Solar Power -- Teething Pains

It's been just over a week since we turned our solar power system on, and I think we can classify this time as "teething pains."

Sofar on the best days, we're averaging more than 21 kWh per day, which is more than we consumed in April. (Last year, 17 kWH a day, 18 a day the year before that).

Yet if you look at the chart below, you'll see a gap on May 2-3.

I've been pretty religious watching our output on a daily basis, but missed checking on those two days, until late on the third and saw we had produced zero power. I went out to check the system late on the third and saw its display was dark. So I turned it back on.

We placed a call to our installer to find out what they thought. The lady we talked to was sure the system was calibrating or something -- I forget the term she used -- and I'm not quite sure she understood the term she was explaining. I'll have to do some more research into it. But they are going to send someone out to take a look at the system and make sure it's working as it should.

This comes after I discovered last week that when they installed the system, they managed to destroy one of the control boxes for our sprinkler system by putting two screws through the back of it -- twice. Punctured the ribbon power cord and the motherboard. I put a new box in that same week, and they've agreed to reimburse us for the cost of the box, so no real harm done there. I'm just glad it didn't cause a short somewhere, because the control box was powered up at the time.

Yet to come is the temporary removal of the panels so I can replace the shingles, damaged by hail a week before the installation. I still regret not cancelling the installation until we could have the roof looked at by our insurance adjustor. Well, live and learn.

Still, we're pretty happy so far. We'll see how far that happiness extends once that first power bill comes in the mail. Not really expecting a big change, since the system was turned on late in the month, so we may have to wait until another bill comes in. By then, we'll be in full-force of our summer AC usage, but I've got a few ideas there. I do know once the rest of the family leaves for camp, I'm turning the AC down. I freeze to death when I"m home alone with the AC. And if it's too warm, I can sleep downstairs. I'll turn the AC back down when the family is coming home for the weekend.

We're also looking into more insulation in the attic upstairs; hopefully that'll help keep temperatures down more. I'm also going to put in more attic vents when I do the shingle job.