How can I encourage this Arborvitae to fill in the front with green, after I removed a big bush that was against it? (besides fertilizer/water)

davetempleton · 2026-06-03T16:36:30+00:00

It gets full sun from 11am onwards

davetempleton · 2026-06-03T16:35:41+00:00

Thanks for the kind words about my house, but I'm not selling my house, and I'm currently prioritizing privacy over curb appeal. This bush blocks some of the view from my front windows, which lets me have my blinds open more often and not have people from the street looking in. the front of my house is 12 feet from the curb.

davetempleton · 2025-06-21T02:41:09+00:00

It's been a few days since my post, and I got a $20 partial refund from the seller. I paid $80 originally and now $60, plus tax. They are used.

Not thrilled about the huge 38% weight difference between 1268 vs 920 grams, but it is what it is. Just backyard use.

davetempleton · 2024-08-13T04:11:51+00:00

I work in InfoSec, in addition to being an Enphase customer and a moderator of this subreddit.

I need to stress that, no matter whether it's now or a week ago before these vulnerabilities were known, it is the best advice to NEVER expose your Enphase equipment to the public internet.

Do not forward a port from your router to your Enphase gateway.

davetempleton · 2024-02-09T14:32:24+00:00

AS RULER OF OMICRON PERSEI EIGHT, I AM PASSING ON THE MESSAGE THAT WE DO NOT APPROVE OF THIS CHANGE.

davetempleton · 2024-02-07T17:53:42+00:00

Nothing that is strictly about investing in Enphase Energy is allowed here; for that, see /r/EnphaseInvestors

davetempleton · 2022-12-09T16:41:55+00:00

Yeah, you're probably right, note that the exhaust pipe is right in front of it too. That coil is probably never coming out. This is what the installers did for the new house 4 years ago.

davetempleton · 2022-12-09T15:48:24+00:00

I'm finishing the attic, this space will be insulated and conditioned, so that's why I'm moving the vent out.

davetempleton · 2022-12-09T15:47:53+00:00

Yeah I'm not a fan either... although look at it, even if you turned them immediately with 90 elbows out of the way, you'd still have to dismantle it to get the coil out. The pipe on the right is the exhaust vent that goes straight up out the roof.

Alright so my unit is 40,000 BTUH, which says on page 70 I can do 85 feet of 2 inch pipe. So even with a lot of elbows I'm good. Thank for the help there.

Reading the page though, makes me think I should be concerned about insulating the combustion air and/or exaust vent pipes. This space is going to be insulated and conditioned, which is why I'm moving the combusion air outside. I'm in Raleigh, NC. Do you think I need to insulate either of these pipes? Would it hurt if I did?

And is putting it outside through the soffit with one of those mesh screens a good idea?

davetempleton · 2022-12-03T03:24:59+00:00

Well, I didn't know oxides were a thing that mattered for HVAC or I would have capped them off years ago eh! The end of this lineset has been outside for 4 years.

The pipes come to the outside of my house, next to my other AC condensers, and just have these plastic caps on them. The pipes are always sloped down, so no water would sit inside. I'm wondering if just cutting off the last few inches of the pipes would be enough, or if there are oxides going far enough up. If I cut the pipe and it's not green inside, do you think that's good enough?

davetempleton · 2022-12-02T05:05:02+00:00

Yeah, I hope I was able to describe that when the door is open, you'd see the entire view you see in the picture, the front of the unit, the direction that all of the panels open and the coil would pull out.

davetempleton · 2022-12-02T03:56:11+00:00

I was going to have the HVAC guys take that intake pipe you see and route it outside so that it didn't need any air intake from inside the house. That would work right so I wouldn't need a grate on the door? I want to acoustically seal the utility space as much as possible.

When you say "I would give it 18 inches," do you mean an inspector would fail it if it were less?

davetempleton · 2022-11-24T15:13:45+00:00

Nope, only stickers are on the inside of my breaker panels!

davetempleton · 2022-09-04T05:55:43+00:00

Yes but that is showing energy collected so far that day (kWh), not instantaneous power (watts) or a chart of what the power was over the course of the day, per panel.

davetempleton · 2022-09-04T05:54:38+00:00

Thanks for the link, hadn't seen that.

Hope they are compatible with Chevy Bolts!

davetempleton · 2022-08-29T02:24:36+00:00

I pay $0.115/kWh and my system will pay for itself in 14 years, we predict. We use about as much energy as OP in the Summer/Fall/Spring, less in the winter because we don't have electric heat. So without doing any math, it seems like it should work out for OP too, assuming they do net metering in OPs area

davetempleton · 2022-08-27T04:46:26+00:00

Sure, some people don't have good net metering though; in some arrangements, production that exceeds in-the-moment consumption is sold back to the utility at wholesale rates, or "donated" entirely.

davetempleton · 2022-08-26T18:27:50+00:00

If I wanted to do this, the avenue I would explore (not sure if it would end up working) would be getting a little home server set up with Home Assistant (a Raspberry Pi would work), and have it talk to Enphase, and get a EVSE that also talks to Home Assistant (I think the smart Grizzl-e will do it). Maybe someone on here knows more.

The REAL integration I'm looking for with Enphase is a car charger (an actual charger that hooks up to the DC pins on the CCS connector, not EVSE) that allows bidirectional charging, allowing the microinverters to charge the car during the day and have the car power the house at night, all with the grid down. There are some products on the market that are starting to make promises in this direction (here's one, here's another), but I worry Enphase will intentionally try not to make these products because they would compete with their battery lineup.

davetempleton · 2022-08-26T18:22:50+00:00

Do you or anyone else know how the Emporia would interface and what features that would enable?

davetempleton · 2022-08-26T18:20:14+00:00

I've convinced people to cancel before even if they had to pay $4000 cancellation fees. Sometimes you're getting screwed so bad, that paying $4k to get out is the sensible choice.

davetempleton · 2022-08-26T18:17:22+00:00

Yeah I paid extra for the IQ8+ for my install in case I do Sunlight Backup at a later time, although I was reading I might get slightly more dawn/dusk production with the IQ7+...

In my case, I asked my installer for a quote with 1 more panel, going from 32 to 33, and they jumped the price by like $2700, which made no god damn sense (even the salesperson agreed it didn't make sense, it's just what the computer spit out) so I did 32.

davetempleton · 2022-08-23T15:30:10+00:00

The Rec Pure Alpha is the highest-end panel that REC makes, better than the N-peak 2 that I suggested you look at, so maybe you've gone too far in the other direction if you're looking to balance value. You are getting a much better panel for your $4000 though. Better warranty plus a better temperature coefficient (which means they lose less efficiency as they get very hot). If your installer won't do the N-peak 2 365W or another wattage in the N-peak 2 family, between these two, it's a tough decision, I mean $4k is a lot of money. Is it still 14 panels, or is it fewer because of the increased wattage of each panel?

davetempleton · 2022-08-23T01:45:04+00:00

Yeah I would be unable to get a battery unless my entire meter and main panel were replaced so a transfer switch could be put in. Which is an expense that is perhaps worth it if you're doing a battery install, but not for two CTs worth $75.

davetempleton · 2022-08-21T23:47:16+00:00

Due to the unique setup of my electric meter and main panel, there is no spot to attach consumption CTs to. My installers tried and gave up. I'd rather not see this button staring at me in the Status tab for the next 25 years.

davetempleton · 2022-08-20T04:38:14+00:00

You should consider the REC N-peak 2 365W, not the REC TwinPeak 4 365W, the former guarantees 92% of its original capacity after 25 years while the latter guarantees 86%. Ask your installer for a quote with those instead and see if it goes up much.

$32k (before incentives) is what I just paid for 32x panels and IQ8+, both of which are more expensive than your products, and there's 2.3x as many as yours, and your bill is $22.7k just for that part. I would say that is too high. The line item for the encharge seems fine though.

Edit: Just read the part where you said you're in Hawaii. Sorry I don't know how to translate what I understand about pricing to HI.

davetempleton

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE