Wish I'd stayed in Aus...

[wetwork65]

The local pre-Bunnings hardware shops I had any experience with were way more user-friendly than Bunnings.

Also more chance they had what you needed, due to a way wider range of products.

There is a really good and helpful place in Dee Why - they stock the carcinogenic cleaners that work and you can't buy anywhere else.
And the Mitre 10 in the city doesn't have the atitude too - but they are both small shops, so don't have the range.
Now I'm thinking about the Mitre 10s at Mona Vale and North Narrabeen, sometimes a bit pricey but decent staff working at these locations. Got all my fencing supplies off them and put up with my non-tradie description of what I needed.

 

[greenacc]

The Problem is people dont think because we live in a large house (38 building Sq) we have 16 tv in the house and most of the time my Satellite room is ON ALL the Time so that in one room that's 10 TV and one of them is a Sony 85Z8H that sucks 850 watts with local dimming on. The house is full of LED Globes also the house has a induction cook top and yet we have never had a bill since 2008 and because that we get at least (less now, because of the base rate per kilowatt has gone up) $100 a quarter back but use to get $250 back every quarter.
Arggggg I forgot to tell you ,,, I have Over Clocked 5KV PV System, I like the word Overclocked because all my Computers are over clocked and some days the i7 the 4 of them are sucking power.

Now People complain about water usage but I have the same to save on water but I dont over clock the rain I have ways and mean that when It rains I have the best catchment to keep the water and use it on cold water usage around the house plus I have a 3 Panel Solar Hot water system controlled by me whilst I'm watch 10 tv in my Lounge room and tell me what the 3 solar panels are doing.
All you have to do is Think, Think outside the Square because I had 5 Strokes and I can still think and design a house that is good for your wallet.

Water catchment


Water Tanks (PS there are within 1/4 of a incch OCD Kicking in.


My system that I can watch whilst I'm watching 10 TV's. All I have to do is turn my head and tell me the Capacity of water in my system and and how hot the water is in the hot water system.


Cant find my photo of PV System, but in front of me in the computer room I have the Sunny Beam that tells me how much Money that I've made and how I have save the Planet with lower Co2.


Now all this equals too just about lower or No Bills

Exactly right. Quite a few people around here cry and complain about their 2000 dollar a quarter power bills! It makes me smile every time I hear them whinging about it. But it's not their fault of course, cos you can't expect them to turn off 1 of the air conditioners when they go to work, the dog might break a sweat, we don't like those led light bulb things cos my skin looks pale, and we need to have 3 TV's on cos we don't want to sit near each other, the coffee machine runs all day as does the spa heater and the fish tank.
It is hard to help some people.
Your water storage looks big enough to take some of the overflow from warragamba!
I want to put in a tank but space is an issue unless we put one under the house.

 

[wetwork65]

Exactly right. Quite a few people around here cry and complain about their 2000 dollar a quarter power bills! It makes me smile every time I hear them whinging about it. But it's not their fault of course, cos you can't expect them to turn off 1 of the air conditioners when they go to work, the dog might break a sweat, we don't like those led light bulb things cos my skin looks pale, and we need to have 3 TV's on cos we don't want to sit near each other, the coffee machine runs all day as does the spa heater and the fish tank.
It is hard to help some people.
Your water storage looks big enough to take some of the overflow from warragamba!
I want to put in a tank but space is an issue unless we put one under the house.

Exactly - I would love to capture the excess water but lack the space around my house, unless I am happy to not have a yard or never be able to access the back yard without walking through the house. Really, the block is too small.
As for solar, the neighbour's trees shade my house heavily and I don't have a North facing roof section. I would have to put up with low efficiency.
Jeez - what a whinger I am.

 

[Forg]

Your water storage looks big enough to take some of the overflow from warragamba!
I want to put in a tank but space is an issue unless we put one under the house.

We had a 12kL tank installed 'cos we were KDR'ing the house, it's smaller than I thought it'd be and I probably should have had them install a couple more.
Our 6.2kW of cells is the most we can fit on our roof in a north &/or west direction, though. Maybe in a few years they'll be smaller, and we can fit more. I could have another bank facing the other way, but dunno if the inverter can cope with that (cells facing the wrong way will drag down the output of the ones you have facing the right way, unless they're wired separately in some way or other).

 

[greenacc]

We had a 12kL tank installed 'cos we were KDR'ing the house, it's smaller than I thought it'd be and I probably should have had them install a couple more.
Our 6.2kW of cells is the most we can fit on our roof in a north &/or west direction, though. Maybe in a few years they'll be smaller, and we can fit more. I could have another bank facing the other way, but dunno if the inverter can cope with that (cells facing the wrong way will drag down the output of the ones you have facing the right way, unless they're wired separately in some way or other).

My folks have panels on the east and south side. Don't ask me why but the north and west sides are too steep, and the sales guy came up with this idea.. The system is next to useless most of the year so you are not missing anything. Wait until panels become more efficient.

 

[Immortality]

They have now developed solar panels out of normal glass panels, not quiet as efficient as normal solar panels but much less intrusive.

Unfortunately we have no room for water tanks unless I put them on the front lawn and that is a no go.

 

[Skylarking]

My folks have panels on the east and south side. Don't ask me why but the north and west sides are too steep, and the sales guy came up with this idea.. The system is next to useless most of the year so you are not missing anything. Wait until panels become more efficient.

I thought there was a design standard so that all installs had some level of efficiency to them. And I’d have thought putting solar panels on the south side of a pitched roof wouldn’t meet those standards.

The aim of such standards would be from a safety perspective bit also to allow for an effective payback period. I‘d think having solar panels on the south side of a pitched roof takes such payback ideas and throws them out the window.

So a typical salesman who’d lie and misrepresent to make a sale

Basically I’d be onto the regulators and consumer group about such standards and your rights in regards to this install. I’d be looking at a proportional refund to reflect the efficiency of the crappy system install (if it’s only 30% efficient compared to optimum placement, I’d want a 70% refund).

Just remeber, these arse wipes are collecting carbon credits for such bullshit (which is probably not based on yne system efficiency, cause govco)… It just doesn’t sound correct for such shitfuckery to be allowed to stand.…

 

[greenacc]

I thought there was a design standard so that all installs had some level of efficiency to them. And I’d have thought putting solar panels on the south side of a pitched roof wouldn’t meet those standards.

The aim of such standards would be from a safety perspective bit also to allow for an effective payback period. I‘d think having solar panels on the south side of a pitched roof takes such payback ideas and throws them out the window.

So a typical salesman who’d lie and misrepresent to make a sale

Basically I’d be onto the regulators and consumer group about such standards and your rights in regards to this install. I’d be looking at a proportional refund to reflect the efficiency of the crappy system install (if it’s only 30% efficient compared to optimum placement, I’d want a 70% refund).

Just remeber, these arse wipes are collecting carbon credits for such bullshit (which is probably not based on yne system efficiency, cause govco)… It just doesn’t sound correct for such shitfuckery to be allowed to stand.…

I know I know. They were installed probably 6 or 7 years ago. The trouble is it is a prick of a roof but does have a good north facing area. This area is steep and second story so they quoted 5k for scaffolding. Now my old man is notorious for being a tight ass so he wasn't going there. But of course he still wanted the warm fuzzy feeling that saving the planet gives you.
So to be fair I'd say that between an arse-wipe and a tight-arse they came up with plan B. It delivers about half their energy usage from memory, which is tiny as only 2 in the house. The funny part of all this is he's now talking about adding more east facing panels to boost the return
oh boy!
Sadly, with energy providers being even bigger arse wipes than solar sales guys, the feed in tarif is so low now that the payback period for the north facing system would be huge given their low consumption and really a waste of time and money. Like a 30 year old rushing in for a booster shot..

 

[Skylarking]

So to be fair I'd say that between an arse-wipe and a tight-arse they came up with plan B.

Hahaha, I get it…

I shouldn’t drink coffee while reading posts… sometimes the urge to laugh is great… At least the iPad is easy to clean

 

[greenacc]

Hahaha, I get it…

I shouldn’t drink coffee while reading posts… sometimes the urge to laugh is great… At least the iPad is easy to clean

LoL lol lol. Indeed. You know the memes, when someone says they can do it cheaper...
There's some good humor in here sometimes! Might go and build myself a flagpole out of chopsticks.