Roofing Installation and Solar Panel Installation in Manalapan, NJ by Green Sun Energy Services.
Dan and Natalie Szuba have been Green Sun Energy Services clients since February of 2018, when the array was signed and the roof followed five days later. The roof was finished on 31 March 2018 and the panels in the middle of April.
4,200 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 and aluminum drip edge along 328 feet of rakes, eaves and valleys.
41 panels and 13.74 kW
Forty-one LG 335 watt panels came to 13.74 kW on rail-free mounting, finished on 18 April 2018, running into a SolarEdge SE11400A inverter with an optimizer on every panel. JCP&L is the utility.
Three groups, and why the design did not stop at one
The panels sit in three groups. Two are on the back of the house at 26 and 27 degrees, both facing south-southeast, and they model at 105 and 97 percent of the reference case. The third is on a steeper face at 35 degrees pointing west-southwest, and it models at 90 percent. That third group is the interesting decision. It is the weakest of the three and it is still worth having: 90 percent of the reference is a good face by any standard, and it produces late in the day when the two south-southeast groups are already falling away. An array designed to use one good face and stop there would have been smaller, tidier, and finished earlier every afternoon.
Why the roof went first
An array is bolted to a roof 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. Forty-one panels spread across three separate faces would make that job considerably worse than a single block of panels on one slope, because every group has its own layout to dismantle and re-establish. Eighteen days of sequencing meant it never has to happen.
Project Facts
- Location
- Manalapan, NJ
- Services
- Roofing Installation, Solar Panel Installation
- Client since
- February 2018
Solar
- Panels
- LG Model # 335N1C-A5
- Panels
- 41
- System size
- 13.74 kW
- Inverter
- SolarEdge SE11400A-US000NNR2
- Mounting system
- Ecolibrium Solar
- Estimated first-year production
- 17,521 kWh
- Share of the home's electricity
- 97%
- Electric utility
- JCP&L
Roof
- System
- GAF Timberline Lifetime Roofing System
- Area replaced
- 4,200 sq ft
- Warranty
- 50 years
We can’t say enough good things about our experience with Green Sun Energy Services. My wife and I were looking to go solar and scheduled meetings with several different companies. The representative from Green Sun was far more experienced, prepared, knowledgable, and helpful than everyone else we met with. He walked us through every aspect of going solar and the various options in great detail. We felt very confident with choosing Green Sun and they did not let us down. Glen always had time to answer all my questions the whole way through the process and they delivered in every way. We were also in need of a new roof and Green Sun’s roofer did an excellent job. It was nice to only have to deal with Green Sun on both projects. The Solar installation is one of the best ones I have ever seen. Green Sun took great care to move vents, attic fans, and pipes for the best aesthetic look possible. When I asked their competitors what they would do about these obstacles on the roof, they said they would install the panels around them. I have seen solar panels done this way, with awkward gaps and and a non streamlined look. This is not what you get when you work with Green Sun.
From our very first phone call, through the planning, the permits, the installation, to our very first SREC check, we are extremely pleased with Green Sun Energy Services and would recommend them to anyone.
Green Sun Energy Services replied
Thank you, Dan. A representative who knows the subject rather than a script is the difference people notice first, and it is why we send the people who do the work. A new roof and 41 panels at your home in Manalapan is a project with two crews and one sequence. Thank you for choosing us after all those meetings.
Questions from Manalapan homeowners
RoofingIs an ice barrier required on a roof in Manalapan?
New Jersey's adopted residential code carries ice-barrier requirements where the local climatic criteria show a history of ice forming along the eaves. Where the rule applies, the barrier generally has to run from the lowest roof edge to a set distance inside the exterior wall line. The permitted design and the local criteria decide it for a particular property.
SolarDoes a bigger array always produce more?
Generally yes when everything else is equal, but size alone does not decide annual production. A smaller unshaded south-facing array can outproduce a larger one that is shaded or poorly oriented. Azimuth, tilt, shading, inverter efficiency and module characteristics all bear on it.
RoofingWhat happens if rotten decking is found during the work?
It is removed and replaced before the new covering goes on. No crew can know the condition of every sheet until the old roofing is off, which is why a tear-off is the point at which this gets discovered and why the homeowner is worth being reachable that day. Covering defective decking with new shingles hides the problem rather than solving it.