[RE-wrenches] Need info resource re wind & hail damage

Steve McCarney stevemccarney54 at gmail.com
Mon Mar 12 09:19:36 PDT 2012


Hi Allen

For what it is worth I had a house in Puerto Rico with two modules on the
roof. Hurricane Marilyn blew the roof off of the house but the panels
stayed on for the ride. The roof landed upside down pinning the modules
under the debris. These the UniSolar UPM880 (non glass) and they survived
with minor cosmetic damage and still measured full output after they were
salvaged.

In Florida we were hit hard again by Hurricane Charlie, with 145 mph winds
reported nearby our home. This time the roof stayed on and again so did the
pv panels. We were the only place with power that first night since all the
grid was blown down. So, modules can survive some of the big winds if fixed
well enough and if you lucky. I have been lucky since none of our family or
friends were (physically) hurt in these storms.

Steve McCarney
Solar Electric Light Fund

On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 11:13 PM, Allan Sindelar <
allan at positiveenergysolar.com> wrote:

> **
> Fellow Wrenches,
> We have an engineer-type whose wife wants badly to do a PV system, but he
> puts up barriers. In her words:
>
> Well, I don't know how long ago it was, surely old technology by now,  but
> some experimental solar panels at Sandia Labs were shattered by hail and it
> caused a big controversy.  My husband says it turned him off solar.It comes
> up every time I talk to him. Either he is complaining about the wind or the
> hail or whatever.
>
> I get to respond to this, and am seeking specific assistance: Can anyone
> send me a link to any formal standards, or reports of aggregated field
> experiences, indicating that wind and hail (not to leave out "whatever")
> are not issues of concern when PV modules are installed correctly? Anything
> that came from Sandia Labs would be ideal, but it just has to be reputable
> enough to satisfy a grouchy retired national lab engineer. Web links,
> reports, product warranties, etc. - all good.
>
> Thank you in advance.
> Allan
> --
> *Allan Sindelar*
> *Allan at positiveenergysolar.com* <Allan at positiveenergysolar.com>
> NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer
> NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional
> New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician
> *Positive Energy, Inc.*
> 3201 Calle Marie
> Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507
> *505 424-1112*
> *www.positiveenergysolar.com* <http://www.positiveenergysolar.com/>****
>
> *****************
> *
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Home Power magazine
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Options & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List-Archive:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
> Check out participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20120312/26a29a6a/attachment-0004.html>


More information about the RE-wrenches mailing list