And that is why I hired a structural engineer to review our barn install. We had him both evalute structural support (and lift) and specify exactly the method of attachment to the trusses. In addition to the safety aspects, it was also a monetary decision. The engineering aspect only added about 1% to our project. Pretty cheap insurance.
Epic racking malfunction
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I'm not a structural engineer but when I was a teen I carried a sheet of 1/2" plywood over my head on a windy day and that's about all the life experience you need to understand that you can't just hang sails in the breeze and not expect them to fly.
Here's a maybe similar self-ballasted racking failure that has probably been discussed before.
Dave W. Gilbert AZ
6.63kW grid-tie ownerComment
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I'm not a structural engineer but when I was a teen I carried a sheet of 1/2" plywood over my head on a windy day and that's about all the life experience you need to understand that you can't just hang sails in the breeze and not expect them to fly.
Here's a maybe similar self-ballasted racking failure that has probably been discussed before.
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Of no special significance but just for interest,
I made my own racking for my panels, it is not a great design for getting the panels off and on so many years ago when grid connect became popular and commercial racking was cheaper I looked at changing it out.
None of the racking available at the time was rated for the wind we can get as I live in a cyclone/hurricane area, so I left mine where it was.
5 years ago we had Cyclone Yasi, the eye crossed close to us. I built a house from steel to engineered specs for the area. The house was shaking from the wind gusts and I did not think I had built is strong enough.
Only damage to the house was one down pipe screw pulled out.
My panels stayed there and 5 years on they are still working fine so no water ingress
Winds are believed to have been around 280kmh
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