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View Full Version : Solar panel placement pickle!



NWMNMom
04-17-2006, 08:24 PM
Any suggestions on placement of solar panels in the following situation?

The area the pool will go into is about 52' x 36' We plan to have an additional 2' on each side of the 18x33 pool to have stone/rock in. All measurements given will be from edge of 2' rock surrounding pool. There are pine trees on the north 4' from one long side, woods/brush on east 7' from back short end and woods/brush 14' from south long side. The west short side has a power pole and guy wire running N-S 8' from FRONT of pool/adder area.

Some taller trees further into the woods will be cut to reduce mid-day shade from the south but actually making more yard won't be possible.

I considered mounting them at 45 deg up along south side of pool like we did with the 2x20 when we had the 18' softside, but with the panel config (4x20 and 2x20) and a 33' pool, how will that work? Other suggestions? The house is about 75 feet or more from the pool area so roof mounting the panels would involve a LOT of piping right across the farm yard truck travel area and probably loss of some of the heat on the way back. This is the only area the pool can be placed (the rest is designated farm and shop or travel area, God forbid THAT gets disrupted or moved - lol) Any suggestions would be so helpful. (I added a pic of the spot so it makes more sense! looks off, but we measured)

matt4x4
04-18-2006, 08:12 AM
You should calculate your angle based on your location relative to the sun, depending on where you are located, you will want to have it angled differently.
Here's a site that may give you some pointers, you can figure it out by using your lat. and long., but there are plenty of pics to let you guestimate it relatively well.
http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/6h.html

NWMNMom
04-18-2006, 07:40 PM
Oh we know what angle to put them, the problem is space and shade coverage. With one set of 4x20 and one 2x20 - the pool is only 33' long. The picture shown is taken at 7pm so the sun is from the west there but With only 14' left between the pool and the woods we will have the sun coming from what is the right side of the picture most of the day (morning from the top side of the pic) and some of that is shaded from the woods there and on the east (top of picture). The whole south side of the pool area is subject to some periodic shade until the sun is far west and then that is only briefly shade free. Limited space and exposure areas - lots of panels. Suggestions?

I thought about maybe moving the pool a bit more southerly and installing some kind of elevated rack system (higher than the pool rail top) in between the pine trees and the north side of the pool at 45 deg facing South? If we did that, should they then be installed end to end? (= 40+ feet of panels)