Solar heater Heliocol on metal roof help

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M

MeSue

0
LifeTime Supporter
Jul 29, 2007
359
Florida
Hello,

My husband asked me to post this for him...

Need metal roof install advice for solar pool heater.

We have a Heliocol solar pool heater and we love it. We had our shingle roof replaced with metal. We took down the old system, but the local contractor refuses to install it on metal so it looks like we will have to DIY the reinstall. We like the "gator clamps" mounting system, but don't know if we can mount that directly to the metal between the corrugations. Any help?

Thanks!

5BC5C7B7-76BD-4DF7-AB8F-7DB8FCADDE82.jpeg40D76180-E24E-4432-A304-776B29E876CC.jpeg9BD856D3-A813-4F06-A262-1B16788F8028.jpeg
 
I don't have any experience mounting anything on a metal roof. I've installed that type of roofing, but only over my patios, so there wasn't much at stake if it leaked here and there. I got my panel mounting advice from the local solar installer that sold me the panels. They were great. I just did what they said they do. So...

Start with Helicol support and ask them if they have any instructions available for mouthing the clamps on a metal roof.

If that didn't get me where I needed to be, confidence-wise, then I'd start calling local solar installers and see if any would be willing to provide a consultation for hire.

Or you could mount it on the ground and avoid any potential roof problems.

I was trying to figure out your plumbing. Were the two pipes at the top the supply and the return, and the one running along the bottom only for draining? And did it drain every day, or was that just for end-of-the-season draining? If that's the case, I'd like to see you improve on that, so that the panels drain each day, as they should. Like maybe run the supply and return under the eves to get where it needs to go, instead of across the roof. That'd minimize the roof penetrations, be better for the pipe itself, and allow the panels to drain, too.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help...
 
Thanks. I’ve been in touch with the manufacturer of Heliocol, the guy promised to help me and then I got ghosted. This week I will try harder to get more info out of them. He initially reached out to the local contractor who has this sales territory for Heliocol, but that guy refuses to install on metal and won’t return my texts or calls requesting advice and/or parts support.

The system drained each day, and worked well. If I do the install, I will likely try to copy the old install because I know it worked… and there’s no under-eave way to get pipes to the larger upper section of panels. I don’t seem to have a pic of where the pipes went up the wall and over the eave.
 
Ah! OK, that explains the extra pipes I couldn't identify.

I'm sorry you're having so much trouble getting decent support. Though I can understand why the local guy doesn't want the job. No excuse for ghosting you, that's just rude, but without the profit built into the panel sales, he's only looking at charging for labor. By the time he pays the crew and expenses and taxes and insurance, etc, he's looking at next to nothing for taking the risk of messing up your beautiful, new roof. There's nothing in it for him.

Is there plywood sheathing under the metal? Typically metal roofing is attached with exposed screws that have sealing washers, right through the metal. With the right hardware and sealant techniques, you should be able to mount the Heliocol clamps in-between the ridges of the roofing material. It that doesn't provide the needed clearance between the manifolds and the roof, then you could use some sort of spacers. Walking on the roof should be doable with the right shoes, just avoid the ridges. Somebody was up there walking on it to install it, right? So I think it's possible, I just think it's not going to be worth it to most contractors because they're not selling you the panels. So it's going to be DIY.

There is a trick to skewing the panels slightly to solve for draining and to avoid trapping air while filling. Be sure you understand the principle before you give it a go. I learned most of what I needed from this site. They have some good illustrations and animations that really helped. I've heard the owner of the company is very helpful. Perhaps he could consult.

www.h2otsun.com

Hot Sun Solar Swimming Pool Heating with Flexible Solar Collector Panels

The state of the art in the adaptation of solar pool heating to various roof types and pool mechanical systems.
www.h2otsun.com www.h2otsun.com
 
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Thanks.

Yes, I’ve been up there walking around, it’s fine with the right shoes when it’s dry. The metal is screwed directly to plywood which is securely nailed down to the framing.

The only thing about it is I’m not sure I can find rafters to mount the clips into… they’d most likely be screwed into the plywood in hopes that some fasteners would hit some of the framing below.

I’ll check out that site… didn’t know about skewing the panels.
 
I wonder if you could follow the flat roof mounting instructions listed in the helicoil manual and use adhesive instead of penetrating the roof
" FIBERGLASS COATED, METAL, OR SHINGLED FLAT ROOF - If you have one of these three types of roofs with at least 3” of slope down the panel length, you can use the gator clamp method previously described. Use liquid adhesive to secure the (2-1060-001) gator clamp to the roof, or consult A.H.J. or engineer of record to make sure installation meets code regulations."
 

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Ahultin said:
I wonder if you could follow the flat roof mounting instructions listed in the helicoil manual and use adhesive instead of penetrating the roof
" FIBERGLASS COATED, METAL, OR SHINGLED FLAT ROOF - If you have one of these three types of roofs with at least 3” of slope down the panel length, you can use the gator clamp method previously described. Use liquid adhesive to secure the (2-1060-001) gator clamp to the roof, or consult A.H.J. or engineer of record to make sure installation meets code regulations."
Click to expand...
Hmmmm… thanks for the thought. Where are you quoting that from?
 
One issue you may run into is the need for a spacer to clear the ridges on the metal roofing. I used galvanized metal roofing for the backing on my ground mount and had to space the clamps up @1/2 inch or mount the clamps on the ridges which gave less backing. The other potential option if you have the space is go to a ground mount. I used the design from here Strut-channel Rack20220625_154756.jpg20220625_154745.jpg
 
Last edited:
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Mine is on a slope on what is pretty much wasted space, I don't know that I would want to ground mount it of my yard was flat and usable but in socal that's reserved for dreams or the 1% lol 😆
20220615_084129.jpgorg_5a2c7d4a39e51de7_1655156516000.jpgorg_f5046cb9e910866e_1655156568000.jpg
 
Russchastain said:
Thanks for the pics. Your roof is another good reason for putting your setup on the ground!
Click to expand...
Yea... a little cut up 😆
So I was on a bike ride this am and coincidentally passed a similar metal roof to yours with solar pool heat. Looked like they did a hybrid of the traditional roof mount and the ground mount. That might be the way to go in your case as it would significantly limit roof penatrations without much additional cost. You would use a traditional standoff like this ProSolar FJE-200 - 2 Inch Standoff
Then mount a piece of 1 5/8 strut Chanel to those and mount your panels to the strut Chanel. At a 10ft span unistrut with support 160lbs. The 12.5' panels are @27 lbs and hold 3.7 gallons of water so under 55lbs each loaded, as such you could get away with 3 standoffs top and bottom for each row of panels (I beleive you had two). 12 total penatrations which i venture to guess you could get your roofers to install the standoffs at the joist locations then you could put the strut amd panels. The line of the top and bottom standoffs would need to run parallel and the separate between top and bottom would need to be correct but thier locations across would be irrelevant since your panels would be connecting to the strut Chanel. Makes sense in my head, hopefully I typed it clear enough lol
 
Do the Heliocol panels need support in between the top and bottom mounts? I’m not hating this strut idea, but wondering whether I would need to run any in between The top and bottom. Probably not, if I only space it up an inch or so?

A guy from the Heliocol manufacturer suggested these mounts (see link), but I’m not sure they make sense with my particular type of roofing… the stuff shown in the product photo has a taller corrugation.

www.s-5.com

ProteaBracket™ Metal Roof Brackets | Exposed-Fastened Metal Roof Brackets | S-5!

Use ProteaBracket for attachment of solar PV to face-fastened, trapezoidal-rib metal roof profiles.
www.s-5.com www.s-5.com
 
I would think if you kept the riser low enough so that it puts the strut channel just over the ridge that the ridge will be sufficient support. My panels are solarpoolsupply branded helicoil panels and they hang down a bit with no issue. If you where concerned with it you could build a low profile strut channel rack on the roof though you are increasing costs exponentially. You would then use the 1 5/8 channel top to bottom and use the 13/16 channel left to right. For the 12.5' panels I used 5 parallel cross braces, top, bottom , center and centered on each of those. Pretty sure that would be overkill for your application. 20220531_200755.jpg20220602_102558.jpg
 
Dirk said:
Ah! OK, that explains the extra pipes I couldn't identify.

I'm sorry you're having so much trouble getting decent support. Though I can understand why the local guy doesn't want the job. No excuse for ghosting you, that's just rude, but without the profit built into the panel sales, he's only looking at charging for labor. By the time he pays the crew and expenses and taxes and insurance, etc, he's looking at next to nothing for taking the risk of messing up your beautiful, new roof. There's nothing in it for him.

Is there plywood sheathing under the metal? Typically metal roofing is attached with exposed screws that have sealing washers, right through the metal. With the right hardware and sealant techniques, you should be able to mount the Heliocol clamps in-between the ridges of the roofing material. It that doesn't provide the needed clearance between the manifolds and the roof, then you could use some sort of spacers. Walking on the roof should be doable with the right shoes, just avoid the ridges. Somebody was up there walking on it to install it, right? So I think it's possible, I just think it's not going to be worth it to most contractors because they're not selling you the panels. So it's going to be DIY.

There is a trick to skewing the panels slightly to solve for draining and to avoid trapping air while filling. Be sure you understand the principle before you give it a go. I learned most of what I needed from this site. They have some good illustrations and animations that really helped. I've heard the owner of the company is very helpful. Perhaps he could consult.

www.h2otsun.com

Hot Sun Solar Swimming Pool Heating with Flexible Solar Collector Panels

The state of the art in the adaptation of solar pool heating to various roof types and pool mechanical systems.
www.h2otsun.com www.h2otsun.com
Click to expand...
Wow what an informative site. It's like going down a rabbit hole.
 

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