Tim Dawson and Luke Frazer of Solar Collection in Talent, Oregon, use off-the-shelf, 1-inch galvanized pipe for their collector mounts. Pipe flanges secure the mounts to the roof rafters or trusses and allow the penetrations to be flashed with ordinary Oatey roof jacks. They use tubular fittings to join the galvanized pipe, and U-bolts to interface with a short piece of aluminum angle that attaches to the collectors.
Here’s an example of a neat installation with two Chromagen 4- by 8-foot collectors mounted with standoffs on a composition shingle roof. Note the position of the self-drilling screws attached into the collectors’ frames. Whenever screwing into a collector, stay well away from the glass, since even catching an edge of the tempered-glass face with a screw will give you a bucketful of glass chips to clean up—and the expense of replacing the glass. Likewise, make sure that your hardware is not so long that it could penetrate the header pipe when screwing into the sides of the collector frame.
This design is suited for all roof types, ground mounts, and tilt racks. The mounting system can provide a level rack for antifreeze-based systems or a sloped rack for drainback systems (by using progressively shorter standoffs).
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