Yes, it’s a design consideration. We have never had a panel come off any of our installs. We had one installation that suffered an almost direct hit by a tornado (the building 10′ away was missing) and not a single panel left the roof. Uplift forces are more of a factor than weight when it …
Birds can white wash your panels but they don’t really cause any serious damage. Squirrels on the other hand can nest under the panels and they have the annoying habit of chewing everything and anything. New ESA rules require us to install metal squirrel guards on certain installations and if it is a concern we …
Continue reading “Will birds or squirrels cause problems with my solar installation?”
If the panels are covered with snow, their output will be seriously diminished. Fortunately most of our annual sun hours occur during the summer so losing January is not going to have a big impact on your annual production. Also if it is cold enough the wind will often blow the snow off and if …
Shading is bad. This can be from trees, but often from chimneys or other buildings. It can seriously affect your income. Our technicians have specialized tools to perform a shading analysis to determine if shading will be a problem for your site. (Note that a 10kW system is equivalent to planting 15 acres of trees!)
Yes, see question above. A typical roof that faces directly West or directly East will still earn up to 87% as much as the same roof pointed directly South.
It certainly makes our job more challenging but we can usually find a layout that will work with most rooftops. A small older home often has more room for panels than a newer larger one does. A simple roof will be cheaper to have panels installed then a complicated one.
About 60 sq feet per kW or 600sq/ft for an average 10kW system. Installing systems smaller than 4kW is probably not worth your hassle. If you’re trying to do the math yourself, then figure each panel as 66″ x 40″. We mainly install in portrait mode, but occasionally in landscape if we’re bolting into purlins …
Get them replaced first. Remember that these systems will last 20 to 30 years. If we have to pull them off so that you can replace your shingles, it will be at your expense. If you can’t afford to re-do your entire roof right now, then see if you can just do the area where …
Continue reading “What if my shingles aren’t in very good shape?”
This is a great question and one that more people need to ask when considering a solar installation. It is a critical part of your system but since it is out of site under the panels, few people give much thought to it. A full size system can mean up to 90 roof penetrations and …
Continue reading “How are the panels attached. Will they damage the roof?”
Very likely. The weight of the solar panels and mounting system adds less than 3 pounds per square foot, which is pretty low when you think about it. A good quality layer of asphalt shingles weighs 2.75 pounds per square foot. If your roof is still standing after the ice storms of the past winters …
Continue reading “Will my roof handle the weight of these solar panels?”
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