Financing New Solar Install…. Any advice?

[Eugene]

Where are you located?

I know that much of the city of Escondido has high water table (literally 10-15 feet below surface), that was a concern because the city council has been trying to put a big hotel downtown for the last 5 years, and there was a risk that the underground parking garage of the hotel could get flooded.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/article_f5d704bf-d3aa-5ca1-8e93-ba93df976575.html

According to this map

http://ca.water.usgs.gov/gmaps/gw_map.html

most of Temecula is 30 to 70 feet to groundwater.

[moneymaker]

[quote=briansd1]

When my brother’s AC went out, the repairman wanted to charge him $400 to replace the capacitor. Through a buddy who’s a contractor he got a new one for $10 and replaced it himself.[/quote]
If it was the start capacitor it may be a bandaid fix as the compressor itself may be getting ready to go. Hopefully it was the run capacitor, but then you might ask yourself why did that break? As far as Solar goes I would also like to do it, but I think I’ll wait a little while just in case this Bloom fuel cell is for real.

[moneymaker]

[quote=briansd1]

When my brother’s AC went out, the repairman wanted to charge him $400 to replace the capacitor. Through a buddy who’s a contractor he got a new one for $10 and replaced it himself.[/quote]
If it was the start capacitor it may be a bandaid fix as the compressor itself may be getting ready to go. Hopefully it was the run capacitor, but then you might ask yourself why did that break? As far as Solar goes I would also like to do it, but I think I’ll wait a little while just in case this Bloom fuel cell is for real.

[moneymaker]

[quote=briansd1]

When my brother’s AC went out, the repairman wanted to charge him $400 to replace the capacitor. Through a buddy who’s a contractor he got a new one for $10 and replaced it himself.[/quote]
If it was the start capacitor it may be a bandaid fix as the compressor itself may be getting ready to go. Hopefully it was the run capacitor, but then you might ask yourself why did that break? As far as Solar goes I would also like to do it, but I think I’ll wait a little while just in case this Bloom fuel cell is for real.

[moneymaker]

[quote=briansd1]

When my brother’s AC went out, the repairman wanted to charge him $400 to replace the capacitor. Through a buddy who’s a contractor he got a new one for $10 and replaced it himself.[/quote]
If it was the start capacitor it may be a bandaid fix as the compressor itself may be getting ready to go. Hopefully it was the run capacitor, but then you might ask yourself why did that break? As far as Solar goes I would also like to do it, but I think I’ll wait a little while just in case this Bloom fuel cell is for real.

[moneymaker]

[quote=briansd1]

When my brother’s AC went out, the repairman wanted to charge him $400 to replace the capacitor. Through a buddy who’s a contractor he got a new one for $10 and replaced it himself.[/quote]
If it was the start capacitor it may be a bandaid fix as the compressor itself may be getting ready to go. Hopefully it was the run capacitor, but then you might ask yourself why did that break? As far as Solar goes I would also like to do it, but I think I’ll wait a little while just in case this Bloom fuel cell is for real.

[NotCranky]

[quote=Eugene]Where are you located?

I know that much of the city of Escondido has high water table (literally 10-15 feet below surface), that was a concern because the city council has been trying to put a big hotel downtown for the last 5 years, and there was a risk that the underground parking garage of the hotel could get flooded.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/article_f5d704bf-d3aa-5ca1-8e93-ba93df976575.html

According to this map

http://ca.water.usgs.gov/gmaps/gw_map.html

most of Temecula is 30 to 70 feet to groundwater.[/quote]
As I said in my post, E, your area,Escondidio, has some atypical situations. I was not including Temecula when I made my statement about San Diego County. It does make sense that the Temecula valley would act as a more typical aquifer as compared to the comparatively rugged and solid terrain of San Diego county. Shelter valley, on the way to Borrego from Julian, may be similar to Temecula.
The site you link covers mainly monitoring sites where a hydrologist expect to find high ground water. There are even some that report above grade water. This is because they are monitoring groundwater basins as in this picture: http://www.mwdh2o.com/mwdh2o/pages/yourwater/supply/groundwater/PDFs/SanDiegoCountyBasins/CentralSanDiegoCountyBasins.pdf

As you can see these aquifers geographically cover little of San Diego and less of a portion of the areas outside of water districts, where people will be drilling wells. The numbers I mention will pretty much stand to an in-depth study,outside of flat coastal areas and these runoff basins… in other words most of San Diego geographically.

One other thing to consider is that there is often a difference between the resting place of the static head of a particular well and where the usable amounts of water actually intersect with the drilled hole. When the static water comes to rest above the entrance point of the water in the fractured rock this is called an artesian well. This is the case of my well and many others. The static head on mine comes to within 40 feet of ground level but that is practically useless for water collection purposes. No functional well w/o going down where it gushes in pretty good. This happens because I live in a valley, in an area of several seasonal streams. It is not so typical to have such high static water levels at my elevation 2000′. My terminology might not all be exact but I think you can get the idea.

[NotCranky]

[quote=Eugene]Where are you located?

I know that much of the city of Escondido has high water table (literally 10-15 feet below surface), that was a concern because the city council has been trying to put a big hotel downtown for the last 5 years, and there was a risk that the underground parking garage of the hotel could get flooded.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/article_f5d704bf-d3aa-5ca1-8e93-ba93df976575.html

According to this map

http://ca.water.usgs.gov/gmaps/gw_map.html

most of Temecula is 30 to 70 feet to groundwater.[/quote]
As I said in my post, E, your area,Escondidio, has some atypical situations. I was not including Temecula when I made my statement about San Diego County. It does make sense that the Temecula valley would act as a more typical aquifer as compared to the comparatively rugged and solid terrain of San Diego county. Shelter valley, on the way to Borrego from Julian, may be similar to Temecula.
The site you link covers mainly monitoring sites where a hydrologist expect to find high ground water. There are even some that report above grade water. This is because they are monitoring groundwater basins as in this picture: http://www.mwdh2o.com/mwdh2o/pages/yourwater/supply/groundwater/PDFs/SanDiegoCountyBasins/CentralSanDiegoCountyBasins.pdf

As you can see these aquifers geographically cover little of San Diego and less of a portion of the areas outside of water districts, where people will be drilling wells. The numbers I mention will pretty much stand to an in-depth study,outside of flat coastal areas and these runoff basins… in other words most of San Diego geographically.

One other thing to consider is that there is often a difference between the resting place of the static head of a particular well and where the usable amounts of water actually intersect with the drilled hole. When the static water comes to rest above the entrance point of the water in the fractured rock this is called an artesian well. This is the case of my well and many others. The static head on mine comes to within 40 feet of ground level but that is practically useless for water collection purposes. No functional well w/o going down where it gushes in pretty good. This happens because I live in a valley, in an area of several seasonal streams. It is not so typical to have such high static water levels at my elevation 2000′. My terminology might not all be exact but I think you can get the idea.

[NotCranky]

[quote=Eugene]Where are you located?

I know that much of the city of Escondido has high water table (literally 10-15 feet below surface), that was a concern because the city council has been trying to put a big hotel downtown for the last 5 years, and there was a risk that the underground parking garage of the hotel could get flooded.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/article_f5d704bf-d3aa-5ca1-8e93-ba93df976575.html

According to this map

http://ca.water.usgs.gov/gmaps/gw_map.html

most of Temecula is 30 to 70 feet to groundwater.[/quote]
As I said in my post, E, your area,Escondidio, has some atypical situations. I was not including Temecula when I made my statement about San Diego County. It does make sense that the Temecula valley would act as a more typical aquifer as compared to the comparatively rugged and solid terrain of San Diego county. Shelter valley, on the way to Borrego from Julian, may be similar to Temecula.
The site you link covers mainly monitoring sites where a hydrologist expect to find high ground water. There are even some that report above grade water. This is because they are monitoring groundwater basins as in this picture: http://www.mwdh2o.com/mwdh2o/pages/yourwater/supply/groundwater/PDFs/SanDiegoCountyBasins/CentralSanDiegoCountyBasins.pdf

As you can see these aquifers geographically cover little of San Diego and less of a portion of the areas outside of water districts, where people will be drilling wells. The numbers I mention will pretty much stand to an in-depth study,outside of flat coastal areas and these runoff basins… in other words most of San Diego geographically.

One other thing to consider is that there is often a difference between the resting place of the static head of a particular well and where the usable amounts of water actually intersect with the drilled hole. When the static water comes to rest above the entrance point of the water in the fractured rock this is called an artesian well. This is the case of my well and many others. The static head on mine comes to within 40 feet of ground level but that is practically useless for water collection purposes. No functional well w/o going down where it gushes in pretty good. This happens because I live in a valley, in an area of several seasonal streams. It is not so typical to have such high static water levels at my elevation 2000′. My terminology might not all be exact but I think you can get the idea.

[NotCranky]

[quote=Eugene]Where are you located?

I know that much of the city of Escondido has high water table (literally 10-15 feet below surface), that was a concern because the city council has been trying to put a big hotel downtown for the last 5 years, and there was a risk that the underground parking garage of the hotel could get flooded.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/article_f5d704bf-d3aa-5ca1-8e93-ba93df976575.html

According to this map

http://ca.water.usgs.gov/gmaps/gw_map.html

most of Temecula is 30 to 70 feet to groundwater.[/quote]
As I said in my post, E, your area,Escondidio, has some atypical situations. I was not including Temecula when I made my statement about San Diego County. It does make sense that the Temecula valley would act as a more typical aquifer as compared to the comparatively rugged and solid terrain of San Diego county. Shelter valley, on the way to Borrego from Julian, may be similar to Temecula.
The site you link covers mainly monitoring sites where a hydrologist expect to find high ground water. There are even some that report above grade water. This is because they are monitoring groundwater basins as in this picture: http://www.mwdh2o.com/mwdh2o/pages/yourwater/supply/groundwater/PDFs/SanDiegoCountyBasins/CentralSanDiegoCountyBasins.pdf

As you can see these aquifers geographically cover little of San Diego and less of a portion of the areas outside of water districts, where people will be drilling wells. The numbers I mention will pretty much stand to an in-depth study,outside of flat coastal areas and these runoff basins… in other words most of San Diego geographically.

One other thing to consider is that there is often a difference between the resting place of the static head of a particular well and where the usable amounts of water actually intersect with the drilled hole. When the static water comes to rest above the entrance point of the water in the fractured rock this is called an artesian well. This is the case of my well and many others. The static head on mine comes to within 40 feet of ground level but that is practically useless for water collection purposes. No functional well w/o going down where it gushes in pretty good. This happens because I live in a valley, in an area of several seasonal streams. It is not so typical to have such high static water levels at my elevation 2000′. My terminology might not all be exact but I think you can get the idea.

[NotCranky]

[quote=Eugene]Where are you located?

I know that much of the city of Escondido has high water table (literally 10-15 feet below surface), that was a concern because the city council has been trying to put a big hotel downtown for the last 5 years, and there was a risk that the underground parking garage of the hotel could get flooded.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/article_f5d704bf-d3aa-5ca1-8e93-ba93df976575.html

According to this map

http://ca.water.usgs.gov/gmaps/gw_map.html

most of Temecula is 30 to 70 feet to groundwater.[/quote]
As I said in my post, E, your area,Escondidio, has some atypical situations. I was not including Temecula when I made my statement about San Diego County. It does make sense that the Temecula valley would act as a more typical aquifer as compared to the comparatively rugged and solid terrain of San Diego county. Shelter valley, on the way to Borrego from Julian, may be similar to Temecula.
The site you link covers mainly monitoring sites where a hydrologist expect to find high ground water. There are even some that report above grade water. This is because they are monitoring groundwater basins as in this picture: http://www.mwdh2o.com/mwdh2o/pages/yourwater/supply/groundwater/PDFs/SanDiegoCountyBasins/CentralSanDiegoCountyBasins.pdf

As you can see these aquifers geographically cover little of San Diego and less of a portion of the areas outside of water districts, where people will be drilling wells. The numbers I mention will pretty much stand to an in-depth study,outside of flat coastal areas and these runoff basins… in other words most of San Diego geographically.

One other thing to consider is that there is often a difference between the resting place of the static head of a particular well and where the usable amounts of water actually intersect with the drilled hole. When the static water comes to rest above the entrance point of the water in the fractured rock this is called an artesian well. This is the case of my well and many others. The static head on mine comes to within 40 feet of ground level but that is practically useless for water collection purposes. No functional well w/o going down where it gushes in pretty good. This happens because I live in a valley, in an area of several seasonal streams. It is not so typical to have such high static water levels at my elevation 2000′. My terminology might not all be exact but I think you can get the idea.

[sdduuuude]

One tricky thing about Solar is optimizing the size of the install.

Because of the way electricity pricing is tiered, you don’t want to buy enough panels to eliminate your bill. You want to buy enough panels to eliminate only the electricity that costs more than your average cost of providing it using solar. Spread the up-front cost of the panels and other necessary equipment out over several years, then divide by the number of kwH you can produce with those in that time.

It is complicated by the fact that throughout the year, you have a different number of Sunny days per month, different electricity demands, and different pricing patterns.

Go over your bills for the last few years, if you have them, and whip out a spreadsheet to optimize the purchase size. THe key is figuring out how much electricity each panel can produce each month, thus arriving at a cost per kwH, then comparing that cost to the cost tiers for that month.

I have a good friend who did this very well as part of new construction. I guess the “new construction” rebates are better than add-on construction.

Good luck.

[sdduuuude]

One tricky thing about Solar is optimizing the size of the install.

Because of the way electricity pricing is tiered, you don’t want to buy enough panels to eliminate your bill. You want to buy enough panels to eliminate only the electricity that costs more than your average cost of providing it using solar. Spread the up-front cost of the panels and other necessary equipment out over several years, then divide by the number of kwH you can produce with those in that time.

It is complicated by the fact that throughout the year, you have a different number of Sunny days per month, different electricity demands, and different pricing patterns.

Go over your bills for the last few years, if you have them, and whip out a spreadsheet to optimize the purchase size. THe key is figuring out how much electricity each panel can produce each month, thus arriving at a cost per kwH, then comparing that cost to the cost tiers for that month.

I have a good friend who did this very well as part of new construction. I guess the “new construction” rebates are better than add-on construction.

Good luck.

[sdduuuude]

One tricky thing about Solar is optimizing the size of the install.

Because of the way electricity pricing is tiered, you don’t want to buy enough panels to eliminate your bill. You want to buy enough panels to eliminate only the electricity that costs more than your average cost of providing it using solar. Spread the up-front cost of the panels and other necessary equipment out over several years, then divide by the number of kwH you can produce with those in that time.

It is complicated by the fact that throughout the year, you have a different number of Sunny days per month, different electricity demands, and different pricing patterns.

Go over your bills for the last few years, if you have them, and whip out a spreadsheet to optimize the purchase size. THe key is figuring out how much electricity each panel can produce each month, thus arriving at a cost per kwH, then comparing that cost to the cost tiers for that month.

I have a good friend who did this very well as part of new construction. I guess the “new construction” rebates are better than add-on construction.

Good luck.

[sdduuuude]

One tricky thing about Solar is optimizing the size of the install.

Because of the way electricity pricing is tiered, you don’t want to buy enough panels to eliminate your bill. You want to buy enough panels to eliminate only the electricity that costs more than your average cost of providing it using solar. Spread the up-front cost of the panels and other necessary equipment out over several years, then divide by the number of kwH you can produce with those in that time.

It is complicated by the fact that throughout the year, you have a different number of Sunny days per month, different electricity demands, and different pricing patterns.

Go over your bills for the last few years, if you have them, and whip out a spreadsheet to optimize the purchase size. THe key is figuring out how much electricity each panel can produce each month, thus arriving at a cost per kwH, then comparing that cost to the cost tiers for that month.

I have a good friend who did this very well as part of new construction. I guess the “new construction” rebates are better than add-on construction.

Good luck.

[Author]

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