Currently researching solar panels for our house (loan, heat pump)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If you're doing rooftop solar, and haven't replaced your roof/shingles recently, do that first.
Not sure what a NorCal person would find relevant in a New Hampshire forum thread on solar, where we have snow more like 5 months out of the year instead of one year out of 5.
Oh excuse me, I saw the solar panel title, & thought it was in the Home section.
We installed solar panels in 2017 and paid them off (no lease). They cover our needs with a little over/under. We're happy with them. If we had to do it again, we'll do a ground mount (right now they're roof mounted). We're also in the Seacoast. I don't recommend Granite State Solar.
They have not yet paid for themselves, but they will specially considering the electricity rates coming up. We were very glad to have them last December when Unitil hiked up the rates. We basically only pay for the connection rights most of the year.
No problems with the panels or roof leaks, but we did have an electrical issue that fried some microinverters, so we had to replace them. Our installer didn't put any protection against surges and the manufacturer claimed that it wasn't covered under warranty so... we had to replace them on our own. It was never clear why it happened, the solar installation was only 3 years old at the time, so to say we were really disappointed, would be an understatement. Again, the installer was not help at all, only wanted to get a lot of money out of us. We were able to get some information from another company and fixed the issue for 1/4 of what the installer (GSS) wanted to charge us.
Funny this thread popped back up. I got passed yesterday on 93S in Woodstock by a GSS truck which was trying to break the sound barrier. They were flying. Not an indictment on the company, just an observation.
We installed solar panels in 2017 and paid them off (no lease). They cover our needs with a little over/under. We're happy with them. If we had to do it again, we'll do a ground mount (right now they're roof mounted). We're also in the Seacoast. I don't recommend Granite State Solar.
They have not yet paid for themselves, but they will specially considering the electricity rates coming up. We were very glad to have them last December when Unitil hiked up the rates. We basically only pay for the connection rights most of the year.
No problems with the panels or roof leaks, but we did have an electrical issue that fried some microinverters, so we had to replace them. Our installer didn't put any protection against surges and the manufacturer claimed that it wasn't covered under warranty so... we had to replace them on our own. It was never clear why it happened, the solar installation was only 3 years old at the time, so to say we were really disappointed, would be an understatement. Again, the installer was not help at all, only wanted to get a lot of money out of us. We were able to get some information from another company and fixed the issue for 1/4 of what the installer (GSS) wanted to charge us.
Do you get much energy in winter? I've thought about solar panels, but I'm worried they'll only provide meaningful energy 7 months a year.
I got estimates/proposals from four companies and decided to sign up with 603 Solar. Not only were they were among the more reasonable from a cost perspective (and, wow....costs went up 30% since I started looking early this year), but they are Seacoast local (Exeter), they have great reviews, AND they installed a number of larger commercial-sized systems for local community projects.
They are backed up (we have a contracted price) and don't expect to get our panels installed until this April. I will update when the panels are installed.
If you’re in the upper north east, you should be getting panels that will help reduce cost and not look for sizing it to offset your usage. It will never be economical in the short run, if you are in the snow belt area at best you have 5 months of peak solar. So it doesn’t matter you can build an array that can cover 100% usage, it will not be enough off-peak months.
All those talk of battery backup system is an expensive system not worth having at current rates. Much cheaper to have NG or oil generators as backup generators. If power outage happens frequently in your area you should be looking for NG generators or full house generators.
Do you get much energy in winter? I've thought about solar panels, but I'm worried they'll only provide meaningful energy 7 months a year.
No, not really, but the way the system is sized, we have a carry over from spring/summer/fall that reduces our bills significantly. Right now, we have a credit of around 1,400 KW so that will take us, usually until February. In the last bill we used more than we produced, so they took from the credit the rest, but our bill is still the fixed fee.
Last edited by Merjolie8; 10-29-2022 at 09:30 AM..
Reason: add graphic
I got estimates/proposals from four companies and decided to sign up with 603 Solar. Not only were they were among the more reasonable from a cost perspective (and, wow....costs went up 30% since I started looking early this year), but they are Seacoast local (Exeter), they have great reviews, AND they installed a number of larger commercial-sized systems for local community projects.
They are backed up (we have a contracted price) and don't expect to get our panels installed until this April. I will update when the panels are installed.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
