First winter lesson learned; how close to edge of roof should solar panels be to avoid snow buildup?

[@irarussell9687]

Great set of videos showing some of the practical experiences with solar! Thank you for sharing.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Thanks for your support!

[@rb-qc1fn]

Really appreciate this video and your efforts to produce it. Thank you.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

So nice of you, thanks!

[@canosouped]

This video was incredibly helpful. Thank you!

[@TRAILPOWER]

Great video! We are also in Utah, and for the first time, went a full six weeks without power from our 13kw array. Most winters we see a week of this. it's 35 feet up, so impossible to manually clear. I may go up and make this adjustment in the spring.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Awesome, yes sounds like it'll be a good thing for you to do!

[@wd8557]

I don't have this problem and I live in michigan. Since I do refrigeration for a living, I went and got some walk in freezer door heaters ( thin wiring ) and strung them along the white lines on my panels. When it snow's, I flip a switch and watch it melt. You can get them in different wattages they also go by different names like, anti sweat door heaters.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

That's a good idea as long as the heating wire stays on the white line and thus doesn't diminish solar production. I'm sure many people in this world would love to buy an "off the shelf" product that they can add to their own solar panels. I've read of people wishing for that very thing in online forums. One potential drawback for people who live in areas that need to have their solar panels cleaned parodically (where there's heavy pollen from nearby trees for instance) these wires would interfere with the squeegee while cleaning the panels.

[@wd8557]

@@ElectricTechAdventures Agreed, I have an golf course behind my home that is now out of buisness. I get pollen bad, since I have my panles ground level, I just hit them with a foam spray cannon , like the ones auto detailers use.

[@joelandreneedearring957]

Went to solar in 2017 and am not entirely satisfied. Energy savings and production are good. However, snow avalanching off the roof is a great concern. I wasn't warned about this prior to moving to solar. So we have to be aware of that after any snow fall. It is quite scary. Additionally, the snow buildup has bent the gutters slightly. The other problem is that heavy rains always cause over flow over the gutters. And wouldn't you know it, the overflow (more like a waterfall) is occurring right over the front door and rear door. Gutters have to be cleaned several times a year.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

I'm sorry to hear you've had these problems. Makes me wonder what can potentially be done about it. I'm lucky that my snow falls off in an area where it's not a problem if it just piles up all winter. My snow also comes off in large sections all of a sudden, and I like it when that happens because I know that section is now starting to produce electricity. Because I moved my panels to end half way over the gutters the snow sliding off doesn't build up and bend the gutters at all. If we were to have a heavy downpour of rain, the water might skip over the gutters though. Being in the desert climate we're in it hasn't been a problem. Also we don't have any tall trees near our roof so I've never had to clean my gutters. Would you say the benefits of solar outweigh these issues you've been experiencing, or would you not install solar because of these issues in hindsight?

[@tombesaw2657]

Good tip for installing.👍🏿

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

I wish you the best on your project!

[@tombesaw2657]

@@ElectricTechAdventures thank you,we're going big. Just learning the ins and outs. Will have battery back up,We seem to have a lot of grid black outs.

[@alanweatherston9399]

My neighbor who has solar said city code has a minimum set back required.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Depends on the city. Some don't have any set back. Mine has a set back on the sides and ridge, not the bottom edge.

[@fancyIOP]

I live in South Africa 🇿🇦 and I must say, if you guys can get energy even when it’s snowy I think it gives me confidence since we don’t have snow at all in SA, it’s a foreign thing. But I’m looking at getting a 14-18kW of solar, I’m just worried about the heavy storms that may rip the panels away, that one worries me I wonder if yours are still intact. But I’m happy to see you are getting something even if it’s small but you are since it’s snowy ❄️.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Because snow typically slides off pretty quickly during or after a snow storm it's usually not a big deal. However while the snow is on the panels there is zero production, which is why I moved my panels as outlined in this video to ensure it falls off fully and it's been working great ever since! The biggest effect on power production is actually the length of daylight which may seem obvious, but many people don't realize it. The second biggest cause of power production variance is the angle of the sun in the sky in relation to the panels. Ideally the panels are facing directly at the sun, but when they're fixed to a roof like mine I just have to deal with the production variance. At my latitude in Utah, USA the best angle of the sun is May-July. Conversely in the middle of the winter when the sun peaks much lower in the sky AND the days are shorter causes there to be a lot less production. In 2020 (9.98 kW solar array) my lowest producing month was January at 702 kWh, highest was July at 1,840 kWh. In 2018 (6.38 kW solar array) my lowest month was February at 544 kWh and highest was June at 1,290 kWh.

[@fancyIOP]

@@ElectricTechAdventures thanks for the info. I can’t wait for the following video.🙌🏿... but I was asking also about the “intact of the panels” on the roof since you had them, that’s my worry on weathers like hail storm especially. I wonder if hail storms ruin them or they survive. Edit: I did some searching on the net and it looks like they do survive hailstorms, I’m now comfortable and will most definitely get them.🙌🏿

[@Mike-kr5dn]

Got solar since 2008. But I got them installed on a flat roof. Have been cleaning them from snow with a broom almost every day.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Is it possible to install tilt brackets on the panels? I've seen pictures of tilted panels on flat roofs with them.

[@Mike-kr5dn]

@@ElectricTechAdventures Well yes they are tilted but the snow only usually slides down half way, it has nowhere to go, so I also need to shovel a path in front of each row.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

@@Mike-kr5dn ah, I see. You're having nearly the same problem as what my video is about. I've seen KZbin videos of people with ground mount solar having the same problem and wishing they'd installed the panels higher off the ground to let the snow pile be bigger without blocking the panels.

[@dodgeme1986truck]

@@Mike-kr5dn you could use something along the lines of roof/gutter snow/ice melting wires on the roof at the base of the panels to clear the snow buildup from the bottom of the panels

[@JasonECI]

Question: Gutter is installed to trap and guide water, by pushing panels over half of gutter, won't the water flow down directly from the roof when heavy rained? Thanks for the video, very good lesson so people learn from you!!!

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

So far the rain has been coming down the gutters just as normal. If there was high enough of a velocity of water flowing off the panels maybe it could skip the gutters but that hasn't happened in the couple of years since I moved the panels in this manner.

[@jbr555s]

Can you run those heated cables that plug into the outlet? They are the type of heat tape cables that run on a roof.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

@@jbr555s I could. Even if you do that it's still a good idea to have the panels close to the bottom edge of the roof. I have found that the snow slides off within hours once the sun comes out, so no need to bother with heat tape.

[@mariomcgraw2987]

My first winter with solar panels... I had some snow accumulation this weekend when I arrived at my cabin. When I cleaned the panels, there was a layer of ice, hard packed snow on about 25% of the surface. Do the panels reflect heat and therfore melt the ice/snow build up? How does it slide off when they're completely covered after a snowfall? Does the sun penetrate through the snow enough to 'melt' the bottom layer and cause it to slide off?

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

When the temperature is really cold like below 20° f then the snow does tend to stay on the panels for longer especially if the sky is overcast. If the sun is out then typically it warms the surfaces enough to make the snow slide off. If the snow is deep enough then it could take a couple of days before the snow slides off but if the snow is thin then yes the sun typically does get through and starts to warm the dark panels. I have never gone on my roof to remove the snow before but I may experiment with doing it this winter if the snow doesn't come off during the first day of sunshine after the snowstorm.

[@stsr11]

Is it worth heating the panels? Maybe greenhouse heater tubes (40-60w)? You know you are going to get an extra 2-3kw of solar if you clear the panels, so why not?

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

I don't think the effort and money would be worth the additional power gain. If the snow falls during the day then typically it slides off right away. If the snow falls during the night then it does build up, but it's typically gone by noon the next sunny day. There have been some storms where it snows during the night, then is overcast for a few days and in those cases heat tape, or heater tubes would potentially be helpful, but I say potentially because I've never seen someone do it before to prove it out. Typically the solar production on winter days isn't terribly significant anyway since the days are so short, and the sun is low in the sky so it's just not worth the effort to most people. Also most people are grid tied so we just bank our energy during the high producing times of the year for the winter. If we were off-grid then it would be more worth the effort to do something to increase production in the winter. Typical off grid setups are ground mount solar panels which are easily reached to sweep off the snow.

[@JohnDoe-pe6iu]

If you had to do a re-do would you still go with the SolarEdge Inverter with optimizer or go with the micro-inverters?

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

So far I'm totally fine with the Solaredge and optimizers. It's been 5.5 years and everything is working great. I successfully expanded my system in 2019 and was able to find additional optimizers for those panels and got right up to the maximum allowed solar panels for my 7600 Watt inverter. Obviously if I had not planned ahead and done a larger inverter in 2017 then that would have been a problem in 2019. So that is the biggest advantage that micro inverters have is future scalability if you just don't know what you want in the beginning.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

This is the video of when I expanded the system which was my original plan but I couldn't afford it all initially. kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3umnYRshZaMf9E

[@JohnDoe-pe6iu]

Very practical videos and insights. Thanks for the great information. What is the pitch of your roof? I have a very low pitch roof (4 x 12) and am concerned with this angle especially when it snows. Appreciate your insights. Thanks.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

My roof pitch is 5" over 12". I imagine 4 over 12 would still be slanted enough to shed snow. I don't know for sure though.

[@JohnDoe-pe6iu]

@@ElectricTechAdventures Thanks

[@subban76100]

Could you tell me what is your roof pitch? Thank you.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

My roof is 5 in 12 pitch.

[@choenes]

So is it better to leave a bunch of room between the panels and the gutter and let the snow pile up on the roof or let it fall like you have? Also how did you move them vertically can they easily slide both horizontally and vertically on the track?

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

While "better" depends on your exact situation, when it comes to letting the snow fall off naturally, going to the edge of the roof like I've moved mine to is best. The snow does pile up on the ground below though, so if there is a sidewalk or entrance below that could be a problem. The panels move easily (depending on cable management) vertically, but horizontally is probably not an option because usually the racking is cut right to the edge of the panel array. If the racking extends out on the sides though then the attachments do easily slide sideways.

[@mosfet500]

Interesting! I have basically the same situation as you. I have 28 modules on both sides of my garage roof with a 6/12 pitch going into a SolarEdge SE6000. I just cleaned off my modules this morning (4/4/22) and they sit just about where yours did before you moved them. The snow sits all month if I don't clean the modules off so I'm planning on moving them to ground mounts this summer also because my roof is an east/west orientation. Are using Iron Ridge mounting like me? So you must have moved the vertical rails on the modules to reposition them, is that right? Thanks for the video and help.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

I used snap n rack. I did not try to move the mounts on the roof because I would have had to do a whole lot more work than I actually did. I just slid the panels farther down on the rails.

[@izzzzzz6]

You could do with a porch there!

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

We almost built a porch/deck there the week of Thanksgiving 2019 but it snowed that week. Then winter. Then 2020 happened and lumber prices quadrupled... and here we are without a deck still. :(

[@izzzzzz6]

@@ElectricTechAdventures That's a shame about the prices. I don't think prices will lower any time soon. perhaps keep an eye out for recycled wood.

[@grlcrsh]

Mount your panels on the side of the wall, they'll never be covered with snow

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

The angle of a wall does not point towards the sun.