Moving to new house.. solar system sizing

[jhn_]

No, the roof itself wouldn't be changed/re-designed. It is what I have to work with.

Can any of the protrusions in the south or west facing roof planes be moved or removed all together?

I had two installers comment to me about moving vent exhausts as a possibility with my install to maximize panels and aesthetics, including the eventual Tesla installers day of. They were able to squeeze the panels in though in the end with about 2” to spare and didn’t have to leave a panel off a nice full row.

 

[skepticcyclist]

I plan to replace the gas wat/er heater with a hybrid heater and also replace the gas cooktop with induction.

As someone who cooks not only for the family but has a hobby, if there is one appliance for which gas is always best (even at an net environmental cost - which in CA it really isn't) is on a cooktop. Electric oven is fine, but a gas cooktop is a must. Induction and electric cooktops do not come close to giving the immediate response and control of gas. There's a reason no restaurant uses or ever will use induction (unless there is some real break through in technology or some regulation limiting gas ranges.)

 

[h2ofun]

As someone who cooks not only for the family but has a hobby, if there is one appliance for which gas is always best (even at an net environmental cost - which in CA it really isn't) is on a cooktop. Electric oven is fine, but a gas cooktop is a must. Induction and electric cooktops do not come close to giving the immediate response and control of gas. There's a reason no restaurant uses or ever will use induction (unless there is some real break through in technology or some regulation limiting gas ranges.)

We had an electric stove top for 31 years. When we redid the kitchen, we had it redone so that we now have a gas stove top. Everyone I talked to, like you,
said a gas stove top is the ONLY way to go.

 

[tfan2018]

Induction is superior to electric stove top, though. I wouldn’t trade in my gas cooktop for electric, but I would for induction.

 

[skepticcyclist]

We had an electric stove top for 31 years. When we redid the kitchen, we had it redone so that we now have a gas stove top. Everyone I talked to, like you,
said a gas stove top is the ONLY way to go.

Yeah. We have an induction in our vacation home in Mammoth since there is no gas. Induction is way better than electric but still not as good as gas.

 

[skepticcyclist]

Induction is superior to electric stove top, though. I wouldn’t trade in my gas cooktop for electric, but I would for induction.

Yeah. We have a high end induction stove top in our vacation home. It is much better than electric but still not as good as gas.

 

[h2ofun]

Induction is superior to electric stove top, though. I wouldn’t trade in my gas cooktop for electric, but I would for induction.

we talked to folks with induction, and they end up having to get all new pots and pans to use with it.

 

[SaveOurPlanet]

Induction cooktop looks nice if you want a clean looking kitchen, think Gaggenau or Miele. Any decent to high-end stainless steel cookware like All-Clad or cast iron cookware would have no problem. If you have aluminum or mysterious alloy cookware then you do need to buy new ones.

 

[SoCalSolarRoof]

Induction cooktop looks nice if you want a clean looking kitchen, think Gaggenau or Miele. Any decent to high-end stainless steel cookware like All-Clad or cast iron cookware would have no problem. If you have aluminum or mysterious alloy cookware then you do need to buy new ones.

For the price of running a gas line to our kitchen, we got an induction stove and it's a game changer. Boil water in 90 seconds, repeatable heat control (it's only 11 levels, unlike gas which is infinitely adjustable), and with kids, it keeps the controls away from them and isn't nearly as hot when we finish cooking. Ours also has a an air fryer built in to the oven, so we don't need a separate device for that!

 

[arnolddeleon]

Yeah. We have an induction in our vacation home in Mammoth since there is no gas. Induction is way better than electric but still not as good as gas.

I'm curious about this claim, by what measure is induction not as good as gas?

Reasons I can think of:

The appliance is more expensive and there are probably fewer choices
Can't use all pans
Can't use it to char things

What am I missing?

 

[h2ofun]

For the price of running a gas line to our kitchen, we got an induction stove and it's a game changer. Boil water in 90 seconds, repeatable heat control (it's only 11 levels, unlike gas which is infinitely adjustable), and with kids, it keeps the controls away from them and isn't nearly as hot when we finish cooking. Ours also has a an air fryer built in to the oven, so we don't need a separate device for that!

I got lucky and running the gas turned out to be pretty easy. If not, I would have gone induction

 

[skepticcyclist]

I'm curious about this claim, by what measure is induction not as good as gas?

Reasons I can think of:

The appliance is more expensive and there are probably fewer choices
Can't use all pans
Can't use it to char things

What am I missing?

Gas simply response quicker.
You can use any type of pot
And it is cheaper to run. Natural gas and electricity btu equivalent, gas is so much less expensive.

The water boils sooner with the induction, but that probably has more to do with elevation since our home is at 8,000 ft and water boils at a much lower temperature (so it gets to boiling temperature faster.)

 

[tfan2018]

Since i am over sizing my solar panels I am getting induction cooktop to minimize my gas bill and maximizing the savings from my solar investment. After I install the hybrid water heater the only source of gas usage would be the oven which is used in major holidays only. We use space heaters rather than the gas furnace for heating.

 

[h2ofun]

Since i am over sizing my solar panels I am getting induction cooktop to minimize my gas bill and maximizing the savings from my solar investment. After I install the hybrid water heater the only source of gas usage would be the oven which is used in major holidays only. We use space heaters rather than the gas furnace for heating.

wow, space heater are the worst for heat!!! I used 10 and was doing 240kwh PER day!!!!!! Can you say 2500 buck electric bills per month

 

[tfan2018]

wow, space heater are the worst for heat!!! I used 10 and was doing 240kwh PER day!!!!!! Can you say 2500 buck electric bills per month

Wow I’ve never used that much kWh in a day. But given california weather we’ve only had to turn on the space heaters occasionally in the winter

 

[Zinc_Saucier]

Gas simply response quicker.
You can use any type of pot
And it is cheaper to run. Natural gas and electricity btu equivalent, gas is so much less expensive.

The water boils sooner with the induction, but that probably has more to do with elevation since our home is at 8,000 ft and water boils at a much lower temperature (so it gets to boiling temperature faster.)

Induction is much more efficient than gas though. When cooking with gas you’re wasting 50-60% of the heat generated, with induction is more like 10%.

 

[SoCalSolarRoof]

I got lucky and running the gas turned out to be pretty easy. If not, I would have gone induction

That is great! Our closest gas to the kitchen was in the garage, not easy. The only person on our block with gas got it because they're house got flipped haha.

 

[arnolddeleon]

Since i am over sizing my solar panels I am getting induction cooktop to minimize my gas bill and maximizing the savings from my solar investment. After I install the hybrid water heater the only source of gas usage would be the oven which is used in major holidays only. We use space heaters rather than the gas furnace for heating.

You should look into heat pumps, either as an addition to your central furnace or mini splits.

 

[tfan2018]

Bad news. The 8 east facing panels cannot be redistributed to the west and south facing roof due to new setback requirements. So, my layout can't be the same as my neighbor's who has 17 panels on the west facing roof

 

[skepticcyclist]

Induction is much more efficient than gas though. When cooking with gas you’re wasting 50-60% of the heat generated, with induction is more like 10%.

Only more efficient directly at the end product (heating your food directly from the stove.) But efficiency from electricity generation source, to transportation, to the stove, and to the food is less efficient is much less efficient (particularly if natural gas is the main source for electricity generation.)