[RE-wrenches] Serviceable equipment on a roof

[Jerry Shafer]

Wrenches,
The only requirements which are in force able is the fire code, any
distance from the edge does not matter as OSHA requires anyone less then 6
feet to be tied off anyway so falling is out of the question. Is there only
one person in that office or would a second walk in change the possible
outcome.
On Aug 13, 2015 4:30 AM, "Daniel Young" <dyoung at dovetailsolar.com> wrote:

> We have a job going in on  1 ¼”:12 standing seam commercial roof. When we
> tried to walk the drawings through the permit department, we were told that
> we had to keep the solar modules 10’ from the roof edge because they are
> serviceable equipment.
>
>
>
> We’ve run into this before, and have been successful arguing that the
> solar modules are not installed as serviceable equipment (they require
> service intervals closer to the roof membrane on flat roofs [little to no
> attention for 20+yrs], rather than the roof top AC unit as an example). We
> install all pass-thru boxes or other similar enclosures at least 10’ from
> the roof edge as well to make it clear the most likely parts to be
> inspected/serviced would be safe. We also pointed out the International
> Fire codes rules on keeping the array 4’ from the edge of the roof (smaller
> commercial building, so we are in the 4’ setback category, rather than the
> 6’ setback). To all this he said “you can’t tell me that no one will ever
> service those solar modules. If someone falls off the roof and dies, I
> wanna be able to say I did my job…”
>
>
>
> So, I think my only option is to point to a well backed definition for
> serviceable equipment to show him that the solar modules do not qualify.
> Does anyone have any good source to help with this issue? Or would the
> majority of you say that 10’ is the right call anyway?
>
>
>
> I know I might just be up against a hard ^%$# inspector and have to just
> go with it, but I also do not want to set precedent within my states
> default commercial code agency if I don’t have to.
>
>
>
> With Regards,
>
>
>
> Daniel Young,
>
> NABCEP Certified PV Installation ProfessionalTM: Cert #031508-90
>
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