System Design

We are among the few installers that routinely build systems that we also own. As the old phrase goes, “We eat our own cooking.” That mentality is applied to every system we build.

Each design decision is made as if we are going to live with that decision for years. Take wire sizing for example. The electric code is written to ensure the system doesn’t present a fire hazard. If we were to simply follow the minimum requirements of the code, the system would be perfectly safe, but it would not be efficient. Selecting wires that just meet code will cause a system to lose several percent of the power it produces in its own wires. Think about that. Why work so hard to make electricity and then waste it? We carefully size wires to minimize transmission losses. But how should the wire size be optimized? After all, copper isn’t free. We determine the proper wire size so that its economics match those for the entire system. For example, we balance the cost of the increased wire size against the value of carrying power more efficiently for five years. So like the entire system, the “extra copper” pays for itself in five years, everything it saves after that is bonus.

Some might call this overanalyzing. We call it good engineering.