In this article we will discuss solar snow guards what they do and why you might want to ask your solar installer to include them in your solar array.
Snow sliding off solar panels damage gutters.
Every time the garage door opened to let a car in or out a huge avalanche of snow spilled off the first row of panels and slid over the eave right onto the incoming or outgoing car.
I have a fairly large 40 panel array and the snow load on that size array can be over 10 000 lbs.
How to stop it.
Their customer had a pv solar system mounted on his metal panel roof but the solar panels were creating a dangerous snow and ice problem.
Any slides from the panels would likely impact the gutter directly.
It depends on how close the solar is to the edge of the roof.
People have been killed by snow avalanches sliding off roofs during big snow winters.
The rain gutter should be installed a bit lower down so it is not directly in the path of the sliding snow and the metal roof should hang almost halfway over the gutter.
Snow damage is a common occurrence on properties without solar panels on them.
Every year the snow and ice slipping down from one of our viewers roofs does great damage to their rain gutters.
Position the rain gutter right.
The panels stop approximately one foot up the roof from the gutter.
All of this cold snow and ice can wreak havoc on gutters.
And your gutters will still be useful.
Sometimes large amounts of snow will slide off your solar panels all at once which can damage your property.
Ideally snow and ice should melt and run through a guttering system but constant subfreezing temperatures tend to hinder that process.
Slopes greater than 6 12 will tend to shed snow regardless of the texture of the material on them so roof slopes should be configured to avoid shedding anywhere people might be walking or exiting.
The issue with snow on solar panels unlike asphalt shingles is that the glass surface of the panels can accumulate a foot or more of snow that can very suddenly break free in its entirety because of the slippery surface causing an avalanche.
Some leaf guards though will often keep the snow from snagging on the gutter as it slides by.
The concern lies with the roof on the right.
The higher the roof pitch the more often the snow slides off.
Perhaps the only saving grace there will be the fake dormer which might break up the bulk of any slide.
As a result ice and snowpack can build up inside the gutters which produce additional weight on the gutter sections and the fasteners that hold them.
