Safely hoisting panels

newenergy
newenergy Solar Expert Posts: 291 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
Carrying panels up a ladder seems to be the norm, but not safe. It may be ok once in a while, but if you or your employees do this all the time someday something bad will happen.

Motorized ladder hoists are $1200+

Scissor lifts are more expensive

They are $100-$200 to rent for a day.

It seems like they are probably worth that price or close to it in time saving alone. But, they both seem like overkill as modules aren't that heavy.

Is there a simple, off the shelf, manual hoist? It seems like a ladder hoist with everything but the motor would be just about it and should cost considerably less.

Any other ideas?

Comments

  • n3qik
    n3qik Solar Expert Posts: 741 ✭✭
    Re: Safely hoisting panels

    If you are using a extension ladder to get to the roof. How about some type of sled thingy lifted by rope up and down the ladder.
  • newenergy
    newenergy Solar Expert Posts: 291 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Safely hoisting panels

    Yeah, at the moment I'm thinking about stuff like that.

    There's something called a ladder derrick which mounts a pulley to the rungs or maybe I could mount a hand winch to a ladder jack.

    Then I'd have to build a custom sled or find just the sled part of a ladder hoist.
  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Safely hoisting panels

    If all you are doing is taking them to the roof, consider a shingle elevator. Or a hay bale elevator. You can buy used hay elevators at most farm machinery auctions for a few bucks since few people use them any more.

    There is also a hand cranked fork lift called a "genie lift" or a "beam lifter" that you can rent from most construction rental yards. We used them to raise big beams on construction sites. Portable, light and easy to work with.

    Good luck,

    Icarus
  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Safely hoisting panels
    newenergy wrote: »
    Carrying panels up a ladder seems to be the norm, but not safe. It may be ok once in a while, but if you or your employees do this all the time someday something bad will happen.

    The first 3 or 4 are OK, then you get a bit tired, and that's when accidents happen. We did mine with 4 people in a chain, like fire buckets. 1 grabed from a pile an carried to the ladder, 1 was 2 steps up the ladder, 1 was 2 steps below the roof, and one was on the roof. We stacked 22 panels on the 1st roof, took a long break, and then did it all over again up to the 2nd floor roof. Lots of work.

    Roderick has a good system he rigged up - ropes and pulleys to get from ground to roof.
    http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?t=116&highlight=panel scroll down about 2/3 to his post August 14th, 2006, 12:55
    Also, he taped a longish video covering all aspects of his 1 man project.
    http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?t=336&highlight=panel
    He also has a Palm Pilot application for manual entry of harvest and utility meter readings.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • newenergy
    newenergy Solar Expert Posts: 291 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Safely hoisting panels

    Thanks for the replies.

    The hay elevator idea was interesting and the others too. You might be able to get a cheap one if you look, but the ladder hoist/shingle elevator is about the same price new anyway and is a lot smaller.

    I had found the Roderick's description and thought about that, but hadn't seen the video. It looks good, but I'm really thinking more about 2 story installations and doing it over and over. It seems like that set up was good for his needs, but not for taller roofs or at least seemed more specific to that job.

    It may well be worth it to just buy a ladder hoist to save the time and energy.

    Mike, was your roof 1 or 2 stories? and about how many person-hours total do you think it took to get them up there?
  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Safely hoisting panels
    newenergy wrote: »
    Mike, was your roof 1 or 2 stories? and about how many person-hours total do you think it took to get them up there?

    2 story roof, I guess about 8 man hours. For 1 time, get a case of something cold to drink, and invite reliable friends. If you are running a business, look into hiring a roofing company's conveyor belt elevator.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Safely hoisting panels

    another idea comes form my re roofing project.. the local building supply place sent out a 'Hyab Hoist ' equipped truck to lift a 2 pallets of duroid shingles, ciost me $30. I would think you could hire one of these locally...

    just another thought..

    Cheers
    Eric
     
    KID #51B  4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
    CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM 
    Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
    2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
    Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
    West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
  • VolcanoSolar
    VolcanoSolar Solar Expert Posts: 56
    Re: Safely hoisting panels

    Because I had clips attached for my mounting system, I was able to add a nylon webbing strap to carry my panels to the roof.

    I did this after carrying one or two up without the strap and suffering a bit of awkwardness in the transition from ladder to roof, working alone.

    It went quite smoothly with the addition of the strap.

    - Ted
  • VolcanoSolar
    VolcanoSolar Solar Expert Posts: 56
    Re: Safely hoisting panels

    By the way, the solar electric panels were a piece of cake compared to the solar hot water panels, which were a full 4' x 8' and weighed about a million pounds each.

    For those we had three ladders and a crew of seven: three to man the ladders, two on ropes on top, and two more backing up the ropes. Went off without a hitch.

    - Ted
  • Ralph Day
    Ralph Day Solar Expert Posts: 1,019 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Safely hoisting panels

    Ain't it tough NOT to think of how much dollar value you're hauling up when you're doing it like that? Yikes.

    Ralph
  • nigtomdaw
    nigtomdaw Solar Expert Posts: 705 ✭✭
    Re: Safely hoisting panels

    Figure 2 x $800 dropped panels over a couple or years equals no dropped panels if the machine you bought is the correct machine and years or future service. If you run a bussiness long term..... go and calculate cost and saving and make a decision.:roll:


    Billy DIY the one time installer takes the risks and precautions..gets loads of mates and a cool one when finished , note when finished ,,,Peter the pro buys the right gear...always . Billy or Peter ?

    Sorry if a pro a no brianer as you loveable Yanks say:p
  • Telco
    Telco Solar Expert Posts: 201 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Safely hoisting panels

    I'd have to say that running a business you should invest in the proper gear. If one of your employees is injured from carrying panels up a roof in a haphazard jury-rigged manner, you are going to be liable for a lawsuit, and you can bet his lawyer will be there with pictures of how you do it vs how it should be done with the proper equipment. Or, should one employee drop a panel on top of another employee, you could be liable for death by negligence, and might spend some time keeping Bubba company. And Bubba likes your company, whether you do or not :cry:.

    Then there's the whole time is money thing, a proper lift can let you get all the panels up in a very short time, while trying to depend on manual labor may mean half the day is spent lugging panels. This may mean the difference between completing one job in two days vs completing it in one, or even two small jobs in one day as opposed to one in one day.

    Also, business equipment can be deducted from your business income taxes as a depreciated asset. This will lower the actual cost of buying and maintaining the piece of equipment. What I think I'd be looking at is a shingle truck that allows you to extent a conveyer belt on a boom, with enough storage at the base of the converyer to carry the panels. With this, you just pull the truck up to the job site, extend the boom and start pushing panels on the roof. Once you and your employees get experience, this can mean pulling up to the job site and having all the panels safely on the roof in 30 minutes. Then, the employees won't already be tired by the time the panels are on the roof, so they will be able to work faster, yet with less strain and will likelier be happier workers.

    It's a mistake to only consider the cost of a piece of equipment in dollars.
  • newenergy
    newenergy Solar Expert Posts: 291 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Safely hoisting panels

    Telco/nigtomdaw,

    Thx. That's probably what I will be doing eventhough standard *professional* procedure is to just pay a guy to carry it up a ladder. I really don't want anyone to get hurt. The truck sounds really expensive and it's not quite like shingles where a shingle takes 5 seconds to install so you'd better have a lot of them on the roof at once.

    At the moment I'm thinking of owning and using this:

    21CDX6ZST0L._AA280_.jpg

    which should be able to bring up 3 or 4 panels at a time, or sometimes renting:

    pid131-003.400.400.scale.jpg

    which will also be able to bring people up to the roof.
  • Telco
    Telco Solar Expert Posts: 201 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Safely hoisting panels

    That looks OK, can strap the panels to the platform and they won't fall. Cool. 8)