Chapter 26
Ten or So Worst Solar Mistakes In This Chapter Not seeing the forest for the trees Leaping before you look Measure once, cut twice — no three times
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elieve it or not, you can abuse solar power. I don’t mean just by laying out naked in the sun for hours without sunscreen, but rather by installing ill-advised projects or not attending to the details as well as you should. For some of you, this chapter is a reminder of what not to do. For others, it’s a how-to seminar.
Installing Like Curly, Moe, and Larry I watched a Three Stooges movie where Curly plugged a leak in a shower by connecting a pipe to it. Then the other end of the pipe leaked, so he connected another pipe to that. The other end of that pipe leaked, so he installed another pipe. Pretty soon, the bathroom was filled with pipes. Moe came in and slapped Curly and then pulled Larry’s hair and slapped him, too. Curly retaliated by whacking Moe on the head with a large wrench, and so it went. If you fail to see the humor in this, you probably should not install a solar water heater. In fact, anytime you install anything, keep your sense of humor handy.