Extra panels or Solar Geyser?

[Mike Hoxbig]

My uncle has 13KW of panels, 2x 5KW inverters, and 7x 5KWh batteries... and he has the geyser, the stove and the oven all on gas. For a household of 5 people he needs to get his gas tanks replaced once every 4 months, and it works out to be about R400pm for the gas.
There is no constantly replacing tanks. You carry the kitchen one out, you carry the new one in - once every few months. And the geyser one is outside, and has a spare sitting next to it. You run low, you switch over and then call the gas guys to come bring a new one.
But I guess spending thousands more on more panels, more batteries and larger inverters is a better idea. Then you have a faulty thermostat which runs all night long and drains your batteries while you sleep only for you to wake up on a cloudy day and have no power.

Still sounds like an effort. Now every few months you need to call a guy, then you need to make sure you're home. It doesn't just work, it's a schlep. Now if you told me that we had functional gas lines, I would say it's an option.

Also your thermostat example is something that occurs how often? Vs replacing gas tanks that occur how often?

Nah boet, I'd rather just spend the money and have my house working as it did when Eskom worked. Instead of all these hacks all over the place where you need to remember to do things...

 

[killerbyte]

Or you could not wake up because you had a gas leak and your house blew up.

You have some serious issues.
Firstly, why is your gas tank in your bedroom.
Secondly, electrical fires are still a thing. Ever heard of a gas alarm? And like everything, if you handle with care you won't have any issues.
I guess you are one of the people that believe we need trained experts to put petrol in our cars, and you probably call a handyman to wire a plug for you.

 

[Pegging]

You have some serious issues.
Firstly, why is your gas tank in your bedroom.
Secondly, electrical fires are still a thing. Ever heard of a gas alarm? And like everything, if you handle with care you won't have any issues.
I guess you are one of the people that believe we need trained experts to put petrol in our cars, and you probably call a handyman to wire a plug for you.

You have some serious factual issues.

You don’t check your thermostat.
You think that a cloudy day means zero electricity, even from Eskom.
You don’t think your system can send an alarm if the power hits certain level.

It’s cloudy now and my battery is up on 80%

 

[killerbyte]

You have some serious factual issues.

You don’t check your thermostat.
You think that a cloudy day means zero electricity, even from Eskom.
You don’t think your system can send an alarm if the power hits certain level.

You think that Eskom can supply you with electricity? You are the one dealing with factual errors.

 

[Pegging]

You think that Eskom can supply you with electricity? You are the one dealing with factual errors.

You assume that on the day that someone left their thermostat on, that both Eskom would be off the entire time and that there would be no sun.
This is your reason for wanting to use gas.

 

[newby_investor]

No it doesn't. Who told you that.
Households do not have the same requirements as businesses. My uncle's geyser tanks stand outside, no cage. Just a sign above them with the standard safety warnings. The tanks for his stove/oven sit in the garage.

Ok it seems I was wrong about the cage, but there are rules and regs about where installations can be:

Gas installation regulations home-owners should know

The rapidly increasing cost of electricity has resulted in a growth in popularity among many South African home-owners to utilise gas installations in their homes.

www.privateproperty.co.za

If you've got a home that works with this, then great I guess. I don't.

 

[soulie]

Still sounds like an effort. Now every few months you need to call a guy, then you need to make sure you're home. It doesn't just work, it's a schlep. Now if you told me that we had functional gas lines, I would say it's an option.

Also your thermostat example is something that occurs how often? Vs replacing gas tanks that occur how often?

Nah boet, I'd rather just spend the money and have my house working as it did when Eskom worked. Instead of all these hacks all over the place where you need to remember to do things...

ok jokes aside .how much did your system cost in its completed state ? would you do it again if you didnt get loadshedding ?if you had say solar geysers that were efficient 356 days a year (yes i like 356 ) and you only had lighting and maybe cooking to contend with .

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

ok jokes aside .how much did your system cost in its completed state ? would you do it again if you didnt get loadshedding ?if you had say solar geysers that were efficient 356 days a year (yes i like 356 ) and you only had lighting and maybe cooking to contend with .

Yes I would do it again. I started planning this long before the schitshow that was last year.

I'm doing what I can do become independent of government, to avoid funding corruption and out of control increases. Electricity was a first step, water is next.

A lot of people talk a big game about tax revolts etc, that's really just passing the buck and making it someone else's problem. Rather than starting with what's within your control...

 

[leon.davibe]

If we had cheap always available energy extremely few would be having solar at the moment

 

[Stonemason]

ok jokes aside .how much did your system cost in its completed state ? would you do it again if you didnt get loadshedding ?if you had say solar geysers that were efficient 356 days a year (yes i like 356 ) and you only had lighting and maybe cooking to contend with .

There are many ways to skin a cat. Some use gas, some get one of those ugly old fashioned solar geysers, some convert their geysers to use solar power and some run their geysers on their inverter.

There is no right or wrong but I am inclined to agree with @Mike Hoxbig and others who see gas as a hassle and solar geysers as too ugly.

I do not get loadshedding because where I live they cannot get the power back on once they switch it off. Yet I have installed a solar power solution on my geyser and I did not find it overly expensive and with hindsight will do it again.

 

[Pegging]

If we had cheap always available energy extremely few would be having solar at the moment

Then we’d maybe have a competent less corrupt government.

So no need for things like private security, burglar proofing, water tanks or private schools either.

 

[Botha22]

mmmmm lets see ,Totai replaces my gas cylinder once a year at R1300 .my gas geyser cost R5k i get hot water 356 days a year in my kitchen and all basins without any intervention from eskom .it can rain and be sullen for weeks at a time i still dont use any eskom for hot water .i have solar geysers for bath and shower ,if its sullen i switch to gas for hot water still no eskom .show me how you do that at R6 k initial investment plus R1300 per year running costs .and i dont even get loadshedding .edit .oops i forgot 2 D size Duracell batteries every 2 years for the ignition system over 17 years so far .

Nice system. I think you forgot to add the cost of the solar geyser to that total.

 

[soulie]

Nice system. I think you forgot to add the cost of the solar geyser to that total.

ummm 2 solar geysers yes .actually not to expensive we had to go low pressure evacuated tube at the time that was around 2012 .our supplied water pressure was very low and erratic .but i must say evacuated tube properly installed work very well ,i dont have elements in them at all .last year we switched over to gas for bathing 3 times in total .the last time i turned on the electric geyser it burst,the replacement is still standing outside .i dont need it and dont want it in the roof again .

 

[leon.davibe]

/jk maybe he has a few geysers
Smaller panels so estimate by size maybe 300w

Edit
84 in total

 

[SauRoNZA]

that you need to ask a manufacturer .kwh is the normal but lots dont use it .if i need to quote on a battery i need to know the load if 3kw and the device needs to run for 4 hours then i need a 12 kw battery minimum ,then i recommend at least 20kw .i suppose kwh makes it easier for the retail market to fight about .

Except it’s not the manufacturers, it’s that shitty website doing a piss poor job of their primary function.

That’s a 6.4kWh hour battery they list as a 6.4kW one.

BSLB 7Kw 51.2V - 135Ah CANBUS Lithium Battery

BSLB 7Kw 51.2V - 135Ah CANBUS Lithium BatteryFeatures:FeatureCurrently the safest lithium technologyLithium iron phosphate battery(LiFePO4)Excellent resistance to abuseLess than 3% self dischargingEco-friendlyApplicationBSLBATT® batteries are based on Lithiumiron battery technology (LiFePO4)...

powerforum-store.co.za

These things are not the same and going by your logic you would have bought entirely the wrong thing thinking that’s the manufacturer’s statement.

 

[soulie]

Except it’s not the manufacturers, it’s that shitty website doing a piss poor job of their primary function.

That’s a 6.4kWh hour battery they list as a 6.4kW one.

BSLB 7Kw 51.2V - 135Ah CANBUS Lithium Battery

BSLB 7Kw 51.2V - 135Ah CANBUS Lithium BatteryFeatures:FeatureCurrently the safest lithium technologyLithium iron phosphate battery(LiFePO4)Excellent resistance to abuseLess than 3% self dischargingEco-friendlyApplicationBSLBATT® batteries are based on Lithiumiron battery technology (LiFePO4)...

powerforum-store.co.za

These things are not the same and going by your logic you would have bought entirely the wrong thing thinking that’s the manufacturer’s statement.

You know f all about my logic and who said anything except its a nice battery.but yes i do have the specs on it and no its not off a forum and looking at it its a very nice battery , recommended charge current 50amp and max 80 amp so quite a nice all rounder .

 

[PsyWulf]

And constantly replacing gas tanks, no thanks. What an uncivilised solution compared to just running your house as is. May as well plug a laptop into the TV to watch movies, it's the same sort of cringe...

I'm on a Gas subscription,they come as many times a month as scheduled and swop my cylinders,I pay for the used gas and R50 for the subscription so inconvenience is opening the gate occasionally

 

[newby_investor]

I'm on a Gas subscription,they come as many times a month as scheduled and swop my cylinders,I pay for the used gas and R50 for the subscription so inconvenience is opening the gate occasionally

TIL that you can get gas subscriptions.

 

[BouncyNinja]

I currently run a Hybrid solar system with an 8Kw Inverter, 3 x 5Kwh Batteries and 16 x 455W panels.
This system is just not enough for my household. Currently, I am switching the 2x geysers on for only 2 hrs per day which gives enough hot water.
I am probably 10 units short per day on average, taking into account that we get some cloudy days.
I was wondering what would be more beneficial between going to two Solar geysers for the house and flat, or if I should add more panels?
If so, how many panels would give me the same result as the two solar geysers in trying to gain that 10 units per day?
I am trying to establish which route will make more financial sense?

heat pump, ours uses roughly 4units a day ( runs at avg of 800-1000w)

 

[PsyWulf]

TIL that you can get gas subscriptions.

I'm on the Low-fi option where it's scheduled:

https://www.thegascompany.co.za/gas-exchanges/gas-on-tap

There's a "Smart" option with some providers where they attach a smart monitor and once the pressure reaches X they schedule a replacement automatically
Ex: https://www.gotgas.co.za/auto-order-changeover