PANELS ARE IN!

We installed 4 panels last weekend with help from my dad, brother, some friends at work and a technician from Solar Services Inc. The panels are 4'-0" wide x 8'-0" long. Because of the way water moves through the panels and the size of our roof, we chose to orient them vertically. One thing we tried to avoid was a lot of exposed plumbing. The panels are AE-32 model solar hot water panels. (http://www.aetsolar.com/literature/AE_Collector_Brochure.pdf) Our current hot water demands require about 2.5 collectors but we installed 4 because of the radiant floor system that we mentioned in an earlier post. Our goal is to: 1. get all our domestic hot water from solar and 2. Use the extra hot water that is generated to heat the concrete slab in the addition. We want to use the system as actively as possible.

The panels are constructed from copper fin plates (absorbers) connected to small copper tubes. The heat from the fin plates is transferred to the tubes and ultimately the liquid inside. (In our case domestic water) In the photo above you can see the tubes running vertically up the panel. The photo below shows a detail of a fin plate. I was surprised at how little water is actually inside the panel.

The first step was to get them on the roof. My brother PJ and Carmine, a friend from work helped us lift them into place. The specifications say this panel is supposed to weigh 113 lbs but the awkwardness factor made it seem heavier.

The first panel was aligned and anchored to a roof rafter below.
The remaining panels are anchored to adjoining rafters and connected to each other via 1" copper couplings. You can also see the top portion of the anchorage clip (on the left panel) that holds the panel to the roof. These clips fit into an extrusion profile on the panel and get lag bolted to the roof. Because of the metal roof profile we had to use rafters that occurred within the 'lows' (or flat spots) of our roof. This is why shingle roofs are much easier to work with.

We had plenty of advice from the ground crew. For a while we had a large hump between the 2nd and 3rd panels; they were quick to point this out! Carmine works on the hot water return line. The piping will come out of the top right corner of the panel array and into the roof soffit. Eventually it will enter the house and return to the utility room where the tank and pumps will be located.

Cold water in (bottom left) and hot water out (top right).




















Thomas was fine tuning the panels and soldering them all together.


Thomas had more patience than we could have asked for today. Not only did he have to work with the homeowner, the homeowner is an architect who asks a lot of questions...... a lot of questions! The panels are in!!!