As long as what you use to attach the the unistrut is MCS approved I can't see the issue, after all are the roof joists etc. that you would need to attach to MCS approved? No they're not. The unistrut is effectively an existing part of the house and it's clearly survived well, it's not even rusty. Seems to me that "MCS approval" is yet another industry body revenue generating scheme, it has no legal basis and it pretty much looks like you just replaced perfectly good steel strut with an almost identical aluminum replacement..
I ran an asbestos company for 15 years. Wayne is doing everything by the book because he’s on video. Normally he’d nip up that ladder crack a couple of corners off the tiles & take a photo. All the white suit & mask stuff is technically required but in practice is seriously OTT. What that roof is, is fibre cement slates. The asbestos content would be between 5 & 8% & to quote the HSE the asbestos fibres are firmly bound within the material. Unless you start smashing the tiles with a hammer the risk is negligible. We used to provide safe systems of work for solar installers that allowed them to drill whatever holes were necessary on those roofs & ensure no debris was created. It’s actually not that difficult
@@Trenchfoot1 No UKAS is only for the big boys. I looked into it, but it was going to cost £15k per year & economically unviable. The joke about UKAS is that the big boys subbed out the messy, dirty jobs to local companies like ours. 2 reasons, they didn't have staff with experience of messy demolition sites & they often had silly rules that said they didn't inspect anything more than 3 mtrs above ground level - not much use if you were demolishing anything more than a bungalow.
So lucky the customer was congenial. Unfortunately the thumbnail suggestion that you might 'walk off' a job means you have demoted into the same catagory as all the rest of the cowboys. If you under quote as your survey was crap, your fault and deal with it with lessons learned for next time😊
That unistrut is just fine and was one if the first methods to mounts solarpanels. Looks like its all zinc coated? Why replace it with inferior aluminium..
I'm not a structural engineer but couldn't one have been found to assess if the old unistrut mounting system was "fit for purpose" and adequate for the new panels? To my uninitiated eye it certainly looked robust enough. A quick look shows that MCS Rules fundamentally require good practice & fit for purpose. If it was my property I would have been content with an engineers assessment and if that was positive I would not have had all that additional roof work done.
We need more of Wayne! Get him out that office more often!! No disrespect to anyone else but he knows what he is doing and adds a new dimension to the content.
That's what happens when sparks think they are solar fitters that roof job is a days work for two pv fitters and a couple of days for two good sparks what a joke
That black skirt paddin looks cool but it should greatly reduce cooling (efficiency) of the pannels because of lack of air movement behind the pannels.
It doesnt make that much difference. I had my panels integrated flush into the roof. On the hottest day last year there wass about a 20% drop in generation, but on most days it is barely noticeable. A lot less than the hassle of pigeons nesting under the panels!
Unistrut was the "done" way of installing panels back in the day and i have to be honest, i dont think that was a bodge job at all. In fact it would more than likely be stronger than the way youve now fitted them. easy to call other companies cowboys and bodge when its not your job.. Calm down Andrew, back in your box.
customer must have more money than sense, he wont see a return in his life time especially with extra roof work.......I have roofing work experiane of over 20 years. Message me if you ever need any advice from photos or vids:)
The optics of this, I nearly walked off the job because it was a bit hard. Wouldn't be calling you, we've already established you're a top dollar company but a bit of agro and you're thinking of walking off. My solar installers turned up at 9am and it was fully commissioned by 2pm, 14 panels across 2 roofs, not sure why it takes you days to fit a few panels.
Same here, except the weather was awful and the installers mate was off sick... So he showed up and did it single handed in the rain. All done before darkness set in, in October. There's a small premium I'd pay for slightly neater consumer unit wiring, but not 3 days labour worth.
This job doesn’t make much sense. In addition to losing the FIT payments, they’re only going from 10x200=2000W to 7x400=2800W. Even accounting for a slight degradation in performance over the years, seems a lot of expense (and waste) for an extra 800 watts.
I can’t believe anyone over 50 would live long enough to actually save money on electricity especially if these things need replacing every few years..great video though…
Not gonna lie. This vid is painful to watch. Ive enjoyed your previous vods, but here you guys are sooo slow and faff so much. How many days did you take to do it? 3, 4 days for just 8hrs work?! Sorry but it seems you guys have milked this client with unnecessary work and a slooooow speed.
Waste of money and they know it!!!! So far north, in England and with chimney, insane. Where are side reflectors??? Spending twice as much for same or worse output is insane, pretty yes, rational no.
It's no wonder Artisan prices are so high. There was no reason to remove those struts....all youve done is drive the costs for the home-owner though the literal roof.
Always, always, always carry out a roof survey. Most roofs are going to be OK, but a roof survey would have highlighted the bodge job and saved the uncomfortable conversation. I must say though, 99% of clients who have PV installed are really decent people, so it does make the chat a lot easier. Great job guys
Do you think it's fair to charge the customer we for couple major issues missed when quoting - possible asbestos and rails not suitable. Should have been checked in advance imo
@@CastleKnight7 I'm sure there was plenty enough Artisan margin to give away and keep the customer happy. Didn't anyone go into the loft to see the unistruts at quote time?
Especially if the other side of the roof looks just nice to install a second array of new solar panels (22:03). Even if it is not the optimal orientation, the newest generation of solar panels would still produce quite some energy.
Tricky situation Jordan - on the one hand this stuff would have been quite hard to spot prior to putting up scaffolding. But on the other hand I can see how the customer might find this frustrating. I think you handled it well though, communication is key and if they were aware of the limitations of the estimate you gave then fair enough.
The old fixings look totally over-engineered and bombproof and if not leaking, I'd just put the new panels on, after all it's been there for ages without any problems.
TBH I would have not even suggested removing the old panels. 2kW system to a 2.9kW system. 900w peak hardly seems worth it. Just replace the inverter with a hybrid inverter if the customer wants a battery system. If the customer wanted more solar then my first suggestion would be a couple of 455w panels on the garage roof @9:45.
I'd have gone with the unistrut for several reasons: It looked pretty solid for much the same wind load. It avoided messing with what might have been asbestos slates. It avoided replacing drilled through slates. It would have avoided increasing costs for your customer. The unistrut fixing through the slatrs should havebbeen picked up even during a cursory in loft inspection.
Live dc buried in the fabric of the building unprotected and unable to be isolated close to the source and the state of the roof after it was "repaired". If youre going into the solar game youve got a lot to learn especially if youre documenting it. Shambles.
Honestly rather than absolotely having to get the solar cables terminated I would just use an MC4 connector even if it's a perminate instellation, because if anything goes wrong down the line between with solar cut off switch to the pannels you can still fix that without having to go on the roof and disconnecting the solar pannels unless the problem is on the roof, it's not like you don't have space in the trucking for MC4 connectors. Like ideally should you never be working with live +50v conductors, sure, but life is hardly ever ideal and MC4 connectors let you deal with none ideal reality in a fairly safe way. Yes you should if you are already up on the roof not connect / disconnect the conductors on the solar pannel side, but making it so it absolutely has to be done that way to be safe is in and of it's self a bit silly.
That bird protection makes it all look a bit like a spaceship 😂. But seriously just wondering about the restriction of airflow under the panel with this type of bird protection. Will the panels get hotter than panels without this protection, or even with the mesh bird guard? Thanks. Great videos 😊
Galvanised unistrut was what was used in the early days on solar panels it will last years longer than the extruded aluminium rails your fitting but as you pointed out you had to use an approved product. I didnt like the drilling through the tiles although it was well supported underneath I couldn't see how it was water proof P.S. There are purpose built 17mm sockets made for unistrut.
Full suit up for a little sample of something that might contain a substance that might make you sick IF you start grinding and snorting it.. im all for safety but this is just getting out of control..
Nope. That's regulation. There should be no chance for dust to get stuck in the clothes and then deposited elsewhere. For a one time off, no problem really, but if done four times a day the total whiff will quickly accumulate.
@@bpomowe224 well aware of the regulations :-)Could understand if stripping down an old pre fab house . Not just taking a tiny chip . He was protected , yet where might harmul asbestos go in the wind ?
@@scottgordon1781 Matter of concentration really. If he spends the days taking chips, the accumulated amount in his clothes can reach harmful levels. The amount dispersed into the atmosphere gets diluted to levels (this far) are considered harmless.
Reading the comments there seems to be some uncalled for comments. This video shows what can happen when you start dismantling an install. You can’t predict the future, should they on each job ask for tests of asbestos! I’d prefer the honest answer of this problem has arisen because of … we missed this because of … What would you like to do. The customer could of said no thank you! We don’t live in an perfect world and things unexpectedly arise from time to time!
Man, you get it easy to instal and run the solar dc cabling. In NZ we have to run the DC cables inside a continuous solar rated pvc conduit when installed internally in the roof space/attic and internally within the house. This conduit is to be labelled “dc solar”, at regular intervals and is medium density walled. The electrical standards we use are predominantly ASNZS:5033 and ASNZS:4777 which are very specific to how things are undertaken due to the recognised issues and dangers involved in having uncontrolled dc voltages and currents from the panels to the inverter.
Our solar PV regs in the UK are still very minor compared to ac stuff. I watch these videos and sometimes I can pass a comment on stuff the guys could do better but also the flip side is I see things they do that I realise would be good to bring into my ways of carrying out what I do.
@@buckshee I hear what you are saying for sure. In the electrical service there is room for continual improvement and, lotsa stuff that appears OTT too. I recon we only need two or three reps: 1- is it electrically safe, 2- will it kill anybody, 3- will it start a fire…. I am not intending to be critical by any stretch of the imagination. The wiring system that scares the whatsit out of me is the American 120volt system and needing to wire lighting in 1.5mm, and ranges capable of 60Amps.
@@briandalrymple9986 When it looked at the distribution boards they still use in the states it scares me, also their regs seem to come on a pamphlet and don’t get me started on wire nuts.
8:34 Get better sockets - thin wall, like Koken. Also, you can just undo the nut behind the Unistrut on the threaded rod, spray a bit of WD-40 on the exposed thread on top, and the ones inside will spin off by hand.
Nice neat install but do you not think by design the panels should have a local means of isolation on each panel be it even in the roof space ,so the cabling to the main panel is not always live when future work is done on the installation?
I would've loved to know the lifetime production figures from the old system! Regarding asbestos (professionals disregard haha), just play dumb and scrap the stuff. People act like asbestos is weapons-grade plutonium. It's nasty stuff, but they legit used to use it for EVERYTHING. There were asbestos union workers, who would handle it all day without masks for years after they knew how bad it was. Kent cigarettes used to have asbestos filters...lol. My point in saying this, is that if you're a pro, do your thing, if you're a DIY, just mask up as best you can and get that stuff ripped out and tossed. Asbestos demo is more akin to second-hand smoking for a weekend, not smoking two packs a day for twenty years. Importantly, the workers who did handle it as a career definitely had long and painful death spirals. (source: working on asbestosis and mesothelioma cases and renovating old house)
Did you fit optimisers for each panel? Just asking as the chimney looks like it creates a lot of shading and need to take into account your shading factor? Also no mechanical protection on the dc cables going through the roof into the loft?
Top tip don't get sparks to install solar pv just get a proper firm who know what they are doing me and my mate would have had the pannels of and new ones fitted in a day you don't need roofers just good pv fitters and and a good sparky
can you do a video talking about pros and cons of the various inverter/battery manfs please! having a tough time making a decision! Especially on the subject of integration with things like home assistant
My sister just had a first time solar installation completed on her house. Apparently the preparation of documentation etc was quite taxing. Expecting that the payback period will be 1/2 that is was 18 months ago.
08:10 Tbf I think that's the same for a LOT of us end users. The way I see it I'm spending a few grand on the kit. I'd rather spend say a couple of hundred more on a proper job than pay less for a bad job, and then have to fix it anyway.
Do the DC cables and the AC cables not need to be run in seperate trunking? Either that or the 50x50 trunking you use here actually comes with an option to create 2 different compartments, therefore separating the cables as required?
20:34 It's to lengthen the arc and make sure it is extinguished when switching off. The resistance of an arc is proportional to its length so having 2 contacts in series is roughly like having one contact that opens twice as much. Actually in this case there are 3 contacts to lengthen the arc (one on the negative and 2 on the positive wire).
