Hi,
Hope you are all well. Just about to put up a number of largish canadian solar panels on my concrete-tiled roof and wondering if anyone knows of a good source of info wrt regulations and spacing recommendations. I am living in the UK so British regs would be good but any general tips/advice would also be welcome. I am aware that the panels should not come higher than the hieight of the ridge and also need to not be more than 20cm distant from the surface of the roof. I was told that you also need to keep them far enough back from the lower edge to avoid water run off missing the gutter - though I'm not sure what a good distance would be. My roof has quite a shallow incline. Also how would one determine the total load bearing capacity of a roof? My neighbours all have similar roofs and many have panels with no extra reinforcement to their roof timber as far as a know but my panels are a little larger and heavier.
Also, my Renusol roof hooks are a little short so the arm is hitting the tile below when the hook is attached directly to the rafters. I need some kind of spacer to push them away from the rafter by 8mm-15mm depending on the location. Any ideas what I can use? People have suggested using plywood or thin slices of wood - would that be sufficient? Renusol sell spacers but I am having difficulty sourcing them and also I need different thicknesses.
Cheers
Tom