Solar installer advice for what to do with your rooftop PV system before going on holiday

[Jan]

What to do with your solar system before leaving for the holidays

South African households with well-functioning integrated home solar systems should leave them running as normal while on holiday.

That is the advice from AWPower, a major solar and backup power system installer based out of Cape Town.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Why would anyone do anything else?

 

[kory]

Wait what else can you do? At least you don’t have the stress of asking someone to top up electric in case you run out. Turn off geysers put fridge and freezer in vacation mode and finally achieve full off grid status.

 

[dj_jyno]

What do you do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

 

[chrisc]

I just switch off the incoming mains. The solar system more than runs the house when we are not there with using no lights, no microwave, vacuum, etc

 

[The_MAC]

Oh, I thought you needed to pay someone to come in and check in on it, top up the water and food bowls and keep it company for a few hours...

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

article for the sake of articles,

 

[Nerfherder]

Why would anyone do anything else?

People are idiots.

I have been to a few air BNB's where the fool owner has their solar geyser off. You have to find that stupid geyser wise thing and overide the schedule just to have a luke warm shower later on.

There is no accounting for silly people.

 

[Lupus]

People are idiots.

I have been to a few air BNB's where the fool owner has their solar geyser off. You have to find that stupid geyser wise thing and overide the schedule just to have a luke warm shower later on.

There is no accounting for silly people.

But why waste valuable sun? I mean come on we should understand where he's coming from

 

[Neuk_]

In a bizarre episode of 'Today I learned'...

TIL that installers and/or their clients are complete and utter morons.

 

[SauRoNZA]

I just switch off the incoming mains. The solar system more than runs the house when we are not there with using no lights, no microwave, vacuum, etc

So then why even do that? Since it won’t be used anyway.

 

[Nerfherder]

I just switch off the incoming mains. The solar system more than runs the house when we are not there with using no lights, no microwave, vacuum, etc

and if the inverter trips ?

What value do you get from switching off the mains...

 

[Bismuth]

Oh, I thought you needed to pay someone to come in and check in on it, top up the water and food bowls and keep it company for a few hours...

Indeed, never done this, thought I was going to get the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Solar Panels (SPCSP) knocking on my door or something...

 

[garyc]

People may have been concerned about this since leaving a solar geyser unattended for a while can necessitate taking precautions, and they were wondering if the same applied to electrical solar systems.

 

[SilverCode]

What to do with your solar system before leaving for the holidays

I find it best to leave it alone. Mess with it too much and the planets orbits start decaying, and you might find yourself returning to a core collapse supernova.

Imagine getting back after a light years long trip from Alpha Centauri only to find your home destroyed. It would really put a dampener on the holiday.

 

[Went_For_Beer]

Eskom is going to bill you lot for using excessive sun when you are not home

 

[Nerfherder]

I find it best to leave it alone. Mess with it too much and the planets orbits start decaying, and you might find yourself returning to a core collapse supernova.

Imagine getting back after a light years long trip from Alpha Centauri only to find your home destroyed. It would really put a dampener on the holiday.

10 points for Gryffindor !

 

[TheChamp]

I just switch off the incoming mains. The solar system more than runs the house when we are not there with using no lights, no microwave, vacuum, etc

There should be no need to do that, even the cheapest hybrid inverters can manage you AC and solar.