Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house? | Page 360 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?

GreyGhost said:
I can get a 5kw system sitting in my driveway for ~$5k. How many kw is his system? For that price, I assume no storage. Some diy kits are missing necessary parts, many are missing good instructions. Mant People buy those kits and then call reputable companies looking for help when they try to turn their pile of parts into power. Reputable companies aren't interested in helping (similar to bringing a Canadian tire atv to your local mechanic).
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This is the kit he mentioned.

solarpowerstore.ca

5kw Green Homes Grid Tied Packages

Are you ready to make your home more eco-friendly and energy-efficient? Look no further than our 5kw Green Homes Grid Tied Packages. Our packages include everything you need to power your home with clean energy from the sun. By installing a grid-tied solar system, you can reduce your carbon...
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Good day today…

1. Finished laying the CAT6 cable around the exterior of the house on the higher side.
2. Cleaned bike up for pre-sale (although it looks nice so I’m conflicted lol)
3. Dug a trench for dewatering of the yard

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mimico_polak said:
This is the kit he mentioned.

solarpowerstore.ca

5kw Green Homes Grid Tied Packages

Are you ready to make your home more eco-friendly and energy-efficient? Look no further than our 5kw Green Homes Grid Tied Packages. Our packages include everything you need to power your home with clean energy from the sun. By installing a grid-tied solar system, you can reduce your carbon...
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That may save you 1000 a year in hydro

Sent from the future
 
Scuba Steve said:
That may save you 1000 a year in hydro

Sent from the future
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Possible. You need to evaluate obstructions too. Friends wanted solar but mature trees would have reduced output by over 40%. Ruined economic viability of project. If you have enough room on an unobstructed south facing roof and you don't get taken by a dirtbag solar company, it has a chance at viability. The reason that that DIY solar kit says they don't guarantee the grant is most things require professional installation to get the grant. Most professionals won't install your kit. Price quickly climbs to >20k minus 5k and economic viability is ruined.

I still think that heat pump is the most cost-effective use of JT's grant money.
 
I
Scuba Steve said:
That may save you 1000 a year in hydro

Sent from the future
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I figure the simplest and most economical is a battery bank and ultra-low overnight rates. But that doesn't work economically.

I use 25kwh/day on average, which costs me $65 (energy only)/mo. When I do the math, there is no possible way solar would work for me.

If I could sneek a small hydro generator into the river behind my house, I could do it. But I can't see how I'd ever get the OK to do that!
 
Mad Mike said:
I

I figure the simplest and most economical is a battery bank and ultra-low overnight rates. But that doesn't work economically.

I use 25kwh/day on average, which costs me $65 (energy only)/mo. When I do the math, there is no possible way solar would work for me.

If I could sneek a small hydro generator into the river behind my house, I could do it. But I can't see how I'd ever get the OK to do that!
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If you avoid grid tied, that simplifies things. You could power a heat pump from your turbine. Now, if conservation authority gets a whiff of this, i can't see them being happy. Developers are far more concerned with conservation authorities than ESA.
 
mimico_polak said:
This is the kit he mentioned.

solarpowerstore.ca

5kw Green Homes Grid Tied Packages

Are you ready to make your home more eco-friendly and energy-efficient? Look no further than our 5kw Green Homes Grid Tied Packages. Our packages include everything you need to power your home with clean energy from the sun. By installing a grid-tied solar system, you can reduce your carbon...
solarpowerstore.ca solarpowerstore.ca
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I didn't see storage batteries for total independence. What does your insurer say about a bunch of cheap lithium batteries in your basement?

Battery and panel replacements in time, panel cleaning, inevitable control system upgrades etc doesn't work for me economically.
 
nobbie48 said:
I didn't see storage batteries for total independence. What does your insurer say about a bunch of cheap lithium batteries in your basement?

Battery and panel replacements in time, panel cleaning, inevitable control system upgrades etc doesn't work for me economically.
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That one is easy. Batteries in this application are not allowed below grade by code. Iirc, they may not even be allowed inside the building envelope. You are also limited to packaged and approved systems. Tesla power wall is fine but building your own out of an ev battery can never get approved.
 
GreyGhost said:
If you avoid grid tied, that simplifies things. You could power a heat pump from your turbine. Now, if conservation authority gets a whiff of this, i can't see them being happy. Developers are far more concerned with conservation authorities than ESA.
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I had a non-potable water line into the creek behind the house, it was installed in the 75 by the original homeowner to water cool his AC. I used it for irrigation till about 2010 when a neighbor ratted to the town (neighbors called my yard Augusta National). The conservation authority made me decommission the line.

I also have a catch basin in one corner of my yard, the pit portion stays wet enough that I can pump water to irrigate the backyard. The town has no problem with me reclaiming that water.

My backyard is always green.
 
Oh Kevin Kevin Kevin….when you do drainage in the yard try and keep the weeping tile NEAR the surface not under 12” of hard packed clay soil….
 
I should’ve gone riding instead of getting frustrated to try and get the perfect slope….should’ve bought the solid lines instead of the bendable. Much easier to maintain slope.

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6 bags of gravel gone in an instant. I’ll just buy a few yards as at this rate I’ll need 25 bags just to do this stupid drainage.

And here’s Kevin deep drainage that has never seen water…

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All done. Looks pretty good. Now just need to sort out what to do with the cinder blocks that were there.
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Sent from my SM-N986W using Tapatalk
 
jc100 said:
All done. Looks pretty good. Now just need to sort out what to do with the cinder blocks that were there.
f96e1e1eddbb3e8e06935957925f8f62.jpg


Sent from my SM-N986W using Tapatalk
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Nice, I believe you said you picked up these stones from Home Depot?
 
sburns said:
Nice, I believe you said you picked up these stones from Home Depot?
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Yes. Cheapest ones they had. $2.27 a stone. They are called Riviera wall stones. 10.5” long, 5.25” wide and about 2.75” high. They look pretty good I think. They also cut easily with a cold chisel. I gradually got better at doing that and got fairly clean cuts.

My pond took about 100 stones to build with a cheap $35 8x4ft pond liner (Home Depot). The pump is from Amazon and is a Becket brand 680 gph ($100) and that’s actually a little underpowered to run both a fountain and a waterfall. It powers both a fountain and a small waterfall spillway ($33 from Home Depot).

All in all not too bad price wise and I’ve always wanted a raised pond like this.
 
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jc100 said:
Yes. Cheapest ones they had. $2.27 a stone. They are called Riviera wall stones. 10.5” long, 5.25” wide and about 2.75” high. They look pretty good I think. They also cut easily with a cold chisel. I gradually got better at doing that and got fairly clean cuts.

My pond took about 100 stones to build with a cheap $35 8x4ft pond liner (Home Depot). The pump is from Amazon and is a Becket brand ($100). It powers both a fountain and a small waterfall spillway ($33 from Home Depot).

All in all not too bad price wise.
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Excellent, thank you!
 
sburns said:
Excellent, thank you!
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No problem. The liner I got is good for a 4ftx2ft x 2ft deep pond. Any bigger than that and the liners start to become pretty pricey and the hydrostatic pressure on the pond walls would mean I’d need proper wall footings and have to mortar the stone. These are just dry stacked on a compacted soil base and I put cinderblocks inside the pond to create a margin shelf for plants and to rigidify the walls. Then I layered some felt material over everything then put the liner on. The pond is deep enough for two miniature water lilies and the shelf will fit iris, cannas, and a bunch of other things. It’s plenty big enough and if I wanted to I could throw a couple of goldfish in for the summer. Might have to overwinter those though. I’ll look at maybe adding a tiny heater for the winter to keep the pond ice free.
 
jc100 said:
No problem. The liner I got is good for a 4ftx2ft x 2ft deep pond. Any bigger than that and the liners start to become pretty pricey and the hydrostatic pressure on the pond walls would mean I’d need proper wall footings and have to mortar the stone. These are just dry stacked on a compacted soil base and I put cinderblocks inside the pond to create a margin shelf for plants and to rigidify the walls. Then I layered some felt material over everything then put the liner on. The pond is deep enough for two miniature water lilies and the shelf will fit iris, cannas, and a bunch of other things. It’s plenty big enough and if I wanted to I could throw a couple of goldfish in for the summer. Might have to overwinter those though. I’ll look at maybe adding a tiny heater for the winter to keep the pond ice free.
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Heater probably won't be small. Bubbler is cheaper to run. I'd let it freeze. Buy new feeder goldfish every spring for a couple bucks.
 
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