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diy solar

Convincing the Building inspector DIY is OK in New Hampshire.

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Maitake

Solar Enthusiast
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Mar 21, 2022
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So the local inspector hands me the "solar application" and it requires an electrician and a license #.

Need to convince him otherwise without pissing him off.
Any tips?
BTW New Hampshire has a state law exemption to allow homeowners to do their own electrical work.
Nothing in the town by-laws contrary to this.

Looks like basic bureaucratic overreach.

No electrician is going to sign off on a DIY project unless you happen to have one for a buddy. I don't.
 
So is this grid tie? The state of NH definitely lets a home owner DIY for his own residence, cant be commercial or rental property. Assuming that's the case, the town would have to have some sort of local ordinance requiring it. Interestingly enough Chesterfield NH has a spot for an electrical license. I think the issue is, that if you hire someone they need to be licensed, has been conflated to mean the job must be performed by a licensed electrician. Let me know how it goes, I will be doing work up there next summer. Though I still may hire someone, as I am getting old and lazy ;-)
 
What county are you in?

Check out

harei.org

Many locals have “barn raiser” type solar install events all DIY people. I believe other counties may have similar type organizations. But they should at least walk through the paperwork.

What utility are you served by? Is the solar application for the utility to set a net meter? If so you can prob mark N/A or self install.
 
worst case scenario is see about hiring an electrician to give his blessing over it.
I would just ask them it might just be for people who do hire electricians
for a job and homeowners can just skip that part.
I'm pretty sure my area doesn't have separate permits for homeowners vs commercial, so it might just be a generic form?
 
740GLE said:
What county are you in?

Check out

harei.org

Many locals have “barn raiser” type solar install events all DIY people. I believe other counties may have similar type organizations. But they should at least walk through the paperwork.

What utility are you served by? Is the solar application for the utility to set a net meter? If so you can prob mark N/A or self install.
Click to expand...
Hi backwoods,
Rockingham
harei.org goes nowhere on my device.
PSNH
99% net meter 1% backup.
He seemed open to me doing some of the work but reluctant to issue a permit without an electrician.

Thx
 
Search for Hillsboro country area renewable energy initiative.

Not sure why the link didn’t work.

God bless your soul for calling Eversource PSNH.

And yes Eversource is fine if you write “self install” for the net meter. They’ll just need a crude sketch of the system and cut sheets of equipment to be installed meeting IEEE standards.

As for the local inspector I think you just need to make him happy with a clean install.
 
Act as a contractor. Draw up a set of plans, submit them and your completed "owner builder" permit to your local AHJ. The city or county engineer will approve them or ask for revisions. If the permit asks for an electrician , write your name in with"owner-builder" . Build it per plan and get the inspections required. After completion turn all this paperwork into your insurance company to prove compliance.
 
Do they do underwriter inspections in NH? Thats how it works on Long Island. Whoever does the work, there is a third party inspector certified by the insurance underwriters assoc, not the township. They come and inspect and give you an underwriters certificate for the install being up to code. It was some reasonably low flat fee and then a per outlet, fixture, breaker cost. I think my last bunch of work cost me $150 to get the cert.
 
You may also want to investigate what your homeowner's insurance regulations are while you are at it.

God forbid there is a fire, but if you get a wink and a nod electrically, your insurance company might have other ideas when the cause of the accident is investigated.

If an accident harms a neighbor's property, those same insurance issues and civil lawsuits may apply.

I'm just saying look at it from all angles.
 
You can do some research for "NEC allowing some DIY electrical work made by the owner him/herself", not a neighbour or friend.

However, you might have to request a DIY permit. There are good contents in Youtube such as for example:


A good recommendation when requestiong a permit is to draw a clear schematic of the instalation with detailed values of wires, fuses, conduits...
 
The nec does not govern whom may do electrical work. The local AHJ or state legislature do.
 
LywWyr said:
The nec does not govern whom may do electrical work. The local AHJ or state legislature do.
Click to expand...
Okay, I may not use the correct words, and I will try to find some NEC articles mentionning that it's not a code violation
to have the home owner doing some electical work, but still the resulting work have to follow the code recommendations or requirements.
 
You are correct , a homeowner may do his own work. This applies to any trade, roofing, plumbing , framing etc...
 
All good input.
Thanks for the help.
Contacted the Hillsborough county group, only help they had was "yeah inspectors can be difficult".
I'll put together the best package I can and have a meeting with Mr Inspector.
 
Work clean and take your time, if they see you care about the install and following code they really shouldn’t give you any issues.

If they have a feeling your cutting corners they’ll start poking around giving reason to deny the permit or force you to rework.
 
To close this out, NH has state laws that allow homeowners to do their own work. Met with the BI, had solid plan sets, and had to sign a doc that I was indeed doing the work.
Permit granted.
Thx for your help.
 
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