Our Sales Manager, Thomas Hawtin details his experience installing Perlight In-Roof Solar for the first time.
Back in early February 2021, I travelled from our Oxford Head Office to Leeds to oversee our first Perlight IRT install on behalf of Park Lane Homes.
Having already postponed the installation several times on account of poor weather, the roofer and I were prepared to proceed with whatever the elements threw at us; the forecast once again did not look great. Sobeit, on the morning of the install, I set off north for Leeds. The closer I got the whiter the landscape became!
Following arrival and the usual site visit safety paperwork, I met with James from Dransfield Roofing. By the time I had completed all the required site safety (which was very thorough – well done to the team at Park Lane!), James had already lifted the compact Euro pallet onto the scaffolding – just in time for a small blizzard!
I asked James if he had ever installed any solar before, to which the answer was no – just like me! I took shelter and the opportunity to show James the install manual and install videos. Once the snow subsided, we unpacked the few components that make up an In-Roof Solar kit and I proceeded to physically show him how the pieces fit together. It’s worth mentioning at this point, that I am a southern desk dweller; snow and rooftops in Leeds are far from my comfort zone!
The MCS qualified electrician arrived, and James began the installation. I would like to name and credit the electrician, but he stayed in the roof space the whole time – proof that electricians do actually rust if they get wet!
Despite it snowing hard every 20 minutes; despite the tutor being a desk dweller; despite James the roofer having never touched a solar panel before, the whole 30-panel Perlight In-Roof Solar system was installed in just four hours – from the first screw to last. All I did was hand James a panel every so often (and get very cold). Had the conditions been kinder and James had prior training or experience, I think that we would have completed the installation within two hours.
Even I was surprised by my own product! Just four hours for the first install – in the snow and freezing cold!
I was very happy to be back in my car, heading home and just about thawed out by mid-afternoon.
