Anyone got any pics of insulated panels side by side with uninsulated panels? We tried taping a piece of styrofoam to the back of one once, but it never seemed to make enough of a difference (especially for the hoar frost that plagues our mountain tops). Bosses aren't convinced the mess of sprayfoam would be worthwhile.
I enjoyed reading your testing with the different sprayers Chuck. The antifreeze was fairly expensive though if I recall? -Steve D On Sun, Sep 20, 2015 at 11:36 AM, Chuck McCown <[email protected]> wrote: > I did lots of experiments about 15 years ago adding heat to panels with > various methods. Heat tape, hot air blowers, exhaust, all kinds of ideas > were worked on. > > I came up with two things that work. First, lots of insulation on the > backs. Spray foam worked extra good. It helps to speed up snow/ice > sliding/melting off when the sun comes out. > > Second thing that works is the application of antifreeze. Propylene > glycol is environmentally safe for the wildlife. Sprayer at the top works > pretty good. We rigged up one tank that was pressurized with air and had > solenoid valve that was turned on via telemetry. Takes almost no energy to > pump. Did CO2 pressurization too but that will carbonate the antifreeze > and it doesn’t spray as well. > > You can vent the tank and have it drain back if you want. I also tried a > deicing product made from beet juice. It didn’t work too well. Plugged up > the spray nozzle. > > *From:* Steve D <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Sunday, September 20, 2015 12:05 AM > *To:* af <[email protected]> > *Subject:* [AFMUG] The dreaded annual "how to keep snow and ice off my > solarpanels" thread > > Maybe it's Saturday night exhaustion talking, but piping the exhaust from > a standby generator toward the back of solar panels a bad idea? I'd expect > it to not put heat on the panels in the summer except it's weekly exercise > cycle but that shouldn't be too bad? LP too so shouldn't be any soot. Or > would this just create one little hole of open panel and a pile of ice? > Bad in general for the panels? > > If I did this again, I'd put the damn thing directly under the panels... > these Onan's get stinking hot. My little "cool running", comparatively > speaking, portable yamaha's will melt a two foot radius of snow around them > if they run for a good length of time, all this heat going to waste! The > Onan would probably clear the whole rack if it was sitting right below it. > > Grumble grumble... snow... something, something, curse words... > > Cheers, > > Steve D > >
