I get two power bills at my house so now I'm looking into solar.

[WindWizard]

The pool, stoves, dryers and heaters are all gas if that makes a difference.

V/R
Ron

In my opinion, one of the first things to do is to get rid of the gas heat for the pool. I have a 7500 gallon pool in the state of Maine and are running it entirely with solar. I heat with solar and run the pump with solar.

To heat the pool I am using 12 flat panel solar hotwater panels. To run the pump, I use my solar panels and also use my 110kwhr of batteries. I can get the pool in the 90s.

The system is totally automated. When the water heats up, then the pump turns on and runs until the water temperature drops.

An energy audit will certainly help and then look at the highest electricity consumer and then figure out how to reduce it.

Originally our pool had a gas heater and then a heat pump heater. My wife did not want to pay to heat the pool and so I took it on as a challenge. The net result is now it does not cost anything to run or heat. Our power bill is zero from February to November.

I don't pay for water to fill the pool. I use rainwater collected from the roof.

There is a ton of stuff that you can do to reduce expenses.

 

[Skypower]

My electrician is definitely out of his league. We have one company coming over on Friday but after talking it over, we will definitely get a few contractors from both word of mouth and Google/Yelp reviews. It seems from this forum and others, not a lot of solar companies stick around a long time.

Well, by being on this forum, you’ll be better armed with knowledge for sure and shysters nightmare. The big name installers may or may not be the best, but nether is a one man show. Something in between perhaps. There are systems that they push and even tho the system may give you all kinds of neat data, you can’t make changes or access customer service, they only talk to authorized installers. This might be just fine for many people but I like being in control of what I bought. I’d prepare a questionnaire(a test ). Ask to see pictures and ask for a referral, if you could contact a customer who has a similar system.
A good installer is proud of their work and takes lots of pictures trust me, a friend who’s is a licensed installer is always texting pictures of jobs from the Bay Area.

 

[740GLE]

In my opinion, one of the first things to do is to get rid of the gas heat for the pool. I have a 7500 gallon pool in the state of Maine and are running it entirely with solar. I heat with solar and run the pump with solar.

To heat the pool I am using 12 flat panel solar hotwater panels. To run the pump, I use my solar panels and also use my 110kwhr of batteries. I can get the pool in the 90s.

The system is totally automated. When the water heats up, then the pump turns on and runs until the water temperature drops.

An energy audit will certainly help and then look at the highest electricity consumer and then figure out how to reduce it.

Originally our pool had a gas heater and then a heat pump heater. My wife did not want to pay to heat the pool and so I took it on as a challenge. The net result is now it does not cost anything to run or heat. Our power bill is zero from February to November.

I don't pay for water to fill the pool. I use rainwater collected from the roof.

There is a ton of stuff that you can do to reduce expenses.

gas usages for pool heating is prob least of their concerns.

Also they are probably on natural gas $, where you were prob blowing through LP $$$$?

That is unless they keep it 85f year round, which I guess is prob the norm for the area.

 

[Bleedingblue]

Just so I'm clear because another member here mentioned that to me via a private message last night... the 30% tax credit is on the cost of the system? If I'm into it without batteries and related hardware for say $100,000 then my tax credit will reduce that one-time cost to $70,000, correct?

If that's the case, then adding batteries to the house might make sense since I would probably be another $30,000 into with the batteries (plus or minus, just ballparking).

V/R
Ron

Yes anything you buy or dedicate to the solar is tax deductible as I have took off a lot off my taxes. Built a shed and all sorts of stuff like, wiring, battery cells, tools etc etc etc.
What will happen is that you keep all the receipts and turn them in to your tax guy and you will get that money back in your federal tax amount.
It took me a couple years to get all mine back in refunds. When I buy more batteries or inverters to grow my system I still take it off my taxes.