Sol-Ark 12k on a concrete wall?

[rory6038]

I'm planning to install a Sol-Ark 12k in the unfinished basement of a cabin. The main breaker panel is mounted to a concrete wall in the basement. I'm toying with the idea of mounting the Sol-Ark close to main breaker panel on the concrete wall. Is that an okay thing to do, and what special screws should I use? Call me lazy, but I really don't want to frame it out if I don't have to. Thanks in advance!

 

[YAMLcase]

If had the choice, I would choose concrete wall. it will hold anything and non-combustable. All you need are heavy duty masonry anchors, a hammer drill, masnory bit and a little patience.

I ran across some youtubes that walked me through it last uear when mounting my critical load panel on rock.

 

[BentleyJ]

Concrete is a good choice for mounting electrical equipment. There are several concrete anchor types. I would suggest something like a Red Head or Simpson Strong Tie wedge anchor or the drop in type which require a tool to set the expansion disc inside. I would avoid the junky zinc die cast "butterfly" type concrete anchors.

 

[SolarHead]

What I have seen done is you get a 3/4" thick plywood, half sheet, or whole sheet, then use a hammer that shoots 22 caliber load to drive a nail through the plywood and into the concrete. HomeDepot sells a Ramset brand hammer. You would shoot a nail into each corner of the plywood, maybe some along top and bottom edge, enough to hold it. Then you can use screws to mount the inverter bracket to the plywood. Remember to use safety googles.

 

[RCinFLA]

My four 140 lbs inverters are lag anchor/bolt mounted on concrete wall. Just try to avoid having a drill hole on the mortar seam if made of concrete bricks. If poured concrete, it is tougher to drill the lag anchor holes.

 

[SolarHead]

Mine is plywood nailed to poured concrete foundation wall. The power hammer using 22 caliber load to shoot a nail in worked great. Theres a good chance you'll end up moving your inverter or other equipment a few times, or replacing (hopefully not) if they get replaced with a newer model or have to be removed for repair. You would have to continue drilling holes for anchors if you mounted equipment directly to concrete. I would rather have the plywood because it should be up, stay up, never get moved, and over time you can screw and re-screw and move whatever you want to do in regards to equipment without having to drill concrete and set anchors.

 

[SolarHead]

 

[Bluedog225]

Drilling anchor holes not hard at all with right (hammer) drill of appropriate size and good bits.

SDS or SDS max walks through concrete with a bosch bulldog.

”Shooting” anchors in has medium strong possibility of fracturing old concrete. Not great.

Ply can burn. But a good idea in regards to being able to move later.

Mounting strut to wall with concrete anchors (simpson or redhead) can give some flexibility.

edit-and it is rough removing the nailed stuff. The others will turn out with a wrench.

 

[Zwy]

I'm planning to install a Sol-Ark 12k in the unfinished basement of a cabin. The main breaker panel is mounted to a concrete wall in the basement. I'm toying with the idea of mounting the Sol-Ark close to main breaker panel on the concrete wall. Is that an okay thing to do, and what special screws should I use? Call me lazy, but I really don't want to frame it out if I don't have to. Thanks in advance!

For installing my LV6548's to the concrete wall, I decided to install unistrut to the wall first. This allows air circulation behind the inverters and if I decided to go with a different inverter or make changes down the road, I have the flexibility to do so.

The reason for air circulation behind the units is because a basement will have moisture. Depending on the local environment and weather, this can be a problem. For one, I live where it gets down to -30F in the winter and even though the concrete wall is actually insulated on the outside, it still will transfer cold and you could end up with condensation inside the inverter. In the summer months, the concrete wall will sweat also as the humidity here gets to 90% at times. Again, you can end up with condensation inside the inverter.

I spent this spring cutting the outside 12 inches of floor out, jack hammering that out, then digging down 16 inches deep and installing tile run into a sump. Then cementing the trench back shut. Next was parging the walls, then application of Drylock to the walls. Next was grinding the floor and applying epoxy. I will say even with all that work, I run a fan to keep air circulating in the basement. Moisture will condense on the copper water lines if my wife does multiple loads of laundry or runs the dishwasher. The idea was to eliminate running a dehumidifier in the basement. It could be there is some moisture yet from the construction and the need for the fan diminishes over time.

I'm currently working on installing the inverters, transfer switch and main panel while assembling the battery bank enclosure in my limited free time. This solar stuff is work.......

 

[Bluedog225]

For a cold or hot concrete wall, I’d put foam behind the strut. I think polyiso doesn’t burn. But be careful with the foil face. Maybe cover with cement board.

 

[SolarHead]

I like the idea of unistrut, for air flow, and you will most likely be able to mount other equipment in the future there without having to relocated the unistrut. Its not flammable (its metal), looks professional.

 

[Wet1]

For a cold or hot concrete wall, I’d put foam behind the strut. I think polyiso doesn’t burn. But be careful with the foil face. Maybe cover with cement board.

Just to be clear, polyiso foam board does burn and the fumes are not something you want to breathe. The isocyanurate chemical bonds (nasty stuff), which improve its fire resistance compared to other foams, breakdown around 390F. Initially it burns, then chars, which starts to resist further burning. Either way it's somewhat fire resistant, but will still burn if exposed to enough heat,

 

[onokai]

Yes on the special connectors-just get tham at any hardware or lumber store

 

[MeicalNissyen]

What I have seen done is you get a 3/4" thick plywood, half sheet, or whole sheet, then use a hammer that shoots 22 caliber load to drive a nail through the plywood and into the concrete. HomeDepot sells a Ramset brand hammer. You would shoot a nail into each corner of the plywood, maybe some along top and bottom edge, enough to hold it. Then you can use screws to mount the inverter bracket to the plywood. Remember to use safety googles.

And good muffs, did 100 + to install steel lathe in a 12x20 room. love/hate

 

[12VoltInstalls]

decided to install unistrut to the wall first

This is good. Even better is a sheet of galv 24-26ga under the strut to be a moisture barrier imho

 

[Bluedog225]

Careful with metal on a wall. Can have condensation behind depending on conditions. Happens behind “white” boards mounted on walls. Air is good.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I'm a fan of tapcons for mounting stuff to concrete block. Don't necessarily need a hammer drill to drill the hole, though it goes much faster if you do have one. And those things have some ridiculous load capability.

Spacing off the wall a bit and/or using a moisture barrier behind it in an unfinished basement is a good idea.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

Careful with metal on a wall. Can have condensation behind depending on conditions. Happens behind “white” boards mounted on walls. Air is good.

That concrete carries/holds moisture is what the sheet metal barrier is for…
Spacing it away is a better idea- maybe/probably.

The point was not having direct moisture presence behind your electronics.

 

[onokai]

I suggest either a cement backer board attached to wall to keep it dryer or hang it off some unistrut for air behind it-either way you will need concrete fasteners for the cleat and two lower connectionson the sol-ark as well as a trough under it.

 

[motorland]

Installing solar panels with your own hands is simple enough, you only need to connect the batteries to the controller, which will transfer the charge to the batteries and with the help of an inverter to transmit electricity to your home. If you don`t want to mess with concrete yourself, then I advise this company. They poured concrete for me, so they can handle the house all the more. And another thing, the production of solar energy is interfered with an excessive amount of dust and dirt, I encountered this problem when I myself installed the solar panels and couldn`t understand why they worked so poorly.