Drake,
I am no expert, BUT, about a year ago I covered an older
not-in-service PV with a foot of snow on a 25 degree day and then hooked
up a hose to a hot water faucet. With a pistol grip sprayer I directed
a solid stream of hot water at the PV. It only took a second for that
hot water to reach the PV's glass, no doubt cold from the snow. I kept
it there in one area for about 30 seconds, slowly widening the area of
'impact', much of the snow melting of course.
Afterwards I carefully visually inspected the PV (it was an
older Kyo) and could not find/see anything out of the ordinary, still
tested to label specs (slight de-rating due to age) when placed in
direct sun.
Another note, several times I have sprayed cool tap water
(around 45 degrees, F) on my in-service array on my shop to eliminate
the snow. It's a 12:12 pitch but it still took a good 15 minutes to
clear it off. The array is 22, 60 cell PVs. I have not any decrease in
performance to date.
Conclusion? None really, I can't imagine 'washing' snowy
PVs off with cool water could do any harm. Whereas the hot water test,
intuitively probably not smart.
Bill
Feather River Solar Electric
Bill Battagin, Owner
4291 Nelson St.
Taylorsville, CA 95983
530.284.7849
CA Lic 874049
www.frenergy.net
On 2/1/2017 11:13 AM, Drake wrote:
Hi Wrenches,
We have a lot of border line temperatures here that will not quit melt
the snow off an array. We can lose production on a semi sunny, 28
degree day. During such a day, I was looking at my frost free water
faucet and my array. Humm, I could easily hose the snow off.
Is there a reason not to do that? Any ice or slush would not present a
problem. Is there a danger to the modules from doing that?
Maybe this would even work on a sunny day when the temperatures were
colder? Could a module break? Anyone ever try this?
Thanks,
Drake
Drake Chamberlin
/Athens Electric LLC
OH License 44810
CO License 3773
NABCEP Certified Solar PV
740-448-7328
/http://athens-electric.com/
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