wallfish 19,323 #551 Posted 11 hours ago 1 hour ago, Sparky said: This fall was a new roof, then 15 solar panels…and then a thick coating of snow that ceased all power production We have the technology to put a man on the moon but apparently there's a problem to add heat de-ice to solar panels to keep them clear. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Handy Don 15,950 #552 Posted 11 hours ago 1 minute ago, wallfish said: We have the technology to put a man on the moon but apparently there's a problem to add heat de-ice to solar panels to keep them clear. The technology DOES exist. Not economically justifiable for many situations--melting 10” of snow off a panel would take more energy than the panel can generate in days. Mechanical stuff used very infrequently in widely varying conditions? Well we all know that story. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wallfish 19,323 #553 Posted 11 hours ago (edited) 59 minutes ago, Handy Don said: The technology DOES exist. Not economically justifiable for many situations--melting 10” of snow off a panel would take more energy than the panel can generate in days. Mechanical stuff used very infrequently in widely varying conditions? Well we all know that story. I know it exists. Heat cords would work. We can put a man on the moon (50 years ago) but can't come up with a simple way to economically keep a solar panel clear of snow. Solar hot water heaters are supposed to work in the winter too so maybe incorporating something like that into them???? It only needs to be 35-40 degrees ?? to continue the melt A simple "swipe" type mechanism running with a low voltage gear motor wouldn't be to complicated and low on energy Edited 10 hours ago by wallfish 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
