SHINGLE ROOF SUMMARY INSTALLATION MANUAL METHOD 1 CONVENTIONAL ORIENTATION, ALTERNATING HEADERS

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1 Distributed and serviced in the USA by Hot Sun Industries Inc Cayuga Dr., Poway CA web site: Safety First! Note: Most occupational health and safety boards require workers to be tied off with safety harnesses when working within a safety zone adjacent to the edge of the roof. Municipal projects often require the solar system to be set back from the roof edge just to prevent workers from veering too close to the edge of the roof. Guardrails are often the best way to safeguard a roof work space. Working on a flat roof can be more dangerous than working on a pitched roof because you are walking around freely and you can forget you are working at height. You will be tempted to walk backwards when taking measurements. Never walk backwards. Fall protection training is available and to use safety equipment you are required to be certified in the use of ladders and fall protection techniques and equipment. These courses are inexpensive and only take one day of your life and they look good on your CV. Hot Sun assumes no responsibility for injury or death caused by the work described in this manual. SHINGLE ROOF SUMMARY INSTALLATION MANUAL METHOD 1 CONVENTIONAL ORIENTATION, ALTERNATING HEADERS This is the same technique employed when installing rigid polypropylene solar collectors. Hang the weight by the top at each removable coupling location and strap the whole thing down with a strap across the panels every 6 feet. The bottom headers hang free about 6 below the lowest strap. This is the simplest technique and it s the least effective. The roof connections do not co-incide with structural roof rafters. There is a good video showing this technique under VIDEOS at If the collectors are not pre-assembled, you ll need to attach the fin-tubing to the headers. Attach to the top headers and leave the tubing longer than needed. 1

2 Simply apply the special adhesive to the nipples 6 at a time. Fully wet the entire surface of each nipple all the way around (the stem and the cone) and then slide the tubing on. Wear gloves, safety goggles, and be careful you don't glue yourself to the header. The fumes from this adhesive are very irritating to the eyes so stay upwind and wear safety glasses. Before attaching you must strip the ends of the fin-tubing so you can work with 2 or 3 tubes at a time. See main installation manual for details and for the use of a simple vice to free up both hands allowing you to glue 6 tubes at a time. Pushing fin-tubing onto header 2 or 3 tubes at a time. Special adhesive and special applicator Sloping panel banks and roof piping Note the unusual vacuum breaker location above.. More restriction downstream means less tendency for the vb to open during operation. Vacuum breaker must sit horizontally so it doesn t trap water (if it freezes it will break unless its empty). 2

3 Run a chalk line across the roof at a slight angle. ¼ per foot is standard for plumbing drainage. You can either run a length of roof flashing as shown above or you can make wear plates and install them afterwards. Use polyurethane roof and flashing sealant to secure the flashing and to seal the roof connections. Use a 1.5 long deck screw or a #10 wood screw thru the strap bracket and seal to the roof. Glue (with pvc cement) female ends of adjacent collectors together using stubs of 1.5 pvc pipe. Cut stubs square with a miter saw. Remove burr with a rag. Align nipples with nipples of all the other headers when gluing. 3

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5 Male to male connections are done with rubber sleeves. No adhesive. Alternative is a glue on (pvc cement) pvc coupling As mentioned earlier a piece of aluminum or galv. steel flashing can be glued under the header connections to fully protect the roof from wear. Use polyurethane roof and flashing sealant to stick down the plate and to seal the roof connection. 5

6 Hang the collectors only along the top, NOT ON THE BOTTOM HEADERS If building this on the roof to fit the roof it is best to attach the fin-tubing to the top headers only. Then you can let the tubing hang down, straighten it all out, then run a chalk line and trim it all to the exact length. Then attach the bottom headers. The bottom headers must slope to drain. Note, the top headers do not need to be parallel to the bottom headers as long as air can naturally rise up and out where the water leaves the collectors (the highest point). Strap clamps at ends Strap brackets every 2-4 feet Strap down the collectors first with a strap 6 from the bottom header, then straps equidistant between there and the top header no more than 6 feet apart 6

7 Once system is plumbed, check pressure at vacuum breaker location with solar off and with solar on. It should be zero with solar off and no more than 3 with solar on. If not read the full manual or consult with Hot Sun or your dealer. Use lots of 45 s. Check valves can not be mounted so gravity opens the flap. They must be horizontal or the flow must go up. Drain points must be at the lowest points and remember water will not drain backwards through a check valve. Also ball valves closed full of water trap water and will burst if frozen. Support all piping so it can change length with temperature. A pipe of 2 pipe slips over 1.5 pipe. The 2 sleeve can then be secured positively and the 1.5 pipe can change length freely. Vacuum breaker on pipe entering collectors Pressure gage checking pressure at vb location. 7

8 This is the vacuum breaker we started using in October It is just a ½ pound spring check valve. Mount it horizontally so it doesn t trap water INTERFACE BARS: An interface bar is a bar that interfaces between the headers and the roof. It allows the roof connections to line up with the rafters and it allows for less roof connections. These roof connections along the top take all the weight so an interface bar is recommended if the collectors are long or the roof is steep or if screws into the roof sheathing aren t making a tight connection. The interface bar is a 1-3/8 OD galvanized chain link fence top rail available at Home Depot but many substitutes are possible. 12 loops of pp coated ss strap completed with with ss strap clamps are used to loop the headers to the interface bar. These loops can be premade and instead of ss strap clamps a ss nut and bolt can be used. Hangers (strap bracket, strap clamp and 12 of pp coated ss strap) are used to secure the interface bar to the roof every 4-8 feet co-inciding with rafters. 8

9 With this method do not secure the bottom header manifolds to the roof. The collector will change length over time. There will be some shrinkage and/or the collector may expand in the heat and remain a little longer. If you want a more wind tolerant installation by holding down the bottom headers you have to also employ glue strips instead of or in addition to straps over the collector. You can hit the rafters with every roof connection if you like.. Because the Powerstrips are flexible they don t have to shift side to side as the header manifolds change length with temperature. You can locate a strap bracket anywhere you want. Note this isn t considered necessary with this design because there is no load on the roof connections strapping the solar collectors down. This isn t a high wind, hurricane tolerant or structurally rated design. See the glue down and staggered header designs if you want a more robust installation. 9