Thinking of getting into Alt energy...

[jyabs7]

Hi, I know anything is possible with the right checkbook, so I guess my question would be if this is reasonable, not possible.

I live in South Dakota, where if you aren't holding onto your hat from blowing off in the wind, you probably aren't outside, and there aren't any tall buildings, trees, etc.. With the winter months dipping into -10F air temperature, plus wind chill, we've seen our electric bill go into the $600+/month range. The majority of the issue is coming from three electric base heaters we have in the house.

So I got to thinking...ideally, it'd be nice to supplement with alt energy strictly for those three heaters. Each heater is rated at 240v 1000w i believe. I was considering a small hybrid solar/wind setup,and running it to a battery bank...then to an inverter, and to the heater. Probably some sort of switch box for when the battery bank runs empty, switch it back to grid power. Is this reasonable? Any ideas where to get started to read? There's so much info on this site that it just melts my brain trying to figure out whats pertinent to what I Want to do.

[DamonHD]

Have you insulated and "weatherized" as much as possible, and made sure that your heating controls are as good as they can be?  That will be *much* cheaper than any RE, and will in any case probably be a pre-requisite to make an RE project plausible.

Rgds

Damon

[jyabs7]

Hi, yes weatherization is all set and air tight. The issue comes from the kitchen area and the downstairs bathroom, where there are no ducts from the central HVAC. So there is only three base heaters to heat that area.  We have secluded the area by installing a door to connect the kitchen to the rest of the house, so as to prevent the central HVAC from working to compensate.

[dnix71]

A switchable infrared heater in the bathroom would take them chill off and only run when someone was using it. Infrared heats surfaces, esp. those with water in them (your skin). It warms you without warming the room itself.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/NuTone-250-Watt-Infrared-2-Bulb-Ceiling-Heater-9422P/202079311

[electrondady1]

what about installing three new base board heaters specifically for the renewable energy source .
 no battery, no inverters, just some big capacitors in front of the resistance heaters.
if there is no wind, the original heaters click on .
if here is wind,the renewable heaters come on.
 

[MattM]

You could just as easily invest in a couple hundred square feet of solar hot water panels, a taco pump, a couple hundred foot rolls of pex, and a heat exchange system.  It would probably not repay itself for 4-5 years, but it will potential pay for itself after that point.

[birdhouse]

i don't think the cost of batteries, panels, turbine and an inverter would ever pay off to reduce the electrical bill.

if you have a NG furnace, you would probably be better off running additional ducts to the base board areas.  i've even seen larger blowers retrofitted into existing furnaces for the exact problem you seem to have. 

solar air heaters can be pretty functional, cheap and effective. 

adam