pbiron
New member
- Location
- Custer County, CO
I'm a homeowner doing my own new construction electrical/solar in Custer County, CO. I had my rough-in inspection for the solar part yesterday. Basically, I passed with flying colors. The only minor thing he dinged me for was how I had the PVC conduit strapped to the side of the metal poles that my arrays are mounted on.
Background: my 9 panels are mounted on 2 poles (6 panels on 1 pole, 3 on the other ~20 ft away), with the combiner box mounted to the pole that has 6 panels of the poles. I've run the conductors from the 3 panels on the other pole into PVC conduit down the side of the pole, then underground in a trench to the base of other pole, then in PVC conduit up the 1st pole and into the combiner box. I used zip-ties to strap the conduit to the poles and the inspector said this was unacceptable (which I kind of agree with, but didn't know how else to do it).
The inspection report reads "Use approved conduit supports on conduits for solar array - Mineralac, unistrut or equal." I did a web search for the Minerallac supports and found [1]. But the steel poles are 6" diameter and with walls about 5/8" thick and using the Minerallac supports would require me to drill holes in the steel pole and then put threads in the hole with a tap/die set, etc. and I currently have no way of doing that (i.e., don't own a tap/die set that is sharp/strong enough to thread this steel pole).
What other means of strapping the conduit to the side of the poles would be "Approved or equal"? For instance, could I use big band straps (which is how I attached the combiner box to the pole)?
[1] http://www.minerallac.com/products/electrical-hardware/hangers/conduit/?product=3s
Background: my 9 panels are mounted on 2 poles (6 panels on 1 pole, 3 on the other ~20 ft away), with the combiner box mounted to the pole that has 6 panels of the poles. I've run the conductors from the 3 panels on the other pole into PVC conduit down the side of the pole, then underground in a trench to the base of other pole, then in PVC conduit up the 1st pole and into the combiner box. I used zip-ties to strap the conduit to the poles and the inspector said this was unacceptable (which I kind of agree with, but didn't know how else to do it).
The inspection report reads "Use approved conduit supports on conduits for solar array - Mineralac, unistrut or equal." I did a web search for the Minerallac supports and found [1]. But the steel poles are 6" diameter and with walls about 5/8" thick and using the Minerallac supports would require me to drill holes in the steel pole and then put threads in the hole with a tap/die set, etc. and I currently have no way of doing that (i.e., don't own a tap/die set that is sharp/strong enough to thread this steel pole).
What other means of strapping the conduit to the side of the poles would be "Approved or equal"? For instance, could I use big band straps (which is how I attached the combiner box to the pole)?
[1] http://www.minerallac.com/products/electrical-hardware/hangers/conduit/?product=3s
