Cansolair Solar Panel Q & A

It seems that everyone wants to know about the Cansolair panel. Well, no, not everyone. My kids don't care, the dog doesn't care, and I'm pretty sure that my 88-year-old grandmother doesn't care (even though I have learned so many reduce and reuse tips from her).

I got an email the other day from a gentleman in Michigan, who is considering the panel, and he had some fantastic questions for me. They were so good, that I decided to publish them in a post.

Q. Do you still enjoy the product?
A. We do still like it - especially now that they days are getting longer, there is more sunshine, and it is keeping the main floor of our house nice and warm on the sunny days that are still so bloody cold up here (it has been hovering around -20 Celsius lately - outside, not inside).

Q. Does it heat your entire house during the day?
A. When we installed the panel, we didn't intend for it to heat the entire house. We have a recent addition on the south side of the house - finished basement and main floor. When it is sunny, it does a great job of heating up here - the basement however, needs the wood stove as a heat source to heat it. Or, in my case, I forget about the wood stove, it goes out during the day, and I just keep the kiddies upstairs where it's warm and let hubby relight the stove when he gets home!

Q. Given that you have only used it for 90 days and 30 of those had no sun - do you think it will save you money in the first 12 months of operation?
A. When we installed the panel, we knew that it would be as a supplementary heat source, that we needed due to our increased square footage from our addition. So, in a word, no. We estimate that over three or four years we will recoup our costs due to decreased electricity use when we are at work and the fire is not on. Our home is 1500 square feet just on the main floor and it keeps that warmed during sunny days.

Q. Was it worth the ~$2600 price - in that 1) reduced fuel use for direct saving + 2) reduced work in less wood stove usage?
A. We feel it was. When it's not so cold, I can let the fire go out during the day and not be constantly chucking in wood. When we aren't at home, it maintains the warmth upstairs so that the baseboards are only on a limited amount.

Q. Has any of your friends or neighbors purchased the product since you did? Do you know why or why not?
A. We have had many ask us about the panel, and there are several considering it, I believe. I think that shelling out the $$, when they have an existing heat source, may be a deterrent. Most friends and family have young children and we all know how expensive kids, diapers, and daycare are.

Q. If you were going to move would you put a Cansolair panel in your new home?
A. That's a definite yes. In fact, we were considering installing one on our garage but, unfortunately, the design and direction of the garage doesn't lend itself very well to a panel installation.

Q. What would you change about the service delivered or the product or your interaction with the company?
A. We have been very happy. We ordered the panel through a local retailer, but there was a defect found in the original panel. Apparently there was shipping damage to the local retailer by the carrier company. We were getting emails directly from the company to ensure that the matter was being dealt with. And it was. We received a brand-new panel and an installation allowance as well for the labour involved.

I hope that these answers help a bit with your decision. Lately, the panel has been running from about 10:30 am until about 3 in the afternoon, steadily. Then between 3 and 4:30 pm it is a bit more intermittent - we Canadians don't get a heck of a lot of sun this time of the year. We are very happy with the product, and love to show it off to others as if it were a fine piece of artwork on the exterior of the house (did I mention that there isn't a lot of entertainment where I live out in the sticks??).

For a bunch of aluminum cans in what looks like a shadow-box picture frame, it's a pretty amazing product.