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Be aware that the risk of fire increases with roof-mounted solar panels. Also be aware of effects on homeowners insurance policies.

piotrkaminski 4y ago
Citation? It's not intuitive why that should happen -- potential short-circuits?
- OrangeMonkey 4y ago
  A certain amount of searching should be required before forcing homework onto others. You can literally google "risk of fire increases with roof-mounted solar panels" and you will see it from tons of sources including pv-magazine and others. "Citation?", "[Citation]", "Citation Needed" - these all bother me when the research is literally just copy/paste/search.
  - djbusby 4y ago
  - FPGAhacker 4y ago
    If you are going to make a claim, you should back it up with citations. [1] [1] https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/citations/citationwhat https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/citations/citationwhat
    - nkrisc 4y ago
      You’re putting an electrical system where there wasn’t one before. It’d be surprising if there wasn’t an increased risk. More electrical systems in your house means more risk of fire.
  - LegitShady 4y ago
    Arguments presented without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. The person making a claim is the one required to back up their argument - not forcing homework on everyone who reads their unbaked argument to find evidence for your claims.
    - OrangeMonkey 4y ago
      Interesting point, but I'm going to need a citation for that.
      - LegitShady 4y ago
        cute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor
    - dpifke 4y ago
      Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- Tempest1981 4y ago
  From https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/11/16/a-guide-to-addressing-fire-risks-in-rooftop-solar/ https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/11/16/a-guide-to-addressing... "More than 90% of inspected rooftops had significant safety and fire risks. Here’s how to protect your solar asset." Lots of bad wiring. Get a 3rd party inspector.
  - piotrkaminski 4y ago
    Interesting and useful -- thanks. My understanding is that, at least for residential installations, the city sends an inspector to check things before you're allowed to turn the system on. This would appear to avoid the first-party inspector issues identified in the article, but are the city inspectors sufficiently "strict" or should I hire my own for peace of mind?
    - Tempest1981 4y ago
      I saw one non-solar project where the city inspector seemed to be friends with the electrical contractor. They spent 20 minutes shooting the breeze, then the inspector did a super-fast scan of things, signed off, and left. May be best to watch the inspector do the inspection?
- davidbanham 4y ago
  In Australia we have a large amount of rooftop solar. We used to fit isolation switches near the panels on the roofs so that we could de-energise as much wiring as possible in the case of a fire. The stats showed that the rooftop isolation switches shorting out was the leading cause of fires. We no longer fit them.
tpmx 4y ago
There's a solar power boom going on right now. That kind of thing tends to attract bad actors, so you get sub-par installations performed by poorly trained people. That's the cause of most of the fire risk.
gerdesj 4y ago
How? You put some modern panels on your roof that absorb power from the sun that now no longer gets absorbed by your roof - so your roof is now a little cooler. A wooden roof is now actually less of a fire risk and a tiled roof will now absorb and radiate less heat - bonus! I live in the UK. We build from sticks n bricks. We've had a bit of a heat wave recently that concentrates the mind somewhat. My office (I'm the MD) has a vast expanse of red brick double skinned which is south facing. My desk environment is around 10C warmer than the external temperature (I have a lot of sensors deployed). I have now decreed that when my desk temp is 30C then we abandon ship and work from home. I'm going to investigate skimming the red brickwork with a white render. My parent's house is a modern build and that seems to help. Oh, fire risk? What on earth are you on about? Insurance risk? What are you on about?
- tpmx 4y ago
  The usual way electrical fires happen: Electric wiring work done by incompetents. So much bad wiring, in places that are very inconvenient to inspect.
  - gerdesj 4y ago
    So ... don't. Easily said but ... don't
    - MAGZine 4y ago
      I'm not sure how you can realize that there is a fire risk from improper electrical but then also declare that solar panels do not increase fire risk. Properly installed? Sure, no or minimal risk. But insurance companies deal in aggregate, which includes improperly installed panels.
    - tpmx 4y ago
      Yes, easily said. There is a solar power installation boom going on. Do the math.
- patmcc 4y ago
  >>>Oh, fire risk? What on earth are you on about? Insurance risk? What are you on about? Adding a whole bunch of electrical equipment (that's exposed to the elements, wildlife, etc.) absolutely increases the risk of fire. Panels are heavy as well, so you're increasing the load on the roof, could increase risk of collapse (especially in areas that get lots of snow). Plus, if you don't notify your insurance company, it's at best not going to cover replacement cost of panels if something goes wrong and at worst invalidate your whole policy.

piotrkaminski 4y ago

Citation? It's not intuitive why that should happen -- potential short-circuits?

OrangeMonkey 4y ago
A certain amount of searching should be required before forcing homework onto others. You can literally google "risk of fire increases with roof-mounted solar panels" and you will see it from tons of sources including pv-magazine and others. "Citation?", "[Citation]", "Citation Needed" - these all bother me when the research is literally just copy/paste/search.
- djbusby 4y ago
- FPGAhacker 4y ago
  If you are going to make a claim, you should back it up with citations. [1] [1] https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/citations/citationwhat https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/citations/citationwhat
  - nkrisc 4y ago
    You’re putting an electrical system where there wasn’t one before. It’d be surprising if there wasn’t an increased risk. More electrical systems in your house means more risk of fire.
- LegitShady 4y ago
  Arguments presented without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. The person making a claim is the one required to back up their argument - not forcing homework on everyone who reads their unbaked argument to find evidence for your claims.
  - OrangeMonkey 4y ago
    Interesting point, but I'm going to need a citation for that.
    - LegitShady 4y ago
      cute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor
  - dpifke 4y ago
    Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Tempest1981 4y ago
From https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/11/16/a-guide-to-addressing-fire-risks-in-rooftop-solar/ https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/11/16/a-guide-to-addressing... "More than 90% of inspected rooftops had significant safety and fire risks. Here’s how to protect your solar asset." Lots of bad wiring. Get a 3rd party inspector.
- piotrkaminski 4y ago
  Interesting and useful -- thanks. My understanding is that, at least for residential installations, the city sends an inspector to check things before you're allowed to turn the system on. This would appear to avoid the first-party inspector issues identified in the article, but are the city inspectors sufficiently "strict" or should I hire my own for peace of mind?
  - Tempest1981 4y ago
    I saw one non-solar project where the city inspector seemed to be friends with the electrical contractor. They spent 20 minutes shooting the breeze, then the inspector did a super-fast scan of things, signed off, and left. May be best to watch the inspector do the inspection?
davidbanham 4y ago
In Australia we have a large amount of rooftop solar. We used to fit isolation switches near the panels on the roofs so that we could de-energise as much wiring as possible in the case of a fire. The stats showed that the rooftop isolation switches shorting out was the leading cause of fires. We no longer fit them.

tpmx 4y ago

There's a solar power boom going on right now. That kind of thing tends to attract bad actors, so you get sub-par installations performed by poorly trained people. That's the cause of most of the fire risk.

gerdesj 4y ago

How? You put some modern panels on your roof that absorb power from the sun that now no longer gets absorbed by your roof - so your roof is now a little cooler. A wooden roof is now actually less of a fire risk and a tiled roof will now absorb and radiate less heat - bonus! I live in the UK. We build from sticks n bricks. We've had a bit of a heat wave recently that concentrates the mind somewhat. My office (I'm the MD) has a vast expanse of red brick double skinned which is south facing. My desk environment is around 10C warmer than the external temperature (I have a lot of sensors deployed). I have now decreed that when my desk temp is 30C then we abandon ship and work from home. I'm going to investigate skimming the red brickwork with a white render. My parent's house is a modern build and that seems to help. Oh, fire risk? What on earth are you on about? Insurance risk? What are you on about?

tpmx 4y ago
The usual way electrical fires happen: Electric wiring work done by incompetents. So much bad wiring, in places that are very inconvenient to inspect.
- gerdesj 4y ago
  So ... don't. Easily said but ... don't
  - MAGZine 4y ago
    I'm not sure how you can realize that there is a fire risk from improper electrical but then also declare that solar panels do not increase fire risk. Properly installed? Sure, no or minimal risk. But insurance companies deal in aggregate, which includes improperly installed panels.
  - tpmx 4y ago
    Yes, easily said. There is a solar power installation boom going on. Do the math.
patmcc 4y ago
>>>Oh, fire risk? What on earth are you on about? Insurance risk? What are you on about? Adding a whole bunch of electrical equipment (that's exposed to the elements, wildlife, etc.) absolutely increases the risk of fire. Panels are heavy as well, so you're increasing the load on the roof, could increase risk of collapse (especially in areas that get lots of snow). Plus, if you don't notify your insurance company, it's at best not going to cover replacement cost of panels if something goes wrong and at worst invalidate your whole policy.