CREIA April Conference

Since there is nothing else close, is anyone here attending the CREIA conference in Costa Mesa in late April? I am looking at driving down and going on Saturday the 28th to check it out.

Given it’s relatively close, I’ve considered it. Much easier than flying across the country.

But I didn’t see much on the education panel schedule that made me go “oh, I need to see that.”

For me, it would be a chance to meet up with people in person and the vendor hall.

What vendor hall? They have 2 vendor booths at this event and one of the two is InterNACHI’s Board of Directors member:

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Professional Inspectors Convention | InterNACHI’s Annual Convention has 84 industry vendors and today we topped 1,000 registered home inspectors.

And best of all, it’s free.

Flight across country and hotel room isn’t “free”. :wink:

Ditto.

What is desperately needed at one of these events is a class on inspecting solar systems. I don’t understand why nobody has addressed this booming technology .

It mind boggling all the major associations have their head in the sand when it comes to solar.

But it works out for me since I offer solar inspections, and almost no one else will even look at them.
Solar Panel Inspections during a Home Inspection - IM Home Inspection

So what do you look at? I look at the way that the panels are mounted to the roof, roof penetrations for conduit, roof covering damage, backfeed breakers, solar disconnect, am I missing anything?

Fire code set backs and clear labeling are the other big ones.

California has some specific codes related to fire fighters and solar panels.
If in an emergency, the fire department decides the best way into the house is to cut a hole in the roof and go through the attic, they have to have proper clearances with proper labels.

There are some PV Field Inspection guides floating around. Here’s a search that should reveal a few

LADBS has some guidelines on their site too.

Along with some mentions above, Backfeed should be at furthest point from Mains. Install goofs, leaks, mechanical comp’s faulty, voltage drop to name a few.

Thanks Tim.

What is “all the major associations?”

Anyway released a NACHI.TV show on inspecting solar systems 8 years ago and a green building course 11 years ago that has multiple sections on solar.

HOH1.

We also have a solar panel fastening seminar at HOH1. Solar panels can blow off of roofs and cause a lot of death and destruction if not fastened down. One of the best manufacturers of solar panel mounting equipment is inside the HOH1 building and if you come, you can take a tour and learn how they are engineered to keep panels from blowing off in a storm.

We also published many articles on solar including:

Inspecting Off-Grid Photovoltaic Systems - InterNACHI
Advantages of Solar Energy - InterNACHI
Disadvantages of Solar Energy - InterNACHI
Organic Solar Concentrators - InterNACHI
Passive Solar Building Design - InterNACHI
https://www.nachi.org/solar-gardens.htm






https://www.nachi.org/inspecting-solar-roofing-shinges.htm

So maybe it’s time for a solar certification.

Yup. I’ve read them all.

And none of them cover how to inspect a solar install in any meaningful detail.

And as I’ve said, California has some specific requirements.

Interesting topic and curious to see where it goes

I found a couple great resources that I will use to develop a template for solar inspection. http://www.irecusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Model-Inspection-Checklist.pdf
and
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/development-services/pdf/pvinspectionguidelines.pdf

I will share this as I work on it.