Powerwall In Garage [what are the rules around this?]

[MyHeadHurts]

Carlsbad, CA, resident there. According to our installer, to have stacked Powerwalls in the garage or if against the wall, but just above the floor, bollards are required. Powerwalls must be 36" above the floor to avoid the bollards requirement. We didn't want bollards, so up the wall they went. I never confirmed this requirement with Carlsbad city, but the installers said that more and more cities are adding requirements for bollards. Something about cars hitting the batteries if they are mounted too low in a garage.

Powerwalls are 36" off the floor and about 11" apart.

 

[jboy210]

Carlsbad, CA, resident there. According to our installer, to have stacked Powerwalls in the garage or if against the wall, but just above the floor, bollards are required. Powerwalls must be 36" above the floor to avoid the bollards requirement. We didn't want bollards, so up the wall they went. I never confirmed this requirement with Carlsbad city, but the installers said that more and more cities are adding requirements for bollards. Something about cars hitting the batteries if they are mounted too low in a garage.

Powerwalls are 36" off the floor and about 11" apart.

Looks good. Nice and clean.

Ours are also mounted on the wall and with no bollards. But I don't think we are 36" from the ground. Perhaps our city is not worried about that.

 

[holeydonut]

Looks good. Nice and clean.

Ours are also mounted on the wall and with no bollards. But I don't think we are 36" from the ground. Perhaps our city is not worried about that.

I have a problem... because the first thing I thought of when myheadhurts posted his pictures was whether that LB below his Powerwalls has weep holes.

 

[charlesj]

Curious that bollards would be required for side wall installation on the floor. One would really have to try to run into it if you even could, unlike if it is straight ahead.

 

[BGbreeder]

I have a problem... because the first thing I thought of when myheadhurts posted his pictures was whether that LB below his Powerwalls has weep holes.

Hey you are learning! You will be a certified installer some day soon. Just four more box tops, $19.95/mo...

 

[Vines]

Curious that bollards would be required for side wall installation on the floor. One would really have to try to run into it if you even could, unlike if it is straight ahead.

According to the officials at Santa Clara County Fire, some people park trucks diagonally in their 2 car garage. They all need a 12k bollard to be able to dead stop a truck traveling at 10 mph. Fire officials are fine with being a bit lets call it "overly" safe. I laugh about it but they have a serious job that I do respect. Sometimes they just go a bit far in trying to be safe.

Like when one SCC fire official said the bollards spaced apart 60" would allow a motorcycle to go between them, so they must be 48" maximum between them.

Practically your installer looks to be following the Santa Clara Fire Document A-7, which is a bit more restrictive than the upcoming revisions in effect on January 1. I have attached the document to allow others to review it.

 

[charlesj]

I have single garage doors on each of the three stalls. Hard to drive in there diagonally.
Yep, a motorcycle could be a problem though.

Just checked your PDF. Yep, side wall seems to be ok. Need to check that 18" inside wall. Thanks

ps. checked, 24"

 

[preilly44]

Just as a side note, I have 2 PW+ & 2 PW2s in my garage and they create a ton of heat. My garage is always in the upper 90's now when it was previously in the 70's. Just for some background, my house is a new construction with closed cell spray foam insulation so the only time the heat escapes is for the couple minutes we open the garage door.

Just something to think about.

 

[miimura]

Just as a side note, I have 2 PW+ & 2 PW2s in my garage and they create a ton of heat. My garage is always in the upper 90's now when it was previously in the 70's. Just for some background, my house is a new construction with closed cell spray foam insulation so the only time the heat escapes is for the couple minutes we open the garage door.

Just something to think about.

If you put a heat pump water heater in the same space, it would put all that heat into your hot water.

Just something to think about.

 

[jboy210]

Just as a side note, I have 2 PW+ & 2 PW2s in my garage and they create a ton of heat. My garage is always in the upper 90's now when it was previously in the 70's. Just for some background, my house is a new construction with closed cell spray foam insulation so the only time the heat escapes is for the couple minutes we open the garage door.

Just something to think about.

Does your garage have a side door you can leave slightly open during the day?

We had problems with our garage getting hot from powerwalls and poor under roof ventilation. We put a cheap screen door (roll up fiberglass mesch type from Amazon, approx. $25-30) on the outside of the side door and leave the side door propped open it a few inches during the day. It lowered the garage temps to outside or less.

 

[Redhill_qik]

Does your garage have a side door you can leave slightly open during the day?

We had problems with our garage getting hot from powerwalls and poor under roof ventilation. We put a cheap screen door (roll up fiberglass mesch type from Amazon, approx. $25-30) on the outside of the side door and leave the side door propped open it a few inches during the day. It lowered the garage temps to outside or less.

I've got two Powerwalls, Solaredge inverter and TEG in my garage and I've never noticed any additional heat coming from them. I've gone out to check during the VPP events and the only thing that seems elevated is the conduit section between the Powerwall closest to the breaker panel that was installed for the partial home backup. The temp elevation via hand touch "measurement" is only a couple degrees higher than anything else and the Powerwalls are normal running my hands across all surfaces.

 

[charlesj]

Does your garage have a side door you can leave slightly open during the day?

We had problems with our garage getting hot from powerwalls and poor under roof ventilation. We put a cheap screen door (roll up fiberglass mesch type from Amazon, approx. $25-30) on the outside of the side door and leave the side door propped open it a few inches during the day. It lowered the garage temps to outside or less.

You may also try to lift the garage door slightly for cross ventilation with that side door. I do that when outside temps get lower than garage and leave it to cool until bedtime.

 

[jboy210]

You may also try to lift the garage door slightly for cross ventilation with that side door. I do that when outside temps get lower than garage and leave it to cool until bedtime.

Yep. I have done that one also. However, when I did an experiment recently it had much less of an impact than opening the side door a bit more. This may have to do with there are already vents in the garage side a couple of inches from the floor.

 

[cybergates]

Hi, I just got my install done - 4 powerwalls in the garage and 2 inverters - everything's working great but being in SoCal - all that equipment's generating a lot of heat in the garage. My garage doesn't seem to have the foundation/side vents that many california houses have built in the 70-80's - my home builder said they weren't required and so they did not put any? Will they be required by code? Can I get tesla to put them in?

 

[cybergates]

Just as a side note, I have 2 PW+ & 2 PW2s in my garage and they create a ton of heat. My garage is always in the upper 90's now when it was previously in the 70's. Just for some background, my house is a new construction with closed cell spray foam insulation so the only time the heat escapes is for the couple minutes we open the garage door.

Just something to think about.

yeah I never realized how much heat this stuff generates lol. I don't even have the old school foundation type vents. I think the powerwalls are generating most of the heat when I'm pulling a lot of energy from them (I used a powerwall to charge a car in the afternoon for example just as an experiment - I think that was a bad idea). I just got my system so I'm gonna trying adjusting settings and not try and draw that much from a powerwall unless there's a grid outage

 

[cybergates]

I'm guessing the powerwalls are what is generating most of the heat - I wonder if I use it from 10PM to 6AM to supplement power use since the AC is running overnight and keep it more on reserve if that will heat up the garage less since the TOU kw difference is not that much where I live. Or simply avoiding charging a car may be my issue since a car is demanding a continuous load on the Powerwall whereas at least the AC units cycle on and off.

Still learning - new to Powerwall - first day!

 

[dev_lvl80]

New to this.... I have installation date soon.
Tesla said, new fire codes do not allow to install PWs inside garage (CA, Ventura county). HOA prohibits outside installation.
Is that TRUE, in Ventura no longer PW can be installed in garage ? seems crazy.

 

[ptdusn]

New to this.... I have installation date soon.
Tesla said, new fire codes do not allow to install PWs inside garage (CA, Ventura county). HOA prohibits outside installation.
Is that TRUE, in Ventura no longer PW can be installed in garage ? seems crazy.

HOA cannot prevent if they are behind a wall and not visible from street.

 

[charlesj]

Yep, some HOAs have been sued for their craziness with and about solar.
But lawyers are not cheap.

 

[dev_lvl80]

HOA cannot prevent if they are behind a wall and not visible from street.

That's seems true. Tesla said the same. The issue is that, this wall is shared within me neighbor house, and thus his consent is needed. Apparently she is against that (not surprised though).
Tried to talked within inside garage installation again. They provided more descriptive response this time:

Nobody has been successfully able to meet the requirements to meet the code in your area therefore as a blanket solution Tesla disqualifies garages due to the strict code. This is specific to your area. Also, I will have to confirm that this is an option; there use to be exceptions based on some upgrades but the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) updated their records on 7/21 removing the exceptions, I realized this when looking for alternatives when this came up yesterday. If you want to proceed with that option please let me know right away so we can cancel installation as this will be a long process. Please keep in mind that Tesla will not assist with any of the upgrades the garage will need. We will also need to create new plansets and re-permit. A process that cannot be started until your end is complete. This will be a setback of approximately 2 months. Please confirm that you would like to proceed with this option so that I can reach out to the necessary departments as needed. Again, first I will need to confirm the changes made on 7/21 that seem to be more strict.

I'm out of luck....

One options only - exclude PWs from project and install SolarPanels only. Will it make any sense under NEM 3.0 ?
Maybe I'll be able to add PWs in a future.