That is exactly what I asked him when we met. When he bought the house the inspector said that they were hooked up to the main water supply and if there were any leaks it could likely cause some severe damage to the house. So, they had them removed.
As for mounting them, I'm still working on that. But, I think I have a spot picked out. The yellow line shows the approximate location.
I did a solar site analysis on the location and there is some tree cover that will block sunlight. That is the difference between the winter and summer lines. My question (and I sent this to Gary at builditsolar) is how much sun generally gets through deciduous trees in the winter? Obviously it depends on how many branches are in the way, but I'd guess roughly 50% in general.
This is the site analysis from my height. I'm thinking I can probably put the panels up on stilts to get better sunlight in the morning hours in the winter time. The summer time won't be a problem as I've already calculated they'll more than provide all the hot water needs I have in summer.
