New to solar, help on Brooder House

rjohns39

Hi folks. I too am new to the forum. There is a ton of information here, enough to make my head spin. I'm in the planning stages for an odd solar application (poultry brooder house) that will only be used March through October. Initial calc's suggest that I'm looking at less than 250 Watts at any given time < 500 Kwh per month. Any suggestions on where to start? Assume I'm dumber than a box of rocks and learning very slow.

-r/Bob

BB.

Welcome to the forum Bob.

I have moved your post to its own thread--That will keep people focused on answering your questions vs others to the original post/poster.

In general, 500 kWH per month is a pretty large/expensive off grid solar power system. If you have any chance of connecting to utility power--That would probably be your better bet.

If, however, you need off grid solar power (no power within ~1,000 feet)--Then the next thing is to look at designing a brooder house that is as efficient as possible--And, if needed, possibly uses propane or alternative heat source.

A 1,000 WH per day (30 kWH per month) system is relatively small (lights, computer, water pump for cabin).

3,000 WH per day (100 kWH per month) is enough to run a full off grid, very energy efficient home, with refrigerator, well pump, computer+TV, etc...

Off grid solar power "Costs" around $1-$2 per kWH (a few folks have it down to $0.50 per kWH)--But roughly 10x utility cost of power. If you can justify conservation + utility power, you are probably better off.

A system capable of 500 kWH per month is going to cost you ten's of thousands of dollars in parts (plus installation, new batteries every ~5-8 years or so, etc.). How much would it cost to bring utility power to the brooder?

-Bill