Do Solar Panels Work With Snow on Them?

One of the questions that have been bugging experts and solar panel buyers for years is, “do solar panels work with snow on them?” Residential solar panel installation in California install solar panels that were designed to get more sunlight in the daylight hours, but what happens when the weather turns cold? This is one question many have asked, and some have found a great solution to this common dilemma. Here are the details of what happens when you mount solar energy collectors on roofs during the winter months.

If you live in an area where the winters are particularly harsh, it’s likely your roof will be packed full of snow by the time April comes around. It may be early June before the snow starts to melt and you can even see it melting on the ground. Your solar collector may not be able to capture all of the energy from the snow that melts on your roof, so you are going to have to rely on other sources for your solar energy. Unfortunately, solar panels are designed to capture the energy from the sun during daylight hours. So, how can you use snow to help your solar panel system to collect solar energy?

Using Water to Regulate The Temperature

Many residential solar panel buyers have discovered that water fountains can work well to pump up the blood pressure in your body. This in turn helps to regulate your body temperature, which in turn keeps your solar energy gathering cells working properly. The same theory works for solar energy as well. Water can help to regulate the temperature in which your solar panels are working to collect solar energy, so you can use the sun to heat your home without having to worry about making it too cold inside your house.

Of course, you probably can not use snow during the daytime. It would make no sense to mount your solar energy collection panels in the dead of winter because then your solar energy generation system is going to be less efficient. However, you can mount them over your roof at night and have them working to capture solar energy during the day. This is a great way to not only save on your utility bill but also use clean solar energy and reduce your carbon footprint.

Snow Plow

Now, if you were to mount the solar panels without putting on snow gloves, you may not have a problem with this. But, if you want to be even more efficient, you will want to take a few steps to make sure that the snow doesn’t make it onto your solar panels. First, make sure that you don’t run your electrical appliances through your roof with your bare hands or with a shovel. This could cause some damage to the wires and could potentially destroy your solar panel system. In addition, it is difficult to find a good place to set up a snow plow during the winter, so you might want to make sure that your roof is clear and flat.

In short, the answer to “do solar panels work with snow on them?” Depends on what you plan to do with them. If you want to collect heat from the sun, then you won’t have any problems. However, if you want to store it for later, or if you want to hook it into your home’s power system, then using a snowplow can be beneficial, and maybe even essential.