now that is not going anywhere on the build show today I'm all harnessed up I'm up on the roof with a couple great solar installs and we're going to talk about two things that go really good together you know peanut butter and chocolate peanut butter and banana they're just made for each other well solar and metal are exactly the same the build show today we're going to be running down a metal roof with a solar install a couple tips and tricks couple things I really like about this combo if you're building this is definitely a
combo I like today's build Show sponsored by the metal roofing Alliance let's get going okay y'all we're up on a roof in San Antonio just a little south of me and Austin we got a big solar array going on a metal uh project over here metal building and this is a really interesting example I think we're going to jump into the details if you're building a remodeling I'm going to show you some things that I really like about this combo of solar and metal I really think this is a bomber combo I've got Nathan over
here on solar we're going to let them and get this panel and then we're going to grab them aside but a couple things I want to mention first that I really like about metal and solar when it comes to this install no penetrations that's got to be the number one reason in my mind that I like metal and solar combinations you're going to see these clips that we're using are actually clamping onto the side of this stand and seam metal roof uh this is a 24 gauge uh galvalum roof roof that's been uh pvdf finished
in this white finish which by the way is a terrific color for the Texas heat uh and these clamps are particularly unique and one thing that I really like is that there's no penetration there's no goop there's nothing that's going to have to be sealed and weatherproof we're basically leaving a WEA a weathertight roof in place and bolting everything clamping everything onto it not bolting I don't want to say that that's not entirely true it's really a clamp that's going on here talk to me about these clips will you actually show me one I think
I've got one uh at your feet right here which is has not been clamped yet these are from S5 right yeah the main block here below is a S5 clamp okay and uh L foot and attachment point is for Iron Ridge gotcha and so what we're looking at here is an aluminum uh body right here and then this uh piece of Hardware that I think is like a T30 bit is you'll notice as I look on here rounded so it's not going to penetrate that metal uh it's just clamping on and I think you told
me John Lise that uh we're not clamping it so hard that it's penetrating that coating right correct when you tighten that you're actually using a torque uh bit to make sure that you're not overtightening that is that right correct so we use a torque wrench based on gauge of material manufacturer as specifying and the DAT she um so we don't penetrate the V but we need enough strength to provide a pull out for wind load got it okay so this goes on first and then this piece is clamping to that with a set of two
holes that's on that Hardware that you can put it in and then you've got some adjustment ability I can have a adjustment uh and also visl feed can work on on both side mhm so I I can create a system that is closer to the roof or a little taller compare the roof okay got so we have more Gap more more air ventilation if we have under under the panel got it and then also probably room for wiring and then this screw actually comes with this piece of Hardware too right and this is metal what's
up with the weird shape on the end here what's what's that D this is called a t- bolt and is making this way so we don't have to slide the VIS directly into V railing and I can show you a yeah let's do it so this is a also is um is an iron R uh product so the T bolt can easy slide into the groove of railing so that's sliding in right there and then when that t rotates when when I I I tied that t get in place and has a teeth inside so
penetrate anodizing aluminum over railing and they create a bonding points for grounding that's pretty cool that's very cool and then you'll notice those are on a particular uh spacing pattern so that these panels uh are just bolting down really pretty straightforward uh with this screw you saw Nathan putting these screws in just a minute ago and each panel is held in place with four with a giant uh washer head on top and John Luka what size panels are these in terms of power output that I'm seeing here so these are Canadian Solar 395 watts each
uh the size of a panel is a 45 in by 68 in okay and by the time you get this big roof done what are we up to here for a total output so this system is a 17 kilow 17.32 KW got it so 44 panels I think you told me earlier and we're up to 17,38 Watts total 395 per panel that's pretty amazing that's a lot now talk to me about resistance on these panels uh and let's talk about hail resistance of the total assembly uh do these panels have a rating on hail so
this panel has a WR they can is a tempered glass on top so they are able to resist a n and a quarter in diameter of a wow traveling a 56 m per second that's pretty serious and he's uh so they are pretty resistant um the entire system has been uh you know we work lot of on Coastline of Texas so we are uh under Windstorm requirement so we design this system to be you know minimum Cod the requirement is 150 but based on my calculation it should be easy 180 200 mil hour wow 180
that's pretty wild now another thing to remember on this too is the metal roof assembly below our feet here also needs to be installed in a way that's going to meet those same wind requirements so you need to be check in uh with your installer with your manufacturer with the engineer to make sure the entire assembly is rated for that right uh and when it comes to hail resistance this roofs a 24 gauge which is really one of the thicker gauges uh that you can work with on a roll former uh I have done a
22 gauge roof before but it wasn't a roll formed uh panel it was more like an R panel and in my experience in Austin I've been building here for almost 20 years now my houses have gone through a lot of hail storms and I have yet to see anybody replace a roof we did have a hail storm a couple years ago that was like softball size uh and a house that I built at the time with like a 612 pitch something like that uh you could see some minor denting on the roof but you had
to be really thoughtful to look for it in the right light so in my estimation in my mind uh you know a metal roof especially a 24 gauge roof is a very incredibly hail resistant roof but you do want to remember that when we're on a low pitch like this do you know what this is John luk this is about uh between a two and three to yeah so this is a pretty low pitch roof when those panels are flatter when the Metal's flatter you've got more uh direct impact whereas if let's say I had
a 122 pitch you know a 45 degree angle on that roof you've got those glancing blows and it's harder for that energy to transfer and Dent that metal or cause a problem on your panel so you know if you're designing a brand new house I do like to see a greater pitch than this 212 which is probably the minimum uh that you want to see for a standing seam metal and this is probably a double lock uh rather than a snap lock roof too which is going to be more resistant uh to water penetration on
that low pitch um talk to me about how many clamps you've needed on this job and uh and how many panels total you guys have installed here yeah so this this particular application we double and triple Vol clamp on the seam on the edge of the roof wherever wind is more uh uh stronger and pick it up yeah yeah makes sense but for this application we use uh uh about 110 115 attachment point okay um and um we use a 44 Canadian solar panel mhm and each each clamp we use each panel is clamp with
a in Four Points um and we follow of course of manufactur specification of where locate array based on on on the sides of a pen gotcha uh to maximize our strength for wind impact yeah that makes sense I think we're losing real State up here Nathan's about to drop in these last couple panels how about we take the harness off we'll meet you on the ground and we're going to show you where we connect these panels up [Music] oh man John LCA that's pretty serious that ain't going anywhere so this is the same clamp system
right same clamp but you've just switched to Unistrut and this is where the power from the solar is coming to yeah so this is a because of this system is going to be direct current by code I need to fuse each string ah um so this box is going to have string fuse to protect a string gotcha and from here we're going to go basically underground to a point where we have our inverter controll power coming from the Sun distribut AC power two load gotcha and the battery backup yeah this is a little bit of
an unusual job here we're at a off-grid ranch project this is my buddy Andrew's house we were actually here about a year ago I'll link to that video below so you can kind of see that uh but it's a bit of an interesting project uh Andrew does a lot of offgrid stuff and so he's got some really interesting stuff here at this total off-grid Ranch but I wanted to ask you you know compared to a typical asphalt roof which I suspect is most solar installs right um this one is going to go through a hail
storm a windstorm and be no problem on the other hand if we were to do asphalt what happens if an asphalt roof gets hail damage that has your solar array on it so if you get damage for any reason of course we're going to have to remove a solar panel mhm and leave roof ready for roofer to replace a shingle and after we had to go back and reinstall solar panel so is is really become expensive uh in on the metal roof really never happened in my in my business life yeah you've been in business
since 2008 I've been building houses since 2005 I've not once in all the massive hail we've had in Texas lost a roof or a solar install on the other hand in my neighborhood there's roofs going on all over right now because we had a minor hail storm just recently and all those asphalt shingles were getting replaced so if you're thinking that hail is an issue in your area metal is definitely the way to go the other thing I really like about Metal too is if you think about the end of the service life on this
metal facade this is going to be a long time right this is at least 50 plus years if not 75 I can think of 100-year old metal Roes on Texas buildings they're still functional they just are Rusty at 100 years old but they're not leaking when this gets removed it's valuable and so there's an incentive for that roofer for that room modeler for that Builder to not just recycle it but actually get paid for that metal whereas asphalt I know a lot of it ends up in the dumpster and the landfill and certainly it can
be recycled but I don't know that that's happening all the time so there's there's another big benefit to metal is that long service life and recyclability if you have a good benefit is that a metal roof is reflective so the infrared component of the lights get more likely reflected and not absorb compared to the shingo that absorb release during the night inside the house yeah and the other thing too is actually your uh your solar panels up there when they're hot have a less output correct so if you've got a hot black uh shingle underneath
causing that to be hot you might actually lose as much as 10% of the efficiency is that right yeah it's correct because what panel lose voltage higher what temperature is yeah let's talk about maintenance for a minute uh you know John LCA I've always liked solar because it's really a solid state product once you guys are done here there's no maintenance there's no moving gears or parts there's nothing that needs oil or you you don't have to change the oil every six months on this it's kind of a set it and forget it how long
do you expect these panels to be working on this house so the panel is s they can they can work more than 30 years in fact almost every single manufacturer offer a a 25 or 30 years power warranty so what Pano does and in the end of 25 or 30 years they still have 80 85% of efficiency uh from day one okay so the Pano they can last really 50 60 years but they do lose some efficiency over time right the kind of general rule I've heard is something like uh a half of 1% uh
in efficiency loss annually so as the years go by after 20 years you're going to be at 90% output but you know as long as things don't happen I suspect we should be able to get 30 plus years out of this array and with this metal here we could literally unclamp those panels and put a new panel down in 30 years and I can only imagine what the technology is going to be like in 30 years but this technology that's so old is still going to be going that's one of the things I really like
about Metal um let's talk about maintenance real quick what do we need to do to make sure those panels are still giving their maximum output cuz they're going to get dirty right they can be dirty mostly you know in some areas south Texas in a spring where is pollen where is a bird drop so in case that happen the best things of course is to wash of a panel uh with just water and a squeegee or water and a brush uh be careful at the temperature if it's very hot we cannot use cold water of
course so let water to warm up so there is not a thermal shock on the panel but really really is all the hardware we use is Aluminum and Stainless Steel so there is really no maintenance uh need to be done not moving parts and that is of a beauty compare you know wind technology or other technology that moving has moving Parts yeah that makes sense let's get back on the roof and finish up the video big thanks to John Luka and Nathan and the rest of the crew from solar power integrators I'll put a link
to these guys in the description below they're working all over South Texas and in fact a lot of Texas they were just in West Texas doing a job too big thanks to MRA for sponsoring today's video I love talking about Metal I've been in business since 2005 almost every house I've put a metal roof on that I've built here in Austin since 2005 so big thanks to those guys for sponsoring guys if you're not currently a subscriber hit that subscribe button below we've got new content here every Tuesday and every Friday follow me on Facebook
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