Does anyone have solar panels to heat their house?
Question:
Answer:
Too many. Your better option would be to ensure that your house is as well insulated as possible, and consider installing a Geothermal Heat Pump system.
The Geothermal heat pump won't cost you nearly as much as solar panels, can do both heating and cooling, and can power your water heater as well. It will save you a great deal on electrical bills and will pay for itself in about 5-7 years.
yes lots of people do
I don't know about heat. But here in Arizona we use a lot of air conditioning in the summer. 3 or 4 efficient solar panels can power the entire house. We went from a $400 in the summer to getting checks from the power company. Yes they actually send us money because we are giving them the surplus power we are generating from our panels. We installed them last year. They are a little expensive but they will completely pay for themselves within the next year.
You can find cheap small panels to power individual room A/C units or you can put them all over your roof.
A bunch.
In NJ, you need quite a lot of heat, and you are trying to collect that heat at the worst time of the year. A ten panel thermal panel system with storage will cost over $7000, and it will take about 30 years to pay for itself. Sorry to bring you the bad news. I've been in the solar business since 1978, in Wisconsin, and I've talked more people out of solar space heating than I've talked into it.because I don't believe in telling lies!
Now...if you REALLY want to save money: Insulate insulate insulate. If you could get R-60 average in your ceiling, and R-40 average in your sidewalls...you wouldn't even need a furnace. Just heat from cooking, heating water, lighting and people would provide enough heat to do the job.
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