Jessica Rardin has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since November of 2016, when the roof and the solar array were bought on the same day. The roof was finished on 7 March 2017 and the array seventeen days later.
3,600 square feet, stripped to the deck
A single layer of old shingles came off down to the sheathing and left with the dumpster. Deck protection went over the exposed sheathing, then a GAF Timberline HDZ system in Charcoal carrying a 50-year warranty, aluminum drip edge along 253 feet of rakes, eaves and valleys, and a ridge vent along the peak. The shingle was chosen by the household rather than defaulted, which is recorded on the contract.
38 panels and 10.64 kW
Thirty-eight black-framed Hanwha 280 watt panels came to 10.64 kW on QuickMount flashed mounts, finished on 24 March 2017, running into a SolarEdge SE10000A inverter with an optimizer on every panel and a production meter built to the ANSI accuracy standard. PSE&G is the utility and the first year was designed for about 10,498 kWh.
What a flashed mount actually is
Every page on this site mentions the mounting system and almost nobody asks what it means, so it is worth setting out once. A flashed mount is not a bolt sealed with caulk. It is a metal plate that slides up underneath the course of shingles above the fixing, so the hole through the deck sits beneath a shingle rather than exposed to the sky, and the water running down the roof passes over the flashing the way it passes over everything else. Sealant fails; it is a consumable with a life measured in years. A shingle laid over a flashing is doing the same job it does across the whole roof, and it will still be doing it when the array is twenty-five years old. On a roof that has just been replaced it is the difference between an array that is part of the roof and an array that is bolted to it.
Why the roof went first
An array is fastened down for twenty-five years and more, so shingles at the end of their life underneath one become a second job with a date already on them — panels off, roof on, panels back. Thirty-eight panels would make that a substantial undertaking. Seventeen days of sequencing meant the flashings went into a roof that was new, on a deck that had been stripped, seen and covered properly.
Project Facts
- Location
- Cherry Hill, NJ
- Services
- Roofing Installation, Solar Panel Installation
- Client since
- November 2016
Solar
- Panels
- Hyundai Model # HIS-S280RG-BK
- Panels
- 38
- System size
- 10.64 kW
- Inverter
- SolarEdge SE10000A-US000NNR2 Inverter (25Y) W/ P320 HD Wave
- Mounting system
- QuickMount
- Estimated first-year production
- 10,498 kWh
- Share of the home's electricity
- 100%
- Electric utility
- PSE&G
Roof
- System
- GAF Timberline Lifetime Roofing System
- Area replaced
- 3,600 sq ft
- Warranty
- 50 years
Questions from Cherry Hill homeowners
SolarHow is the number of panels for a Cherry Hill house decided?
It starts with the home's actual electricity use, then with how much usable roof or ground area there is. A proper design looks at twelve months of consumption, expected future use, roof orientation, shading, roof dimensions, code-required setbacks, module wattage and the limits the utility places on interconnection.
RoofingDoes installing solar automatically void a GAF roof warranty?
No blanket statement should be made either way. The effect depends on the applicable GAF warranty, the installation method, the penetrations, any resulting damage and the warranty exclusions. A properly installed solar mounting system should be designed to preserve the integrity of the roof.
RoofingDoes a gutter guard mean the gutters never need attention again?
No, and no homeowner should read it that way. A micromesh system dramatically reduces what gets into the gutter, but pollen, roof granules, storm debris, ice and tree material can still accumulate on top of the screen. A periodic look at the roof edge remains sensible.