For those of you with solar, how do you deal with snow?

[Red Squirrel]

We have snow on the ground now, and that means I have to start taking snow off my shed solar panels. I tried a big push broom with a long pole, but the problem is, it just gets the surface snow. There is a 1cm layer of snow that is crusty and hard and it seems to me the only way to get rid of it would be the same way as on a car. Have to scrape it off. I don't want to scrape the solar panels as they will eventually get wear and tear from doing it so often. And this is not even the bad weather. Going to be even worse when we get freezing rain, which we unfortunately get a lot of now, even in middle of winter.

Is there maybe a trick I'm not thinking of? Maybe something I should spray on them in fall? Like some kind of oil?

Don't want to use heat, as it kind of defeats the purpose of solar if I have to run an extension cord from the house to run a big ass heat source. I'm kind of using the shed as a pilot project for off grid power production as I do eventually want to live off grid. Of course in an off grid setting I'd have a ground mount system that would be much easier to maintain and be tiltable and stuff, and I would probably have it go vertical in winter and have an awning to block snow. Could also have a wood fired boiler to run glycol loops to melt the snow off.

Open to ideas/discussion, as I'm curious what others who have solar do to deal with this.

For those curious this is the setup:



We got our snow literally a day after I finished installing them. Only have 200w worth wired in as I was waiting for some parts like shrink wrap, as I need to extend some of the solar cables. Surprisingly I do get a bit of power going into the battery but not enough to keep up with inverter draw, so turned it off.

 

[lxskllr]

Maybe hard plastic covers so you can scrape on them?

 

[Slew Foot]

Move to California

 

[Mayne]

canola oil?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Move to California

That involves Trump being my president. #notmypresident

 

[vailr]

Install clear plexiglass covers with hinges at bottom.
Spray on some WD-40, vegetable oil, etc. occasionally, to enable snow or ice to easily slide off, when the plexiglass cover is tilted up.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wonder if plexi would block some of the light spectrum needed for solar to work, and how much of a difference it would make. Could definitely work, could make them tilt vertical to drop off most of the snow, then I can either scrape them or w/e without worrying about damaging the actual panels then have them tilt back. The oil would maybe make it not require scraping at all.

 

[BudAshes]

 

[paperfist]

Spray them with anti-freeze.

 

[snoopy7548]

If you do it, Maybe will buy you new panels when he wins the lottery.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Install a solar water heater and then run a loop of warm water through the solar panels to melt the snow.
Now, in order to stop the snow from freezing the solar water heater, you will need a solar water heater heater ..... so, this might get a bit recursive

 

[JoeBleed]

i don't have solar; but from what i've read and watched on youtube, brushing them off is good. sun will melt the rest pretty quickly. Yes you'll lose a little useful time, but it will do it. other option is spray cold water on them. It will melt the ice and probably not cause the glass on the panels to crack. Probably.

I'm pretty sure you're not off the power grid based on what you have so the first suggestion should be good.

 

[snoopy7548]

Maybe you can install a vibration system that will vibrate any snow or ice off.

 

[Viper GTS]

I have solar on the house I just bought but it's such a small system my plan is to just ignore it. Even if I get no production at all from first snowfall to spring melt the most it could possibly cost me is the delta between my grid rate & what I'd pay Vivint. Something like $40 (with very liberal rounding), which is not worth any hassle or risk to correct.

The math on this is heavily dependent upon how you pay for your solar, in my case I inherited a power purchase plan that started at $0.10/kwh. I only pay for power produced, so if it's blanketed in snow and produces nothing... Not my problem as far as I understand it.

Viper GTS

 

[Red Squirrel]

Maybe you can install a vibration system that will vibrate any snow or ice off.

I was thinking that too at some point, kinda like on planes, wonder if it would damage the panels over time though? Maybe I can go with the plexiglass idea and have the plexiglass itself vibrate. Like I can mount it on shocks and then put vibrator motors on it. I'm thinking that might actually be the simplest way to go. I will still need to broom the majority of the snow off but at least I can then turn on the vibrators to get the ice/crusty stuff off.

Ignoring it is not an option as it would defeat the purpose if I only get power for less than half the year. Ideally once I got this mostly automated it would power stuff like yard lighting and security cameras and stuff, so ideally it would be working most of the time, but if voltage gets too low then it will shut off the inverter.

 

[JoeBleed]

I think most things you try to do will end up costing more than a small system will produce making it less than helpful. and by small, i mean just about any size you put on a roof. Or electric company will allow you to connect to the grid on a home circuit.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah I'm pretty much done spending money on this for now, but I may experiment after going through a full winter. It's not for anything critical so worse case scenario if it's too much to keep up with I'll just disconnect the battery and bring it inside. It's just for a shed to power lights etc and I won't be able to even access it once we start getting any real snow so not like I need the lights to work.

I did not realize the snow on the surface got so crusty though, I figured a broom would be all it takes to remove the snow. Happens a lot to the car too, I think it's because of the messed up weather patterns we get now. Really warm days then really cold nights. Creates a frost layer then the snow sticks to it.

If ever I do a real off grid system I'll do a large ground mount install and it will be easier to deal with as I can tilt it more. Probably just put them near vertical and then put an awning. Sun is low enough that the awning won't cast a shadow.