The dopes that install solar panels

[progressive hunter]

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.....

I have always said some conditions dont allow for solar,, yours is one of the biggest downfalls,,
if you had a way to do ground mount that would be best,,
I would never put them on a roof with your conditions,,

 

[progressive hunter]

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

how is it none of the power companies business what your meter says??
and how does that make them own you??

 

[justoffal]

how is it none of the power companies business what your meter says??
and how does that make them own you??

Whatever I buy from them is their business......what I generate is not any of their business......when I say own......what I mean is that I am giving them information that I don't want them to have.
The local code requires a dump for excess generation. Probably a fire code thing.....but that also means you are mandated to tie to the meter. That's where I differ from them. It's easy enough to build a dump into your system without being bamboozled into a tie in with the local utility. Problem is the permitting.....the permitting is going to favor the utility. Not trying to sound like a conspiracy nut here....just have no interest in selling anything back ( there won't be anything to sell back anyway ) nor do I have any desire to let them know what I am generating.

JO

 

[progressive hunter]

Whatever I buy from them is their business......what I generate is not any of their business......when I say own......what I mean is that I am giving them information that I don't want them to have.
The local code requires a dump for excess generation. Probably a fire code thing.....but that also means you are mandated to tie to the meter. That's where I differ from them. It's easy enough to build a dump into your system without being bamboozled into a tie in with the local utility. Problem is the permitting.....the permitting is going to favor the utility. Not trying to sound like a conspiracy nut here....just have no interest in selling anything back ( there won't be anything to sell back anyway ) nor do I have any desire to let them know what I am generating.

JO

around here you dont need a permit unless its tied to the current system,, which makes sense,,

not sure how you do a system without doing that,,
I have another house next door thats gutted that I want to set up solar to run all lighting and any other non-high consumption items,, that doesnt require a permit as long as its not connected to what comes in from the pole,,

please let me know any other concerns you have that I can ask my guy,,

 

[Concerned American]

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

FLIR camera for detecting loose connections?

 

[justoffal]

around here you dont need a permit unless its tied to the current system,, which makes sense,,

not sure how you do a system without doing that,,
I have another house next door thats gutted that I want to set up solar to run all lighting and any other non-high consumption items,, that doesnt require a permit as long as its not connected to what comes in from the pole,,

please let me know any other concerns you have that I can ask my guy,,

Yeah.....here it seems to be a mandate....I'm not sure exactly why. I did check with the city and they confirmed it. Personally I think it's a utility company thing. I get the safety concerns but as you have already told me where you are you don't need to be hooked to the meter so I am sure the system comes with an excess dump of some kind. So in my area the Utility is simply looking for info that I don't want to give them. If they want it....they can effing pay me for it.

 

[justoffal]

FLIR camera for detecting loose connections?

FLIR camera for detecting loose connections? Not familiar with this....can you explain please?

 

[progressive hunter]

Yeah.....here it seems to be a mandate....I'm not sure exactly why. I did check with the city and they confirmed it. Personally I think it's a utility company thing. I get the safety concerns but as you have already told me where you are you don't need to be hooked to the meter so I am sure the system comes with an excess dump of some kind. So in my area the Utility is simply looking for info that I don't want to give them. If they want it....they can effing pay me for it.

if you seell it back to them they are paying you,, better that than just dumping it into the cosmos,,

either way saying they OWN you is a little hyporbolic,,

 

[progressive hunter]

FLIR camera for detecting loose connections? Not familiar with this....can you explain please?

loose connections create heat,, FLIR detects heat on sight,,

 

[justoffal]

I have always said some conditions dont allow for solar,, yours is one of the biggest downfalls,,
if you had a way to do ground mount that would be best,,
I would never put them on a roof with your conditions,,

Yes I have seen some very nice ground installations......so much better! Easy maintenance, cleaning.....no structural worries..... Also....it can be a real pain in the ass when you are selling a house. I have seen three deals go south because the Solar company didn't cooperate with the house sale.

JO

 

[justoffal]

if you seell it back to them they are paying you,, better that than just dumping it into the cosmos,,

either way saying they OWN you is a little hyporbolic,,

Honestly I'd rather dump it.....but I already know I won't have any to dump..... Trust me....you don't want them to have any information about what you generate.....
It will become a way to extract money for them.

JO

 

[progressive hunter]

Honestly I'd rather dump it.....but I already know I won't have any to dump..... Trust me....you don't want them to have any information about what you generate.....
It will become a way to extract money for them.

JO

I se no problem extracting money from them,,

the few systems I have seen resulted in a net positive due to creating far more power than the home uses,,
of course that varies on the size of house verses the size of the system,,

just image getting a check every month for more than the amount you usually send them,, and having the back up for power loss if the grid goes down,,

 

[Concerned American]

FLIR camera for detecting loose connections? Not familiar with this....can you explain please?

FLIR is the leading mfr. of infrared cameras. They have been found to vastly reduce preventative maintenance time in industrial situations. Instead of have an electrician go into a panel and tighten all connections with the attendant stress that is put on the fasteners, a tech takes a picture of the terminations and any loose connections are plainly visible on the print out as hot spots. Where there is a loose connection, heat is generated. Then you know exactly what to tighten. The drawback is that the cameras are not inexpensive.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Solar has its place.

 

[Dagosa]

I can't believe what they were about to do to my roof! Idiots....

I can’t believe you‘re even considering the undertaking on a roof with 100 year old rafters that is subject to snow load.
That would be the last thing I’d consider past a direct tv antenna.

 

[1srelluc]

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,,

The next time I see him I'll ask.

All he said is he makes bank servicing them, a lot more than sale/install. Sorta like a car stealership I guess.

All I know is he bought him a big house/spread out on the county and his shop has expanded to three times the size when he started.

BTW.....The county sued him for 1 million due to service contract costs.....A judge tossed it on account that he did the exact install the county wanted and they were the dumb shits that signed the service contract.....I don't know what that entailed though.

 

[petro]

I always wonder about the added cost for those that install them over asphalt shingle roofs.
Those shingles eventually have to be replaced, and now there is the extra cost and pain in the ass of pulling the system down, then reinstalling it over the new roof surface.

Satellite dishes were a pain in the ass enough to deal with for a few of the roofs I have done. The more crap up there, the bigger the job.

 

[Dagosa]

I always wonder about the added cost for those that install them over asphalt shingle roofs.

Not necessarily. The biggest enemy of asphalt shingles, is sunlight (uv rays) . Under cover, they are “lifetime” roofing.
Satellite dishes don’t shield the sun. Obviously, the exposed ones take a hit….but that can be worked around.

 

[westwall]

The next time I see him I'll ask.

All he said is he makes bank servicing them, a lot more than sale/install. Sorta like a car stealership I guess.

All I know is he bought him a big house/spread out on the county and his shop has expanded to three times the size when he started.

BTW.....The county sued him for 1 million due to service contract costs.....A judge tossed it on account that he did the exact install the county wanted and they were the dumb shits that signed the service contract.....I don't know what that entailed though.

That's a load of horseshit he's selling you.

There is virtually no maintenance on solar panels. Literally a spray down, and if you run battery backup ensure the cable connectors are free from corrosion.

That's it. For my solar setup maintenance is about 10 minutes a week.

 

[1srelluc]

That's a load of horseshit he's selling you.

There is virtually no maintenance on solar panels. Literally a spray down, and if you run battery backup ensure the cable connectors are free from corrosion.

That's it. For my solar setup maintenance is about 10 minutes a week.

He's getting rich off the grift some way.