Snow Fences / Guards for Solar Panels

[Vasselle Barber]

I am looking for a solar panel snow fence solution, but I can't seem to easily find any retailers/installers in Canada. Last winter we had a lot of snow and ice slide off our panels and we are worried about safety and damage (one sheet of ice hit our neighbour's house). Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations for companies who can provide a solution?

[Rob Beckers]

Hi Vasselle,

Welcome to the forum!
What kind of roof surface do you have, and how far down do the solar panels extend?

We had a case of a metal roof with panels, where the customer installed snow fencing underneath the panels. It would be difficult though if your panels extend all the way to the edge of the roof. The same customer initially had the idea to put up fending between rows of panels, but I explained to him that shading of any kind will have a severe impact on energy production from the panels. Ultimately we moved the panels up higher on the roof, so there was a strip of roof underneath available for snow fencing.

-RoB-

[Vasselle Barber]

Hello,

We have an asphalt shingled roof. There is some space between the end of the panels and the end of the roofline. We would prefer not to install a snow fence that screws into the roof but rather a type of guard which attaches to the bottom of the panel. This should not have any impact on solar production.

Any ideas of companies who sell this type or install this type of snow/ice guard?

Vasselle

[Ralph Day]

Strange, usually we're trying to keep snow off our panels.

Ralph

[Vasselle Barber]

We don't really want to keep the snow on the panel, but rather allow the snow to melt off before it comes crashing down on someone's head. :)

Last winter we had a couple of bag days of freezing rain and a whole sheet came off one of the panels and hit our neighbour's house right above one of their first floor windows. Had it come off a little slower it might have crashed right through that window.

So far I haven't found any installers who offer these guards. I highly recommend anyone considering solar panels on a roof with a slightly higher pitch in a northern climate always request a guard as part of the install.

[Steven Fahey]

My parents put snow guards on the roof of their new house. You can find many examples with a google search:

https://www.google.ca/search?&q=house+roof+snow+guards

Edit: I meant to add- a similar guard can be made for the edge of your solar panels with a simple "L" angle extrusion of aluminum. Clamp it to the lower edge of your array using the kinds of clamps that are already used for clamping solar panels by their frames. The edge of the L standing up may possibly put a shadow on your panels.

Warning: This will cause snow to accumulate and remain on your panels, and that will reduce their output. I cannot speak to your motivation to accept hampering your energy collection, except that it seems to be in conflict with the event that damaged your neighbour's house, which is no trivial matter, I must admit.

[Vasselle Barber]

I wanted to post this in case anyone else comes here looking for a solution.

My husband and I ended up buying solar panel fences from a company out of the US called Alpine Snow Guards:
https://www.alpinesnowguards.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=22

We had a roofing company install them for us. It was about half a day's work. Total cost for the snow fences and the install work was about $1,800 CAD (the majority of that being the labour). We have not had any issues with snow falling in large chunks to the walkways on the sides of our houses, which was our major concern.

We have seen about a 10% drop in the output of our panels for December, but that could also just be from varying conditions (e.g. more grey days).

[Rob Beckers]

Thank you for the info Vasselle! People ask me for snowguards every so often, I'll point them to this product.

Regarding solar panel production: December this year was not good (at least not over here). That said, have a look if the new snow fence causes shading. Any shade on the solar cells is bad and will have a direct impact on the panel output. With the sun as low in the sky as it is this time of year I suppose even a little 'lip' above the panels will cause quite a bit of shading. Not so bad if it's just this time of year (since there's little energy to be had anyway), but by late January you want those panels shade-free.

-RoB-