Sun @ Work Electric - review Fall 2022
We live in a small rural town in northern CA, and in the Fall of 2021 we wanted to purchase rooftop solar panels with battery back-up before the PG&E Net Metering 3.0 kicked into effect. At the same time we wanted to have our two unsafe Zinsco sub-panels replaced as well as installing lightning rods on our metal roof due to a previous lightning strike that took out multiple electronics units, including our TV, well pump and HVAC unit.
We looked around a 100 mile radius for local vendors that were capable of handling all three tasks and found only two out of over 20 solar company solicited. Comparing both of these companies closely, we ultimately chose Sun at Work Electric and worked with salesperson Dan Reed who took his time to explain the different product options and various panel layout designs on our house and/or shop. We settled on a balanced layout of panels all visible on the south-facing front of house, which included IronRidge roof mounts to avoid penetrations through our metal roof. Dan also expedited the paperwork with their internal engineering department, and very quickly the County Building Dept approved the permit so the installation could be fast-tracked to beat PG&E's deadline initially scheduled for end of 2021.
There was extra design attention required as the house has total 400 amp service (considered commercial) with two separate 200 amp sub-panels that both needed to be replaced, as well as the addition of a custom-designed lightning mitigation system across the entire roofline.
All the installers were professional and we were kept informed of the daily progress by their supervisor Tom.
There was one hitch in the initial solar panel installation due to drawings given to installers (from the engineering dept) favored placing solar panels towards left ridgeline instead of centering panels between the left and right ridgelines which we preferred. But after a conversation with owner Kyle, he suggested placing additional two panels which balanced out the overall design quite nicely. And when the Enphase online app was not reporting our daily power generation correctly, Kyle came to our house personally to trouble shoot the issue caused by our non-standard 400 amp electrical service.
Originally we were thinking we would purchase battery back-ups, but after realizing this required multiple costly batteries to back-up the 11KW system, we decided to add on a back-up generator to be fueled by our existing propane tank. Again we chose Sun at Work for this additional installation as they beat our initial quote from a different vendor by $3K for the same sized Generac unit.
There was a couple months delay to finish up the generator install, but this was totally understandable due to the volume of solar installations also trying to beat PG&E's expected change to net metering contracts.
We are very happy with our solar system installation and love to watch the PG&E meter run backwards. We feel safer with the two new sub-panels as well as the multiple lightning rods covering our roofline. And the new Generac proved its worth when we were evacuated for four days recently due to wildfire threat.
We recommend choosing Sun at Work Electric due to their professional attitude and competence to take on our non-standard installation and still do so with competitive prices. After seeing our installation, two other family members have also installed solar on their homes using Sun at Work Electric.
Give Dan Reed a call as he and Kyle will ensure the job is done right.
ACB - Jackson, CA read more
