By way of update: A meeting was recently held at the site in question and the solution was agreed upon, if not the cause. Representatives were there from BP, Unirac, the ESCO and Standard Solar. It was determined that a) the RapidRac racking was not at fault and b) the installation was performed in accordance with all applicable guidelines from both BP and Unirac. In fact, it turns out that not only has BP had this problem with their modules before in Europe, but they have had it to such an extent that they engineered a retrofit fix: a support bar that spans the width of the module and prevents the frame from separating from the laminate. BP provided the support bars at no charge and the matter is now considered resolved.
That being said, BP maintains that the cause of the failure is unknown and is not necessarily a manufacturing issue. Kudos to Unirac for send a representative cross-country to support their product. We are currently installing another 87 kW of RapidRac and it continues to perform well for us. Andrew Truitt Standard Solar Inc. On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 12:22 PM, Andrew Truitt <atru...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Greetings wrenches! We recently did a small commercial system (17 kW) > using BP-SX 3175 modules and the Unirac RapidRac ballasted mounting system. > The flat roof is ballasted with 2" of gravel that we smoothed as much as > possible but undulations are visible in the array, though the changes are > never more than 5 degrees from module to module. After about 3 months the > cusotmer noticed a problem developing with 1/3 of the modules: the interior > of the module (backsheet, cells and glazing) were separating from the > aluminum frame! Remnants of the black, rubbery adhesive are clearly visible > on the inside of the frame and on the edge of the backsheet/cell/glazing > sandwich. It seems clear to us and that the adhesive simply failed and > should be covered under the 5 year workmanship warranty, but BP does not > agree. BP is saying that the modules are supposed to be mounted with a > solid member spaning the width of the module and since the RapidRac supports > the module on what amounts to 4 individual stanchions, the workmanship > warraty is null and void. The mounting instructions, however, say nothing > about requiring a solid member spaning the module. > > Has anyone else had this issue with BP or any other types of modules? Does > anyone buy that it could be the fault of the RapidRac? We unbolted a few of > the bad modules to see if the frame was exerting any torque but the neither > the module not the frame moved - we set the module back on the frame and the > mounting holes lined up perfectly as before. > > > Thoughts or suggestions? > > > Gotta' love these long sunny days! > > > Andrew Truitt > Standard Solar Inc. > > > -- > "Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion > to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor > safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could > ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless!" > > ~William McDonough > > -- "Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless!" ~William McDonough
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