Tesla says I can't put solar panels on my rear porch roof

[Jeremy3292]

Tesla is telling me I can't put panels on my rear porch roof, see pic below. They are saying some states and locales are strict on where they can put solar panels. This seems like total BS to me. I discussed this very exact thing with the Tesla employee who did my site assessment on Monday and he said that's not an issue at all.

I can fit 20 panels on the main rear roof per Tesla's design below. They put the 6 additional panels that I wanted on the rear porch onto the front of the house. The roof is obviously angled away from the south and to the north here, so this seems like an incredible waste of panels and a stupid design. It seems I have no other place to put panels as the rear of my house faces almost exactly south.

I'm pretty pissed about this bc 20 panels is a measly 8.1 kW system vs the 10.53 kW system I wanted. Thoughts? Am I SOL?

 

[Tam]

Tesla is telling me I can't put panels on my rear porch roof, see pic below. They are saying some states and locales are strict on where they can put solar panels. This seems like total BS to me. I discussed this very exact thing with the Tesla employee who did my site assessment on Monday and he said that's not an issue at all.

I can fit 20 panels on the main rear roof per Tesla's design below. They put the 6 additional panels that I wanted on the rear porch onto the front of the house. The roof is obviously angled away from the south and to the north here, so this seems like an incredible waste of panels and a stupid design. It seems I have no other place to put panels as the rear of my house faces almost exactly south.

I'm pretty pissed about this bc 20 panels is a measly 8.1 kW system vs the 10.53 kW system I wanted. Thoughts? Am I SOL?

View attachment 981910

View attachment 981911

I guess they prefer roof of a house and they don’t consider porches meet their structural standards.

 

[Vines]

Tesla is telling me I can't put panels on my rear porch roof, see pic below. They are saying some states and locales are strict on where they can put solar panels. This seems like total BS to me. I discussed this very exact thing with the Tesla employee who did my site assessment on Monday and he said that's not an issue at all.

I can fit 20 panels on the main rear roof per Tesla's design below. They put the 6 additional panels that I wanted on the rear porch onto the front of the house. The roof is obviously angled away from the south and to the north here, so this seems like an incredible waste of panels and a stupid design. It seems I have no other place to put panels as the rear of my house faces almost exactly south.

I'm pretty pissed about this bc 20 panels is a measly 8.1 kW system vs the 10.53 kW system I wanted. Thoughts? Am I SOL?

View attachment 981910

I think that Tesla is reducing risk and overhead by having less special conditions and one set of rules across large areas of the country.

If you choose the low cost leader, they might want you to fit into their box, rather than the alternative. This keeps costs low.

Practically, this looks like a decent porch from what I can see. It is a contrast to some porches where someone just puts a few posts in the dirt, and then strings rafters across it, maybe or maybe not using a ledger board. I am almost positive your local installer will know this answer, navigate this issue and charge more for that extra service.

 

[power.saver]

If you can relocate those 3 plumbing vents, you could get 4 more panels on the roof.

 

[Jeremy3292]

If you can relocate those 3 plumbing vents, you could get 4 more panels on the roof.

Obviously not drawn to scale so not sure of actual dimensions, but if possible I was thinking about asking for something like below. Gets me 2 more panels this way.

 

[Jeremy3292]

I think that Tesla is reducing risk and overhead by having less special conditions and one set of rules across large areas of the country.

If you choose the low cost leader, they might want you to fit into their box, rather than the alternative. This keeps costs low.

Practically, this looks like a decent porch from what I can see. It is a contrast to some porches where someone just puts a few posts in the dirt, and then strings rafters across it, maybe or maybe not using a ledger board. I am almost positive your local installer will know this answer, navigate this issue and charge more for that extra service.

Yeah it's not a pergola or something shady. It is a structural roof integral to the house for all intents and purposes, not some shoddy after job. I guess what pisses me off the most is the employee who did my site assessment has done a ton of them in NC/SC and has been an installer when needed and he said more or less "that's no issue I've seen it before." He climbed on it, took dimensions, and everything.

 

[Vines]

Obviously not drawn to scale so not sure of actual dimensions, but if possible I was thinking about asking for something like below. Gets me 2 more panels this way.

View attachment 981919

What you show here is not compliant with current fire codes. You must have 2 access pathways to each ridge, when modules are attached to the adjacent surface. Those 2 access pathways must be from eave to ridge, and must be on, adjacent, or sharing on and adjacent roof surfaces. At least one of them mucst be from a driveway or street side of the house.

I agree, to relocate those vents would be the best option, or if your jurisdiction allows it, you can cut and cover those DWV vents with PV panels as long as you adhere to the code requirements. I doubt Tesla will cut and cover drain waste vents either, but you can ask.

 

[Jeremy3292]

What you show here is not compliant with current fire codes. You must have 2 access pathways to each ridge, when modules are attached to the adjacent surface. Those 2 access pathways must be from eave to ridge, and must be on, adjacent, or sharing on and adjacent roof surfaces. At least one of them mucst be from a driveway or street side of the house.

Yeah I need 18" all the way around the perimeter for local fire codes I think. My drawing is not to scale. Was hoping they could still fit.

 

[Matt-FL]

Your best bet is to hire a roofing company to move the vents and rework the spots where the vents were. I wish I had done that myself, as I have a few 'sparse' spots where panels could have gone. One of those 'wish I had done' moments My deployment doesn't actually look exactly like this. They never updated my design icons after Tesla changed out the original scoped panels with T400s. Instead of 60 panels, I got 51 (same wattage overall).

 

[jjrandorin]

This is definitely anecdotal, but I dont remember anyone posting here that they got Tesla to install solar panels on a roof that didnt have at least 3 complete sides to it, meaning something like a garage. I dont remember anyone saying they got Tesla itself to install panels on a porch.

Note I have seen plenty of pictures of panels installed on porches but not by Tesla itself, or if so, it probably was "back when it was solar city" if at all.

I think that Tesla is reducing risk and overhead by having less special conditions and one set of rules across large areas of the country.

If you choose the low cost leader, they might want you to fit into their box, rather than the alternative. This keeps costs low.

This is a really nice way to say this, and I agree with it, but to be a bit more blunt about it, Tesla is generally less expensive than other solar installers because they use a template style approach, and are not interested in a difference between "porch that was professionally built and is structural" and "porch that my uncle put up after watching a youtube video".

Saying "No" to all porches is a lot easier than any sort of nuanced approach, because nuance costs investigation time, and money. OP could probably get panels on that porch from a more local installer, and or a larger system, and or assistance with moving vents, etc, but not at the price they were quoted by Tesla or likely very close to it.

 

[Jeremy3292]

OP could probably get panels on that porch from a more local installer, and or a larger system, and or assistance with moving vents, etc, but not at the price they were quoted by Tesla or likely very close to it.

Precisely and not what I want to do as $$$ matters I may have to entertain an 8.1 kW system with 2 PW's now. Not sure if 3 PW's make sense anymore with only 8.1 kW of solar...

The only thing I can see is that I can just pay the per kWh price for what I pull from the grid, which isn't the end of the world. This is mostly going to be my EV charging that puts me over what the solar will output. My actual home consumption is likely fine with 8.1 kW solar. My utility requires I go to a TOU plan with solar and there is a super off peak period from 12am-6am March 1st to Nov 30th. That cost per kWh is about 25% less than I pay now per kWh on my "normal" plan.

 

[Vines]

Yeah I need 18" all the way around the perimeter for local fire codes I think. My drawing is not to scale. Was hoping they could still fit.

No, you need (2) 36" walkways on different roof planes. You need 18" on either side of the ridge (assuming your house either has fire sprinklers or the system shown doesn't exceed 33% of the roof area, my eyeball says you are at 25-30% so close.)
Just hire a plumber to combine a couple of those vents into 1 vent (or do it yourself) and you have a nice tight array. Alternatively, try a local installer who is more flexible.

 

[Redhill_qik]

Tesla is telling me I can't put panels on my rear porch roof, see pic below. They are saying some states and locales are strict on where they can put solar panels. This seems like total BS to me. I discussed this very exact thing with the Tesla employee who did my site assessment on Monday and he said that's not an issue at all.

I can fit 20 panels on the main rear roof per Tesla's design below. They put the 6 additional panels that I wanted on the rear porch onto the front of the house. The roof is obviously angled away from the south and to the north here, so this seems like an incredible waste of panels and a stupid design. It seems I have no other place to put panels as the rear of my house faces almost exactly south.

I'm pretty pissed about this bc 20 panels is a measly 8.1 kW system vs the 10.53 kW system I wanted. Thoughts? Am I SOL?

View attachment 981910

View attachment 981911

Looks to me that if you put panels on that porch roof they are likely to be in the shade most of the day/year.

 

[cali8484]

Looks like there is plenty of space for ground mount.

 

[Docfxit]

I found a guy installing solar at someones house down the street. I didn't go through a company. He was happy to make a little extra money to move my two pipe vents. For you they will need a little extra roofing material. It doesn't make any difference what the color is because they will be below the panels so you don't have to match them exactly. It cost me $250. He did it in a couple hours. That will give you four more panels and it will look better.

 

[Jeremy3292]

I found a guy installing solar at someones house down the street. I didn't go through a company. He was happy to make a little extra money to move my two pipe vents. For you they will need a little extra roofing material. It doesn't make any difference what the color is because they will be below the panels so you don't have to match them exactly. It cost me $250. He did it in a couple hours. That will give you four more panels and it will look better.

Who is the person to do this? Plumber? HVAC guy? I haven’t been up in the attic to see what the vents are from/for.

 

[Docfxit]

Drive around your neighborhood and find someone putting solar on a roof. The guys on the roof know how to work with the roof. It would be a roofer that would move them for you. The vents are usually from your plumbing. A sink, bathtub, any drain. Sometimes they are vents for your water heater. But it doesn't look like that's the case for you. I went into my attic and found they were 2" black PVC. I bought a few 10' sections to have them at the house when he showed up. From here it looks like you will need 2 or 3. They fit in my model y. I put a towel on the dash and put them in on an angle. I bought some 1 1/2" to 2" adapters. Some 90 degree elbows. Some 45 degree elbows. Just buy them anyplace you can return them if they aren't used. I bought a can of glue and some strapping in case he had to hang a pipe to the rafters. For you he will need some roofing material. Buy one bundle that is close to the color of your roof. For me he brought with him some black tar paper (it didn't take much) and some tar to seal. When he showed up I laid everything I purchased on the floor. He did a pick and choose of what he thought he might need and went to work.
You don't have to be an expert at it. Anyone at Home Depot will help you choose what to buy. Buy too much. You can always return it.

 

[Jeremy3292]

Drive around your neighborhood and find someone putting solar on a roof. The guys on the roof know how to work with the roof. It would be a roofer that would move them for you. The vents are usually from your plumbing. A sink, bathtub, any drain. Sometimes they are vents for your water heater. But it doesn't look like that's the case for you. I went into my attic and found they were 2" black PVC. I bought a few 10' sections to have them at the house when he showed up. From here it looks like you will need 2 or 3. They fit in my model y. I put a towel on the dash and put them in on an angle. I bought some 1 1/2" to 2" adapters. Some 90 degree elbows. Some 45 degree elbows. Just buy them anyplace you can return them if they aren't used. I bought a can of glue and some strapping in case he had to hang a pipe to the rafters. For you he will need some roofing material. Buy one bundle that is close to the color of your roof. For me he brought with him some black tar paper (it didn't take much) and some tar to seal. When he showed up I laid everything I purchased on the floor. He did a pick and choose of what he thought he might need and went to work.
You don't have to be an expert at it. Anyone at Home Depot will help you choose what to buy. Buy too much. You can always return it.

Thanks. I may try and find a local guy to do it. Those 2 next to each other are making me lose 3 panels. If I can at least move those two that would be great. It sounds like this isn’t that difficult for someone who knows what they are doing.

 

[Docfxit]

While he is up there he can move all three. He will probably move them to the crown of the roof. It will look nicer to have them all symmetric. And give you a few more panels. A little closer to your goal. It's not that hard. It doesn't take that much time. Schedule a day when it's not raining. He will appreciate that. I let him use my PVC cutter. Anything you spend on this will give you a lot of satisfaction when it's done.

 

[Jeremy3292]

While he is up there he can move all three. It will look nicer to have them all symmetric. And give you a few more panels. A little closer to your goal. It's not that hard. It doesn't take that much time. Schedule a day when it's not raining. He will appreciate that. I let him use my PVC cutter. Anything you spend on this will give you a lot of satisfaction when it's done.

If I can get a grid of 24 I’m totally ok with that. I’ll save the money from not buying 2 panels (24 vs 26) and pay someone to move the vents assuming I can get someone rather quickly. I have a call with Tesla Monday morning and I’ll make sure if they move them up to the top near the ridge Tesla won’t come back later and say “oh it won’t fit” or “oh code says we need more room” after I already paid to have them moved