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Home > Research > Solar Thermal > SWAP > Ten Years After > Mid-Florida Area Site #19

Site 19

System type: ICS system
Installed: 1996
Inspected: 2003

System operating. Roof leak problem.

Appeared to be some type of water dripping on garage ceiling. Owner suspects that it is from solar system. Stated that she had called WAP agency that coordinated installation but was told there was nothing they could do since the program was terminated. Nevertheless, client is quite satisfied with the system but does not want to be burdened with maintenance and troubleshooting costs.

Indeed there was a water stain on the garage ceiling drywall. Measured location of stain and compared with location of water heater and piping. Went in attic and observed that there was a stain on the wood in the attic as well. Measured location of stain vis a vis identifiable materials and locations in attic (pipe penetrations, lag bolt trusses). Inspected the roof and noticed that there were small holes a few inches away from one of the collector mounting points. Following is only an assumption: These holes could have been the result of the installer attempting to locate the truss members during the installation of the collector. Not having located the truss member, the installer could have tried repeatedly to make contact with a drill bit. There are 8”s between the holes and the current location of the mounting bracket. This could have caused the numerous holes at this location. Or, these holes could have been caused by some other means. In any event, the inspector filled the holes up as best as he could with a readily available sealant material. Informed the occupant’s adult daughter that they would have to follow up with some better type of sealant. It appears that the husband had used some type of roof coating material on an adjacent workshop roof. I told the daughter to have her father do the same at the above noted location.