Solar Power Experts
 

Any solar power experts?

I am in upstate NY, extremely cold winters. I use propane forced air and a woodstove to heat the house. Well insulated 3,000 ft/sq. Want to add some supplemental space heat.

With the huge reduction in the cost of PV panels I was wondering about the possibility of PV panels direct to DC powered electric resistance heater. Say 1500 watts or so (probably 24v). Direct DC to the heater would avoid the cost and complication of an inverter to AC .... but would increase the necessary size of the electric cables.

Trying the figure out the most simple set up possible. PV panels, wired direct to a DC resistance heater seems to be it. No inverter, no battery etc. Just the panels, a cut off switch and the heater. Downside is, a 2000 watts 24 vdc I would be looking at 84 amps ... so sizeable cabling and ... well, kind of a scary current flow.

I want to stay away from solar thermal, don't want to get involved in pumps, coolant, piping, controllers etc.

Before we replaced our 6' x 12' south facing windows with high efficiency UV blocking glass we used to get plenty of heat just be opening the shades, now the new high tech glass reflects almost all the energy except visible light.

Second best scenario I see is PV panels to an inverter, then to AC space heater. A bit more complex and expensive, but smaller cabling, probably safter and the inverter would supply AC power for anything I want it for. But I assume I'd have to run it through a battery system to condition it for use .... on a day with spotty clouds ... that would be cycling the batteries an awful lot though.

Any ideas?

Where you are, when measured you have 2.3 months of the year where you can create more energy than you use ( minus the Ac )
You are right to consider direct to DC as the inverters make heat and are a net loss to your grid, regardless of what the Solar folks say.
All said, you can do it with about 6 good group 24 car batteries. You need to store your power, you would need 1,000 ft by 100 ft roof at 60 degrees to sun, in the summer to handle that load.
Ideally Solar should be used for lighting and stay DC all the way, and a battery used.
Tesla has home batteries now and are testing in Australia. ( $$$)
What I did, once laying it all out for extra heat, was buy a Coal stove. 26.5 MIllion BTU per ton is a rate that Nothing can match. More ash than the wood stove, but longer burns and the fuel, well its Millions of years old and well 'seasoned" NO smoke, low sulfer and No Creosote! Ash is Inert .. Just something to consider

We use a wood stove in addition to our propane heat. I noticed a lot of flue manufacturers won't warranty their product used with coal ... I guess the gas by products are way more corrosive or something.

Have a friend that just hooked up six 180 watt panels, ran them straight DC to a resistance coil radiant heater (no ac fan to worry about) ... says it works nice. Sun come outs, heater glows red ... makes heat.

My house is all LED right now, you could turn on every light in the house and it uses about 200 watts. Car battery would probably allow normal light usage for a week or so :)

Wonder when houses will switch to separate electrical systems for lighting and outlets. No reason to be running 120vac/15amp circuits to lights anymore. Low voltage DC would run a whole house pretty easy.

Use a stainless liner for coal ( Duravent works well) Other than that, its No smoke, and no smell and plenty of BTU's.
Just something to consider

I tried coal in my wood furnace (can use coal or wood) you are lucky to have access to low sulphur coal .

Southern Indiana coal is high sulphur, smoky, didn't burn hot enough for the effort, I had to burn wood with it
to get the BTU's needed.

Tractor supply has Anthracite coal for heating.
Not many "combo" stoves work for coal.
Coal is drafted from Under the fire, and wood from "at the base of the fire"
I sometimes use match light charcoal to get a coal fire going fast.