Whole house power systems

[David]

I caught a commercial on the Generac Power System. Looked interesting as it can be used with solar or from the grid. Anyone have any experience with such a system? Pricing?

https://www.generac.com/for-homeowners/ ... ean-energy

[tom mac]

Don't have one but looked into similar .... cost wise it didn't pay over a generator setup.
From things I've seen they start at about 10k and up without install.
Batteries need to be replaced about 3 yrs.

https://news.energysage.com/generac-pwr ... ry-review/

What scares me is the warranty info as to THROUGHPUT;
PWRcell comes with a 10-year limited warranty. For the different models of the PWRcell, Generac also notes a “throughput warranty”. A throughput warranty is another way to measure when the warranty period on a battery has been reached based not on time but rather on how much energy has been stored and discharged over its lifetime.

Overall, a PWRcell warranty is valid for either 10 years or the amount of time it takes to cycle the specified amount of energy through the battery, whichever comes first. (This is similar to car warranties – ten years or 100,000 miles, where the throughput of a battery is similar to mileage warranties.) The throughput warranty values for each PWRcell model are below:

[David]

I've checked into solar before but so far I haven't found it to be worth the prices they're asking. If batteries have to be replaced every 3 years on this set up it sounds like it isn't worth it in the long run either. I can see a whole house generator for those times the power goes out, but systems for continuous use/off grid just don't seem to be cost effective. At least from what I've seen so far.

[Mac66]

Our new house will run on propane. We are putting a whole house propane generator in should the power go out. I looked at solar but its not really economic in our area.

[Bob]

Solar is gonna come around sooner or later. Probably sooner.

Propane is nice though. Emergency PIG power!

[David]

For solar to come around they're going to half to more than cut the price in half to make it feasible. Last quote I got (about 6 months ago) was in the 40K range. That was just for panels and installation, no power banks for power going off etc. So yeah, lowers the power bill but you've got the 40K to pay off. And by the time you pay the panels off it's going to be time to upgrade or replace the panels. So there really is no net savings. Either you're paying the power company or the solar company. What's the difference?

The new house will have natural gas for the stove and heat that is suppose to continue even if the power goes out. And we are getting an outdoor kitchen plumed as well on the linai. So for any outage we should still be able to cook so that's a step in the right direction. I could see putting in a whole house generator like Mac mentioned so the AC and lights could continue to function if the power goes out. Depends on the cost.