus LP gas stores well too...win win.
The ROI on my solar system is much longer than 4-5 years, more like 15 years (and yes, that accounts for the tax credit received). My latest bill was $0 so I don't see how a powerwall will reduce the cost of electricity unless I have a whole bunch of long power outages and have to use a generator. I must be missing something. I hope so, one was delivered on Thursday. Still have to get a 20# propane tank. I'm more worried about making sure the elderly neighbor has power if there is another event. Most likely, both of those will sit around for 10-15 years and be big paperweights (and eyesore in my yard for the tank). Will it start when I need it to? IDK. Not sure how the long term storage of of it will go - the gasoline powered one was never used (so no old gas/oil mixture in it), so it should have been fine. But once again, I don't know anything about them, so I'm probably missing something here too.
Battery banks can be used to make money if your state has Time Of Use contracts (TOU), or you are allowed to pick when (time of day) you sell your excess electricity back to the utility. TOU agreements and Net Metering agreements are usually mutually exclusive, meaning an individual can have one or the other but not both.
A Powerwall (or powerwall equiv) your latest bill would have been less than zero. You would be accumulating credits already. You use the Powerwall to be partially off-grid. 24/7. A fridge and your pellet burner probably use about 2 kw a day. Power those with your batteries instead of Eversource. What would your payback be if all your panels pointed ideal direct south ?
My gunny powered up today with no issue when the power failed! Iam all about if one of my fossil fuels fails, let another step up!! Lol
You are making assumptions, I have accumulated credits from March. My west side has started outproducing my south side over the last week. With panels on 3 sides, I produce electricity from sunup to sundown (okay, not quite, but close at 11 hours a day at present), which it would not be doing if I had south only. Since my roof can only handle those 6 panels on the south side it is useless to think about what it could be doing (plus, that has a bit of shade). I don't know why you are trying to fit my situation into your your preconceived notions from your situation, but please quit.
On the new one I'd go ahead and fire it up on LP so you know it works before the warranty is gone, no reason not to, it won't hurt a thing, no potential residue like with gasoline.
Waiting for my LP tank to come in. Then have to get it purged and filled. Then trundle the 100 pound beast outside and figure out the connections. Since I've never had a propane anything previously (except my boiler which is hard run in), so hoping I don't blow anything up
bogieb realize that the gas line are reverse thread so it lefty - tighty or opposite of regular put a bit of dish soap and water in a spray bottle and spray fittings and check for bubbles.. they will be small and rapid bubbles. No bubbles no leaks
Whenever you hook up the line and open the valve, do it slowly, the new tank safety valves take the sudden pressure drop (filling the empty lines/system) as a leak, and shut down. To reset it, close the valve, wait until you hear a click, then slowly open it again, hopefully everything works the second time.
Thank you - I would not have known that about the reverse thread! And thank you too - something else that would have frustrated the heck out of me!
Just because I can, I have started using the Ryobi battery pack for powering the bigger electrical users in the early morning for those things that can't wait for the sun to come up. It powers the 1000w microwave just fine and uses around 88% of its available load (not capacity). It also runs my coffee pot, charges my phones, and can run my small, portable dishwasher. Right now it is powering a window fan. The power pack will get me thru several days before the batteries have to be charged, and that can be done while the solar panels are producing. It doesn't save me a whole lot, but reduces my pull from the grid by 1.0 - 1.5 kwh per day. And of course, I use the batteries for some of my Ryobi equipment, so they are pulling double duty.
I'm looking into this too, But I plan on adding small solar panels on the garage roof that will charge the just battery bank. Then I guess we could actually call it a generator? My plan is to use the gas genny during daylight hours and the solar battery bank at night or short outages up to say 4 hours. I may add a charger for the battery bank that I can manually run while on genny power to help recharge in case there isn't much sun. But I think I need to start a thread someday with my overall plan of attack. Still plan on some day having the utility company adding panels on the house roof. I have the garage roof to play with and make at least the lighting for the garage completely off the grid. I would only need to run my welders off the house current. Tap into the off grid as needed to use the battery bank to help the house during black outs. Its not likely that connecting into the solar panels on your roof would be an option. But that would allow you to use what you already have paid for.
