It depends on the jurisdiction here in Southwest Florida, but virtually all of them expect the system to meet current codes for the most part for things you touch. Since the mounts/attachments are removed, it's definitely a new structural inspection and most jurisdictions at least want to look at grounding/bonding.
The most we can get away with here usually is avoiding an electrical plan review, and sometimes an electrical inspection altogether. They do mostly allow grandfathered inverter equipment, even if RSD is not provided. One of by bigger headaches has been MC3 connectors on modules. I don't like touching these systems without bringing them up to code with a whole new engineered set of permit drawings. I have a lot of removal/reinstall experience here (thanks, Hurricane Irma). It's more trouble than it's worth to try to use old tech. The insurance company should be willing to update the system to new codes if the insured is covered for that, and that's what we saw on a pretty consistent basis. I even replaced panels on the insurer's dime on some Sharp trapezoidal arrays because I couldn't make the existing mounting systems work to get them back on the roof, and they have a proprietary and discontinued rail system. Some clients were happy to upgrade to microinverters at the same time, also. Jason Szumlanski Florida Solar Design Group On Mon, Aug 31, 2020 at 4:13 PM August Goers <aug...@luminalt.com> wrote: > Hi Howie, > > There is definitely some grey area involved in your situation - and, you > are not alone in facing this type of situation. As systems age, we're > finding removal and replacements becoming very common. Many companies don't > want to do this type of work because it almost always opens up a can of > worms. On the conservative side, it's always safest to get a permit. We've > been getting removal and replacement maintenance permits in the SF Bay Area > with fairly good results. We let the AHJ know that this is simply a removal > and replacement for re-roofing purposes, so we're building the system again > to the same code it was built to. Fire walkways are a big deal in our neck > of the woods, and older systems don't tend to meet current standards. Then, > there is rapid shutdown, smart inverters, arc fault detection, etc that > make it nearly impossible to rebuild the system with the old equipment > while meeting current codes and interconnection requirements. Your old > SunPower positively grounded modules will only work with old isolated > transformer based inverters that don't meet current code. > > But to answer your question, yes, I think it is perfectly fine to rebuild > the system the way it originally was with the same inverter and your AHJ > should too as long as they understand it is for maintenance. We're not > taking on rebuilding systems that were installed by others currently > because we already have too much work and as I mentioned above, it always > ends up being complicated and taking more time than just building a new > system from scratch. As soon as the system becomes modified because there > is now a skylight on the roof, they want to add some modules, etc, then > really you're building a new system with old modules and it should meet > current code. > > August > > > > > On Mon, Aug 31, 2020 at 12:54 PM Howie Michaelson < > howie.michael...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hi All, >> I think I know the answer to this, but wasn't 100% sure: >> >> I have a potential client who had roof mounted grid-tied panels (Sun >> Power 205s, and Sun Power Inverter) and a Sunny Island for backup >> (batteries are currently flat, so don't know if either they are recoverable >> or if the SI is working). >> >> Before the current owner moved in a few months ago, the panels and >> racking were removed (maybe a year ago), seemingly for a reroofing. No >> pictures appear to exist of how or where they were mounted and I believe >> the racking has disappeared (I have not been to this location, just have >> info from the current owner and a report commissioned by the owner from a >> somewhat knowledgeable energy consultant). The owner wants the panels >> remounted and the SI restored to operation. >> >> My question is can I reuse the existing equipment (no RSD) as this >> appears to be a maintenance procedure, or do I need to bring the system up >> to current code? No permits will need to be pulled and there are >> essentially nor AHJs involved (this is a rural site), so any adherence to >> code would be for covering my a-- and making sure things were safe. So can >> I, by code, remount this system (with new racking) somewhere on the same >> roof, without changing out the inverter? >> >> I realize this might have a variable answer, but looking for the basic. >> >> Thanks, >> Howie >> >> *Howie Michaelson**Sun Catcher* >> >> *NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™* >> >> *Solar Electric Systems Sales & Service802-272-0004* >> _______________________________________________ >> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance >> >> List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org >> >> Change listserver email address & settings: >> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org >> <https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/4e2a527ce6d64ee4c569901fb194d3c3f348be69?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.re-wrenches.org%2Foptions.cgi%2Fre-wrenches-re-wrenches.org&userId=1613865&signature=c3709a972efc5550> >> >> List-Archive: >> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org >> <https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/d52751c5b592ec24aa88f94b4e08c5adeb603540?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.re-wrenches.org%2Fpipermail%2Fre-wrenches-re-wrenches.org&userId=1613865&signature=02dcf617554e6237> >> >> List rules & etiquette: >> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm >> <https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/6720b803892f45de1065529d97e25ec07b3d4775?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.re-wrenches.org%2Fetiquette.htm&userId=1613865&signature=7f627d61c8d37f1d> >> >> Check out or update participant bios: >> www.members.re-wrenches.org >> <https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/edffef8eb9c20852b3a4a669579515161e9ce747?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.members.re-wrenches.org&userId=1613865&signature=e4c57869bd421f98> >> >> _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > <https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/1c47ea387aa3ab64827066726025c94f79070c8f?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.re-wrenches.org%2Foptions.cgi%2Fre-wrenches-re-wrenches.org&userId=1613865&signature=2e409c5960ee962a> > > List-Archive: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > <https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/6c0f59c4889361673d609d331c943ca62e15fd17?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.re-wrenches.org%2Fpipermail%2Fre-wrenches-re-wrenches.org&userId=1613865&signature=0d2ff9f2654f348a> > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > <https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/c2929f914862e8e15f10fea218c6eab9d258bbae?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.re-wrenches.org%2Fetiquette.htm&userId=1613865&signature=1b95e109c25b2d38> > > Check out or update participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > <https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/d848226811c9309e1dd679fbf37e3996705d9274?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.members.re-wrenches.org&userId=1613865&signature=3ebd6fbf3c4b8b70> > >
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