Solar panels and snow

davidanddeirdre

Heavy snow fell here on Saturday 3rd February, which had no effect on my 1.75kWh panels because it all blew off. Yesterday 9th more fell but the snow was wet and adhered. This morning up came the sun and by 09.30 it was shining brightly, but output was <100W. There were deep patches of snow along the edges of the panels causing partial shading. A friend and I went out with a brush on a long pole and got rid of the snow, result rapid increase in output to just under 1000W. I wondered what others experience of this problem is, and possible solutions which don't involve wobbling on top of a stepladder!

torbrex

This board is for site feedback you would be better asking upstairs on the In Your Home board.

davidanddeirdre

Saver0811 wrote: »

If you shut off the hot water flow from the panels would they stay warm long enough to melt any snow ?

Perhaps from late afternoon, overnight when HW not used, or use modified for a few days.

Or somehow reverse the flow and feed hot water TO the panels ?

Then, in either case, use the HW generated by the panels.

These are PV panels, the output is electricity. Re the other comment, if the output is not there, it represents a loss of income for the panels operator.