I recently bought a 1300sq ft Cape house that has a hodge-podge of heating systems. It was originally electric baseboards (that still operate). Then the previous owners installed kerosene monitor heating with two units. And there’s a big wood stove down in the finished basement. I’d like to get a central heating system installed. I don’t need central air conditioning – I wouldn’t use it more than a half-dozen times a year here in Maine.
Installing an oil or gas furnace with hot water pipes throughout the house would probably cost upwards of $10k, followed by the joy of heating bills as long as I live here. I started wondering the other day how much more it would cost to convert to solar instead. I like the environmental idea. I’m not positive my house is positioned optimally for solar (the gable end faces south, not the roof-line), but if it is, has anyone done a similar conversion?
If I went this route, would it be better to keep the electric baseboards, and power them with solar, or to install hot-water heat, again with solar providing the power?
I don’t think I’d need to go 100% solar. If it could provide most of my electricity needs during the summer, and a big chunk of the bills over the winter, that would be ideal.
Anyone done similar?
Thanks,
-Sean
Replies
Sean,
Active and passive systems vary with location. You might seek out a solar supplier in your area and chat them up. You should know what you're paying per KWH b4 you go.
You might explore a lean-to sun space on your South side.
PV panels can be mounted on the ground if your house is positioned badly. Most likely active solar will not be the least expensive option that you have.
ShelleyinNM
I was thinking the same thing yesterday at work about solar power.Or house faces south for afternoon sun (prefect). Anybodyout there that can help.(Electric and gas companys need not apply). Living in PA.
I'm no expert, but I did a bit of research into solar electric systems as my house is ideally situated for solar.
Solar electric systems are very very expensive. Puruse sites like homepower.com & homeenergy.com and you'll see what I mean. The prices I was hearing to replace my $60/month electric bill were in the $30-40,000 range.
People with solar systems worry about things called phantom loads, like the vcr that uses 3 watts per hour even when it's off. In fact, they count watts on everything they use. The first thing that always seems to be eliminated is heating anything: water, air, clothes dryers, ect.. As these are big energy hogs.
Solar electric is really cool, but not practical for heating anything. Even a small portable electric heater requires 1500 watts. A system to supply that, with an inverter and battery bank to run it is big money, and a small heater won't even warm up 1 room well.
I'm still hooked on solar, but not solar electric, it's just too rich for my blood. Look into solar hot air and solar hot water panels instead. These work quite well and are inexpensive (in fact I intend to build my own). I'm going to add a solar hot air collector to my workshop, hopefully before next winter. For heating they're many times the bang for the buck of solar electric.
With solar hot water collectors you're again looking at the expense of adding radiant tubing to your house. Probably with a boiler as a primary heat source, and solar panels as a supplimental one. So your $10,000 cost plus the extra panels & plumbing to tie the solar system into the radiant system.
But, if done right, a solar hot water system can save you more money then it costs. In fact the payoff can be 5 years or less in saved fuel costs.
Hope this helps.
Sean, solar is great, but it has its drawbacks. My dad (near Augusta, ME) has had a solar hot water collector on his roof for about 20 years. His situation is ideal, a south-facing roof and no trees to block the sun. The water collects in a big water heater; on sunny days it will heat all the water he needs for domestic hot water. I think the solar-heated water contributes to his hot water baseboard heat too, but I forget.
He has an oil-fired boiler as well--in Maine, where there can be several cloudy days in a row (this week for example!) you wouldn't want to rely on the sun as your only source of hot water.
My GF's parents, also near Augusta, live far enough off the grid that it would have cost them $10k just to run power lines to their house. Instead they invested $15k in a PV array and battery bank instead, which works great as long as they're careful about maintenance and wattage use. They use natural gas for things like cooking and refrigeration, and a woodstove is their only source of heat. Works great for them, but the system is so complicated that it's hard for them to go on trips because they need to have someone trained to run their system.
What I've always thought was a good way to go, if you're on the grid, is to get a PV array and sell your energy back to the electric company. That way you don't have to spend the money on batteries, you don't have to worry about cloudy days, and you aren't wasting any of your energy gain. If your goal is to be "self sufficient" than it may not be for you, but as far as doing right for the environment I think it's a great option.
Mike
PS, where are you in Portland? My GF and I live in the East End, and are looking at buying a house near Deering that has a weird heating system--electric BB, K1 monitor heater, and a NG monitor heater. If we get the house we'll just change over to a NG boiler, but someday we'll have a place with solar heat....
Sean,
I've been interested in solar electric for a while, and I've installed solar electric systems on a couple of horse trailers with living quarters. I suspect that your needs and location preclude solar as an option, but you should really go check out http://www.backwoodssolar.com. They sell solar electric, hydropower, and windpower stuff at very reasonable prices, but most importantly their catalog and website have EXCELLENT discussions of when it makes sense to install offgrid power, how much a typical system will cost, and what you can expect to do with that system. I've been impressed by their site because they are definitely not trying to get everyone to convert to solar. Instead, they provide very practical and realistic information about alternative power. Also, the information is free. Check out their website.
Mark Salser