I'm almost certainly having solar panels fitted before 3rd March, so I may get the old FIT rate, but I may not.
Should I keep a close eye on how they cut into the slate and felt, or would that piss off the roofers and be a bad idea?
I'm going with:
They shouldn't be cutting the felt, but sliding cables up through the overlap.
As for keeping a close eye on them, do you want pissed off roofers or a roof that's leaking? That said, any decent roofer isn't going to get upset at someone who's showing an interest in the job.
I had Ploughcroft round. Poorly informed, unable to answer fairly basic questions, keen to knock other suppliers and their products rather than explain how theirs were superior, oh, and they were expensive. They didn't get the job.
The brackets for the panels must somehow be attached through the felt to the wood.
They are a roofing firm who branched out into solar panels, so they should be good at roofing.
The lady who came round from poloughcroft wasnt as clued up as the salesman from the cowboys last year, but they're sending a surveyor next week to measure up etc and then the scaffolders, roofers and electricians on a third day.
The cowboys werent having a surveyor, after the salesman they were going to turn up and fit them.
[g]
Ploughcroft wouldn't tell me exactly what they were going to fit until I paid £100 for the 'surveyor' to come round and decide. I wasn't up for paying that kind of money to get an answer to a very basic question...
My panels on a slate roof are fitted with stainless bolts drilled through slates and into rafters. A fat neoprene washer performs the sealing needed. The panel supports fit to those bolts. No leaks since fitting 12 months ago.
Bob
As an aerial installer I'm always happy to have the customer watching what I do.
Bill
In the 1980s I was involved in a work project that included an building extension. When the builders started I would go and see what was going on during break times and got to know the labourers and the foreman. The architect said that because I was taking in an interest in the job like that we would get a much better building. I remember that whenever I have any work done at home, apart from being interested in seeing how things are done anyway.
If they are good at roofing why do they need to diversify into Solar PV installation? Perhaps they see it as money for old rope.
So an even bigger cowgirl? How can you sell something if you can't answer basic questions or explain what the product does.
Another wage to pay on top of the "sales girl's" wage.
But was this sales person well enough clued up to have done the "survey" after the sales speal?
As for fixing to a slate (rather than tiled) roof holes are drilled through the slates above a rafter and a double ended bolt screwed into the rafter a large soft washer is held down by an washer and nut on the machine screw threaded end projecting upwards. The panel frame is then attached to these projecting bolts.
Have a look at page 22 onwards in this document.
Which explains it all. A key factor is the inverter. If it has a wound transformer, then the panels are electrically isolated from the mains. With a transformerless inverter, which may be more efficient, there is no isolation so earthing is required.
For my installation, the additional cost of earthing was such that the marginal increased efficiency would not have paid for itself.
Chris
They are coming to fit the panels tomorrow, I'll take photos of the slate fixings etc, any last minute tips? (I have 3 packets of biscuits, tea and coffee ready...) [george]
Get them to split the feed from the meter (via a Henley block) to a separate consumer unit for the PV only. This means that you can slip a monitor over the cable feeding only the main consumer unit. Otherwise you cannot tell if you are consuming or exporting until smart meters arrive.
Chris
DON'T LET THEM DRILL HOLES. They should be removing slates and using lead or other flashings round the panel mounts/fixings.
I have a smart meter, it can't cope with power generation.
You may have a meter which is smarter than the old electromechanical. The final specification has yet to be agreed for the "Smart Meter", which will be rolled out across the country in a few years. It most certainly will be able to cope with generation.
The issue was discussed on R4 recently, and any supplier currently fitting what they term smart meters, is doing so at the risk of having to change them subsequently.
Chris
All meters pass current in both directions. How they measure and/or display is rather more complicated than that.
An additional wired-in meter is not exactly a DIY job, cheap, or good for instantaneous readings..
If you have the wiring installed as I describe, then you can obtain, at prices starting at free, a clip-on meter monitoring only consumption, to compare with what the inverter shows.
Indeed it does, but which display shows what you are using?
We also haven't reminded the OP that an easily visible location for the inverter is a good idea.
Chris
Better tell e.On then, they are already fitting them, had both my gas and elec done last May.
meters were published. This was an important milestone. However, there were a number of technical issues that were unresolved at the time, as described in the Government?s consultation document published in August 2011. Government is currently considering responses to this consultation in detail. However, as a result of stakeholder consultations and additional work required to resolve the technical issues, the timescales and approach for developing the technical specifications have been revised.
Chris
I think they will just upload new firmware.
They'd be a bit crazy to move to a different protocol between the meters and in home display, hand/van readers, than the wireless MBUS they seem to be using. The comms to the datacentre is over GSM/3G network, I'd think it was easier to make changes at the central end to accommodate various meter types, rather than upgrade firmware in the meters.
They installed the panels today.
The inverter is screwed to a board screwed to a chimney breast in the attic. Perhaps I should unscrew it and put some pink plasterboard, or perhaps kingspan behind it?
Its not a chimney I'm using this year, but may in the future.
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