Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News The RoundTable RoundTable for Fall 2019

Welcome
To
The ReaderRant Roundtable
for Fall 2019

Well, here we are looking at the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century. I dunno bout the rest of you but I hardly even imagined myself making it to the year 2020.
It's almost like that song "In the Year 2525"...



Except that no one predicted that sudden sharp turn that made Idiocracy transform from a science fiction comedy to a documentary, at least according to the writer and director of the film!



Wifey and I are about to pull the trigger on solar power, and we're hoping we pick the right people and the right firm to do the job.
I know some of you already have solar, so I am open to any suggestions!

The quest for new Ranters continues apace.
Please feel free to invite anyone you feel is quality people to our family. Just let me know what name or handle they go by.

Checks calendar. Yup, still summer. But, what the heck, kids start school on Tuesday.

Only realized it yesterday that another decade is gone. Time flies...

The first question with solar is: Lease or buy? I bought because with my electronics background I had little trouble serving as my own installer. San Diego County lets a homeowner DIY this stuff as long as you sign a form that says any stupid accidents are your own damned fault. You still have to follow all the rules, get a permit, and pass inspection. I found the inspectors quite helpful, despite bad press. The biggest hassle was with SDG&E not accepting my grid-tie inverter model and having to replace it to get approved for net metering. Actually, if I had not taken so long they would have approved the old one and grandfathered it in.

The plans I drew with Visio and the ground mount manufacturer's supplied engineering analysis. I did have to have a Professional or Civil Engineer stamp my plans. Once I found one that took about five minutes and $25.

Digging the holes for the ground mount foundation was interesting. I got to rent one of those sit-on-top excavators.

For most folks, the alternatives are lease it from an installation company, or buy it from an installation company. I think very few will try to buy pieces of it and then hire an installer to put it in.

You can purchase a Sunrun solar installation project through Costco's Home Improvement Department.

Plus you'll receive a Costco Cash Card for 10% of the purchase amount that you can use at Costco or cash-out until 12/31/19.

There you go: Costco has great stuff. Costco solar is a pretty good recommendation. As long as you are getting UL approved solar panels and equipment, it pretty much all comes with a 25 year warranty. Get it done before the end of the year and you get a 30% tax rebate from the IRS. Hard to beat that.

It may need some lead time because a roof mount suggests you redo your roof as you put on the panel mounts. It's best to coordinate both to get the best installation.

It won't be Fall for three more weeks. It's not a fire festival or anything but it's the second harvest feast and deserves a certain amount of respect. We call it Mabon.

It's hard to get the infidels to respect your religious customs **sighs**

I'm sure there is a court case working its way up to the SCOTUS to protect your religious freedom. Patience.

Ahhh, there's the rub. We have those Spanish Mission style roof tiles, and at first we kept hearing that "NOBODY INSTALLS SOLAR" on those kinds of roofs but I know that's not really true.
It boils down to "lots of solar co's don't WANT to install on clay/concrete tile", so there's that issue.

If you have room somewhere else in the yard say, you could use a ground mount. Lots of Walmarts actually have big ground mounts in the parking lot. Need a patio shade? Solar panels let a bit of light through but they make a great patio cover. They are pretty light, like 50 pounds for a 24 square foot panel. Less than asphalt shingles.

All the mounting hardware manufacturers make hardware for tile roofs. I guess the hard part is finding somebody to install it. Rancho Bernardo in Sand Diego County is all tile roofs by HOAs, and LOTS of them have roof-mounted solar. You may have to shop North San Diego county installers.