The dopes that install solar panels

[westwall]

Yes... I'm glad you brought that up. I am seeing the mini solar roofing tiles thing now and It looks like a total maintenance nightmare.

They are.

 

[sparky]

Yes... I'm glad you brought that up. I am seeing the mini solar roofing tiles thing now and It looks like a total maintenance nightmare.

yeah, they're just a tad too 'new' for me to sign on....~S~

 

[justoffal]

Paragraphs much?

Police that mess up.

I have to learn to use the previewer more.....but thanks.

JO

 

[progressive hunter]

According to my former neighbor who runs such a business, a lot.

He got in on the grift early and made money hand over fist.

so out of a lot of it you cant name a single one,,

other than maybe taking a hose and spraying the panels every year of so and adding water to lead acid batteries I cant think of any,,

I just sent all of our electric bills for the last yr to the guy to engineer a system for us,, sure would like to bring up any concerns with him if you had any,,

 

[justoffal]

yeah, they're just a tad too 'new' for me to sign on....~S~

what about dust deposits and general chemical agglomeration on the surface of the panels? I ran a 2 megawatt array for my employer for about five years in a busy urban area.... The rain doesn't clean them off enough....you need some kind of surfactant to do it. Oh....and from the initial gross potential of 1.73 megs at install over the course of just five years the crystallization of the conductors reduced the output to 1.43 megs.

 

[progressive hunter]

cleaning, checking the connections, etc...~S~

that doesnt sound like much of a problem,,

 

[progressive hunter]

what about dust deposits and general chimerical settlement on the surface of the panels? I ran a 2 megawatt array for my employer for about five years in a busy urban area.... The rain doesn't clean them off enough....you need some kind of surfactant to do it.

I think if that were such a problem youtube would be loaded with people complaining about it,,

 

[justoffal]

that doesnt sound like much of a problem,,

depends on where the panels are.....in my case the roof it nearly 30 feet at the soffit with the peak 12 feet about that.

 

[justoffal]

I think if that were such a problem youtube would be loaded with people complaining about it,,

most likely

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

So far I have sent them all packing. I am willing to capture some solar but I DO NOT WANT IT HOOKED UP TO THE METER......none of the local companies will do that. I'll probably do it myself after I finish the bathroom projects that the wife has ordered. Additionally they don't send out structural people who know shit about shit. I have a very large roof....the rafters are 33'6".... the modulus of elasticity for this particular beam with its dimensions tells me that I have about 90 pounds of sheer stress tolerance per unit length going with the grain....now place that directly in the middle of the beam about 16' 8" and you have considerably less due to leverage. My rafters are about 100 years old so I going to grade them at about 70 percent efficiency. That brings us to the number 63 for the sheer stress and I haven't yet figured out how much pressure would be added to the direct center of the length due to leverage but I'm sure it's plenty. I'm probably being too generous with 63. The installers showed me the lag bolts they were going to use. NO EFFING WAY! was my response. You're going to drive that thing into my rafter? NOPE! He seemed puzzled.....I asked them if they had a structural engineer that worked with them. He seemed further puzzled.....now mind you this has happened several times at my kitchen table with these guys. Judging from the size of the lag it would reduce the efficiency of the 3x8 rafters down to a 1x4 which would be totally intolerable for a heavy snowfall.

I no longer bother even to talk to them. I am currently working on a design with a few builders that starts with independent supports that are pylon-ed into the ground near the sides of the house building a tent like frame of sorts with very light support structures bearing down on the roof without penetrating the rafters. Yeah it will probably look a little funny to some but I don't care. I also offered to design a special U bolt for rafters that hugs the rafter from the inside while not penetrating the structure of the rafter and still providing anchorage for the panel footing. I called them " Rafter Clamps" but the company I was talking to at the time was concerned that it could extend the installation times out too far.... ok...fuck them.

OH....and lets talk about the meter. None of them were able to discuss it because they said that without a meter hookup they couldn't pull the permit. This does not surprise me. See....when you generate and sell back to the utility you have to use their lines and they charge for that. So screw them too.

I will figure it out....trust me. Even if I have to build it myself.

JO

Invest in a high end Van, and join Bob Wells and the other loons off the grid.

 

[Donald H]

So far I have sent them all packing. I am willing to capture some solar but I DO NOT WANT IT HOOKED UP TO THE METER......none of the local companies will do that. I'll probably do it myself after I finish the bathroom projects that the wife has ordered. Additionally they don't send out structural people who know shit about shit. I have a very large roof....the rafters are 33'6".... the modulus of elasticity for this particular beam with its dimensions tells me that I have about 90 pounds of sheer stress tolerance per unit length going with the grain....now place that directly in the middle of the beam about 16' 8" and you have considerably less due to leverage. My rafters are about 100 years old so I going to grade them at about 70 percent efficiency. That brings us to the number 63 for the sheer stress and I haven't yet figured out how much pressure would be added to the direct center of the length due to leverage but I'm sure it's plenty. I'm probably being too generous with 63. The installers showed me the lag bolts they were going to use. NO EFFING WAY! was my response. You're going to drive that thing into my rafter? NOPE! He seemed puzzled.....I asked them if they had a structural engineer that worked with them. He seemed further puzzled.....now mind you this has happened several times at my kitchen table with these guys. Judging from the size of the lag it would reduce the efficiency of the 3x8 rafters down to a 1x4 which would be totally intolerable for a heavy snowfall.

I no longer bother even to talk to them. I am currently working on a design with a few builders that starts with independent supports that are pylon-ed into the ground near the sides of the house building a tent like frame of sorts with very light support structures bearing down on the roof without penetrating the rafters. Yeah it will probably look a little funny to some but I don't care. I also offered to design a special U bolt for rafters that hugs the rafter from the inside while not penetrating the structure of the rafter and still providing anchorage for the panel footing. I called them " Rafter Clamps" but the company I was talking to at the time was concerned that it could extend the installation times out too far.... ok...fuck them.

OH....and lets talk about the meter. None of them were able to discuss it because they said that without a meter hookup they couldn't pull the permit. This does not surprise me. See....when you generate and sell back to the utility you have to use their lines and they charge for that. So screw them too.

I will figure it out....trust me. Even if I have to build it myself.

JO

You don't want to hook up to the meter, but you say you'll do it yourself?
Give the whole thing some more thought.

Buy an EV and really make it pay off!

 

[justoffal]

So you'll be a stand alone system then , a rather bold undertaking from my experience in the field, yet i wish you luck....~S~

I've been talking to friends in Portugal, They now pay a special tax for the panels on their roof which negates the sell back and additionally they are now being charged to use the lines to sell it back. It will come here too.

 

[justoffal]

You don't want to hook up to the meter, but you say you'll do it yourself?
Give the whole thing some more thought.

Not at all difficult

 

[progressive hunter]

I've been talking to friends in Portugal, They now pay a special tax for the panels on their roof which negates the sell back and additionally they are now being charged to use the lines to sell it back. It will come here too.

as I said I am in the proccess of getting a quote for a frid tie system,, I will ask questions i see come up here in the kc area,,

 

[justoffal]

Invest in a high end Van, and join Bob Wells and the other loons off the grid.

don't need to be off the grid....just don't want the grid invading my self generation. Once you tie into them they own you. Can't have a house in my zone without a meter anyway.

JO

 

[justoffal]

as I said I am in the proccess of getting a quote for a frid tie system,, I will ask questions i see come up here in the kc area,,

I would be interested to see what they have to say for sure.

JO

 

[progressive hunter]

don't need to be off the grid....just don't want the grid invading my self generation. Once you tie into them they own you. Can't have a house in my zone without a meter anyway.

JO

how do they own you if you tie a solar to them??

 

[progressive hunter]

I would be interested to see what they have to say for sure.

JO

its sunday but I may try and call him later and ask a few things like a fee for returning power and at what rate do they purchase back power,,
if you cant think of any other things let me know,,

 

[justoffal]

its sunday but I may try and call him later and ask a few things like a fee for returning power and at what rate do they purchase back power,,
if you cant think of any other things let me know,,

My concerns for my house probably don't transfer to smaller structures. But I hear there are new and better ways of attaching the panels without compromising the rafters. I don't know what your climate is. My concern in New England is the advent of that occasionally very heavy snow fall. 12 inches of wet snow can add 10 tons to the roof in six hours.....

 

[justoffal]

how do they own you if you tie a solar to them??

They can monitor your own production. Right now there is now fee.....but if things follow the path that Europe went down there will be. My meter isn't read in person.....all the info is transmitted overline to the local utility. I want no part of that beastly thing. It's none of their business.

JO