Panels in place

Well we've made it to another Friday and today has been another learning and slightly frustrating day however progress has been made.

We actually could see the sun this morning

Joining fittings being tightened into place

The panel is in place, but it doesn't fit

Bekir working to true the frame

It was a nice morning for once, and so lovely to see the dawn and the sun rise rather than the thick cloud or heavy fog we've had for days now. The men were in on time and headed out almost straight away to go to the shop to pick up a pipe cutter, the light fittings for the eaves crawl space storage, and also to check the invoice we've received. When they came back they set to work on the first of the solar panels, trimming the pipes to the same size and then fitting the joining fitments before shifting it onto the roof. I missed this process however when they had the panel in place they found that the frame was not 100% plumb and square and so they had to spend several hours fixing this slight mistake. We are learning so much doing this and that always makes it a little slower.

Halil trims the tiny pipe

Hefting the panel up onto the roof

Carrying it over to the correct location

Carefully sliding it into place

We have solar panels

There goes the sun

Bringing blocks in

With the frame now square it was time to prepare the second panel and get it fitted; they did the trimming of the pipe and then I watched, slightly panicked, as they lifted and carried it into place. It went without a hitch which was a huge relief and I left them to making the final adjustments to the frame and then joining the two panels together. The day was bookended by lovely sun while the middle of the day was cold and overcast again, and right at the end while Bekir was still finishing up on the roof Halil got the trolley and brought in a load of the blocks from the patio. He has also covered those he didn't bring in really well with plastic, in case it rains.

So there it is; we've made progress but there is rain forecast now so we may end up pausing our solar boiler experiment for a while until the weather improves. Let's see how it goes. Thanks for reading, back on Monday.