[RE-wrenches] to flash or not to flash

[Jason Szumlanski]

Benn,

To answer your (good) question one way, I won't speak for PV without
flashings, but with literally tens of thousands of solar pool heating
systems installed by all dealers that don't use flashings just in tiny
Southwest Florida over the past 40 years, each system with upwards of 40
attachments with 1/4" lag screws, many with sub-par sealants, statistically
we would have seen drastically more problems, and we haven't. Roof leaks
are exceedingly rare and minor. Granted, it's not the same as PV in many
ways, so I would be careful about drawing any conclusions.

I wish there was a better way for solar pool heat, but even the cheapest
flashings can add 10-15% to a project, making it non-competitive in a very
tight market, and metal flashings could cut into the polymer panels very
easily. The "tried and true" method has been too successful to stray from.

I'm sure there are unique experiences from around the country with snow,
freeze/thaw cycles, expansion/contraction, and other phenomenon that could
differ drastically from place to place. Maybe we're trying to shoehorn a
single solution into a problem that has more than one answer.

Jason Szumlanski



On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 3:43 PM, Benn Kilburn <benn at skyfireenergy.com>
wrote:

> Here is a devils advocate question for everyone (*including myself*) who
> is claiming "no leaks after x-years".
>
> Are we assuming "no leaks" because the home/system owner has not reported
> any or because there are no water stains on the ceilings below the arrays
> *or* are we actually looking in the attic and seeing that there are
> absolutely NO water marks where the attachment points are?
> I would think that there is a big difference?  But having not gone back to
> every install and actually getting up and looking around *inside the
> attic*, would it not be presumptuous to assume that there have been no
> leaks?
>
> *Benn Kilburn *
> CSA Certified Solar Photovoltaic Systems Electrician, SkyFire Energy Inc
> 6706 – 82 Ave NW | Edmonton, AB | T6B 0E7
> P: 780-474-8992 | F: 888-405-5843 | www.skyfireenergy.com
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 1:52 PM, <max at seesolar.com> wrote:
>
>> I remember the "early days" of installing, which for us was early 1990's.
>> We used stainless steel rod hangers straight into rafters, which left us
>> with 4" threaded rod sticking up out of the roof. We used thru the roof for
>> sealing under a nut and fender washer. I've visited a couple of those sites
>> recently (still no leaks after over 25 yrs of production). By the way, we
>> have changed our mounting methods since then.........
>>
>> Max Balchowsky
>> Design Engineer
>> Golden Bridge Development
>> 1048 Irvine Ave Suite 217
>> Newport Beach, Ca. 92660
>> 760-403-6810
>> "Building a Better Future For The Next Generation"
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Change listserver email address & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List-Archive:
> http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html
>
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
> Check out or update 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/20150828/2a2ed22e/attachment-0002.html>