Home Energy Trifecta | Solar, Battery, and Generator Print

Farmer Greg of The Urban Farm discusses Water Harvesting.  Learn how to harvest rainwater, graywater and storm water that runs down the street curb.  Plus condensate from air conditioning units.  All can be used to water outdoor landscapes and reduce your water use.

Graywater is any water that goes down the sink.  Except the kitchen sink and toilet.  

Best practices for graywater harvesting, which is legal in Arizona, can be found HERE

Farmer Greg talks about the 5 components of a Water Harvesting System.

1)  The source.  Where its coming from and going to

2)  Collection and distribution plumbing

3)  Tank, Filter and Pump

4)  Determine where you want this water to go in your landscape

5)  Designing the right system for your needs.

Art Ludwig's book Creating An Oasis With Greywater

There's no universal design for water harvesting systems.  Each one is different in size and plumbing.

Discussion of keeping systems simple and inexpensive.  Greg talks about the cost from low to high end.  High end being a storage tank.

The proper way to slope your pipe for water flow.  Never dead end a pipe in the dirt or gravel.  Use an underground tank without a bottom.  Greg explains why this is important.

Making the case for rainwater.  Why harvest it?  Its FREE!  Example of a 1000 square foot collection area.  For every inch of rain you can collect 600 gallons of water.

Farmer Greg describes his harvesting system that costs  just $80.

Best ways to use greywater.  Benefits reduced use of fresh water and septic tank strain.

Stacking functions for greywater.  From shower to watering landscapes and mulch basins.

Home plumbing to separate greywater from blackwater with the use of a jandy valve under the sink.

SOURCES:  Brad Landcaster's Harvesting Rainwater  Urban Farm Watering Guide

Fox Valley Electric's Randy Cole discusses a complete power solution for your home that means uninterrupted power if the utility power goes down.

Solar, Generator and Battery storage system custom designed to the size of your home.  A power trifecta!

Solar panels means you're not disconnected from the grid.  Randy explains a smart inverter switch that cuts power from the grid and uses generator and battery power.

Some cost estimates are based on size and lifestyle of the home.

Generators run on propane or natural gas.  Tank or plumbed to the generator.  Size of the tank determines how long it can run.

Generators can be set to run automatically once a week to exercise itself.  

Fox Valley Electric uses Kohler Generators.

Rosie drove a Tesla for the first time and had questions about battery storage and backup.

Warranties for batteries are about 10 years.  Solar panels 20 years.

Discussion of the advantages of having a solar, generator and battery power storage for a seamless power system.

A manageable and ease of monitoring for the home owner with the use of apps.

TEXT:  Listener has an existing solar system on the home.  Can you add a generator, battery and smart switch to it?    Some exceptions.

Randy discusses when designing a system, they can use one month of power bills.  More power use history can be better.   The goal is to design a system that gives you a Net Zero power bill.  It starts with an on site assessment.

Fox Valley Electric And Solar  And Generators!!

Rosie discusses getting your roof ready for monsoon season.  Starting with a history of roofing in Arizona dating back to the 1950's.

Tips on inspection and maintenance of pitched roofs and foam roofs.  Plus why its a good idea to install gutters to keep moisture away from the foundation.

Most Asked Question Of The Week:  The pros and cons of Cool Deck, Acrylic Deck and Pavers.  Rosie looks at all three and why he likes pavers from Ancient Stone made in Phoenix and Belgard.

Sanderson Ford

Weekly To Do on creating summer shade with Booth Built Patio Products.  From pergulas to sunrooms, the materials are made to last and look nice.  With plenty of options.

Jim Stein won our Staycation to Prescott.  He talks about what he and his wife did during the trip!

CALLER:  The roof A/C unit doesn't have condensate dripping out of the pipe.  Troubleshooting what could be wrong.

CALLER:  Has a 1948 all adobe home with water pipe damage.  The adobe is peeling and shedding.  Looking for someone to help repair it.