Looks like a major solar upgrade and new roof at Greenleaf Hut

[peakbagger]

Chris Dailey posted pictures in his trail report of Greenleaf hut.

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthre...ld-Bridle-Path-Franconia-Ridge-Falling-Waters

The solar panels at the hut were a hodgepodge previously, you can see them on the ground in one photo. In the other photos you can can see a grid of posts mounted on the roof, most likely rails wil be attached and a signficant number of solar panels will be installed on those rails. If they fill out the rails they are going to be substantially increasing the generating capacity of the hut. It will be interesting to see what they power with it.

 

[Mike P.]

My electric blanket? A beer cooler??? (I've got reservations early in the summer but I'll guess we'll hear before then)

 

[JacobH]

From the picture, it seems they ran the bitchathane the full length of the roof. I don't blame them considering the locale. Can't tell from the picture but I can assume the did it up right and over top of the metal flashing in the gutters. I bet the sub roof outlasts the shingles.

Kudos to the constructions crew, it looks like they are doing some solid work.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

The roof work has progressed since I was there on the 15th. I only saw two solar panels, both leaning up against the building. As for "rails" - I think what you're seeing are 2x4's tacked temporarily over the sheathing which are removed as the rows of shingles are laid upwards from the edge.

 

[peakbagger]

The photos dont show any rails, but they do show a grid of support posts sticking up through the finished roof. No reason why they would need so many support posts unless they were planning to hang solar. I have a 2 KW array in the garage I will be installing soon and therefore I had to get quite familiar with racking layout and installation. I will probably be up there this weekend so I can get new photos if I rember the camera.

 

[peakbagger]

Here is photo of the Solar upgrade I took last weekend. It doesnt appear in this photo but from a distance they look used. The hut was being opened but wasnt open to the public so I couldnt see inside or ask questions.

The installation is odd, very rarely are the mounting rails mounted vertically due to wind uplift.

 

[Scubahhh]

Take a good look at peakbagger's photo; it was taken about 3 1/2 weeks in the future... Cool!

 

[peakbagger]

Tells you how often I use the darn camera

 

[Kevin Rooney]

The installation is odd, very rarely are the mounting rails mounted vertically due to wind uplift.

Agreed - have never seen such an orientation myself. Perhaps there was some limiting factor, such as support rails which weren't long enough for the usual orientation.

Aside from wind uplift, though - it probably won't matter in terms of their electrical output.

 

[hikingmaineac]

- I just helped wrap up an 8.2 KW install in Lebanon, ME today and we put down the rail vertically vs horizontally across the roof for a couple of complicated reasons.

For the hut, they likely decided that they could fit the largest number of panels/modules and achieve a happy balance of aesthetically pleasing and maximum electrical production if they mounted the modules in landscape vs. portrait. When you need to support landscape modules, it requires MUCH less rail to support them if you run the rail vertically. If they had run horizontal rail, each L to R row of modules would have to have 2 rails under them, roughly 8-12 inches from the top/bottom. It works out to be almost twice as much rail and supporting "posts" - an expensive and in this case, heavy to transport option.