Azrich
Well-known member
The tree in the photo is really not a problem. It is farther away than it looks and casts no shadow on the roof. However, after we had our installation designed in June, our next door neighbor planted a tree that could be a problem. He travels a lot so I might take your advice when he goes away sometime. Would a couple of gallons of bleach take care of it, do you think? :evil:Gonewild said:Rich are you going to get shade from the tree you may have to sneek over at night and cut it down :lol:
Why did they use 25 angle that is more for winter, mine has a 20 angle more for summer. It will generate more power in the summer at 20 angle which is when the rate is most costly. Did they ask you how you wanted it or just install the system?
We could have requested a 20 degree angle, but I trusted our installers suggestion of 25 degrees. They have installed hundreds of systems in Tucson and just finished a $550,000 installation at the Nature Conservancy headquarters.
Thanks, drees. We were really pleased with the installer's "fit and finish" of their rack system, conduit, and inverter installation in the garage. They even painted all the conduit in the garage to match the Santa Fe Gold wall!drees said:Very nice looking install! The did a great job attaching the mounts to the roof.
25* mounting angle will be a good compromise between summer/winter production.
They told us to hose them off in the morning when it was cool, not during the heat of a summer day. We have a lot of minerals in our water here, so I would probably squeegee them dry. This won't happen very often, but our roof is easy to get to and to walk on.johnr said:In a dusty place like here, dust buildup on solar panels does make for a significant reduction of power. But they're very easy to clean, and you don't need to get on the roof either - just spray them with a garden hose!
Regarding the red cover for the inverter, you could call SMA (916-625-0870) and ask for a replacement cover for the Sunnyboy 6000US. Failing that, red paint is readily available :lol:
Thanks, everyone, for the great comments and advice. To our surprise, Tucson Electric Power came this morning to install the solar meter and they also switched our Time of Use meter to one that works with a solar system. When the system was turned on, the meter immediately began going backwards! Wow, what a great feeling - decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels! Thanks, again.