About the service
I install small residential wind turbines — rooftop-mounted and freestanding pole systems sized from 400 W to 5 kW — for homeowners who want to trim grid bills with a second source alongside solar or on its own. The job starts with a proper wind resource read: I pull decade-scale wind-speed averages for the site, check terrain roughness and turbulence from nearby trees, rooflines and outbuildings, and walk the property with an anemometer log before recommending a turbine class rather than guessing from a spec sheet.
Mounting is where most amateur installs fail, so it is where I spend the most care. Pole foundations are sized to soil type and local frost depth, guyed towers get tensioned and re-checked after the first thermal cycle, and rooftop brackets are through-bolted into rafters or trusses with flashing that keeps the roof watertight for the turbine's full service life — never lag screws into decking alone. Every install accounts for vibration isolation so the tower does not transmit hum into the living space below.
On the electrical side I size the grid-tie inverter or charge controller to the turbine's actual output curve, not its nameplate peak, wire in a manual disconnect and an automatic overspeed/furling cutoff, and bond everything to a dedicated grounding rod separate from incidental grounding elsewhere on the property. If the utility requires interconnection paperwork I prepare the one-line diagram and equipment spec sheets and walk the homeowner through the permit and inspection sequence with the local building department.
Typical turnaround is a site assessment within the first week, a written mounting and wiring plan for sign-off, then two to three days on-site for the tower or roof mount, cabling and commissioning, plus a follow-up visit after thirty days to re-torque hardware and log actual output against the resource estimate. I document the whole build with photos and a maintenance schedule so the owner knows exactly when blades, bearings and brake systems need attention.
Mounting is where most amateur installs fail, so it is where I spend the most care. Pole foundations are sized to soil type and local frost depth, guyed towers get tensioned and re-checked after the first thermal cycle, and rooftop brackets are through-bolted into rafters or trusses with flashing that keeps the roof watertight for the turbine's full service life — never lag screws into decking alone. Every install accounts for vibration isolation so the tower does not transmit hum into the living space below.
On the electrical side I size the grid-tie inverter or charge controller to the turbine's actual output curve, not its nameplate peak, wire in a manual disconnect and an automatic overspeed/furling cutoff, and bond everything to a dedicated grounding rod separate from incidental grounding elsewhere on the property. If the utility requires interconnection paperwork I prepare the one-line diagram and equipment spec sheets and walk the homeowner through the permit and inspection sequence with the local building department.
Typical turnaround is a site assessment within the first week, a written mounting and wiring plan for sign-off, then two to three days on-site for the tower or roof mount, cabling and commissioning, plus a follow-up visit after thirty days to re-torque hardware and log actual output against the resource estimate. I document the whole build with photos and a maintenance schedule so the owner knows exactly when blades, bearings and brake systems need attention.
