Poll: Do you file permits for your diy solar projects?

[zzdodge]

Always file if required. For farm in rural western New York, a permit is not required for Ag applications. I still get it inspected. It makes it more difficult for insurance to deny a claim should something happen. The inspections are a little pricey, but I figure I am buying process insurance. And it is a one time payment.

 

[caesarv]

I think in many cities, they look to permits as a revenue stream. I did not get a permit for my recent solar installation (as mentioned previously in this thread) but I had to get one for my mini-split installation in order to qualify for a $1k rebate. They charged me $165 for an A/C installation which was expected. Then they said I also had to pay another $165 for a furnace installation, presumably because a mini-split can both heat and cool. At that point I swore to never deal with them again.

 

[Madcodger]

Problem is the municipality is no longer agriculture based like it used to be.

There’s the issue. A bunch of suburbanites wanting to protect you from you. When that happens, it’s time to move.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Ok so for what it is worth I have found numerous electrical wiring issues with crappy connections, overstripped wires, and then the awful push in connections on the backs of outlets and switches simply burning up over time for being a total garbage connection method. All devices in this house are UL, all wiring was permitted and inspected at time of construction.

IT IS JUNK.

The push in back wiring should never have been allowed and the inspectors should never have ok'ed wires stripped back over an inch, with bare conductors hanging out the backsides of devices and wire nuts.

I have replaced almost every outlet and switch in the house with new (a couple left here and there pending some other repairs/upgrades), redone seemingly half the other connections in box, etc.

Crap like this is why I find inspections and permits a huge waste. I keep finding cases where they miss the obvious, why even bother?

/rant

 

[ricardocello]

Crap like this is why I find inspections and permits a huge waste. I keep finding cases where they miss the obvious, why even bother?
/rant

Good rant!

It's not about the quality of the job they are inspecting. It's mostly about enforcement, control, and fees. It is very rarely about safety.
Inspectors usually only catch the grotesquely wrong stuff.

However, some inspectors are professionals and are super picky. Sometimes that's good, sometimes it is stupid.

The problem is, you do not know who is going to show up to do the inspection: the helpful guy, the rule nazi, or the incompetent boob.

 

[SunDave]

I think in many cities, they look to permits as a revenue stream.

Indeed. Not just cities either. I got a county permit for a very rural solar ground mount as part of a grid tie process. I paid for the permit, and installed it.

I then called them to see what they needed to "close it out", final inspection, picture, notes? Nothing. They don't care of it was completed or not. Not to mention whether it was done well. They just wanted the money.

 

[Ozarks Mountain]

For our county doing off grid or anything else it states if you own the property, and it's paid off, you can do anything including wiring or plumbing, dig ditches as long as it's not a septic tank or anything the electric or plumbing company owns, grid tie is a different story

 

[cs1234]

For our county doing off grid or anything else it states if you own the property, and it's paid off, you can do anything including wiring or plumbing, dig ditches as long as it's not a septic tank or anything the electric or plumbing company owns, grid tie is a different story

They care whether it's paid off or not? I haven't heard of that before, is that a common stipulation that the rest of you have seen?

 

[Ozarks Mountain]

They care whether it's paid off or not? I haven't heard of that before, is that a common stipulation that the rest of you have seen?

If not the bank has a lean and different banks have different rules

 

[onokai]

View attachment 290570

I have this same permit-I got a copy same source.

 

[Skythings]

I'm glade you have it worked out.
In my area that mobile home would not be considered a "farm building". People around here use to put mobile homes on old farms where the old house was about to fall. The Townships would allow it as temporary with the understanding a new home is to be built. 30 yrs later some one is still living in it, added on to it and now looks permanent. So now they will not issue permission for mobile homes unless it's going into a trailer park and they seem to be dying off around here.

I'm not out of the woods until I have passed the building inspection.

It's too bad about mobile homes. The stigma when you live in a mobile home is you have no job, no teeth, no shirts, no showers and don't give a damn about nothin and the mobile is half tipped over shedding it's roof and looks a blight on society. I take care of my home an I don't give a damn what people think of me. It's warm, comfortable, cozy and paid for and I take pride in my home because I want to. The issue comes down to local governments can collect more tax revenues from conventional housing because of their values than someone living in a home society determines is worthless.

 

[cs1234]

If not the bank has a lean and different banks have different rules

That doesn't seem like something the permit office / county would be concerning themselves with. If you violate a term on your mortgage, that's a civil matter between you and them.

 

[cs1234]

I'm not out of the woods until I have passed the building inspection.

It's too bad about mobile homes. The stigma when you live in a mobile home is you have no job, no teeth, no shirts, now showers and don't give a damn about nothin and the mobile is half tipped over shedding it's roof and looks a blight on society. I take care of my home an I don't give a damn what people think of me. It's warm, comfortable, cozy and paid for and I take pride in my home because I want to. The issue comes down to local governments can collect more tax revenues from conventional housing because of their values than someone living in a home society determines is worthless.

Personally, I love mobile homes. I've seen people do really fun stuff with them over the years. I like the relatively long hallways for pacing back and forth relative to their overall size. It's usually easy to work on all their plumbing and such as well, nice and accessible.

 

[Norwasian]

We have a county where I would like to move to has no building codes or zoning codes Greeley county the nice part higher up in the mountains is super expensive 300k for 10 acres of land.

That's the average price in Thailand for rural farm or residential property. Closer to town it can easily reach three times that, and in the city?...the sky's the limit I suppose. Americans are spoiled by cheap land prices, largely owing to having more of it, with vast acreages in the Western portions especially.

I would think twice before wasting land space for solar panels when I could put them on a building instead.

 

[k490]

That's the average price in Thailand for rural farm or residential property. Closer to town it can easily reach three times that, and in the city?...the sky's the limit I suppose. Americans are spoiled by cheap land prices, largely owing to having more of it, with vast acreages in the Western portions especially.

I would think twice before wasting land space for solar panels when I could put them on a building instead.

I was referring to a county that has no building or zoning codes. Thailand is size of Texas not a surprise that land is expensive I wasn't referring to where to build a solar array simply the fact that to live in that county in cool weather above 6000 feet high going to pay lot more. This area is 100+ mile drive to any major sized city. Cheap land exists here but it's very hot dry weather with no water source expect hauled water.

 

[Bop]

I'm not out of the woods until I have passed the building inspection.

It's too bad about mobile homes. The stigma when you live in a mobile home is you have no job, no teeth, no shirts, no showers and don't give a damn about nothin and the mobile is half tipped over shedding it's roof and looks a blight on society. I take care of my home an I don't give a damn what people think of me. It's warm, comfortable, cozy and paid for and I take pride in my home because I want to. The issue comes down to local governments can collect more tax revenues from conventional housing because of their values than someone living in a home society determines is worthless.

Strange, here in Australia there is no stigma attached to 'permanent park residents' ie those who live in a caravan in a caravan park on a permanent/semi permanent basis- indeed there are 'retirement villages' for elderly people who do exactly that when 'downsizing' in their retirement...
Indeed I spent the last 15 years living in the 'White Whale' in various caravan parks around Australia while working in the mining game lol

Still living in it (now parked up permanently in the shed) on my 40 acres of bushland....

And no, no permits required here at all for 'offgrid' solar, regardless of if you are in town or out in the bush... (you do need a planning permit for anything larger than a carport, but thats a once of $70 fee, and usually no inspection needed as long as you follow the rules re setbacks etc)
Biggest system I've put in is a 50kw solar array, no inspections/permits etc needed as it was offgrid...

(gridties are a different story, no 'permits' needed at all for that either, but they need to be installed by licenced installers and electricians- quite understandable of course, they don't want some crappy DIY install causing issues on the grid- and having seen some DIY installs- urgh... there can be some shoddy garbage out there...)

 

[chill633]

Good rant!

It's not about the quality of the job they are inspecting. It's mostly about enforcement, control, and fees. It is very rarely about safety.
Inspectors usually only catch the grotesquely wrong stuff.

However, some inspectors are professionals and are super picky. Sometimes that's good, sometimes it is stupid.

The problem is, you do not know who is going to show up to do the inspection: the helpful guy, the rule nazi, or the incompetent boob.

I'm lucky. Here in WV the inspectors don't work for the county. They are approved by the county and I'm given a list to choose from. There are five in my area. I interviewed all five five before my last project asking questions in advance. I picked the one that was interested in educating me and helping me understand. He's been great so far. I pay them directly, and they report back pass/fail to the county by permit number.

 

[Ampster]

I got a permit for my 8kW panel install because it was necessary for a NEM agreement. i then installed a hybrid inverter and some DIY LFP batteries.. That worked fine for several years. As I approached my eigthties and redid my estate plan I wanted to get my battery system permitted so my wife would not have a problem selling the house if I passed on. Fortunately I found combination of my existing SolArk 12k and Pytes batteries which was approved as a system on the CEC website. I found an electrical engineer to draw up plans and submitted them and got them approved by my County Building department. I am all approved and rest easy at night. There is a reverse Murphy's Law aspect to planning that may extend my life expectancy.

 

[thecreativeone91]

They care whether it's paid off or not? I haven't heard of that before, is that a common stipulation that the rest of you have seen?

If not the bank has a lean and different banks have different rules

It’s not typically enforced but they sure do. File a claim with your insurance and your mortgage company will be on you. We filed for roof damage and got a new roof put on (only 3 years after building mind you) from wind damage, we went with metal this time. But the Mortgage company gave us 15 days to start having it repaired or they would force a foreclosure for violation of terms/not protecting their asset etc. and had to be completed fully within 30 days. Never even knew that was a thing they could foreclose for.

 

[SparkyJJO]

It’s not typically enforced but they sure do. File a claim with your insurance and your mortgage company will be on you. We filed for roof damage and got a new roof put on (only 3 years after building mind you) from wind damage, we went with metal this time. But the Mortgage company gave us 15 days to start having it repaired or they would force a foreclosure for violation of terms/not protecting their asset etc. and had to be completed fully within 30 days. Never even knew that was a thing they could foreclose for.

Your bank sucks.

 

[cs1234]

It’s not typically enforced but they sure do. File a claim with your insurance and your mortgage company will be on you. We filed for roof damage and got a new roof put on (only 3 years after building mind you) from wind damage, we went with metal this time. But the Mortgage company gave us 15 days to start having it repaired or they would force a foreclosure for violation of terms/not protecting their asset etc. and had to be completed fully within 30 days. Never even knew that was a thing they could foreclose for.

What does that have to do with the county requiring permits for home improvements or not? It makes sense that a mortgage company would get uppity if they hear through the grapevine that your property is damaged. It doesn't make sense that a county permit office would have a policy to not care about whether work is permitted or not if a property has a lien holder. The counties position should be that something either requires a permit or it doesn't. I can maybe see the county requiring permission from the lien holder for permitted work, as they are a joint owner on the title.

 

[thecreativeone91]

What does that have to do with the county requiring permits for home improvements or not? It makes sense that a mortgage company would get uppity if they hear through the grapevine that your property is damaged. It doesn't make sense that a county permit office would have a policy to not care about whether work is permitted or not if a property has a lien holder. The counties position should be that something either requires a permit or it doesn't. I can maybe see the county requiring permission from the lien holder for permitted work, as they are a joint owner on the title.

Your mortgage likely requires all work to be permitted was the point. That’s what the whole discussion of paid off or not was about.

 

[cs1234]

Your mortgage likely requires all work to be permitted was the point.

It likely requires all permit requiring work to get a permit. That's different than work suddenly requiring a permit because it has a mortgage.

 

[thecreativeone91]

Your bank sucks.

Credit Union but yeah most of them do.

 

[Tunnerus]

Off grid in Finland needs no permit