Outer Marker wrote: ↑Sat Jun 19, 2021 9:20 am
aburntoutcase wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 6:01 pm
Olly wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 12:29 pm
I live in Northern NJ and I had a 20kW air cooled Kohler installed in 2019.
If I could have my time again I wouldn't have bought it and would have gone for Tesla Powerwalls for multiple reasons...
Interesting thought. The home actually has two arrays (4 panel and 13 panel arrays on different sections of the rood) of Tesla solar panels installed with a total capacity of 17x260 Watts or 4.42 kW. When I go to the Tesla Powerwall ordering page just to check, it insists on selling the Powerwall with a new Solar roof ($127K and 31.81 kW in solar panels) and 7 Powerwalls (which they only allow you to reduce to a minimum of 4). If you ignore the Solar Roof option, the only other option they allow is to buy at least 4.08kW solar panels together with a single Powerwall. There does not seem to be a way to order just the Powerwall. The Powerall itself is $10.5K and if you buy two it is $17K. But the minimum solar panels they will allow is 4.08 kW and that is $8.2K. Perhaps I should call Tesla after the closing and ask them if they would consider doing just a Powerwall install since I already have 4.42 kW of solar panels.
I think you are on the right track with upgrading your solar vs. buying an expensive generator. Upgraded solar will pay you back every day
and serve as backup in emergency. The generator does nothing for you on a day-to-day basis.
It all depends on how much protection he requires. What you're saying obviously makes sense, as expanding his solar capacity and adding solar batteries would reduce his reliance on the grid, which gives him an immediate return on his investment and also provides a measure of power backup in an emergency. Depending on his backup requirements, this may be sufficient.
Having said that, the above obviously depends on the weather and wouldn't work for extended outages. A lot of power outages are caused by inclement weather, so if he wants a solution that is not really weather dependent and would work even for more extended outages, then solar and powerwalls wouldn't replace the need for a generator.
Generators also require regular maintenance.
Generators require simple maintenance every 100 - 150 hours, which for most people means once every year or two. As I've previously posted, I purchase an OEM service kit online for roughly $50 and then pay my handyman another $50 to install it (it's a simple oil change, spark plug and air filter replacement). Every 4 years or so, I also get him to replace the battery for another $90 - $100 (it's a standard battery that you can get from any auto parts store). Most standby generator owners in our area do the same thing.
My homeowner's insurance company gives a discount for having a standby generator, which more than makes up for the above cost.