Jump to content

Dahobbs

Legacy Members
  • Posts

    13023
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Dahobbs

  1. 1 hour ago, Captainant said:

    Just curious with the automated systems do you also have a brief outage when switching back onto mains?

     

    1 hour ago, texasdago said:

    No.  I remember it being seamless.  The power would come back on, you would hear the "clank", the generator would run for a couple of minutes and cool down and then all would be back to normal.  We had it installed through Reliant back in 2018 so there's no telling what they charge now but they handled everything... all turnkey and the permitting process was a piece of cake since they had all the connections with the city and CenterPoint.

    It does take a generator a moment or two to kick in. You'll likely have to reset clocks and the like. If you have a desktop or other electronics that shouldn't go down at all, you'd want to pair it with an UPS. 

    (edit - just realized the question was about switching back to main, so the answer above doesn't apply to that)

  2. 22 minutes ago, ROFL BOX said:

    We are doing a re-roof soon & Farmers IS paying $ 6,000+ for the PV panel D&R (Detach & Replace).

    One end of the house & not a large array.  Removal is specialty work & unless you know what you're doing to disconnect from the electricity components, that's a dangerous thing.  Nobody on my crew would do anything other than to clean a panel while it is on the roof. .

     

    Pic attached is the best Google Mapolator has & I don't have house photos on my phone any longer. 

    I'm trying to find a reason why they will not pay for panel D&R If they are not damaged & can only assume because insurance wanted advance notice so they could attach a rider to accomodate costs for possible D&R or even full R&R (the recent Dripping Springs hail we had out here completely destroyed 8 panels on a house we ate working with & that's being covered completely by their insurance as a total loss inclusive to the shingles).

     

    Screenshot_20240521_151238_Maps.thumb.jpg.69c93fc5fe82f5d116f9678f31012ff4.jpg

    Yeah, fair, normally the solar company would handle removal of the panels. Still, my understanding is that the majority of any additional work is on the re-install and not the removal. I think your assumption makes sense regarding failure to provide notice of the panels. I'll note, if the panels were destroyed by hail, it would be worthwhile for the homeowner to look at the manufacturing warranty. If the panels were rated for above that level of hail, they likely have a warranty claim. 

  3. 10 minutes ago, HouTex said:

    I priced a Tesla solar/battery system a few years ago because my patio home does not have enough room for a natural gas powered generator.  I wanted enough battery power to last two days with no sun running both of my AC units in a typical Houston summer.  The quote was $80k and a few power guys I know didn’t think it would be feasible because the batteries would take up most of the space in my garage.  I’m still without power near Woodway and Potomac in 77057.  If I could install a solar/battery system that would meet my needs for $30-40k I’d do it.  I’ve been told that the batteries should be coming down in price.  

    Yeah, battery for 2-days with absolutely no sun and running both AC units would be massive. But it is also way overkill. If you have no sun for 2 days, you're usage is going to be way down because it isn't going to be as hot. And even with cloud cover, solar will still generate power. We got a 12 kw solar array and two batteries totaling 26 kwh (Tesla Powerwall). The house is small (1300 sq ft), but we have two electric vehicles, electric stove, electric oven, and a pool. Our average daily usage from June to August last year was 82.8 kwh. Average daily solar production was 54.8 kwh. Just not charging the cars would get us down below that daily average. I'm fairly certain we could last indefinitely with modest conservation. Even if the batteries run out one-day, the system will start charging them again when the sun comes back out. 

    For this event, we used 41.1 kwh on Saturday and 59.5 kwh on Sunday with fairly minimal conservation (AC set to 76 instead of 73). We even charged the cars some and did some laundry because otherwise we would have had excess solar that couldn't go anywhere. Solar production was 58.1 kwh on Saturday and 61.7 kwh on Sunday. Batteries would get down to around 30% by 7 am, and then the sun would start offsetting usage again and charging the batteries. At most, I might get one more battery to provide a bit more cushion at night. 

  4. 6 minutes ago, royiv said:

    We’ve  got a 24kw Kohler in our backyard. For those thinking about a standby generator, I highly suggest you look at Kohler over Generac. Much more reliable and they’re a little bit quieter than the Generacs. 

    How big of a house for the 24kw? That's a lot of power, just curious if you use anything close to that. 

    • Hook 'Em 1
  5. 2 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

    Yeah, we're both in the same area. And oddly,  saw a ton of tree damage ON roofs, but after all the cleanup I haven't seen that much actual hardcore roof damage. Most folks roofs from driving around mostly held or had minor damage. But a tree over the panels, if not completely taking them out, at least is preventing recharging. On the other hand, sure something can take out a natural gas genny, but that's a hell of a smaller target, statistically. Also, solar as other's said can be damage by hail or high winds in general, which also isn't really a problem with a generator that fits under my roof easement and is smaller than an office desk. 

    Just a difference of practicallity and opinion. 

    No worries. Just some more flavor, panels are really fucking strong in general. Even when the roof gets damaged, the panels themselves are actually fine and just need to be reinstalled. And while an entire system is a bigger target for something like a tree, a tree is unlikely to takeout a whole system. Assuming you have a good install, the rest of the panels should work fine (although older setups are string installed and can have whole system taken out by a single malfunctioning panel). As to hail, many panels are rated for up to 3 inch hail at 88 mph. Again, if you're experiencing more than that, you likely have more significant problems than some damaged solar arrays.  

    • Hook 'Em 1
  6. 26 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

     

    Man, I live in a neighborhood where no shit about 80-100 massive, massive trees just took out roofs galore. And honestly, my old oak tree in the back stood strong but could have oblitered us...and any solar panels we had installed. It's hard not to look at that thing at this point as a time bomb. And believe me, I don't need 20kw generac. I'll be honesty, I'm questioning if I even need a 10kw generac. I'm starting to think I can run with 6kw. 

    All of that being said, it's sort of why I'm leanings towards a generac that hooks straight up to my natural gas line. Natural gas raaaarely goes offline in Houston. I don't have to go hunt for a gas station taht's open, or have a stockpile of gas in my garage, etc. Shit's pricey, but I also hate being hot and uprooting everything in our lives X days a year, and these days it seems like we have some kind of shit event every damn year. Hurricane season this year will be a fucking beating. 

    My brother in law took one, and we left one up at the property. 

    Got it. I think we live in essentially the same neighborhood from your posts in this thread. That said, a massive tree that takes out your house enough to destroy a solar array means you likely have bigger problems than lack of power and could just as easily take out a generator. 

    27 minutes ago, CHIEF said:

    We have several homes in my subdivision with heavily damaged roofs and solar panels. Insurance companies are balking at paying to replace the solar panels. A couple of the homeowners have the panels insured through a third party insurer recommended by the solar installer. BUT, if your roof is damaged, the insurers will not pay for the labor to remove and reinstall the new panels. Many insurance companies are refusing to underwrite the homes with solar panels at all.

    CHIEF

    Solar panels are considered attached to the house and are generally covered by HO policies. There are sometimes exclusions for damage caused by wind or hail depending on where you live. There may also be issues getting damage covered if one didn't notify their insurer previously of the install. But I can't think of any reason that an insurer would refuse to cover a house entirely. I think that is misinformation and may even be against the law. Finally, if the roof is damaged enough to be replaced, I don't see how removing the panels is really any extra labor. Reinstalling, sure. 

    • Hook 'Em 1
  7. 1 hour ago, SydneyCarton said:

    Second an inverter generator. I purloined this one from my hoarder father in law after we had to move him out of his ranch. He was a massive hoarder, it was literally in a box unused...next to 1-2 other identical units also in boxes. I would say it saved our ass quite a bit over the weekend.
     

    Once you got all of the load on, you could switch it to "Efficiency Mode" and it would run for about 6-7 hours on a little more than a gallon of gas. That sucker succesfully powered 2 fridges, our deep freezer, our wifi, and things didn't really get diecy until I tried to add a TV and portable fan to the mix. It was a champ.

    Now, all of this being said, as awesome as that thing was, pretty sure I'm about to bite the fucking bullet and just get a fucking generac. Houston just has too  much shit happen to it at this point, and the quality of life step-change is probably worth it. Of course every time I get motivated is right before hurricane season, where I probably can't get one installed in time. 

    Generators are good, but I really think the battery + solar combination is overlooked in Houston. The battery responds instantly to any outage (the lights may flicker), requires zero maintenance, and has a renewable source of fuel that you don't have to go look for. And, generally speaking in Houston, you're going to need more power when it is hot, which also happens to be when the sun is out. Solar is generally a decent investment in Houston anyway so long as your roof gets good sunlight. And the battery while more expensive upfront than a whole home generator, isn't that much much more expensive and doesn't require fuel or maintenance. 26kwh of batteries came out to be 14k with install after tax credit. That's on the high end for the installed estimates I've seen for a 20 kw generac (10k-15k). 

    • Hook 'Em 2
  8. 17 minutes ago, Nivek said:

    For those of you without kids in HISD.  Miles directed them to tell parents at 9PM last night and no earlier if there would be school the following day.  The Frank Black Middle School Principal (on her way out) did a decent thing and told everyone there would not be school.  The Oak Forest Elm. Principal sent out a coded message letting parents know.    

    Miles stringing along parents until 9PM the night before, just to be an asshole to parents, kids and Houston in general.

    Around 3 pm yesterday HISD also providing a list of schools that had power, cooling, were ready to feed children, and would be open. That listing included schools like Helms that definitely did not have power (I know because I was there helping clean up). And it included schools like Heights High School that has no cooling (workers are trying to fix the AC). At least for Helms HISD eventually fixed its mistake at 9:5 pm and included it on a listing of "campuses that we planned to open [that] no longer have adequate power and air conditioning and will be closed." The Heights High School, the principal sent around an email asking parents to bring fans for the school while the AC is being worked on. 

  9. 18 hours ago, Pancho said:

    He gone.

    There was always a reason certain Black celebs/musicians didn’t fuck with him. There’s also a reason a lot of celebs/musicians did fuck with him and his crew. 

    Biggie and pac were working from heaven to take down Diddy since, well, he had something to do with both of their murders (Black conspiracy theory)

    That's impossible since Pac isn't dead. 

  10. 19 minutes ago, BlackCat said:

    Is there any decent information available about how long the power will be out? We have somewhere to go, just trying to decide if we might as well go now. 

    Really depends on where you are. I'm told heights area is tomorrow evening. 

    We got limited power. I have an electric leaf blower and can help move some trees if anyone needs it in Timbergrove or Heights area. 

    • Hook 'Em 2
  11. 13 minutes ago, Red Five said:

    I didn’t hear all of it, but John Kasich was on MSNBC earlier saying he thinks Biden is going to pull out. I don’t think he was basing it on anything other than these fucked up polls.

    Of the election?

    • Haha 5
×
×
  • Create New...