ReplySolar panels are installed to provide some of the energy to power the HVAC equipment. The concept is that it decreases the need for power from the electric grid to heat and cool your home.
Professional Member*
I clicked the banner ad at the top of the page for "Lennox Solar". What makes the Lennox solar equipment different?
Professional Member*
Solar panels are installed to provide some of the energy to power the HVAC equipment. The concept is that it decreases the need for power from the electric grid to heat and cool your home.
It's not rocket-science...
It's electromechanical thermodynamic engineering
Regular Guest
It's just a marketing gimmick - good installation/service practices and energy efficiency upgrades can save far more energy than some dinky solar panels produce, at a fraction of the cost.
Professional Member*
But large panels of photo-voltaic cells on your roof are so sexy from the road as you drive by.... That is BY FAR their biggest selling point.
It's not rocket-science...
It's electromechanical thermodynamic engineering
Professional Member*
Not to mention how they are only capturing about 25% of the energy hitting them unlike solar water heating which can capture about 3 times the energy.Originally Posted by HVACTechNC
But large panels of photo-voltaic cells on your roof are so sexy from the road as you drive by.... That is BY FAR their biggest selling point.
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Professional Member*
It all depends on your electric rate. In my area, electricity is too cheap for a payback over the panel life. Your area may be different. They can provide nearly all of the power required for the heat pump or AC, but if you have a power failure the inverters shut down.
There is a 30% federal tax credit with no cap for the solar part of the job. There may be state tax credits as well.
Remember, Air Conditioning begins with AIR.
Regular Guest
What happens when there's no call for heating or cooling? Does the electricity get dumped back into the grid?They can provide nearly all of the power required for the heat pump or AC, but if you have a power failure the inverters shut down.
God Speed, Jim. We'll miss you - 2-26-23
Yes. the panels supply electric weather or not your HVAC equipment is running.
If you produce more then 1 mega watt a year, many power companies are require to pay you for it then.
Professional Member*
So the "solar cooling" is pure marketing gimmick, no different than a conventional A/C with and solar panels installed on the house?
God Speed, Jim. We'll miss you - 2-26-23
Other then the lennox upper end are designed to have the Solar connected through them, no.
Professional Member*
Didn't I read that this power only ran the fan on the unit, not the compressor?
Professional Member*
that was the older unit with 1 panel.
the new units can take up to 15 panels and will backfeed into the house if the a/c is not running.
Regular Guest
Wouldn't it be better to put a stand alone PV system on the house, rather than something tied to the HVAC system? If the HVAC system needs to be replaced, would you need to retrofit the PV panels to work stand alone, or are they already set up that way, just marketed by Lennox as part of their system?
Professional Member*
I have a customer that had 3kw of solar panels on his house. 3 ton heat pump. It's central Texas weather. Keeps his house 78 during summertime. He said it lowered his electric bill $50 a month if that puts your savings in perspective.
I like DIY'ers. They pay better to fix.
God Speed, Jim. We'll miss you - 2-26-23
They can work stand alone. The A/C system is set up to make it easier to install the PV system, thats all.
Regular Guest
In our region, it probably wouldn't make sense. To qualify for the MicroFIT (under 10Kw Feed In Tariff) program, your panels and inverters need to have a certain percentage of domestic content. Bypassing the MicroFIT program would be uneconomical - OPA pays you 80.2 cents per kWh for energy sent to the grid, while you buy it back for around 10 cents.
Because of this, solar installations in Ontario always send 100% of their power through the export meter, rather than using it for internal building loads directly.
Even if it weren't for the MicroFIT dynamics here in Ontario, if I was going to spend the money on a solar PV system, I'd probably want it to be stand alone rather than tied to a major appliance such as my HVAC system unless there was some serious cost savings in doing so.
God Speed, Jim. We'll miss you - 2-26-23
The Lennox system doesn't need to be ran through the HVAC system.
Regular Guest
For cooling after the sun goes down.......would you not need a large bank of 6V HD batteries to release their electricity via an inverter to change voltage back into 120V AC?
Regular Guest
This isn't an "off grid" solution, so you still have your connection to utility power to take care of that.
Regular Guest
Well, yeah I knew that. But why pay the power company when you have cheap power already stored up in your battery bank.
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