Heat tape on the back of the panel to melt snow?

[J.P.M.]

But you don't have to melt all the snow, just a thin layer and let it all slide off - whoosh

My panels cleared after about an hour of sun, only about 2.5 inches of snow
20190205_081100.png

And tomorrow, conditions may well be different. After living in cold/snow for close to a half a century, and observing, I'd say sometimes it does and sometimes it don't, but when it does it, while not unexpected, it often comes abruptly. Other times, it melts some, hits colder surfaces and refreezes. That's how the almighty makes things like ice dams, and another reason why heat tape etc. may not do as well as one might think. Situations are rarely the same twice.

[foo1bar]

But you don't have to melt all the snow, just a thin layer and let it all slide off - whoosh

That's true. But not what was being claimed.

And if one of their claims just doesn't hold up to objective computations I get real cynical about the rest of what they say.

BTW, looks like you have some terrible shading there - you should add an extra 10' on your poles to get them above the bushes.

[Mike90250]

......

BTW, looks like you have some terrible shading there - you should add an extra 10' on your poles to get them above the bushes.

I know, dang bushes grow faster than the sun rises ! This was still early AM

[TooMuchSnow]

It was suggested, at work, that I just energize the frames with some DC current for a bit. Like everyone says, the snow will just slide off.

We only really have one accessible section of panels in terms of getting the snow off with a roof rake. And if we don’t take it off it mostly just stays. After the big snowstorm in December we were weeks without generating any electricity. Ouch!

So, actually, I would like suggestions for getting the snow down. The 24’ snow rake clears 18 panels. If I buy another section of pole I can get 9 more cleared. Great. And the other 49 panels (55?)? You know that the physics of having a 40+’ long snow rake aren’t all that good, right? Things are bad enough at 24’ out...

So, work with me! Crazy idea time! How about a rope across each section of panels with pulley systems on the sides so that I can pull and have the rope slide up under the snow? Kind of like the guy throwing his hammer with the rope but mounted and permanent. Might need a huge continuous rope loop and at least 3 pulleys a side of each section of panels but so?

Or there’s gutter heat tape (as opposed to applying DC directly to the frames). The Depot has 200’ for $134. Let’s see... I could do horizontals at the bottoms of panels... That should pay for itself in under a year.

Or, hey, I’m open to other thoughts!

(It was sunny today and I cleared the 18 panels so at least I made 17kwh today. But I could/should have made 4 times that easily. With cleared panels.)

[bcroe]

I already have a sticky on building arrays to minimize snow. Goes something like this.

Mount the panels landscape so the snow does not need to fall/be pushed very far to clear.
There should be at least an 8 inch gap at the bottom edge of every panel so the snow can
easily drop down. Panel ground clearance needs to be enough that panels are not obscured
by cleared snow accumulation. That is 40 inches here at 42 deg L.

Mount panels for easy tilt change, for the snow and non snow seasons. Set tilt for best
energy tilt in summer, vertical for snow rejection. The vertical tilt may benefit from sun
reflected from ground snow.

Use a non conducting snow pusher pole to avoid fatal shock.

Clear panels enough that the sun will penetrate to the dark color, then wait for strong
sun to finish the job. With a vertical tilt, often minimal or no cleaning effort is needed.
All the above imply a ground mount.

Keep in mind that a big piece of the melting problem, is the heat loss of the exposed back
side. Heating tape might melt snow just over the tape, if you can find enough power. I
have already demonstrated applying power directly to the cell elements. With power at
3 times the panel output rating, the snow did NOT melt or slide off. Bruce Roe

[TooMuchSnow]

Well, I do have to work with what I have... Fixed slope, all due South, all portrait (in this section).

Bummer about non conduction in the pole. Makes sense but sigh. Gotta get a new broom anyway - this one’s not long enough.

2B8EF9C0-D65B-4416-8A0A-4CDF386576EF.jpeg After clearing what I could up top.
7704ECC6-B7BE-41CA-8C84-2F4F72E95416.jpeg Before (after clearing the bottom yesterday).

Before anything on the main sections and after (hopefully attached and couldn’t clear anything on the right set).



I guess... Looking through the historical data this winter we’ve made more electricity than in past years. But it would be nice to have some way that I could actually clear the panels so we could make more.

interesting that heating didn’t do anything... But... But what if it were heat tape and right on the frame - on the surface? It seems to me that it’s the lip of the frame, on the edge of the face lowest down, that’s preventing the snow from just sliding off. Why not just run heat tape right there? Or. Ha. Ha ha. Why not just make panels and housings that are flat on top? What the heck is up with the frames that catch things, anyway?

[bcroe]

But... But what if it were heat tape and right on the frame - on the surface? It seems to me that it’s the lip of the frame, on the edge of the face lowest down, that’s preventing the snow from just sliding off. Why not just run heat tape right there? Or. Ha. Ha ha. Why not just make panels and housings that are flat on top? What the heck is up with the frames that catch things, anyway?

Let us know what you achieve. Bruce Roe