job interveiw

[thekingiam]

first post on solar forum as it's not what i do.have an interveiw soon from job advertised,all my qualifications experiance prefered.have a few questions if you can help me.
1. as a domestic installer with elecsa can i do solar for a company or do i need other qualifications?
2. will i be expected to lug solar panels onto roof and fit?
3. connecting up to original supply do you guys check original supply first maybe issue eicr?
4. what average price of the electrical installation if company suplies materials?
5. am i looking at one instalation a day?
6. what certse you give if eic is it the one as an alone identity or the one installer tester designer ?
7. whos insurance is this going on mine or companies

thanks i know you may not be able to answer some but as i was typing i was thinking of things to ask employer, if you can help much apretiated

 

[thekingiam]

well what can i say i give all i can and 20 mins have gone bye without one message,tut tut do you solar guys only come out when it's sunny cause it's peeing outside,what do you do when it's snowing?

 

[jason121]

1/ If they are an MCS company you can sub contract to them.
2/ Depends if they use roofers and labourers you job just may be the part p side
3/ Again depend on your contract, some pay extra to upgrade bonding.
4/ Not sure because i have never sub contract to another installer. I would say electrical connection £150.00
5/ 2 roofers and sparky can do it in a day
6/ Not understanding question, your job maybe to issue part p cert
7/ Insurance will be with main contractor and customer if you sub contract to main contractor

 

[thekingiam]

thanks, question 3 if i do most domestic work i need to know if any problems first before problems usual ir test ect. you guys check this or strait on job?

 

[Gavin A]

thanks, question 3 if i do most domestic work i need to know if any problems first before problems usual ir test ect. you guys check this or strait on job?

We only do a visual inspection on survey, and only worry about Ze, and bonding to gas, water and the MET in relation to the existing installation.

We install to a separate circuit split from the tails via a henley block, using a garage unit, so in our opinion we only need to test that circuit, rather than the entire existing installation. I don't know how others view this.

 

[jason121]

PV should only be connected to a MCB on a non RCD way of the board, so its always best practise not to connect to the customers existing fuse board and install a seperate fuse board so that limits a few problems. The main contractor should pick up problems when he surveys the property, it wont be your problem if he misses anything, should be an extra, always good practise to check your contract with contractor

 

[thekingiam]

thanks all,at least ime not going in blind thanks.

 

[thekingiam]

last thing you said, should be conected to mcb on non rcd board is that on existing supply feeding into as rcd flucations?still trying to work out connection to suplier and consumer?
i am sure this will be explained if i take job but better i know the better.
after last post i read i take rcd shower circuit protecting consumer from any shock from pv am i correct? by the way i am not fishing for knowledge to start on my own i just need to work and don't want someone takin the pee

 

[Gavin A]

best practice is probably to install to a totally seperate unit with it's own RCD & MCB, or dual pole MCB if an rcd isn't required.

next best is to use a high integrity board for the entire house, with the PV not on a shared RCD circuit, or just to install to an MCB that's not on a shared RCD on the main board.

Not great practice is installing to a spare way on a shared RCD, though this could be acceptable as long as the inverter specified is certified not to leak DC into the AC side (as with SMA, Aurora, Fronius etc, but not with cheaper inverters such as Samil), it can still lead to nuisance tripping, so isn't a brilliant plan really. Avoid if at all possible really.

 

[thekingiam]

advice on choosing cabe size a 2.5 kw solar panel or any is that max output so use cable calcs for that? i don't want to work for a company that would use 2.5 twin and earth.

 

[thekingiam]

jason who do you work for ie your company name?

 

[thekingiam]

see you tommorow

 

[meridian911]

We do a lot of sub contracting on PV work and follow pretty much the same way as advised above.
16a mcb on non rcd side of existing or new 2 way db, 2.5t& e in conduit up to loft with all the dc materials and ac isolator a supplied to us.

 

[Earthstore]

We do a lot of sub contracting on PV work and follow pretty much the same way as advised above.
16a mcb on non rcd side of existing or new 2 way db, 2.5t& e in conduit up to loft with all the dc materials and ac isolator a supplied to us.

Do you calculate the loses for your AC cable run or always use 2.5 cable?

 

[meridian911]

The 2.5 is ok for the short runs we do, anything over 12 m ac run I use 4mm, the dc cable is always 4mm anyway.

 

[Somecamel]

Just tell them you know how to wire up a generation meter properly and you'll be fine

 

[SibertSolar]

^^This ;-)