Efficient automatic snow removal

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  • stewgm@hotmail.com
    Junior Member
    • Dec 2023
    • 5
    #1

    Efficient automatic snow removal

    Hello everyone. For the past 11 years I have been living full time and uniquely with electricity provided by a solar system. We have 18 solar panels and 24 AGM batteries. We have a 2000sq ft home, equipped completely. Because we are up North, actually a little village called Notre-Dame-Des-Bois in Quebec and on the border with Coburn Gore, Maine, we also have need of a generator mostly between November and February. We are up in the Appalachian mountains and get a lot of snow. So, I would like to automate snow removal on my panels, but everything I have looked at and considered either take too much energy, which defies the purpose, or could damage the panels. We are getting on in age, and having to manually clean them as well as the restrictions it presents, really motivates me to find a better way. Hydro power is not an option where we are.

    Thank you

    Marie
    Tags: None
    • bcroe
      Solar Fanatic
      • Jan 2012
      • 5203
      #2
      Under Solar Panels for your Home, Grid Tied Solar PV
      I wonder if you have looked at the first sticky, Snow tolerant
      panels? This has worked well, my panels take minimum to
      no effort to clear. It would be possible to motorize the tilt
      angle, set vertical or slightly past vertical at night or when
      a storm comes. Bruce Roe

        Comment

        • organic farmer
          Solar Fanatic
          • Dec 2013
          • 646
          #3
          I live in Maine. My panels hang vertically in Winter months, which helps to prevent snow from sticking.

          4400w, Midnite Classic 150 charge-controller.

            Comment

            • stewgm@hotmail.com
              Junior Member
              • Dec 2023
              • 5
              #4
              Hello! Thank you for the suggestions, but I am not about to replace my panels or try, in the middle of winter, to reposition them. I do have vertical panels on the south side of the house which I use to preheat my water and they are amazing!

              Marie

                Comment

                • stewgm@hotmail.com
                  Junior Member
                  • Dec 2023
                  • 5
                  #5
                  BTW my solar rack is made out of wood and is not adjustable.

                    Comment

                    • azdave
                      Moderator
                      • Oct 2014
                      • 765
                      #6
                      Originally posted by stewgm@hotmail.com
                      BTW my solar rack is made out of wood and is not adjustable.
                      Sounds like in your situation, the best move is to do nothing and let nature handle it. The cost to run the generator more often is far less than making changes to the panel mounting. As you get older, the risk of clearing them by hand increases greatly. Muscle strain, a twisted ankle or even a bad slip and fall accident could cost far more than what you might ever save by clearing the snow constantly all winter.

                      We don't get snow here but plenty of desert dust storms and I've had to think twice about the value of climbing up on my roof to clean the panels versus the risk of falling off my ladder one of these days. I'm not as agile and sure-footed as I used to be. If I give up $50 of electricity a year to dust, isn't that a good insurance policy against a costly ER visit?
                      Dave W. Gilbert AZ
                      6.63kW grid-tie owner

                        Comment

                        • bcroe
                          Solar Fanatic
                          • Jan 2012
                          • 5203
                          #7
                          Originally posted by stewgm@hotmail.com
                          I would like to automate snow removal on my panels, but everything I have looked at and considered either take too much energy, which defies the purpose, or could damage the panels. We are getting on in age, and having to manually clean them as well as the restrictions it presents, really motivates me to find a better way. Thank you
                          Marie
                          This season is too late. Best to plan what you could achieve next
                          summer, if you really want to do something. Bruce Roe

                            Comment

                            • SunEagle
                              Super Moderator
                              • Oct 2012
                              • 15126
                              #8
                              Unless you have a way of arranging the panels so snow will not accumulate on them then someone will have to remove the snow manually.

                              Unfortunately there really isn't any cheap automated snow removal system out there.

                                Comment

                                • stewgm@hotmail.com
                                  Junior Member
                                  • Dec 2023
                                  • 5
                                  #9
                                  Thank you everyone. I feel hopeless,

                                    Comment

                                    • J.P.M.
                                      Solar Fanatic
                                      • Aug 2013
                                      • 14939
                                      #10
                                      Originally posted by stewgm@hotmail.com
                                      Thank you everyone. I feel hopeless,
                                      Well, then you've felt hopeless for most of the 11 years you've had the PV system.
                                      As long as you understand the limitations of PV systems and snow removal and have a generator, you'll be OK.

                                      Snow removal and the accommodations in design that it requires are one of the dirty little secrets PV peddlers and installers don't seem to talk about.

                                        Comment

                                        • stewgm@hotmail.com
                                          Junior Member
                                          • Dec 2023
                                          • 5
                                          #11
                                          Actually, I have managed pretty well with friends helping out in the past, combined with cameras pointing to the solar panels and to my midnight solar, to be able to message them to clean the panels and'or to start the Genny. Unfortunately, with everyone getting older, there are more and more of my friends who no longer can help. Plus, it's getting harder for my 70+ year old husband to do the job. We were hoping to get hydro connected, but winter hit with a fury, so no more installations taking place. Definitely, if I was to redo this project, I would invest in adjustable brackets that I would put vertically this time of year, also those easy slide-off panels seem ideal. As for the genny l would have a more powerful one from the get go: the 6kw Generac Ecogen took a beating, that's for sure, so I am not surprised it longer can hold the pressure.

                                            Comment

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