Is Home Solar For Everyone? Part 3 With Manny Hernandez

Is home solar for everyone? Or is solar just snake oil? I have not been sold on solar because of past conversations with solar contractors and realtors as well as home owners. As of now no one has explained solar to me in a way i could understand it and how solar would benefit me. So does it really work? And is solar for all home owners or all homes?

Lets Ask Manny

I met the owner of Solar Service Professionals Manny Hernandez when he hired me to inspect his home from a referral courtesy of his realtor Larry Cook. I had no idea Manny was in the solar business, but when i found out i picked his brain and quickly asked him to be a guest on the podcast.

Manny has years of experience in all solar industry positions which makes him very knowledgeable about designing, installing, monitoring and inspecting solar systems for proper operation.

This multi part podcast will cover all things solar, so sit back and relax as Manny educates both you and me about the pros & cons of solar. Be sure to listen to all parts of this Solar podcast so you can make an informed decision if solar is right for you and your family.

You can contact Manny Hernandez Directly

https://solarserviceprofessionals.com/

866-765-7767

Transcript

John Laforme: 0:00

Buying a home. Don't panic. Just listen to the rest of this podcast Welcome to my podcast everybody. My name is John laforme. I'm a certified home inspector and the owner of home inspection authority. My podcast allows me to share my day to day home inspection experiences and knowledge to help homebuyers, homeowners, realtors and other home inspectors set realistic expectations with each other during the home buying process. One thing I see as an inspector on roofs is, you know how they're mounted. You know, is there a lot of recall a call backs on roof leaks when he installs? So

Manny Hernandez: 0:44

for a mount? Yeah, so this last year? The rain we got? Yeah. What do we were in June of 2023. Right? Yep. In Southern California. So this last rainstorm starting in January, really? Right? New Years. January February, huge rainstorms. We had a time but we hadn't had a rainstorm since I say December winter of 2018 2019. And I remember this because the exact same thing happened to me back then. I was blown up with phone calls from homeowners saying, Can you come out? My Solar System is leaking into my house, we'll have a huge leak. We think we think it's a solar system. It's on that side of the roof. One way or another. They think it's the solar system. And nine times out of 10 They're right. And so what happens is these installers good or bad, mostly bad, mostly cheap labor subcontract that out sub of a sub of a sub, right, you have these national

John Laforme: 1:50

getting cable installed in your house, you don't know what guy is going to show you.

Manny Hernandez: 1:53

You don't know if it's gonna be direct TV, actually, or a local guy in a minivan with a direct TV with a rap sheet with the man with the magnet? Yeah, exactly. So you get that right. Even like Sunrun is a huge company. A lot of people will see him at Costco and Home Depot. And they don't install their own solar, they have building partners. Hey, you know what that means? I do so. So those guys, those building partners talking to Peter, but Paul's putting it in, and that and then they pay their employee dogshit. And so he doesn't care. He has no vested interest in your home, he's never going to see you

John Laforme: 2:33

ever again. Got a big bucket of roof patch for them? If that? So what?

Manny Hernandez: 2:37

So what they do is they don't know how to install the salt because solar is we have a labor shortage right now. It's very hard to find good people. And it's been going on for years, by the way. Yeah. And that's true. And

John Laforme: 2:50

ever since I was 20.

Manny Hernandez: 2:54

And so because of that, they start hiring these lower quality guys that don't care, they don't have no pride in their work, they aren't getting paid enough, whatever the reason. But because we're in California, you're not going to find that leak until we have a huge storm like we did this year. So you may have gotten your solar system installed in 2020. And you have no problems up until January of 2023. And so I got a lot of calls in the last time I got that call was in a big rainstorm in winter of 2018 2019. Same thing. So it's in waves. And this year, I saw the news, we're officially El Nino weather patterns. So we're going to have a hot summer. A lot of homeowners are going to have solar put in there are going to leak when it's not in there. And then it's going to leak like yeah, definitely. And

John Laforme: 3:44

losing me again on the solar right now you lose no with anything.

Manny Hernandez: 3:47

It's it's all in the workmanship. Right? It's all in the work. Yep. So as far as a home inspector, and if you're buying the house, there's if you don't know what you're looking at, there's real there's really no way to to know if it's done right. Because there's so many look

John Laforme: 4:04

at we're looking for staining in the attic, you lose sheathing, that's what we look. Yes.

Manny Hernandez: 4:08

So that's a telltale sign, right. So if you go

John Laforme: 4:11

in any attic, whether without solar, we're looking for stains, so if that happens to be

Manny Hernandez: 4:15

there, that's for all my home inspectors treat it like a normal flashing and vent system. Sure you have plumbing vents and you know, you need them flashed, if you if the water doesn't just visually looking at a flashing over event or anything a chimney. If you think the water's gonna get in the roof, it's probably gonna get in the roof is a gaping hole or whatever. Same thing with solar. If you don't see the way the water can run off of that penetration. It's most likely not sure. And so a lot of times you know they have those aluminum or stainless steel flashings on the roof, yep. And so you generally only see those, those bottom left and right corners of that flashing because the top right corners are tucked underneath.

John Laforme: 4:59

Well If you go with me to work, you'll see the opposite of that. Okay? But anyway, so it

Manny Hernandez: 5:04

needs right. And if you don't see tucked underneath and you see the flashing on top of the roof structure, and that that little corner of that flashing sticking out, it's gonna leak.

John Laforme: 5:14

Sure when you blow water right or

Manny Hernandez: 5:16

wind driven rain. Yes, for sure. Absolutely.

John Laforme: 5:20

Talking about wind driven rain. One time I went to Cancun. Yeah. And it was rain season. Yeah. And I didn't know. It was in November. I wasn't paying attention. I can't remember two years ago, but I do remember this. It was sunny when I got there. Two hours later. I'm in the room. Log on my balcony. And the rain was coming in sideways. I had to hit me in the face. I'm like, What the fuck? I had

Manny Hernandez: 5:43

a friend that had a wedding. in Cancun, yeah, Cancun. And it was hurricane season or some cleanup that they had to postpone it because the resort was just destroyed by the wet. Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah, it happens. It's a nice place. To be. Yeah, it's

John Laforme: 6:01

a great place to be if the weather's good. Yeah, absolutely.

Manny Hernandez: 6:04

I just I just came back from Punta Cana and Dominican Republic ever been now? Really nice to go. Yeah. Nice place. Okay. Human but nice. Humid, humid here. Yeah, like

John Laforme: 6:17

East Coast. Yeah. Rose. So here's. Okay. So talked about that. Let me ask you about storage banks.

Manny Hernandez: 6:29

battery. Battery says Energizer bunnies.

John Laforme: 6:32

Energizer bunnies. Now this to me, brings me back into the solar positive. Okay, because to me, that makes sense. Okay. Okay. Let me tell you a little bit about me real quick. Yeah. Okay. I am the kind of person who doesn't depend on anybody for anything. I don't depend on my city, to make sure my lights are on. Okay. I know that that's part of it. But I'm not going to get pissed off. If the power goes out. I know there's probably an issue somewhere and I'm not going to lose my mind screaming at someone. She can fix it. I have my own generators in the garage. I have ways to be sustainable in my own house.

Manny Hernandez: 7:10

So the convenience is off, but I'm responsible for my own Yeah, I got

John Laforme: 7:14

a family to look after. I gotta make sure generators. I just have a I just have a Ryobi 1800 Running walk gas generator and I also have a goal zero, Yeti 3000.

Manny Hernandez: 7:25

How do you how do you plug it into your main panel? Do you have like a trend? This is just

John Laforme: 7:29

not it's not plugged? Oh, so

Manny Hernandez: 7:30

you just run extension cords gas in it. I

John Laforme: 7:32

got the extension cords if I need it, it's there. So I think any homeowner should kind of think that way. And have these things ready. In the event? There's

Manny Hernandez: 7:41

a problem if you need your Wi Fi. I have a generator on

John Laforme: 7:44

my wife loses Wi Fi. It's over. Yeah,

Manny Hernandez: 7:47

I think that's what most households. She's like,

John Laforme: 7:49

run around with a knife, right? There's no Wi Fi. Internet, internet, internet.

Manny Hernandez: 7:52

Well, nowadays everyone works from home. I mean, a lot of people work from home.

John Laforme: 7:55

Yes, that's another reason why people should have their own way of

Manny Hernandez: 7:59

keeping some energy. You have a goal zero. You have the ryobi generator. Yes,

John Laforme: 8:04

I have an electric power bank. Yes. Always charged. Yep. And I have the gas version. I have two ways of whatever reason lights on and maybe keeping my refrigerator going during a blackout or something. So

Manny Hernandez: 8:15

So you're talking about standby backup, right in the event of a power outage which is totally possible. Especially for those homeowners that live in the Southern California Edison you live in, in a municipal jurisdiction. Water and Power, Burbank water and power. Los Angeles water and power. Those two Glenda water power rarely go out. There happens but it's rare relative or we're compared to Southern California Edison, which takes a huge swath of LA County, southern California. You have Southern California Edison. For those homeowners in San Diego, you have San Diego Gas and Electric. And then for those other homeowners in, in the north area, you have Pacific Gas and Electric those are the huge companies that take a majority of the of the state. Right, right, right. We all remember paradise. Fire, right, that whole town that burned up. We've had all these fires in California, it's gonna keep happening. Sure. And as these communities got destroyed, they sued the utility company, because it was a utility company's fault for not properly maintaining their power lines, right, so close to dry brush and stuff like that. Oh, yeah, these hooks these hooks that hold the power lines are just worn down if they're supposed to be two inches or a quarter inch now. And so when the wind slaps these wires around, it just breaks the hook and then it sparks on the ground and they're just burning don't

John Laforme: 9:39

have they don't have a safety wire connecting those things together.

Manny Hernandez: 9:42

Nothing now man, it's just it's just straight just

John Laforme: 9:45

I thought they always had to have like, a separate clamp here. clamp here with it with a cable.

Manny Hernandez: 9:50

Yeah, well, they come down right so now they're now they're investing heavy in drones and maintenance, because those communities have sued the utility company Sure, rightly so, right? If it was you or me, we'd be pissed, right? We got to somebody's got to sue somebody, someone's got to pay for it. And in Paradise Valley Fire Insurance Company is insured like 80 to 90% of those homes there. So what happens when the when the insurance company gets a bunch of claims at the same time? They go out of business? Yeah. So then they had to deal with that. My insurance company's not going to pay on my claim, what the hell? So I'm going to sue the utility company for the money and make yourself whole again, right. So because of that, they started doing power, safety, power shutdown, preventative disasters, I guess, right. So they're, they

John Laforme: 10:46

just shut down to be pre emptive. Yeah, to avoid a problem. They shut down

Manny Hernandez: 10:49

the power. So where my house is, I live in Canyon Country or I just got the house up there. That's Southern California Edison. So people in Canyon Country Santa Clarita, I will do set Acton up to Palmdale, that you're in a high fire risk area. So they will shut down the power. And so what that means is, any community in that area will have the power shut down in any community that would receive it down the hill. From that powerlines also going to lose power. So if you're in DWP, la DDP, you're okay, right. But there's other communities that you're at and SCE, your powers and be shut down. Because there's the Santa Ana winds, and we don't want to fire. So this summer is going to be kind of interesting, right? So then you have standby power. So you there like John, where you have to

John Laforme: 11:36

generator two ways of, you know, keeping things running here? Or you have gotta get those reports done to

Manny Hernandez: 11:42

me. Yeah. And if all you have solar, then you have a battery storage. So but then he asked yourself, well, what does it cost an average solar system battery on top of the solar system that may have already cost you 20 to 40,000, depending on your house, the battery system to take over your essential loads, which means your refrigerator, all the lights in your house, your Wi Fi, your TV, everything that's not your pool motor and your AC motor. So you have no air conditioning, that's essential loads, right? You can live without a pool and you

John Laforme: 12:18

can live without, so it won't run your AC, it won't run because that's not essential. It's not essential. So why isn't Wi Fi at the top of that essential?

Manny Hernandez: 12:25

It is it is right? Because that's all your outlets. So Wi Fi is essential. And only because the Wi Fi router doesn't take that much power. It's like, Oh, should I get into telephone? Right? Yeah, big deal. So that'll cost you 25 grand? Wow. Now there are rebates and incentives, your

John Laforme: 12:44

house would be an ideal place for that

Manny Hernandez: 12:46

I have a battery at the house that isn't working. That is that it and I'll tell you why it doesn't work. So we have, so we have that option. And if you want to then do non essential loads, like you want to be able to use a blower like your wife wants a blow dryer during a power outage. That's a heavy motor, believe it or not, you want to run the toaster at the same time. Right? Right. All microwave the microwave it it sucks up so much power. And then it's not the amount of electricity, it's it's the peak demand, it's that surge, that the technology has to pump out the grid is so good at handling that that surge because it's just constant feed. But when you have battery technology, the little the little mechanism has to work a lot harder to keep that surge going. Right. So instead of a $25,000 system, you need a $45,000 system to maintain your lifestyle have never been inconvenienced about it.

John Laforme: 13:48

So how long? How long would it last? How long will let's say I got 10 panels on my house. And I have a storage bank. Just to give you an example, I'm going to want to go off. So how long in a show it and a power outage with that supply energy to my house one day two days you

Manny Hernandez: 14:07

do it if you do it correctly. If you design it correctly, if you work with the contractor that knows how to design it, you can you can essentially be off to your solar system matter and battery bank forever. Might on essentials load, right? I mean, you can even do it on AC but you gotta be assuming it's sunny out, assuming that it will even even if it's not overcast still gets through. Yeah. So you have when we design you have to design for overcast of a week. So that means you have to have enough batteries to last that long. And then when the sun finally comes out, the solar immediately starts charging those batteries.

John Laforme: 14:45

And the other part and the other part of your design is knowing what the house needs and

Manny Hernandez: 14:48

then knowing what the house needs, right? And so people say well, here's my bill right? There it is the box. This little graph doesn't tell me at what time Have day, John turned on his coffee machine, and 7am and how long they're gonna run the treadmill for or how long they doesn't tell you any of that, right? So you have to put in, too if you're really going to go off grid like that you have to have a professional come in, put in meters on your grid on your main panel and monitor it for like six months, maybe three months. And know your your habits and your lifestyle. It's really extreme.

John Laforme: 15:26

This interests me you know, maybe I should get into this for for a career because you know, I really, I really my attention to detail for stuff like that. Yeah, really good. I had I had a

Manny Hernandez: 15:37

homeowner mass interest me in Malibu, and in Malibu to pancake Canyon. They shut down the power frequently they have the fires,

John Laforme: 15:44

that maybe you could teach me how to be an inspector for solar. Yeah,

Manny Hernandez: 15:48

an auditor. Yeah, maybe. Right. And so he, he wanted to do that this guy had all the money in the world. And so now he's just bored. Now he's just bored. He's retired.

John Laforme: 16:00

No Shame on him. And so bad for him.

Manny Hernandez: 16:02

And so he had a company come and I told him, Listen, I don't I don't have the time or the patience to do all that stuff for you. Because he was really, really he wanted everything on the battery. I'm like, you don't need it. And he's like, Yeah, but I can pay for it.

John Laforme: 16:16

I want. Why? Because I can because

Manny Hernandez: 16:19

I can, right? And so that goes back to your question, who gets these battery systems? People people that are really rich, and they they just want the best things.

John Laforme: 16:29

And they want to show it off today. And they want to show it off. Because you can see it on your garage wall

Manny Hernandez: 16:34

or you That's right. Or and you can see the two this guy was paying a quarter million dollars for the system, or you have the homeowners in enact in Santa Clarita. Like my house is on a well, well pump, right. Where groundwater is it is it is groundwater. So the batteries outside of my scope, by the way. Yeah. And so the the, the battery system had the well pump sub panel on the battery system. But what I was there to do, you were there for that inspection was to see if they if they designed it correctly, because the surge peak of that motor of the well pump is that I think it was I don't know, might have been like, five kilowatts or whatever it was. And the battery can't search to match it. So the battery will actually break when that motor runs off grid. Yeah. So if you design it, right, and I've had a lot of customers up there, the battery backup will run your well pump. And you're essentially that would be an essential load. Sure, right. Because I mean, you don't have your AC but you want to take a shower, you want to run your dishes, you want to clean stuff, you need water, right? Yeah, so not all, not all battery banks are made the same. If you're going to put in a battery system, do your homework. Consult with people with multiple contractors call the manufacturer of that battery and confirm will they run will this run my my my pool pump? Well pump AC pump. My installers telling me this? I've seen a lot of homeowners be sold battery systems. That's Oh, yeah, my whole house is supposed to be backed up my entire house. It's a you know, 2000 square foot house. Nothing crazy. But they only really backed up four breakers of the house. That sucks. Which is the refrigerator. Just BS.

John Laforme: 18:38

So once again, we're going back to did we hire the right guy?

Manny Hernandez: 18:42

Did we hire the right person? Let

John Laforme: 18:43

me ask you this. So whoever is selling you the battery, the wall, the wall backup system was at my wedding it correctly. Yeah. battery backup system battery backup system. So whoever's if I'm the homeowner, and I'm thinking about putting this in my garage as part of my solar system, the person selling me the backup system itself needs to be qualified to actually design and properly design it. So designing it is the key word here.

Manny Hernandez: 19:10

Yes, you have to design and design. You don't have to be an electrical engineer, but almost close to it. Right? When you're doing that. They need to know, at the very minimum, they need to show you a certificate from the manufacturer, that they're qualified to design it and

John Laforme: 19:27

listen to that people. That's good advice right there. A certificate. So ask for the certificate. And if he has a drone license.

Manny Hernandez: 19:36

So so a lot of these a lot of these sales guys are just sales guys, right? They haven't taken the course they don't know what they're looking at. So when they're pitching you, they may have knocked on your door. You accepted them and then the quote unquote closer comes in to have you sign the agreement at your kitchen table. But he's not the technician. He's not the installer. He's at the engineer. He's a salesperson. Very rare. Really wool firm, especially with these bigger companies that people feel so confident about. These bigger companies don't have. I mean, I'm not gonna go work for a big company, right? I have my own company.

John Laforme: 20:11

I know what I mean, good for you, man.

Manny Hernandez: 20:13

So why would I go do that. So the people that know what they're doing have their own firms. The people that are working for bigger corporations that are sales guys at your kitchen table or from Costco, they are generally not going to invest in taking the courses getting the certificate, right? They just sell whatever they're told to sell.

John Laforme: 20:31

So it's a really good idea to whoever you're talking to make sure you know exactly what their capacity is, right? You know, which hat are they wearing when they show up at your house? Oh, by the way, sir, do you install this and I'll give you a little backstory. I went to have my van wrapped two years ago. And I saw this guy's work on someone else's van. That's why I chose him. It looked really good. So I go there. And I said, You do this right here. You install it. Here he goes, Yes. Like, okay, great. So I just wanted, I was just making sure everything was up and up, you know. And I didn't notice he was seemed a little anxious to get my credit card. So but it wasn't that much money. So that wasn't tripping out over that he wants to make the sale. He needs to make it I get it. I get it. He's trying to run his business I get so I agree to do it. We agree to do it. I design it. And then it comes time to actually have a put in. So I drop off the van right at the same place where I paid for it. Place I met the guy. I read it right at a storefront. I know I know that that building went back and he had a back entrance. So I'm thinking okay, he probably doesn't right here. I had no reason to believe he did otherwise. Yeah. So I drop off my van. No day before I supposed to drop off my van the first time he canceled. He said his his installer was sick from COVID Because this is when COVID was going on. Gotcha. So I'm like okay, I can sympathize with that. I know it's real. It's I know what's going on. So I'm like, okay, so we postponed for a week later, I dropped off my van again. supposed to have a back. The end of the day. wasn't that big of a job? It's a small little mom and mom. minivan, right? Yeah. So then he then he calls me says, oh, it's not ready yet. I'm like, Okay, you need another day. It was the weekend. I said, I said guys, I'm not in a rush. Yeah, take your time. Yeah, I just I want to look good. So I said you need two or three days. Take it I don't care. Okay, cool. Three days go by. It's still not done. I said where the fox the van. I said, Where's my van? I'm coming there right now and he kind of freaked out. I drove right to the business. My van was nowhere to be found. He goes Oh, it's at my house. My vans at your house. Why isn't my van at your house? He had he had some knucklehead who he pulled from somewhere else and stalling my wrap in his driveway. On a windy day.

Manny Hernandez: 22:47

Oh God. Those wraps are supposed to be done in an enclosed building. No worries. No dust.

John Laforme: 22:53

No nothing correct. So it was a disaster. I had to sue the guy he broke my doorknob off my off my van which was 1800 bucks to fix Jesus. He destroyed my airbag diaphragm for the for the airbag. How pulling off the door. The door panels. He screwed everything up. suitum one no problem. We got paid back, guys a complete coward. He sent his mom to stand up for him in court. He didn't come self he sent his mother who? Los Angeles's biggest coward right there. And I called him out on it to do I said, You are a fucking coward. Now judge was like, where's that? Where's the defendant? Defendant defendant? Yeah. Was the defendant I said, Yeah, that's a good question, Judge. And I said, I don't know who this is. And then some lady with her speaks up because she didn't speak any English at all. And she got oh, this is his mother. Because the business is in her name. She had to show up. Oh, what a coward there. What a piece of shit. But anyway, I'm just saying you have to ask questions, you have to you have to know. And the big thing is you got to know what questions to ask. And that is, whoever you're talking to make sure you know who they are. So

Manny Hernandez: 24:06

So for homeowners that are thinking about putting solar in. I would say get at least three bids to begin with as a base foundation, because you'll you'll you'll smell the bullshit from one or the other. Right? The next question is, what how are you qualified? What is your experience personally? Are you a salesperson? If they're a salesperson, there's nothing bad about that. Just be honest. That's fine. I just know how to make the agreement and set up the protocol for it. So then, okay, who is your designer? Who or what kind of firm Do you have? Is it a big is it a big company? If it's a big company like Tesla expect not to hear from anybody for a while, because they're so big, that if you call in that, it's the answering service. It's going to be wow, if it's a local company He, in your area, called the Office follow up, don't sign right away. Just call them vet them out who's the owner? Who's the business owner? Check out their Yelp review reviews are

John Laforme: 25:09

huge. I got the contractor's license.

Manny Hernandez: 25:11

John, you hit you would be surprised how many times people just don't even do Yelp reviews Google, just check them out online. i Yeah, it's any any any legit company nowadays has a platform online Google where they open themselves up to the world and the customer. And if I do a shit job, then they're gonna review me one star. Right? That's like the b2b, there'll be these. Does it be any more? It's Yelp or Google? Right? Right. So check them out. If they have, you know, maybe three reviews doesn't necessarily mean that they haven't been in business for a while, but they just don't actively promote it. Generally speaking, a business is going to have at least 20 reviews. Right, right. And then ask them what am I paying? What's the financing and what are the and just kind of go over the truth of Lending Act with them and compare your options you know, just do due diligence.

John Laforme: 26:05

Yeah, that's that's a good word. If you can pronounce Yeah,