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<TITLE>Re: [RE-wrenches] FW: Panel Fire</TITLE>
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<FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>Allan, there are 4 modules pictured in the “before” photo, not 8. The after photo show the “good” modules, the ones that did not burn. This suggests there are 4 module each on two separate roof faces. Please have another look at the before picture and count the frames. In the before picture each 250 W mystery module is supported at 4 corners only. They are some sort of large format modules. Nothing I can find online matches these characteristics, especially the superstrate material.<BR>
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Please re-read the homeowner’s account in these various postings as well. Sundiego indicates that the module superstrate is not glass, but some other material. Apparently it is a material that melts when exposed to flame. It sure isn’t glass, that’s pretty clear by the photos and the written account.<BR>
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This does not look like an elaborate hoax to me. It does look, as BB points out, like a potential crime scene, a fraud at the very least. Something was misrepresented to this customer. It’s pretty apparent that these modules are not listed and identified for the application. The installation isn’t vaguely appropriate. It’s just dumb luck—literally—that the house didn’t burn down.<BR>
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Clearly the narrator is unreliable, but I don’t think it is malicious, just ignorance. The dude’s a “solar newbie” and his house caught on fire. That’s what it looks like to me.<BR>
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David<BR>
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On 2/11/09 6:57 PM, "Allan Sindelar" <allan@positiveenergysolar.com> wrote:<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>I guess I'm not the only one who's suspicious of this whole story. This came to me off list. Some of the post here doesn't jive - it's pretty clear there's no glass, and the blurry corner doesn't look it to me. <BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'><FONT FACE="Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">-----Original Message-----<BR>
<B>From:</B> <BR>
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</FONT></SPAN><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>I may be very wrong here and I don’t mean to impugn anyone’s integrity but don’t forget that in this era of digital animation movies you can’t always believe what you see in photo either. (I'm sure no one here has ever Photoshop</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14pt'>p</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>ed a photo to make it more presentable looking.) I couldn't help but notice that the bottom right corner of the photo was surprisingly blurry and indistinct. It is difficult to distinguish one thing from the next, when just a few feet away but out of the range of detail in the photo, things seemed to be much clearer. I’ve never seen a photo look like that in reality. It’s as if the roof and array have mysteriously melted together. Also, I have never seen tempered glass melt in a low temperature fire. If it were a high temperature fire the roof would not have survived. I think that a great deal of caution is warranted especially considering the lack of detail that the poster is giving about the panels, location, installer/supplier, existence of another array etc. </SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14pt'> </SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'> <BR>
--- On <B>Wed, 2/11/09, Allan Sindelar <I><allan@positiveenergysolar.com></I></B> wrote:<BR>
One detail I haven't heard mentioned yet and am curious about - the photo of the fire damage appears to show the corner of another west(?)-facing array. I find it curious that the system owner described a 2 kW system made up of eight 250W(!) modules, which are clearly visible in the topmost system photo. There's just a whole lot that doesn't jive in this whole story. Scary to me . <BR>
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