Today 2 large boxes of plumbing and mounting hardware arrived:

The umbilical, Solar Wand and below it the overflow radiator and reservoir tank, and all those parts!

On opening up the boxes I was immediately impressed by the thoughtfulness of the packing.  Aside from being packed well enough to survive Fedex ground, I noticed all these little baggies of parts that were attached to each sub-assembly.  Then I noticed that they even provided electrical tape, Teflon plumbing tape and ABS cement.  Wow, that's thorough!

The installation Manual and Owner's Manual are both thick and extremely detailed.  I had already downloaded the Installation Manual weeks ago and read it through page by page.  My impression then was that the installation job did not seem too daunting if taken carefully and slowly.  But today looking at ALL these parts it feels overwhelming, but then that's how I felt when I started on my solar heating system for my workshop!

I called Barry Butler to get some clarification about some of the parts that I didn't recognize and to get a better idea about how the collectors mount.  He spent nearly an hour talking with me about the system design theory and how it all goes together.  Since he is in the process of revising the manual, I will be a beta tester for some new hardware and design revisions.

I realize now that I will need several strong friends to help me get these collectors mounted on the wall, and Barry helped me figure out the best strategy for assembling and mounting the collectors.  It's not that they weigh that much - the 4 solar collectors and mounting brackets are under 90 pounds total, it's just getting them hoisted up there that will be tough.  Most folks would be mounting these to a roof, which has it's own challenges.  I also would guess that most homeowners will contract a professional installer to do the work, but I'm a do-it-yourself kinda Guy!