Running chainsaws (and other twostrokes) on E85

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We are a long, long, long way off from cheap in home energy storage. Last year we went grid tie solar. One of the things veing pushed is the battery bank. Thought ok I like that idea. For an 8 hr back up I would have needed 3 fully loaded generac power cell battery sets. That cost was nearly $30k just for the batteries, and the best part is they expect you will need to replace them in 10 years or so. That's not cheap. Even the inverter came with a 25 year warranty and the panels are guaranteed to be 97% efficient at year 20. Till they come out with a better cheaper, way more compact system the thought of going off grid is a pipe dream.
I will say this much, no electric bill is nice and the system cost per month is half what my old electric bill was.
Going that route, yes it's stupid expensive. I looked at solar for my house, and it was going to cost me double what just buying grid power costs.

DIY is incredibly easy, and far less expensive.
 
We are a long, long, long way off from cheap in home energy storage. Last year we went grid tie solar. One of the things veing pushed is the battery bank. Thought ok I like that idea. For an 8 hr back up I would have needed 3 fully loaded generac power cell battery sets. That cost was nearly $30k just for the batteries, and the best part is they expect you will need to replace them in 10 years or so. That's not cheap. Even the inverter came with a 25 year warranty and the panels are guaranteed to be 97% efficient at year 20. Till they come out with a better cheaper, way more compact system the thought of going off grid is a pipe dream.
I will say this much, no electric bill is nice and the system cost per month is half what my old electric bill was.
My power bill ON GRID for the last 6 months was $219. I love that you trust those warranties and guarantees. Who is honoring them when that company is belly up in a year or two.
 
Going that route, yes it's stupid expensive. I looked at solar for my house, and it was going to cost me double what just buying grid power costs.

DIY is incredibly easy, and far less expensive.
Diy isn't easy and most of the tier 1 manufacturers won't offer warranty or even sell to someone that's not a certified installer. We did our homework, it's actually kinds funny now with inflation going nuts and everyone paying more for electric, my solar system still cost $147.00 a month. No bill from met ed, vs the $350.00 bill a month before.
My power bill ON GRID for the last 6 months was $219. I love that you trust those warranties and guarantees. Who is honoring them when that company is belly up in a year or two.
Why would they be going out of business? My aunt and uncle have solar for nearly 20 years and their system has given them little trouble, my father in law has solar going on 10(ish, I'm not sure if it was 2012 or 2013 when his system went up) years, only issue I'm aware of was a faulty inverter that was covered under warranty. Same manufacturers we selected for our house. So yeah, not worried about about the company going anywhere, the installers can go belly up tomorrow for all I care. Just needed licensed installers to get the products I wanted.
Now here's the good part. Even considering a modest 3% increase a year in electric costs (met ed is set to be over that before the end of sumer) I still pay for my system, the same amount, wile you keep paying more ever year. Plus my system is over sized for per needs so we're sending power back to the grid. 1 to 1 sell to buy ratio. I'm already on track to be getting a decent check at the end of the year, plus whatever we get for the srec credits. I forgot a 26% federal tax credit as well. So that knocked $10k off the bill.
I understand it's not an investment everyone wants to make, but it's not new, nor are the companies that supply the products and non of them are going anywhere. Couldn't care less about the "green" aspect of it. It does save me a little over 50% of my monthly electric bill though.
 
My ON GRID coal fired power bill for the last 6 months is $219 TOTAL not per month TOTAL. Your solar bill at $147/month for the same 6 months would be oh......$882 Yes you are a doing sooooo much better
Congratulations my on grid coal fired and hydro electric bill per month was $350.00 per month. Yes I am doing sooooo much better with solar vs being dependent solely on the grid.
 
Congratulations my on grid coal fired and hydro electric bill per month was $350.00 per month. Yes I am doing sooooo much better with solar vs being dependent solely on the grid.
My power bill averages $75/mo. Maybe that's why commercial solar made no sense for me, and why building a DIY system would be cheap for me.
 
My power bill averages $75/mo. Maybe that's why commercial solar made no sense for me, and why building a DIY system would be cheap for me.
Definitely doesn't make sense for everyone. It was not a decision we took lightly, but after seeing 2 different systems in action for so long, coupled steep electric bills it turned out to be a good decision for us.
One of my friends has a diy system at his cabin and it works great from him as he doesn't have high power consumption, but different here at my place with 2 kids and the wife working part time so they are home a lot.
 
Are you kidding:surprised3: Get away with what? Plugging the slug bug into a different outlet? Really
Bill,
You can plug a Tesla into a regular outlet, But it would take 10 hours to get a 30 mile charge. EV charging stations at home are a 240 setup on it's own.
 
Sean - Just out of curiosity, does the power company give you the same price per kWh that they charge you? In other words, if you use 500 kWh and "give back" 100 kWh during low-demand days, do they only charge you for 400 kWh?

So let's say you "made" 500 kWh and used 500 kWh in a given month, but half the time you were drawing power and half the time you were putting it back on the grid. Would your bill be zero (aside from maybe some service charges)?
 
And yes, Smart meters are aware through AI of what appliance is being used, So like I said, You probably wouldn't get away with it.
 
So we are 9 pages in on a E85 post talking about solar on a chainsaw site.. Thank God I skipped to page 9..
No point in arguing E85. Everyone has their mind made up based on some stuff the read online. It is absolutely amazing the anti-agriculture sentiment from so many. They would rather make the arabs richer. They would rather have us fight wars to preserve an oil supply. E85 is NOT a complete answer and it HAS issues but it sure as hell is a lot better than buying oil out of the middle east. E85 will NEVER hurt the us oil industry ever! No oil man will lose their job because of it. E85 is just gasoline, oil is a whole lot more and we will always need it. anyone complaining about job loss in the US oil industry due to E85 truly has no grasp on the industry they work in.
 

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