Help me decide... powerwalls inside the garage or outside?

[BrettS]

The install of my 15.12kW solar system and 4 powerwalls was just scheduled for June 22nd, so I need to make a final decision about the powerwall location. My system layout looks like this:

The green mark is where my meter is and the red mark is the logical place to put the powerwalls. That is a garage wall, so the powerwalls could be put on the inside of the wall inside the garage or on the outside of the wall outside the house.

Here’s a picture of the outside of that wall:

As I see it, the pros for inside the garage are:

- The powerwalls will be subject to the temperature extremes that they would see outside, but it is a north facing wall, so they shouldn’t really get a lot of direct sun outside. Extreme cold shouldn’t really be a problem in or out of the garage here in Florida.

- They would be secured so they would be less likely to be vandalized or stolen. However, this is really a very safe area and this isn’t really a concern for me.

The cons for inside the garage are:

- Losing a fair amount of garage space. I am using the area where the powerwalls would go for storage right now and I would need to find new places to store that stuff with powerwalls there.

- Slightly more complicated conduit run as they would need to go through the wall, although I’m not sure that’s a really huge concern.

So what do you think? Would you put them inside the garage or leave them outside? Is there anything else that I should consider that I missed?

 

[power.saver]

I think outside will be fine in your location, and that wall is all clear except for the one hose bib. I have mine installed outside and they work just fine. Remember you will have inverters, disconnects and other items that can take up quite a bit of space.

 

[SMAlset]

First impression, if it were me, I would go for outside placement if you see this area never being used for any patio entertaining for example or If it’s not along a pathway that gets used a lot. if you have the yard space suppose you might even be able to plant a hedge a bit out from there to provide some decorative cover of them and shield them from the rest of the yard if it’s used in that section for activities. Not that the PWs are ugly but as said there will be other boxes all over the wall too.

I like that it’s a north facing exposure. Seeing how I assume Florida is a lot like California with no basements, I know it’s hard to find storage space so I would hate to give that up. And 5 PWs even stacked will take up a good deal of space. If you run outside, how would you stack them?

Unfortunately for our home our most convenient location outside by our main panel sits in a western exposure sun, so ours unfortunately will go in our garage. Let us know where you set up and love to see a photo of the wall when done.

 

[BrettS]

First impression, if it were me, I would go for outside placement if you see this area never being used for any patio entertaining for example or If it’s not along a pathway that gets used a lot. if you have the yard space suppose you might even be able to plant a hedge a bit out from there to provide some decorative cover of them and shield them from the rest of the yard if it’s used in that section for activities. Not that the PWs are ugly but as said there will be other boxes all over the wall too.

It’s a side yard and probably not much more than 12 or 14 feet between the side of the house and the neighbor’s yard, so there would never be a patio or any entertainment happening there. It is visible from the street though, so a hedge or something might not be a bad idea. I could probably extend that existing garden and put a hedge or something in to cover them.

I like that it’s a north facing exposure. Seeing how I assume Florida is a lot like California with no basements, I know it’s hard to find storage space so I would hate to give that up. And 5 PWs even stacked will take up a good deal of space. If you run outside, how would you stack them?

Yeah, no basements for us. I think ideally I’d do two stacks of two on the wall, however, it’s my understanding that if you stack more than one against the wall then the bottoms have to be sitting on the ground. I’m not sure if that’s really an option outside without a concrete pad or something under them. It also seems like having them on the ground outside would be less than ideal as far as water runoff from rain and grass potentially growing right next to the powerwalls that would need to be trimmed. If they get mounted outside then it may just need to be four all in a line along the wall. I believe that there is enough space for that. (Although I probably should measure because if I don’t then that might make the decision for me.) If I do put them in the garage I will almost certainly do two stacks of two.

I think most of the other boxes will be able to go further down where the meter is by the heat pump. Here’s a picture of that same wall looking from the other side. There’s a window just off the right edge of the picture, but there’s still a good amount of space there between the existing boxes and the window.

 

[SMAlset]

You have a really nice location there. Even a privacy panel fence section with shrubs or plants near the water bibb blocking the view of your electrical panels and AC equipment would probably work to shield the equipment from the street view without costing too much if you want a lower maintenance solution than planting hedge plants and keeping pruned.

 

[jboy210]

Not to complicate the decision, but with 4 PWs one question is how are you planning on mounting them? On the wall or on the ground. With 4 on the ground can take a lot less linear space since they can do two units side by side. But they need some hard flat surface like A concrete pad

 

[BrettS]

Not to complicate the decision, but with 4 PWs one question is how are you planning on mounting them? On the wall or on the ground. With 4 on the ground can take a lot less linear space since they can do two units side by side. But they need some hard flat surface like A concrete pad

Yeah, I started thinking about this last night when I replied to SMAIset’s message above. I spent a little more time looking into it this morning. The powerwall 2 manual says that each powerwall is 29.7 inches wide. It also says that they require at least 10 inches between side by side powerwalls, at least inches on the left side of the leftmost powerwall, and at least six inches on the right side of the rightmost powerwall. So adding this all up four powerwalls side by side will take up a minimum of 158 inches or a little over 13 feet.

I measured that wall and I have 21 feet from the panel to the gutter, however some of that space is behind the heat pump:

While technically a powerwall could fit there I suspect that code won’t let them install a powerwall in that space. So that leaves me 17 feet from the heat pump to the gutter. However, there is also the hose bib on that wall. It says that the powerwalls can be installed as much as 3.3 feet off the ground which would be well above the hose bib, but I don’t know if code would let them install it above the hose bib. If we have to go to the right of the hose bib then there is slightly less than 13 feet between the hose bib and the heat pump.

Depending on how strict they want to be with that 2” and 6” of left and right clearance (can part of the clearance be over the hose bib or behind the heat pump?) then I might be able to get four power walls in a line on that wall, but I feel like it wouldn’t really look great. Here’s a picture of the wall from the street:

Luckily I think all the electrical boxes will be hidden behind those bushes, but I’m just not feeling a row of powerwalls coming out along that wall.

Even as I type this I’m leaning more and more toward putting them in the garage.

 

[BrettS]

So I just realized that I might have another option:

On the other side of that window by the electrical boxes I have 21 feet from the edge of the window to the gutter. 13 feet of powerwalls would easily fit in that space and it’s still quite hidden from the street.

 

[bob_p]

We had our 4 PowerWalls installed inside our garage, in two stacks on the floor. We park a Model S and Model X in the garage, and the PowerWalls don't impact the parking of the vehicles (the photo shows a portion of our red S).

While the PowerWalls will work outside, I'd recommend an inside installation if you can, getting them out of the elements and exposure to high and low temperatures and the direct sun.

Our installers were able to run the conduits through the wall behind the PowerWalls, so we don't have any exposed conduits inside the garage.

 

[BrettS]

We had our 4 PowerWalls installed inside our garage, in two stacks on the floor. We park a Model S and Model X in the garage, and the PowerWalls don't impact the parking of the vehicles (the photo shows a portion of our red S).

While the PowerWalls will work outside, I'd recommend an inside installation if you can, getting them out of the elements and exposure to high and low temperatures and the direct sun.

Our installers were able to run the conduits through the wall behind the PowerWalls, so we don't have any exposed conduits inside the garage.

How far off the wall do the powerwalls come? That was one concern I had about putting them in the garage.

As far as conduit goes, my garage wall is cinderblock and the cinderblock is exposed both inside and outside, so there will be exposed conduit somewhere. I think the best option I could hope for there would be if they ran the conduit up into the attic like I did for my HPWC:

 

[gpez]

I only got one Powerwall and opted to put it on the outside of the garage. Here in the Pacific Northwest it barely reaches 90 in the summer and rarely goes below freezing in the winter. The garage face is on the north side so its out of the sun. I had similar security concerns (not that those concerns are really warranted, I live in a very safe area) so while the electrical equipment (meter, generation panel, TEG) are all exposed the Powerwall itself is behind a gated fence.

My biggest factor in not putting it in the garage was more space than anything else. We have an already narrow-ish 2 car garage that is made even tighter with the furnace placement. Having Powerwalls on the inside would have reduced our space even more.

In hindsight I probably should have made a better attempt at putting it in the garage and organizing things in a way to make it work. It has all worked out though!

 

[mongo]

So I just realized that I might have another option:

View attachment 547942

On the other side of that window by the electrical boxes I have 21 feet from the edge of the window to the gutter. 13 feet of powerwalls would easily fit in that space and it’s still quite hidden from the street.

What is on the other side of that wall?
PowerWall 2 Installed, yay...but got humming noise!

Edit: probably less of an issue with cider block walls.

 

[Mokuzai]

We have 4 powerwalls. Two of them went inside the garage and the other two we left outside. They were separate installations.

For inside the garage we did forego some storage space. But are adding more storage to other walls to compensate. The outside ones they placed a plastic pad under them for support. I’m planning on laying down some gravel to cover the dirt on that side.

 

[BrettS]

What is on the other side of that wall?
PowerWall 2 Installed, yay...but got humming noise!

Edit: probably less of an issue with cider block walls.

Hmm, that is a potential concern actually, as there are bedrooms on the other side of that wall. The cinderblock wall might help, but it might also serve to amplify the noise a bit.

 

[jboy210]

We have 2 PWs. We were trying to decide whether to mount them inside or out so I posted a similar thread. In the end we were going to put them on the garage floor. But when the installed came they said there was an issue with the wall having a cement curb at the bottom and the PW needing to be tied into the wall for lateral support. So don't be too surprised if your plans have to change at the last minute

The PWs ended up mounting them on the wall and really like the look. Below are some shots of the installation. The Tesla guys that installed the PWs were artists and managed to get all wiring hidden. Wall color is a shade of the color Tesla uses in their showrooms.

.

 

[BrettS]

We have 4 powerwalls. Two of them went inside the garage and the other two we left outside. They were separate installations.

For inside the garage we did forego some storage space. But are adding more storage to other walls to compensate. The outside ones they placed a plastic pad under them for support. I’m planning on laying down some gravel to cover the dirt on that side.

That little plastic pad is interesting. I didn’t even realize that was an option. With something like that I might be able to do two stacks of two outside. Or could they even do one stack of four?

 

[BrettS]

We have 2 PWs. We were trying to decide whether to mount them inside or out so I posted a similar thread. In the end we were going to put them on the garage floor. But when the installed came they said there was an issue with the wall having a cement curb at the bottom and the PW needing to be tied into the wall for lateral support. So don't be too surprised if your plans have to change at the last minute

The PWs ended up mounting them on the wall and really like the look. Below are some shots of the installation. The Tesla guys that installed the PWs were artists and managed to get all wiring hidden. Wall color is a shade of the color Tesla uses in their showrooms.

No cement curb in my garage, so at least that wouldn’t be an issue. I like the way they look mounted up on the wall, but they require them to be on the floor if you stack two together. I definitely don’t want to lose the wall to hang four side by side in the garage. I suppose I could do two inside the garage and two outside the garage, but I’m not sure that really buys me too much.

 

[mongo]

No cement curb in my garage, so at least that wouldn’t be an issue. I like the way they look mounted up on the wall, but they require them to be on the floor if you stack two together. I definitely don’t want to lose the wall to hang four side by side in the garage. I suppose I could do two inside the garage and two outside the garage, but I’m not sure that really buys me too much.

It might be possible to pour a concrete block to support the PWs double stacked in the garage.

Side question: did your design change? The image in your first post is calling out 5 PWs.

 

[BrettS]

It might be possible to pour a concrete block to support the PWs double stacked in the garage.

I’m saying that there is no curb, so the flat floor goes right up to the cinderblock wall. They should be able to double stack the powerwalls in the garage as it is now. My main concern is just losing space in the garage.

Side question: did your design change? The image in your first post is calling out 5 PWs.

Yes, it did. When I grabbed that image last night I didn’t realize I grabbed the older one. I had originally asked for 5 powerwalls, but in the end I decided that it wasn’t worth the cost and had them bring it down to four.

 

[patrick40363]

Put them inside the garage.