First day of my 12.24 kW install!

[jboy210]

I'm personally not too concerned about a broken tile. My understanding is the underlayment is expected to have water on it and is the real protection.

I am concerned about penetrations into the underlayment. I hope those were done well. Looking at what they did with the flat roof penetrations looks good to me, so I'm hoping that means the tile roof penetrations were done well also.

My roofer has offered to come out and inspect the roof next week since I had both painters and solar installers on the roof. It will be interesting to hear what he says.

Not sure what your picture is showing. Is that gray material the underlayment?

On ours, the underlayment was a plastic on a rubberized glue-backed material. It is self-sealing for penetrations and had no drips even in rainstorms that occurred during the install. The embedded thunderstorms dropped 2 inches in a little over an hour.

 

[SoCal Dave]

Not sure what your picture is showing. Is that gray material the underlayment?

On ours, the underlayment was a plastic on a rubberized glue-backed material. It is self-sealing for penetrations and had no drips even in rainstorms that occurred during the install. The embedded thunderstorms dropped 2 inches in a little over an hour.

No, that photo is a flat section of rolled roof. It is the one area I'm able to see some of the sealant Tesla used. They defiantly didn't skimp on the exposed sealant.

 

[Alonzo]

That looks like the same Dicor type of sealant which is used on RV roofs. If so, it should last 5 years or so before needing to be removed and replaced. It should be checked yearly for cracking.

 

[LadyLion]

That looks like the same Dicor type of sealant which is used on RV roofs. If so, it should last 5 years or so before needing to be removed and replaced. It should be checked yearly for cracking.

To remove and replace the sealant, is it just cutting away the old sealant or is it more involved? I imagine just going on top ol the old sealant is not as effective.

 

[Alonzo]

The RV pros use an oscillating tool to remove the old sealant. I just used a good putty knife. The material is a self flowing, self leveling sealant which stays somewhat pliable. You could probably just put a layer on top of the old the first time. The problem is that it gets dirty and the new stuff might not stick too well. A good scrubbing would be as difficult as just removing it.

 

[SoCal Dave]

My roofer came out and was happy with the roof. He couldn't find any problems. Though he did warn, the real test will be the first rain.

 

[SoCal Dave]

I received acknowledgement from SCE they got the interconnect request. It was 2 weeks after final inspection.

I did call Tesla on Friday asking them when it would be submitted. They told me yesterday. I called again and spoke with my newly assigned advisor. She said she would escalate it and an hour later I received the notification.

SCE's website says they normally take 2-3 days to approve. Hopefully I'll get approval before the weekend.

 

[JeremyWhaling]

Aw nuts! You beat me!

Oh well, ours shouldn't be too far behind. I called in yesterday and they didn't give me a definitive day like you did.

 

[SoCal Dave]

Aw nuts! You beat me!

Oh well, ours shouldn't be too far behind. I called in yesterday and they didn't give me a definitive day like you did.

Hah, sorry. Did you talk to your advisor?

 

[LadyLion]

Hah, sorry. Did you talk to your advisor?

How are you reaching your advisor to talk?
I have emailed my advisor twice with no reply. I spoke to her once, now radio silence.
I was told she does not have an extension. My permit has the wrong number of panels and kW when I look online at my city website.
I have told two advisors I have talked to about this, but no one has responded. No email, no call. I don't text.
Installation date :September 17-18. Can't wait. Wildfires and rolling blackouts in North SF Bay. No PSPS yet.

Has anyone scheduled their own city building inspection? The city building inspector told me I could request inspection online a week before my instal date and maybe get a date several days after the installation. I wonder if Tesla would be as proactive in getting an inspection date.

 

[SoCal Dave]

How are you reaching your advisor to talk?
I have emailed my advisor twice with no reply. I spoke to her once, now radio silence.
I was told she does not have an extension. My permit has the wrong number of panels and kW when I look online at my city website.
I have told two advisors I have talked to about this, but no one has responded. No email, no call. I don't text.
Installation date :September 17-18. Can't wait. Wildfires and rolling blackouts in North SF Bay. No PSPS yet.

Has anyone scheduled their own city building inspection? The city building inspector told me I could request inspection online a week before my instal date and maybe get a date several days after the installation. I wonder if Tesla would be as proactive in getting an inspection date.

Ugh, that sounds painful.

I didn't know I had an advisor until today. I called the main Tesla number and waited on hold for 34 min. They gave me her name and direct number. I got her VM when I first tried calling, but thankfully she called me back a few minutes later.

For my project, I wouldn't have been able to call my own final inspection. Tesla had the inspection card that the inspector signs off on. Tesla also installed stickers on the day of inspection which my inspector checked to make sure they were there. You might be able to call your building department and tell them you don't have the job card to get a new one. But even if the city signs off, you probably would still be waiting for Tesla.

 

[JeremyWhaling]

Yes I've emailed and called my latest advisor* but have never heard from her. I've just been calling the 877 number and talking to whoever picks up. At least the story is consistent, that I'm in the queue and it just takes time, and there's no progress indicator internally that they can see. The lady I talked to on Friday did escalate my case and straightened something on the NEM interconnection agreement where they couldn't determine my rate (despite uploading several SCE bills...), I'm on TOU-D-PRIME. So maybe that reset something and kicked me back to the end of the line. It also could have unstuck me from waiting in perpetuity, who knows.

All that said, I'm still pretty happy as the system was thousands cheaper than any other solar installer.

*I've worked with two other advisors at various points for a few rounds of emails but, I suspect one of them might not work there anymore after being very active in responding then radio silence after the 4th of July.

 

[jjrandorin]

How are you reaching your advisor to talk?
I have emailed my advisor twice with no reply. I spoke to her once, now radio silence.
I was told she does not have an extension. My permit has the wrong number of panels and kW when I look online at my city website.
I have told two advisors I have talked to about this, but no one has responded. No email, no call. I don't text.
Installation date :September 17-18. Can't wait. Wildfires and rolling blackouts in North SF Bay. No PSPS yet.

Has anyone scheduled their own city building inspection? The city building inspector told me I could request inspection online a week before my instal date and maybe get a date several days after the installation. I wonder if Tesla would be as proactive in getting an inspection date.

I doubt tesla will be as fast as you mention, and I HIGHLY doubt you would be able to schedule your own inspection, since tesla will have the information needed (not you). Better to plan for "testing" the system after install, perhaphs extensive testing if a PSPS is called after installation but before PTO.

 

[nufalm]

OP, What type type of roof do you have?

 

[nufalm]

saw some posts discussing Tiles. Are these regular clay tiles or metal/aluminium tiles?

 

[jboy210]

saw some posts discussing Tiles. Are these regular clay tiles or metal/aluminium tiles?

Solar panel installs are referencing to regular tiles. SolarRoof installs are referring to Tesla SolarGlass.tiles. Never heard of metal/aluminum tiles. Metal roof maybe?

 

[SoCal Dave]

OP, What type type of roof do you have?

Most of the roof is concrete tile. I have a section of flat roof with rolled asphalt.

 

[buckweet1980]

Telsa finally sent the docs over to my power company yesterday.. I live in a tiny co-op and they turned my system on today. Guy came out and swapped the meter and turned the system on.. It's nice how fast they were able to move.

I contacted Tesla via text messaging for the next steps, I asked them what has to be done and what it will take to get the app to work with my system. They said they'd check, but I haven't heard back. I've not been able to talk directly with the project person. I don't know who I've been texting this whole time, but it seems like its a front end call center folks or something. They told me that we don't get to talk to the project folks.

Anyways, We turned the system on around around 11:15 CST and i've put 35kWh back into the grid on what the meter says.. My meter says 999965 right now, lol.. Started at 0, going backwards.

 

[SoCal Dave]

Woohoo!!!

 

[holeydonut]

Time to crank those ACs to 72 and bask in the glorrrryyyyyy of solar powerrrrrrr.