# Prep for future solar panels



## VNativo (Dec 20, 2010)

Hi. I am finalizing my 2nd story extension on my own house and am interested in prepping my house for future solar panels. I can't afford the solar system right now. I am barely able to get the 2nd floor built & furnish it. 

Is there anything I need to know about the roof structure?
What size of empty conduit should I run from the attic to the main panels?


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## pdmig (Nov 21, 2010)

What about the solar hot water? That is your best return on investment. Run two 3/4 inch copper lines up for future hot water.


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## woodchuck2 (Feb 27, 2008)

Probably best to have an electrician who has experience with solar come in and offer their opinion of what conduit and where. You will need to figure in for an inverter and other devices too so you may want to make sure you have space for that by your panel. 

I also agree with the solar hot water. You would have a much quicker financial gain/recovery with solar hot water for heat and domestic hot water. But, you will need room for large water storage and that room will be very humid too.


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## thom (Nov 3, 2006)

We had a local code here, not in force anymore, that required a 2" conduit from the panel location to the roof for future photovoltaic's. The cost is relatively low.


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## Morning Wood (Jan 12, 2008)

woodchuck2 said:


> Probably best to have an electrician who has experience with solar come in and offer their opinion of what conduit and where. You will need to figure in for an inverter and other devices too so you may want to make sure you have space for that by your panel.
> 
> I also agree with the solar hot water. You would have a much quicker financial gain/recovery with solar hot water for heat and domestic hot water. But, you will need room for large water storage and that room will be very humid too.


Just curious. Why would solar domestic hot water make a room more humid?


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Morning Wood said:


> Just curious. Why would solar domestic hot water make a room more humid?


It shouldnt make any difference. It should be a sealed system connected to a indirect cylinder/tank with a pump to circulate the water. This then heats the water in the cylinder/tank which is also sealed because it's pressurized system.


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## VNativo (Dec 20, 2010)

Thanks guys for the info. 


My reason to pursue the solar panels instead of the hot water is due to my block is always experiencing brown outs/black outs. I was thinking a generator but would rather a solar system to kill 2 birds w/ I stone


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## woodchuck2 (Feb 27, 2008)

Morning Wood said:


> Just curious. Why would solar domestic hot water make a room more humid?


Well, if you have a 500gallon or 1k gallon tank sitting in a room at 160deg it tends to put off some heat. The system that a friend of mine did and i plan to use as reference when i do mine uses a heat exchanger so it is not a closed system. It is also in a basement and draws moisture out of the concrete so the basement is humid. When i do mine it will be on the 1st floor of the home and hope that the radiant heat from the tank will heat that floor and i can then heat the 2nd floor with the heat system itself. Hard to justify going solar just for a periodic power outage, might better build a bigger system so it at least will pay for itself over time. We mentioned the solar heat because it usually has a quicker monetary return than solar electric.


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## Speedy Petey (Sep 30, 2003)

VNativo said:


> Thanks guys for the info.
> 
> 
> My reason to pursue the solar panels instead of the hot water is due to my block is always experiencing brown outs/black outs. I was thinking a generator but would rather a solar system to kill 2 birds w/ I stone


You'll need a pretty huge array to get the power of an average genset. Even then you will only get full power in FULL sun.


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## WarriorWithWood (Jun 30, 2007)

Just an FYI, It's going to cost in the neighborhood of 30k for panels, inverters, and batteries and it still wouldn't put out the power of this backup generator.


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## Speedy Petey (Sep 30, 2003)

WarriorWithWood said:


> Just an FYI, I's going to cost in the neighborhood of 30k for panels, inverters, and batteries and it still wouldn't put out the power of this backup generator.


But solar is so greeeeeeeen. :whistling 

I feel the same about solar as I do about the Prius. They serve one purpose and one purpose alone: To make the owners feel good about themselves. 
(no offense Vinny)


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## WarriorWithWood (Jun 30, 2007)

IMO solar panels only make sense in 3rd world countries that have a spotty grid or feeding power back into the grid to offset your electric bill (no batteries to maintain, rotate, refill, etc.). They don't make enough power for a good backup system without spending WAY too much money. Generators make much more sense for that situation.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

In the UK you dont pay for the panels, Install or anything. They have schemes running that they will do it all for free but any left over power you dont uses you dont get money for and they keep. My mums electric bill has dropped to about 20% of what it was and they use a 25KW electric pool heater about 5 months of the year. 

i wouldnt pay our for them here unless i wanted to be totally of grid and thats a sweet penny right there.


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## aptpupil (Jun 12, 2010)

If you're really committed to this then talk to a solar panel installer about how many standoffs he wants for the array. Nice to get that done before the roofing goes on.



Speedy Petey said:


> But solar is so greeeeeeeen. :whistling
> 
> I feel the same about solar as I do about the Prius. They serve one purpose and one purpose alone: To make the owners feel good about themselves.
> (no offense Vinny)


The Prius is a moderate cost, high efficiency, reliable vehicle which also happens to have a good amount of storage space for a car its size. Not sure how all that translates to you thinking it is a "single purpose" car.


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