I have a 4' x10' solar collector (active hot water system) on my roof that has a hole in one of the header pipes. I would like to remove the glass top to try to repair this myself as local companies want to charge me over $1300 to rebuild it! Having never tackled this before I am concerned the glass will be difficult to remove off a panel that been up on the roof for 20+ years. I dont want to break the glass! Any suggestions, ideas or advice on this?

greggo, January 2011

it's low ion glass - it doesn't have the tinted look that normal glass has and from what iv'e seen on the internet should be easy to obtain

brian, January 2011

I understand the glass is a special type that they call low iron.

greggo, January 2011

i would imagine that the glass is toughened so something on the lines of a putty knife or good quality narrow paper scraper will be flexible and strong enough to help seperate the glass from the unit also would you be able to replace the glass with normal toughened glass as used in double glazing

brian, January 2011

I have been moving slowly with this in order to assess the feasability. At this point I have located a replacement absorber unit should my repair to the header pipe fail or I could just have a Pro replace it at that point, but in order to get to that point I need to get the glass panel off without damage. It is held in by many sheet metal screws with a gasket between the glass frame and the panel box. In itself it seems like it should not be too difficult but I would imagine its pretty well stuck to the frame after all those years in the sun. Thats my big concern.

greggo, January 2011

i think you should assess the situation the unit is 20yrs old removing anything will be difficult do you have the skills and equipment to repair "old" material its very different to working on new stuff from experience the older it is the more damage you do trying to repair it also if one part of the system has corroded it probably means that the other parts are the same you will create a leak by trying to repair one as you have all the pipework already in place it may be a lot cheaper to fit a new system something you may be able to do yourself

brian, January 2011