Poor Solar PV Installation ??? Expert Help Needed

[Bucks]

All of the damage to the felt membrance is unnecessary and very, very bad workmanship.

I'd definitely get them to sort out the vent stack and sort out the weatherproofing on the felt. You ordered an MCS quality installation and shouldn't pay until you get one.

How do you sort out the weatherproofing?
As far as I can see it is a matter of removing the ridge & all the tiles, then re felting & battening it all then re tiling?

 

[Bucks]

You'd need an inverter with dual MPP tracking to do what you are suggesting and you'd need one which had a voltage range low enough to accept a voltage that the panels would produce (without looking too much into it, I'd say the Power One range is a good bet)

Roughly how much more expensive would these dual MPP inverters have been compared to the Fronius IG TL 36, are you talking £10s or £100s or a lot of £100s differance?

All your help is much appreciated

 

[JD6400]

I would get them back and remove some of the bottom row then strip back the tiles and mount a tile vent further up the roof where you can get to it from in the loft , that is if it is OK to use a tile vent ? Which you will need to check with a builder / roofer.
Out of curiosity was it their first install ?

 

[Bucks]

I am wondering if we had a dual MPP inverter, & eliminated the soil pipe & the ariel, is it possible/a good idea to wire the two panels that would be shaded from the boiler flue to the same string as the four lower panels, so that we had the 10 panels with no shading on one string & the 6 panels that are shaded/part shaded in the morning on a separate string?

 

[Bucks]

Out of curiosity was it their first install ?

No they are supposed to have done loads of installs, they have been MCS registered since Aug 2010.

The awkward thing is he actually lives about 10 doors away from us & I pass his house every day, he has installed panels on his own roof, but there are no obstacles on his roof.

I thought I would keep it local, also he has done some work for us over the last couple of years (advice & testing for part P) That's whats realy annoying, I thought I could trust him to do a good job & this is what thanks I get.

 

[Bucks]

I would get them back and remove some of the bottom row then strip back the tiles and mount a tile vent further up the roof where you can get to it from in the loft , that is if it is OK to use a tile vent ? Which you will need to check with a builder / roofer.

Sorry not quite sure what you mean, would that mean that the vent tile would be under the panels, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be acceptable.

 

[solarsavings]

From your photo's it's quite clear that the nib on the back of the tiles was hard up against the membrane ( the battens are too thin) that would have held the tiles almost as tight as a nail and yet he clearly continued to kick the tile up tearing the membrane is no easy feat :-(

A flat nail bar or a couple of wooden wedges and the tiles would have slid up as he needed them to without catching the membrane.

 

[SolarCity]

How do you sort out the weatherproofing?
As far as I can see it is a matter of removing the ridge & all the tiles, then re felting & battening it all then re tiling?

One of our installers put his foot through a tile and straight through the membrance. We removed a large section of tiles and eased the battens up to remove the nails. We then run a new section of felting across the top of the existing felt (yet under the felt above) covering the damaged area. It took about an hour to put right and we always keep a roll of membrane on the van for this reason. It's not a big job but it should have been done before the panels were installed.

 

[SolarCity]

Roughly how much more expensive would these dual MPP inverters have been compared to the Fronius IG TL 36, are you talking £10s or £100s or a lot of £100s differance?

All your help is much appreciated

It depends. There are dual MPP inverters with a price comparable to the IG TL 36. The Power One 3.6 is in fact slightly cheaper and it has dual MPP tracking.

 

[SolarCity]

I am wondering if we had a dual MPP inverter, & eliminated the soil pipe & the ariel, is it possible/a good idea to wire the two panels that would be shaded from the boiler flue to the same string as the four lower panels, so that we had the 10 panels with no shading on one string & the 6 panels that are shaded/part shaded in the morning on a separate string?

Personally, I would have kept the lower panels on an entirely seperate string and sorted the vent stack out. If you can get the aerial moved then it would be an idea to do so. I don't think the boiler flue will be much of an issue but if it is then you could ask a plumber to move it to the front roof area. Whether this can be done depends on the manufacturers guidelines (the more bends you have in a flue, the shorter the allowed run) and the distance that the flu has already run.

 

[SolarCity]

You should get your installer to sort out the panels which have been mounted on the short sides. This will invalidate the warranty and it will you that is out of pocket if anything goes wrong.

 

[Bucks]

One of our installers put his foot through a tile and straight through the membrance. We removed a large section of tiles and eased the battens up to remove the nails. We then run a new section of felting across the top of the existing felt (yet under the felt above) covering the damaged area. It took about an hour to put right and we always keep a roll of membrane on the van for this reason. It's not a big job but it should have been done before the panels were installed.

This is the whole of the SW facing roofs that have the membrane damaged, not just one area so as far as I can see to put it right, it involves removing all the solar panels removing the ridge & all the tiles, then re felting & battening it all then re tiling then reinstalling the panels, properly this time, A major Job.

 

[Echo]

I wouldn't pay until he has sorted everything out. If he doesn't sort it report to REAL (might be a waste of time) and also his MCS governing body, whether it be NIC, Napit etc.

 

[Bucks]

You should get your installer to sort out the panels which have been mounted on the short sides. This will invalidate the warranty and it will you that is out of pocket if anything goes wrong.

I am hoping to get him to sort everything out, I am just trying to get all the facts & draw up a list of what needs doing before I get in touch with him, as I don't have much confidence in what he would have to say after the way he has done the installation so far.

 

[Bucks]

I wouldn't pay until he has sorted everything out. If he doesn't sort it report to REAL (might be a waste of time) and also his MCS governing body, whether it be NIC, Napit etc.

I'm hoping it won't come to that, but that will be down to whether he is willing to put it all right or not.