PV Gap

Rhonda Said:

i want to put a solar panel on my house i want to know if the beams can take the weight. How do i do that.?

We Answered:

Is that capacity 1 1/5 gallons, or 120 gallons? If it's really 1.20, then the panels are light.

Anything under 5 lbs / square foot is comparable to the weight of the roofing material, and should be easily accomodated by a typical roof with rafters spaced 24 inches.

Check with City Hall, or whoever has jurisdiction for building permits in your area. Where I live, the first thing they check for is whether it is under 5 lbs / sq ft. If it isn't, then they look more closely at the size of the rafters, spacing, crosss-bracing, etc.

Did you say TEN of those panels? That seems like an awful lot for domestic hot water. It's pretty common to use just two of those, or even one, in Hawaii. Are you in a cold area or something? I'd suggest that you go to Google Maps, satellite view, and look around your neighborhood to see who else has panels. Then go to the house and ask them how it's working out.

If you want to take a look at what we put on our drawings, see the link below, and look under "Plans (Read Only)", and look on page 6. These are solar electric, not hot water, but the mounting has similar considerations.