Solar Panel Roof Setback

Setback refers to the distance that solar panels need to be from the side and top edges of a roof.

Solar panel roof setback.

In nv solar panels cannot be placed within 3 feet 36 of the ridgeline and must have 36 clearance from the edges of the roof except the bottom and 18 from any peak or valley in the roof that has solar panels on both roof surfaces. Here s what that looks like. For homes with sprinkler systems if the system takes up less than 2 3 of the plan view total roof area the setback for ridge ventilation is also relaxed to 18 inches. Roof fire setbacks and pathways for residential solar pv systems.

Things you should know before you go solar. In most cases solar arrays are required to have a minimum of 18 inches set back from the ridge of the roof and may also require a three foot pathway along one of the edges. The exact size of the fire setback depends on the size of the building but for an average sized home each roof section that has solar panels requires two clear 36 inch wide pathways running along the edge of the roof. Most jurisdictions base their requirements on the recommendation of their fire marshal.

So provided rails are fastened as the installation manual recommends panels can be installed up to the edges of roofs. The problem is the new setback guidelines make ideal solar roof space unavailable sometimes as much as half or more of the roof area. Any roof with pitch equal or less than 2 in 12 9 46 degrees doesn t require any setbacks pathways. According to cal fire s solar photovoltaic installation guidelines below are illustrations of currently enforced fire setbacks pathways for residential solar system installations.

Setbacks are for firefighter roof access to the ridge line. Roof setbacks from ridge for ventilation relaxed from 36 inches to 18 inches for solar systems that take up less than 1 3 of the plan view total roof area.