Snow Guards

[Mark_C]

I would love to hear how it is working out with homeowners who have installed these snow guards on roofs with solar panels. I found another manufacturer who seems to have a similar product here: http://rockymountainsnowguards.com/s...-solar-panels/. My solar installer told me about the issue with the dumping of the snow load, but he didn't mention that there were solutions like these that could have been integrated into the initial design. Anyone have any experience with how these have worked in practice, and/or how simple it is to retrofit an existing installation?

[kad153]

You may post a link to a manufacturers site no porblem.

Thanks. The website is http://alpinesnowguards.com/our-prod...gement-systems

Here are what my choices seem to be:
http://alpinesnowguards.com/our-products/167 (note we are not putting rods in to barricade snow with this option)

http://alpinesnowguards.com/our-products/solar-snow-management-systems/171

I'm thinking snow is typically only a few times a year, and most of the time we don't get the heavy ice situation and I want the snow to come off my roof as fast as possible so my production doesn't suffer, so the snow pads were the better choice. I'm getting black versions of whatever we choose to match the black panel, black framed system I have. I understand there are going to be shading issues, but I'm told its minimal, and from a safety standpoint I'm wondering if I really have a choice. Also, I have guaranteed production included in my prepaid lease, and the company is not lowering the guaranteed amounts. Still, any advice or comments are welcome, especially if someone knows that either these products are terrible or if something else on the market is much better. (I was thinking perhaps someone in Colorado or somewhere that gets a lot of snow that has solar has been through this). Thanks in advance to anyone that replies.

[Naptown]

Yes, the installer had engineers out and inspections performed.

Anyone with any thoughts / advice on Snow guards? The leasing company has given us a couple of products to choose from, which seam to fall into the category of being either little pads / knubs that stick out and try and control the snow falling off your roof by not allowing it all to break off at the same time in an avalanche-manner or little barricades that stop/slow the snow from falling. I'd link my choices but don't want to break any rules here. Thanks.

You may post a link to a manufacturers site no porblem.
However keep in mind that those little Pads (called snow eagles) will cast little shadows on the panels 99% of the time.

[kad153]

Kidding aside did your contractor get the roof certified from an Engineer to determine if it can support the snow load? I would be more worried about the roof collapsing, than ice dams.

Yes, the installer had engineers out and inspections performed.

Anyone with any thoughts / advice on Snow guards? The leasing company has given us a couple of products to choose from, which seam to fall into the category of being either little pads / knubs that stick out and try and control the snow falling off your roof by not allowing it all to break off at the same time in an avalanche-manner or little barricades that stop/slow the snow from falling. I'd link my choices but don't want to break any rules here. Thanks.

[Sunking]

Al Bore, Dirty Harry, and Nasty Nancy will pay for damages caused by Global Warming.

Kidding aside did your contractor get the roof certified from an Engineer to determine if it can support the snow load? I would be more worried about the roof collapsing, than ice dams.

[kad153]

What is everyone's experience with snow guards or solar guards (whatever you call what is put on your roof to prevent falling ice)?

I recently had solar installed on my house, and have a fairly large installation (58 250w panels) We had some crazy weather last week in NJ with a lot of ice accumulation, and basically had sudden avalanches off my fairly-high roof of very heavy ice/snow that cause a bunch of damage in front of (basically all the shrubs, bushes, trees landscaped around my porch) and behind (a bunch of patio furniture was destroyed) my house. From a safety standpoint, I'm worried someone (like my 5 and 3 year-olds, or even a mailman or someone walking up to my house) could get seriously hurt or worse. And then there is future damage to consider, especially as my homeowner's insurance have told me they don't cover personal property from falling ice. There was just an incredible amount of weight that came off my roof all at once, and not something I ever even considered when deciding to go solar (the fact that my normal roof was going to become closer to a metal roof that stuff slides off much easier).

Is there a product out there that really works well, and at the same time doesn't look terrible? My understanding from what my original installer has been telling me is that this ice situation is very rare, and normal snow is not going to be an issue even without solar snow guards (and in truth, we have had 5 or 6 snow falls already this year and only the 1 ice-storm situation caused damage). They mentioned that these guards will do nothing the 98% of the time there is no snow, and then 95% of the time there is normal snow will keep it trapped on my roof longer and hurt production. However, even if it what happened last week is just a .01% occurrence, I feel like i need to deal with the safety issue. With the amount of weight, I'd assume they would have to attach these guards into the frame the panels all sit on (as anything else like my gutters would just be ripped off my house). Optimally, it would be great if these things were pretty much unnoticeable, would stop large ice avalanches off my roof, but would not impeded regular snow from falling (or shade the panels in any way). Not sure how realistic that is.

Appreciate any thoughts anyone has on this. Thank you.