The Need for Solar
My wife and I have been talking about solar for months. For one thing, living in the country, self-sustainability seems to be a natural goal. For another, we want to do our part to minimize our impact with respect to global warming.
But there are other, more practical considerations that drove us to finally make the decision to get solar: My wife and I live about three miles from a small town. We have a well from which a pump draws water and stores it in a pressure tank. When we lose power, which is a regular occurance, we have only the water in the pressure tank to draw from, and it doesn't last long. In summer, when irrigation is a must, this just doesn't work.
In November, we began shopping for a solar electric system. It wasn't easy. Information available on line isn't easy for a novice like me to understand. And solar contractors in our area are not greatly trusted. I asked my friend, a General Contractor, about the installer we were considering. He said, "I haven't heard good things about him." I asked if there was someone else he'd recommend. He said, "Nope. This guy's probably the best of the lot."
We did the best we could and arranged for a system to be installed. One problem: some of the parts were on back order, and others were shipped through Denver. So when the power failed last Sunday, with overnight temperatures at an outrageous -30, our solar system still wasn't operational. Without electrical backup, the electric heater in our pumphouse shut down and our wellhead and pipes froze.
The weather hasn't broken yet (it was -20 this morning), and even with power restored, we haven't been able to thaw everything out. Prevention is everything. So we're looking forward to our new life with solar.
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