Press Room Storm Damaged Roof Options

[DonR]

Our roof was torn off by the storm on Tuesday. Hopefully, our insurance will cover the replacement cost. The new roof brings up some options for improvements and I was hoping to get some feed back from others here on what they would do. The area that will need the new roof is over our screen printing press area and is about 5,000 sf. It has a drop ceiling and currently has 1 Sprint dryer and several flash units that work on the presses.

Option 1 is to vent the ends of the dryer through the roof.
Option 2 is to add exhaust fans through the roof.
Option 3 is to put solar panels on the roof.
Option 4 is to add A/C to to press room.

Option 1 is a no-brainer. Only question is what size blower to put on the ducting?

If we go solar, it will save $700.00 per month on current power usage plus it makes running A/C a good option. Is anyone running a shop using solar power and how is it working out?

Does anyone use A/C in their press room? Did you size your A/C to keep the room cool or just a bit more comfortable to work? I assume if I go with A/C, I would not add exhaust fans through the roof. Is A/C better if we go to a hybrid dtg/screen setup in the future?

I need to make some fast decisions any feedback on what you have experienced would be a great help.

[Admiral]

We have solar and A/C (for our whole building).  The part of the warehouse with solar is actually our back warehouse with a flat roof (back warehouse has emb, DTG printing).  Our south part has the screen printing with 6 house sized HVAC units spread throughout.  It would hit 105-110F without A/C in screen printing (south side, has skylights).  So we definitely like the A/C being everywhere..but of course it costs a decent amount.  You can tweak it with what level of A/C you say is okay though.  I suggest it after working in 115F and dripping sweat as I printed back in the day. Our dryers are ducted out of the roof straight up, end of dryer and the exhaust blower (Sprint 3000s).

As for the solar, if it saves $700 a month, how much does it cost a month? What size array? I like solar and have it at home as well (2 arrays at that, one powers my car for 8000+ miles a year).  Commercial power is so much less expensive but we do have net metering.  Unsure on the ROI, I would have to ask the CFO.  My home solar ROI is 6 years on the array I installed myself and 12 years on the array I paid to have installed last year.  I also have net metering though which is huge for ROI.

I would do all of the upgrades you can afford.  They are all great ones.

[DonR]

It's looking good for pulling the trigger on solar with A/C units in the production area.  I will not save as much as I original thought but it looks like with incentive programs and the high power costs in my state, the ROI will be good. I also received one PM response that pointed out that productivity should increase with an cool production area. 

[Admiral]

It's looking good for pulling the trigger on solar with A/C units in the production area.  I will not save as much as I original thought but it looks like with incentive programs and the high power costs in my state, the ROI will be good. I also received one PM response that pointed out that productivity should increase with an cool production area.

Productivity and consistency should increase with A/C!

I just reread what I wrote - we have 25kW of solar on the roof.  This is not enough to power much as our electric bill is over $10K most months.  It's just something that made sense to do at the time and get some clean energy in with net metering with our utility.

If the solar actual 'shields' the south facing roof it will help even more so with cooling your building so that's something else to consider beyond clean energy and the actual ROI.  I love solar and want it on every building with a sunny south facing roof personally.

[Northland]

It's looking good for pulling the trigger on solar with A/C units in the production area.  I will not save as much as I original thought but it looks like with incentive programs and the high power costs in my state, the ROI will be good. I also received one PM response that pointed out that productivity should increase with an cool production area.

Here's a website link to a well respected solar array supplier.
Tax credits are expected to decrease slightly at the end of calendar year 2020.
https://www.wholesalesolar.com/solar-information/commercial-solar