Things are done differently there

[Chris J Dixon]

Have a look at this PV installation taking place:

attitude to working at height.

Interesting strategy with individual inverters, not handily placed for maintenance.

Rudimentary roof sealing.

The system cost around US$32,000, but the federal and state governments pick up

about half of that. Our out-of-pocket expenses will be about US$16,000. Between the electricity savings and a modest "renewable energy credit" we get paid by the power company, I'm expecting payback to be in 6-7 years. Not fantastic but worth the investment

All the guys on the installation crew were eager to see the video, so I sent a

link to the company. They are delighted with it and did say that they would use if for marketing.

And we know that the roof is still partly shaded -- we have a tree service

coming in to remove the offending trees later this week. I hope!

Chris

[sm_jamieson]

pick up about half of that. Our out-of-pocket expenses will be about US$16,=

000. Between the electricity savings and a modest "renewable energy credit"= we get paid by the power company, I'm expecting payback to be in 6-7 years= . Not fantastic but worth the investment

sent a link to the company. They are delighted with it and did say that the= y would use if for marketing.

ce coming in to remove the offending trees later this week. I hope!

So 2.2kW at the end. Enough for a kettle ! Do all meters go backwards like that (disk type ones, new electronic ones etc ?) Simon.

[Vortex7]

Hell of a shady location. Shade is not good for PV yield.

Looks like the PV hardware is worth more than the building it's attached to.

[David WE Roberts]

For the students of ethnic diversity it is interesting to note that the 'grunt' work of the install was done in Spanish and the 'technical' work of the electrical wiring was done in US English :-)

It all looked much easier to work on. Low roof, very shallow pitch, wood base with felt shingles Much easier than a steep pitch slate or tile roof as generally found in the UK. Which raises one question - are our rooves steep pitch because of the angle neede to shed water from slates and tiles? If so, would we benefit from the roof structure seen here, which looks much easier and cheaper to install and maintain.

Or is that roof only suitable for much dryer climates?

Generally very interesting.

Cheers

Dave R

[Huge]

American felt shingle house roofs are cr*p. They use the same technology that we do for sheds, and they need replacing every ~15 years or so.

[Andrew Gabriel]

But they think nothing of rebuilding the whole house. I don't know what the average life is of those houses, but when you go around an estate of them, there are usually several being demolished/rebuilt, so they're much more "disposable" than housing we expect to live in, and probably proportionally much cheaper to build. Admittedly, termites force their hands, in some cases (and hurricanes in some areas).

[geoff]

I actually sat with a number of beers watching a house being re-roofed the other week. Takes all sorts you might say, but it was good watching a professional at work (preparation, things left where they would be next needed, not in the way or cluttering the roof up).

One thing I meant to ask but didn't was why they worked to a corner rather than along the edge

i.e. Why they didn't lay the first layer and progress up the roof which would have made it easier to get a line, and started in the bottom LH corner and worked diagonally across

Anybody able to shed any light on this ?

[sm_jamieson]

If you lay whole rows at a time, you have to walk over the existing rows to get off the roof, which means more risk of breaking them. I soon realised this when doing my roof, and worked diagonally. You have to work diagonally not just in vertical rows so you can always lay on top. Having said that, I ended up working in vertical rows near the end with interlocking profiled tiles, and it was OK to lift the tiles slightly from the previous column of tiles to fit the new ones underneath. Simon.

[Jules Richardson]

Reasonably so, yes... definitely not as robust as slate or tile.

I was pricing out shingles for the barn roof last year, and typically the ones for sale were guaranteed for 30 years (presumably with conditions - correctly installed, kept free of debris, no water constantly dripping on them etc.)

cheers

Jules