Guys,
Second time around I am performing solar install on my personal new home I just bought. I moved south 10 miles from Lancaster, CA to Palmdale, CA, both hot desert towns. Went through learning curve on my first home in Lancaster, CA and I was under assumption that permit drawing in Palmdale, CA will be a breeze.
Oh boy I was wrong. I am going to pick up my approved permit today, but what I get is a marked up sheet with corrections. Felt like I was getting a graded college homework from an inspector (not an engineer), and after inquiring I found out there is not a single PE is the department where I was submitting my solar permit. Main points that struck me are:
- Palmdale, CA does not approve expedited PV permitting process signed by Governor’s Office of Planning and Research in 2014. Town 10 miles north (Lancaster) is more than happy to approve expedited PV permitting
- Palmdale CA snow load is 20psf. That’s a good one. Ten years living in the area I have seen snow ~ 6” once and it lasted ~12 hours. It is a hot desert town. Not sure where that number comes from. I hope I am not asked to design for some very unlikely snow event.
- I must get structural calculations performed and wet-stamped by licensed engineer; That’s a good one. How about I perform my calculations per code, and department PE approves it?
In my permit I did show that
1. Weight/Attachment = 23.4 lb
2. Distributed Weight of PV Module = 3.0 lb/sqft
3. Factor of safety of 4x per attachment point based on max wind pressure.
4. That my racking system (IronRidge) and roof attachment system (Quick-Mount PV S-hook) have CA PE structural engineering approval.
I am a mechanical engineer myself - not licensed because no need, but passed FE after school, and I do plan getting my PE license at some point.
I asked the permit guy to show me the code where wet-stamped structural calculations are required. He will get back to me on that one. Not making any friends in the permit office…
Did more reading on Governor Brown expedited permit process bill and:
“Assembly Bill 2188 (Muratsuchi, 2014) requires local governments to adopt an administrative ordinance that creates a streamlined permitting process for small rooftop solar system installations on or before September 30, 2015.”
Hopefully places like Palmdale CA will be forced to adopt expedited permit process and will not have their special conditions to draw the permit. It is hard to understand how a department with no PE chooses to impose their own rules to make solar installations harder.
How common are places like Palmdale, CA?
How hard (and expensive) is it finding a licensed engineer to wet stamp my structural calculations? I have my attachment point and solar layout and my roof rafters spacing. What’s a good place to look?
Second time around I am performing solar install on my personal new home I just bought. I moved south 10 miles from Lancaster, CA to Palmdale, CA, both hot desert towns. Went through learning curve on my first home in Lancaster, CA and I was under assumption that permit drawing in Palmdale, CA will be a breeze.
Oh boy I was wrong. I am going to pick up my approved permit today, but what I get is a marked up sheet with corrections. Felt like I was getting a graded college homework from an inspector (not an engineer), and after inquiring I found out there is not a single PE is the department where I was submitting my solar permit. Main points that struck me are:
- Palmdale, CA does not approve expedited PV permitting process signed by Governor’s Office of Planning and Research in 2014. Town 10 miles north (Lancaster) is more than happy to approve expedited PV permitting
- Palmdale CA snow load is 20psf. That’s a good one. Ten years living in the area I have seen snow ~ 6” once and it lasted ~12 hours. It is a hot desert town. Not sure where that number comes from. I hope I am not asked to design for some very unlikely snow event.
- I must get structural calculations performed and wet-stamped by licensed engineer; That’s a good one. How about I perform my calculations per code, and department PE approves it?
In my permit I did show that
1. Weight/Attachment = 23.4 lb
2. Distributed Weight of PV Module = 3.0 lb/sqft
3. Factor of safety of 4x per attachment point based on max wind pressure.
4. That my racking system (IronRidge) and roof attachment system (Quick-Mount PV S-hook) have CA PE structural engineering approval.
I am a mechanical engineer myself - not licensed because no need, but passed FE after school, and I do plan getting my PE license at some point.
I asked the permit guy to show me the code where wet-stamped structural calculations are required. He will get back to me on that one. Not making any friends in the permit office…
Did more reading on Governor Brown expedited permit process bill and:
“Assembly Bill 2188 (Muratsuchi, 2014) requires local governments to adopt an administrative ordinance that creates a streamlined permitting process for small rooftop solar system installations on or before September 30, 2015.”
Hopefully places like Palmdale CA will be forced to adopt expedited permit process and will not have their special conditions to draw the permit. It is hard to understand how a department with no PE chooses to impose their own rules to make solar installations harder.
How common are places like Palmdale, CA?
How hard (and expensive) is it finding a licensed engineer to wet stamp my structural calculations? I have my attachment point and solar layout and my roof rafters spacing. What’s a good place to look?
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