On Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at 1:31:09 AM UTC-4, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
On Tue 15 Aug 2017 07:28:30p, micky told us...

In alt.home.repair, on Tue, 15 Aug 2017 22:58:18 GMT, Wayne
Boatwright wrote:

On Tue 15 Aug 2017 02:49:41p, micky told us...

Someone in a townhouse not far from here got solar panels, for
free. The electric meter is in the front and that's why they ran
1.5 or 2" conduit up the front of the house to the roof, and put
in a 3" long junction box where the conduit had to bend almost
90^ to go on the roof.

I think it's uggggly.

What should they have done differently, even if the homeowner
had to pay?

Can conduit be painted and how long would it stay approximately
the same color? Is there any conduit or useable alternative
that is already colored? White? Brown? Mariner turquoise?

Even that wouldn't be very good but it's the easiest most
obvious.


How is it properly done when put on a roof?

Down through the stack to the basement, I presume, and the
electric connections and the solar control box (2 or 3 times the
size of the meter) are put in the basement????


In two instances I have used gutter downspouts to conceal
(contain)

So you mean put the cable inside the downspout! I thought he
just meant put the conduit in the corner between the downspout and
tthe wall??

Yes, the cable was put inside the downspout.

220 volt cable that was then buried to feed our hot tub.

Was it an actual downspout with water in it when it rained?

It was not an actual downspout to carry water. It was a section of
downspout bought specificaclly for this purpose. It didn't connect
to anything.

I also used
it to contain (conceal) the replacement freon lines running
between the compressor and the condensor (the original had been
buried in the poured concrete slab of the house). The downspouts
were then painted the same color as the house and barely
noticieable. Besides, downspouts look normal on a house wall, not
like an ugly cable.

Since this insallation is already in place, painting the meter and
control box could also be painted.

Actually those two things look okay, and the meter isn't even
visible from the street (though I painted mine, all but the glass,
to match the house.

I'm sure there could have been better alternatives, but it's too
late now.

Right. They've been talking about this on our new neighborhood
mailing list, and I pointed out how bad it looked and how it could
have looked better. last I looked, this particular neighbor was
on the miailing list, but if she is, so be it.

Then someone else posted as both the salesman and the 5-star
reference for one of the companies. She said " I have [this brand
of] panels and my elec. went from about 290 to $47.50 and with my
XOOM elec&has my bill is about 22" This sounds very unlikely to
me. I asked how big her array is and how many watts, and if I
could go see her house.

I myself don't think solar panels are ugly, only that bloomin'
pipe.


If I were iclined to put solar panels on my roof, I would definitely
ut them on the back side of the roof, as well as any associated
equipment either mounted on the back wall or in the basement, if
there is a basement.

Incline? No pun intended, I assume. ;-)

The layout of your house may dictate where you install the panels. You may lose some
production, depending on which way the rear roof faces as well as the slope.

My rear roof faces north so I'll lose production just from that. The trees won't help either.

This site contains a study done on north facing panels.

https://www.solarpowerworldonline.co...solar-modules/