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The Happy thread!

The_Creator

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Joined
May 22, 2016
Messages
20
Been away for a couple of years, and tried to do a new project which worked once before, but failed. LOL
However, I am going to get back to an older hustle I fell in love with. When I found this BST place in 2010-2011. My buying power to dedicate to my side business went from 500 dollars to now 500,000. Yeah, that's a 1000x. Find something that is profitable, and just rinse and repeat. Remember the product or service life cycle, the growth does stop, and when it does, jump to something newer. Sell into the strength(DO NOT BE GREEDY) and buy into the weakness(Gotta have BALLS), very hard to do, but you will get used to it. The fundamentals never change, perhaps technology does.

Just happy to be back to start something new!
 

Izerous

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Folding Team
Joined
Feb 7, 2019
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4,488
Location
Edmonton
A few of my neighbours are on the older side and Edmonton got nearly a 1ft of snow sunday night / monday morning. I left for work yesterday monring and saw most of their driveways hadn't been touched so tried to get home a little early as I don't want to see any of them hurting themselves trying to clear it. Some of them have family that show up and help when it is really bad like that etc. Was happy that when I got home all of them but 1 had been cleared so I did theirs and mine. More than anything I'm glad she didn't attempt to do it as the drifts had gotten nearly 3ft tall in front of her garage door. She was basically trapped.
 

FreeKnight

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Jul 8, 2009
Messages
4,927
Location
Edmonton, AB
Got my approval for the CGHG and loan yesterday. So I'm getting solar this spring. Also got approved for the municipalities grant and loan which I can use to replace my current HVAC system.

Need to make 2 major decisions;
- Do I go with panels on the attached garage too for 103% of my current annual usage. Or cut the three panels from the garage for better looks and 97%. I know my usage is going to drop significantly next year (farewell work from home), so I'll likely produce more than I use either way.

- If I'm going solar, do I get a heat pump instead of AC for my furnace upgrade? Trying to figure out if I'll save more selling back to the grid and only using AC in the summer, or if selling less (if any) to the grid year round but running the heat pump mostly off the electric is better. It's hard to really figure out the numbers.
 

Izerous

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Folding Team
Joined
Feb 7, 2019
Messages
4,488
Location
Edmonton
Got my approval for the CGHG and loan yesterday. So I'm getting solar this spring. Also got approved for the municipalities grant and loan which I can use to replace my current HVAC system.

Need to make 2 major decisions;
- Do I go with panels on the attached garage too for 103% of my current annual usage. Or cut the three panels from the garage for better looks and 97%. I know my usage is going to drop significantly next year (farewell work from home), so I'll likely produce more than I use either way.

- If I'm going solar, do I get a heat pump instead of AC for my furnace upgrade? Trying to figure out if I'll save more selling back to the grid and only using AC in the summer, or if selling less (if any) to the grid year round but running the heat pump mostly off the electric is better. It's hard to really figure out the numbers.
I intended to go heatpump over AC.

House vs Garage is a harder question... this house is from the mid 70s insulation in areas isn't great and I was working on that but winter hit before I finished in the attic. Normally on a hot summer day like 30'c it was 1-2'c hotter inside the house than the outside temperature. The day after the panels were up on the roof of the house it was already 1-2'c cooler than the outside temperature. Naturally being 2-4'c cooler in the house house if I actually had AC would likely offset more than than a few % of potential solar generation in the way your describing it.
 
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FreeKnight

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Messages
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Location
Edmonton, AB
I intended to go AC.

House vs Garage is a harder question... this house is from the mid 70s insulation in areas isn't great and I was working on that but winter hit before I finished in the attic. Normally on a hot summer day like 30'c it was 1-2'c hotter inside the house than the outside temperature. The day after the panels were up on the roof of the house it was already 1-2'c cooler than the outside temperature. Naturally being 2-4'c cooler in the house house if I actually had AC would likely offset more than than a few % of potential solar generation in the way your describing it.
Since my garage is attached it's only a difference of three panels. Half of the upstairs living room overhangs the garage. It just might look a little goofy with three lonely panels on the mini roof above the garage door.

Any reason you went discrete ac over heat pump? If your solar only output a fraction of your house electrical I could see that being the deciding factor (or cost of the heat pump vs ac and how much you'll actually save over time).
 

Izerous

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Edmonton
Oops fixed that meant to be heatpump over ac. I really like the idea of using a heatpump for heat on mild days when it is only kinda chilly. But right now I only have a furnace from the 90s and no existing AC so either one would be a large upgrade.
 
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FreeKnight

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Jul 8, 2009
Messages
4,927
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Edmonton, AB
Oops fixed that meant to be heatpump over ac. I really like the idea of using a heatpump for heat on mild days when it is only kinda chilly. But right now I only have a furnace from the 90s and no existing AC so either one would be a large upgrade.
Did you look into the CEIP program? Edmonton has a couple more stipulations IIRC, but I've got a conditional approval for St Albert for a new furnace and heatpump loan that is collected via my property tax and limited to a maximum of 3% interest (or less if rates tank... snort). It's tied to the property so if I move or sell the loan stays on the property tax.

I'm using it for a new furnace and HP/AC. There's some small rebates with the HEEG program tied to the CEIP, but nothing like the 5K from the CGHG.

I'm usually very debt averse, but a 0% loan for solar at 103% of my annual usage and <3% for new efficient HVAC and HW is pretty tough to beat. With what my current tax rate is, if I paid myself enough through my company to cover them all cash, I'd probably eat another 25K in taxes :S
 

Izerous

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Folding Team
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Messages
4,488
Location
Edmonton
Did you look into the CEIP program? Edmonton has a couple more stipulations IIRC, but I've got a conditional approval for St Albert for a new furnace and heatpump loan that is collected via my property tax and limited to a maximum of 3% interest (or less if rates tank... snort). It's tied to the property so if I move or sell the loan stays on the property tax.

I'm using it for a new furnace and HP/AC. There's some small rebates with the HEEG program tied to the CEIP, but nothing like the 5K from the CGHG.

I'm usually very debt averse, but a 0% loan for solar at 103% of my annual usage and <3% for new efficient HVAC and HW is pretty tough to beat. With what my current tax rate is, if I paid myself enough through my company to cover them all cash, I'd probably eat another 25K in taxes :S
I will say an equivalent of a $500 eletric bill (333 loan + 170 for a really bad winter month and no credit remaining) really sucks but also thinking long term not immediate gains. I had gotten some grant money from Edmonton itself for the panels but since I more than exceeded the CGHG grants/loan I stopped digging into the furnaces.

I didn't know about the CEIP and I'll have to dig into it, even just getting the single stage 80% efficient furnace swapped out at this point and having it heatpump/ac ready would be a huge addition to the insulation and solar.

Edit: The CEIP pilot is closed for Edmonton, but will potentially open later this year.
 
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FreeKnight

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Joined
Jul 8, 2009
Messages
4,927
Location
Edmonton, AB
Installed a fan over the ensuite shower since the idiot builders didn't install one (and the house is from 07...). Worked on the first try, same with the wiring, which was nice.

Nightmare to get into the attic, clear the cellulose insulation out of the way, mount it to a rafter, make a vapor barrier enclosure, etc. Wouldn't ever want to do it again, but at least it's done
 

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