Solar Nerd articles about: Racking Systems

Solar panels intended for use on homes and businesses are remarkably strong and designed to withstand many different kinds of abuse from the weather, including rain, hail, and severe wind. In North America, test standards require that solar panels must be able to support 5,400 Pascals (Pa) of force on the front of the panel. That works out to 0.783 pounds per square inch. An average sized solar panel is about 2,500 square inches, which means that one panel can support about 2,000 pounds!

That’s my house in the photo above. As you can see, it’s got a nice, neat array of solar panels except for one spot where a pipe is sticking out. Darn it! My array doesn’t cover all of my electricity needs, so having one more panel would have been nice. Plus, it would simply look better if there wasn’t a gap in the array. I wasn’t a solar nerd back when I had my solar installed, and I’ve learned a few things that might help you if you’re facing a similar situation.

The most visible part of a home solar system is the panels. Around 95% of homeowners choose a roof-mounted (rather than ground-mounted) system, so how the panels are attached to the roof is a key detail of the installation. Solar panels are attached to a roof using a mounting system. The most common type is a rail-based system, which uses aluminum rails as the structure onto which the panels and other components, such as wiring and inverter components, are attached.

If you’re a solar homeowner, of course you want your solar panels to generate as much electricity as possible. One of the ways to do this is by tilting them at the optimal angle so they capture the maximum amount of sunlight year-round. So what is the best tilt angle for solar panels in the United States? Short answer: a tilt of approximately 25° to 35° will work best for locations in the US.

Most houses have sloped roofs, but flat roofs tend to be popular in mild climates that don’t need peaked roofs to deal with snow loads, such as southern California and the southwest. If you’ve seen photos of solar panels on a typical house with a sloped roof, you may have noticed the racking system holding the panels in place. In the most common case where asphalt shingles are used, the racking is attached to the roof deck with bolts that are drilled through the shingles and attached to the deck underneath.

Tile roofs look great, don’t they? Not only do they really suit the architecture of the southwest where they are most popular, but they’re practical too. A well-installed clay or concrete tile roof can last 50 or even 100 years. But when it comes to installing solar panels, tile roofs represent the biggest challenge for solar installers. Not only can installing on a tile roof be more expensive, but there can be a higher risk of a poor installation causing damage to the waterproof integrity of the roof, leading to expensive repairs down the road.

The most common roofing material in the United States is asphalt shingles, and for good reason: they’re inexpensive, durable, and come in a wide variety of styles and colors. But while they’re less popular, metal roofs have a lot of advantages. If you’re a homeowner with a metal roof, you might wonder: can you install solar panels on them? The answer is: yes! While the majority of solar homes have asphalt shingle roofs, metal roofs are actually a better choice if you’re planning to go solar.

For people living in cities, rooftop solar - literally putting solar panels on top of your house - is by far the most popular choice when going solar. For many people, it’s the only option, because city lots are often too small to consider anything else. But for people living on larger suburban lots or in the country, ground mounted solar can be an option and, in fact, is often the better way to go.

Your roof keeps the rain off your head. That’s a great thing! It’s also an expensive thing to repair or replace, so you want to take care of it. But installing solar panels typically involves drilling dozens of holes right into the roof. If you’re thinking of getting home solar panels, that might give you pause. That’s reasonable, but there are millions of home solar installations in the United States. If roof leaks happened to even a small percentage of those, the home solar industry would have a serious problem on its hands.