New member, potentially stupid north-facing roof question

[nok32]

Thanks, folks. Very helpful replies, some of you.

[J.P.M.]

If you don't have to worry about building code and don't mind having the panels end up on the ground in high wind conditions then you don't need to do structural calculations. If you wanted for them to be designed to meet expected wind conditions then the structure is going to be very beefy and you may have to modify the existing roof structure to take the point loads from the new mounts.

I'd guess building codes are always a concern. The structure should always be checked for adequacy to the satisfaction of the requirements, and redesigned/modified as required. What justification would allow otherwise ?

[JFinch57]

I posted pictures in a my new post, more to follow.

[SunEagle]

SunEagle, Yeah, there are big trees there. Dave can throw up panels quicker and easier than calling a tree climbing guy. The earlier threads mentioning getting a PE to sign off on the design is essential. There is obviously a large uplift sail effect. My 10.8KW ground mounted system has almost 5 yards of concrete anchoring it down.

Careful if you add too much concrete in some types of soil it may sink.

By the way when I wright in Comic Sans font I am usually being sarcastic.

I (and others) would like to see some pics of your ground mount system.

[JFinch57]

SunEagle, Yeah, there are big trees there. Dave can throw up panels quicker and easier than calling a tree climbing guy. The earlier threads mentioning getting a PE to sign off on the design is essential. There is obviously a large uplift sail effect. My 10.8KW ground mounted system has almost 5 yards of concrete anchoring it down.

[SunEagle]

I doubt that there are many shading issues, he's in the business and has one of those Solmetric SunEye tools. As far as the wind turbine goes it was installed just for show because Dave is in the business. Permits were obtained in a shady fashion using a ham radio permit and the town made him take it down about 4 years ago. I recall it was up for several years while he fought them. At that time I lived around the corner and tried to get legitimate approval for a 20KW turbine on a 120' tower and got shot down because of his battle. If they gave it to me they would have to let him have his, political BS! I even had NJ Clean Energy approval and they were going to give me over $50K toward the project. Spent $3,500 trying to get town planning board and variance approval, oh well!!!

If you check out google earth now you can see those trees to the East are very tall and will no doubt cast shadows on the lower panels facing South until the sun moves more to the West by late morning. I think that is why he added those 35 panels much higher up to get more production earlier in the day.

Too bad about the local politics giving you a hard time getting the turbine approved.

[peakbagger]

If you don't have to worry about building code and don't mind having the panels end up on the ground in high wind conditions then you don't need to do structural calculations. If you wanted for them to be designed to meet expected wind conditions then the structure is going to be very beefy and you may have to modify the existing roof structure to take the point loads from the new mounts.

[JFinch57]

I doubt that there are many shading issues, he's in the business and has one of those Solmetric SunEye tools. As far as the wind turbine goes it was installed just for show because Dave is in the business. Permits were obtained in a shady fashion using a ham radio permit and the town made him take it down about 4 years ago. I recall it was up for several years while he fought them. At that time I lived around the corner and tried to get legitimate approval for a 20KW turbine on a 120' tower and got shot down because of his battle. If they gave it to me they would have to let him have his, political BS! I even had NJ Clean Energy approval and they were going to give me over $50K toward the project. Spent $3,500 trying to get town planning board and variance approval, oh well!!!

[SunEagle]

Newbie here, just joined and saw this thread. I've seen it done at the installer's house that did the 38KW system on my business. The roof is south facing but the panels are over the peak and essentially what you want to do. His name is Dave Sims from Ecological Systems, 1634 Martin Road, Wall Twp. NJ 07753. Clearly visible on Google/Bing maps. It appears that there are 5 rows above the peak!!! A picture is on the bottom of this page on their website http://ecologicalnj.com/energyeff.html . [ATTACH=CONFIG]5914[/ATTACH]

Interesting installation. He does have a lot of panels and those 5 rows of 7 were probably installed due to the amount of shade he gets on the other panels.

I also don't see how that wind turban will work with some many tall trees around it.

[JFinch57]

Roof Peak Mounted Panels

Newbie here, just joined and saw this thread. I've seen it done at the installer's house that did the 38KW system on my business. The roof is south facing but the panels are over the peak and essentially what you want to do. His name is Dave Sims from Ecological Systems, 1634 Martin Road, Wall Twp. NJ 07753. Clearly visible on Google/Bing maps. It appears that there are 5 rows above the peak!!! A picture is on the bottom of this page on their website http://ecologicalnj.com/energyeff.html . Dave Ecological systems.JPG

[J.P.M.]

Flat arrays will get dirtier more quickly than sloped and TOU is like a diet, it largely depends on how strict you are although having a good Azimuth is like somebody who has a high metabolism it makes it a lot easier to shed pounds and shed dollars from the e-bill.

FWIW, mostly +1.

[SoCalsolar]

Flat arrays

Flat arrays will get dirtier more quickly than sloped and TOU is like a diet, it largely depends on how strict you are although having a good Azimuth is like somebody who has a high metabolism it makes it a lot easier to shed pounds and shed dollars from the e-bill.

[J.P.M.]

Tilt Kits very doable not usually difficult with some caveats. They don't do much for the appearance of most roof surfaces. Depending on the angle of the panels flat usually doesn't require any exotic engineering. If you tilt them at a positive angle in relation to the roof more complex engineering calculations are usually required along with additional structural support. What most people don't realize is that a flat array will produce slightly more that an East or West facing array tilted at 22 degrees. However if you have TOU rates than you ought to be thinking more about the value that solar produces and not solely the quantity. [ATTACH=CONFIG]5912[/ATTACH] Uploaded a pic hope it helps.

I'd remember that flat arrays usually and probably foul up quicker than sloped arrays, and that tilted, south facing is usually the first place to start in any search for max. production or max. bill offset, which, particularly with T.O.U. may require different orientations for either.

[SoCalsolar]

Tilt Kit very doable

Tilt Kits very doable not usually difficult with some caveats. They don't do much for the appearance of most roof surfaces. Depending on the angle of the panels flat usually doesn't require any exotic engineering. If you tilt them at a positive angle in relation to the roof more complex engineering calculations are usually required along with additional structural support. What most people don't realize is that a flat array will produce slightly more that an East or West facing array tilted at 22 degrees. However if you have TOU rates than you ought to be thinking more about the value that solar produces and not solely the quantity. Tilt Kit Sketch.png Uploaded a pic hope it helps.

[sensij]

You might try to get in touch with forum user "SoCalSolar". I've seen a few posts from that user mentioning reverse tilt installations, and IRL works for a solar installation company and may have some ideas about how to go about getting it designed.