Solar Hot water

[surfflite]

Do any of you have a solar hot water setup in your mat? I am looking at a deal right now that doesn't look too bad. I am {this close} to getting this system http://www.easyenergyweb.com. I have talked to one other mat owner here in AZ that has had this unit for about 16 months now and claims they save, after lease payment, 8%-11%/month on their gas bill.

Basically it works like this:

They install & maintain & own the system (quarterly maintenance). They make their money on the tax rebates.

Zero out of pocket cost to mat owner, $129/month lease for 10yrs. (transferable if you sell store)

They guarantee a monthly savings from day 1, if none, they will remove the system & opt you out of the lease agreement at no charge.


They are telling me I should see a $200-$450/month savings depending on the time of year. (minus the $129 lease payment)

I welcome your input, opinions, criticism etc.....

[Howard]

If it is such a good deal why not just buy the system yourself and accrue all the benefits? For my money solar hot water makes very little sense. The sun provides maximum energy just when you can't use it - mid-day monday thru friday.

Solar electric should give you a much better bang for the buck. Depending on state rebates and srec programs these systems can be cash cows. I have a 10KW system on my home that paid for itself in under 4 years and now is kicking off an income stream of roughly $10,000 a year.

[Bluestreak]

Wait a minute.

10KW x 4.21 average sun hours/day for NJ x 365 days =15,367KW/year

Are you telling me that you are paying/they are paying you SIXTY FIVE cents a KWHr there in NJ? That is over six times the national average.

The only reason solar electric makes more sense than solar thermal is because the government has redistributed money into the pockets of those installing and using these systems. If all subsides were removed, solar thermal wins out every time in payback years.

I'd think that in AZ, solar hot water would be a no-brainer. I agree that if another company can install and maintain the system and make a profit on tax rebates, you should be able to do the same.

[surfflite]

I really don't want to shell out the capital to purchase the unit. Obviously, that would be the best deal with exception of the out of pocket expense. In Arizona we have plenty of sun so my demographic is prime for solar. AZ offers a 30% of the cost of the unit rebate.

@ $129/month for 120 months it adds up to $15480 (and you still don't own it)

I'm not sure what the actual cost of this unit is but I am going to find out before I do anything. I would guess around $8-$10K, so yeh, they are make the delta of that compared to the $15480 they would get + they get the 30% rebate.

They get the better side of this deal for sure, but if I can save $$$ per month on my gas bill after the $129 payment, that would be fine with me.

So here I am sitting on the fence. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Howard]

WEll just go for it, you have proved to yourself it will make money. I still think you are better off to just buy it, borrow the money if you don't have it.

As for my electric system NJ is probably the best state for solar. The initial rebate paid for 70% of the cost of the system, they don't offer those great rebates anymore. As for the annual cash stream, I get to sell the solar renewable energy credits. These SRECs are based on each mw of power you produce. The utility company must produce "X" percent of their energy from renewable resources, if they don't they pay a penalty which is currently $711 per MW. I can sell these credits which they buy for about $650per MW. That is where the stellar return comes from.

Heck if the government runs a program to give away money I will jump all over it.

[Bluestreak]

[ QUOTE ]
WEll just go for it, you have proved to yourself it will make money. I still think you are better off to just buy it, borrow the money if you don't have it.

As for my electric system NJ is probably the best state for solar. The initial rebate paid for 70% of the cost of the system, they don't offer those great rebates anymore. As for the annual cash stream, I get to sell the solar renewable energy credits. These SRECs are based on each mw of power you produce. The utility company must produce "X" percent of their energy from renewable resources, if they don't they pay a penalty which is currently $711 per MW. I can sell these credits which they buy for about $650per MW. That is where the stellar return comes from.


[/ QUOTE ]

Ahh, that makes sense, sort of... I also sold my RECs to an electric company, but it was a one-time deal. You really get to re-sell your RECs every year? I knew I shouldn't have signed that 20 year contract /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

But being off grid, I couldn't believe they could even count my electricity production as part of their renewable mandate, so maybe it was best to get while the getting was good.

And back on topic, I would also borrow the money for that solar system before contracting with another company like that. What if they go belly up and come and get all their collectors off your roof one day? What if the thing breaks, and they can't get out for two weeks to fix it? You need hot water every day to stay in business, I wouldn't put my whole ability to make hot water at my laundromat in the hands of one company.

[Howard]

Ok here is what I think is a better idea for hot water, a heatpump to reclaim dryer heat. This would work best with a properly engineered dryer exhaust manifold. You would install a pressure balanced blower obviously with a lint filter to blow hot dryer exhaust over the coils of a heat pump. This would take the waste heat going up the stacks and dump it into water. Think how much energy is there considering dryers are typically rated around 80,000 BTU/Hr.