Lennox Solar ac
 

A customer in need of an new a/c brought up the Lennox signature xc25 solar ready series her friend recommended. It does allow you to add some solar panels to reduce the power it uses.
https://www.lennox.com/products/air-conditioners/XC25/
Seems like a great idea, but I think it doesn't make sense in application. Mostly because you are only receiving power from your panels when your a/c is on. If the payback on gridtie panels that produce all day long is 7 plus years then what would be the return on panels that are only connected for a portion of the day time. I haven't found much out about these but the panels I saw on display at Lennox were cheap and lightweight older style panels. They might have been for display only. I can't get much info on these units because I'm not a lennox signature installer, however I know these are very expensive. Great idea but you can put a nice gridtie array together for the $10k this system probably installs for.https://www.lennox.com/products/air-conditioners/XC25/

Without more technical information I'm wondering if the system is designed so that it's kind of like an off grid system and isolated from putting power back to the grid to avoid the issues that come with grid tie as everywhere has different rules and regs and best just for them to avoid it all togeher.

If that's the case you would probably be better off with any old panel and cheap inverters plugged into the wall.


As for it only usable when he ac is on that's actually not an issue here. In North tx your ac will be running pretty much any time the panels would be producing power and still allot at night.


I really wish solar stuff was available here as right now all the warehouses are on the east and west coast. Shipping is a killer unless you have half a truck load or more.

What I've seen is its like a grid tie thats only engaged when your a/c is on. You can use it with or without panels, or add panels in the future. Even a small 2 ton a/c uses 1k-2000 watts so you'll need a lot of panels to cancel out a/c usage. In central TX my a/c is shut off from 8am until 5p when the house is unoccupied during the work week. Of course that misses peak solar production time too. Its green washing, I just hate seeing people roped into something wrong when they want to do the right thing. I'm sure they offer some great financing on that beast.

Yeah that makes sence after looking into it a little.

Here is no way we could leave the ac off at all during the day. The system is sized correctly so it isn't big enough to quick cool the house in that short of a time. And our schedules change a lot so there is often someone at home. Ac is sized to maintain temp not to quick cool in the evening.
Course it's really friggin hot here too. Only below 90* for about 2 hrs while the sun is up and that's in the early morning. I have noticed they have started to raise the summer temp for manj here so it's closer to what my research has shown it should be. In summer it's 100* + for 5-6 hrs a day. The forecasters are expecting 115* to rear it's head again too.

Summer 3 years ago we had over 90 days in a row 100 or hotter. Much of it highs over 110. Was 117 every day for weeks. Lots of people realized that their ac units were undersized when you had a hard time keeping it 80* in that stretch with the ac running nearly non stop.

Looks like an enphase microinverter based system, if you ask me. Based on the "oval" shaped communications module, and the "performance monitoring website" screen shot.

https://www.lennox.com/solar-solutions/solar-house.asp

At 16 modules max, they're obviously only running one PV trunk line. Watch the little Sun Source video.

I'll stick with my 20 module 4.4kW net metered PV system. It's like having free A/C down here in the swamp. I pretty much set the A/C thermostat wherever I feel like it, even when it's 95°F and 95%RH. Worst electric bill in the past 24 months has been $69, in an all electric house cooled by a 16 year old 3.5 ton 14 SEER Carrier filled with R410A.

Similar thought here. If I'm paying for solar I want that solar everyday from sun up to sun down 365 days not just when my a/c is on. Maybe if you weren't allowed to feed power back to your power company this would be a solution, you could reduce your power load with the panels but not generate excess.

I'm betting it was done that way just to avoid all the issues with the electric company.

Most systems aren't undersized, but they DO under perform. very few systems actually deliver their rated capacity.

Read this before you consider anything with a grid tie:mad:

Utilities wage campaign against rooftop solar - The Washington Post

We will begin to see more and more of these green-leveraged products, mainly because average Americans see the need to reduce our carbon footprint. You won't prove a thing in court, but our descendents' futures depend on our actions today. This is not a small issue, and the billionares are taking notice and planning their future wealth with this in mind. Wake up people, the future is coming. It's not all about saving money any more (it's about making money, too).

Billionaires versus big oil - Fortune

There is a new world of energy finance emerging under the surface. Better learn about it before it boils up on you. It does not favor the 99%.