Solar Panel Help

Hey has anyone gotten solar setup on their brownstone?

I had installers come and they installed a pipe and a box on the front facade and it looks terrible. I am going to ask them to remove it but has anyone had these troubles before?

smileyface

in General Discussion 4 years and 5 months ago

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Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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Totally dependent on system size. Best to work with a few providers to design around your current energy and how big a system you’ll need to support it. Your ideal scenario is to get a big enough system that you’re building credits in the low energy / high sun months and using them in the high energy / low sun months. If you get it right you’ll end up bringing your bill to $20/mo or something, simply for unavoidable delivery charges.

If your system is too big you’ll pay for it up front and bank credits that you’re not using. That is kind of annoying but what it can do is give you wiggle room to switch things off of gas and onto electric (like a water heater, stove, etc.) over time knowing that you have current and future credits to make it costless from an energy perspective.

I made this change less out of fiscal responsibility and more out of climate responsibility. I’m of the mind that if you can afford it you have a moral obligation to do it. That said, I expect that I’ll save enough money on my bills that in 8 years it’s paid itself off.

Plus, people consider s avings for use as their determinant while I have no doubt that my house will sell for a premium because of the solar install. Like, more than I paid for the system even. People like turnkey and I think solar end up being profitable when the building is sold.

colonialrevival | 4 years and 4 months ago

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For those that have already proceeded with installs, do you mind sharing your ballpark costs as well as any savings you’ve seen?

Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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@smileyface I’m surprised to hear people say this isn’t typical to run down the front facade or that BSW doesn’t do this. They do and others do. Why? Because it’s more work and expense to run the conduit down the back of the building, enter the cellar, run conduit across the entire cellar to the main electrical. I’m a huge fan of BSW though if I recall correctly the first price they offered to me was for a front conduit run when I said I didn’t want that the price went up by $2K or something. Or maybe it was the other way around — they started with a rear run and when I was negotiating they offered to cut the price and do a front run. Venture Solar had a front run by default. 100% agree though it’s worth the rear run.

So, you can likely get this moved but it’ll be expensive to do. Especially now that it’s already done and inspected, etc.

Putnamdenizen | 4 years and 5 months ago

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I had a great experience with Brooklyn Solar Works (conduit down rear, all mechanicals in basement). Butmy neighbor had a set-up like you’ve described – ugly pipe down front and inverter on ground floor facade. The panels themselves also look substandard and not properly oriented. Sorry to hear you had that experience as well.

greenworks | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Please, landlord don’t let this dissuade you from solar. We did our install several years ago now and now know others who have installed too – OP’s experience is far from normal – it’s the first I’ve heard of a company doing the run down the front!

Just go with someone like Brooklyn Solar, who do tons of projects in brownstone Brooklyn, are respectful of our old homes and their curb appeal, and who make the process as easy as ordering pizza online. Very expensive pizza.

landlord | 4 years and 5 months ago

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can you please post a picture of what the facade looks like? I am considering solar as well, but this might be a deal breaker for me.

smileyface | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Thanks everyone

restorationcontractor | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Should have been run at the rear, probably just lazy installers. It was probably just easier to cross to the front on the roof.
One of my clients just did solar on his Park Slope brownstone and he is very happy. They would not have gotten away with running conduit on his facade though.

greenworks | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Fwiw we have the inverter, cut off, and what look like two j-boxes, all inside. Wondering if it’s a j-box you have outside there. Weird, so weird they’d put anything out front.

greenworks | 4 years and 5 months ago

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We have solar installed by Brooklyn Solar – they ran everything down the back of the house as unobtrusively as possible in conduit. All boxes were inside.

They also made sure to consult us on the run.

I’m sorry to hear you weren’t consulted. That’s awful.

smileyface | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Yes you are correct with the terminology. I don’t know why it wasn’t done in the rear? Glad to know you were able to get it done this way. Going to message them ASAP. Thank you!

BklnRefugee | 4 years and 5 months ago

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I did solar on a brownstone i owned, but this was 15 years ago. I think code then was (and probably still is, based on subsequent installations I’ve had done elswhere) that the DC connection from the the panels to the inverter need to be enclosed in conduit (what I assume you mean by “pipe”). In our system the conduit ran down the rear facade of the brownstone, into the cellar via an intrusion the installers made, to the inverters (what I assume you mean by “box”, although maybe you mean a cut-off switch in the DC line) which were wall mounted in the cellar near the main power panel.