Solar panels vs. hail

JB

JB

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The TV spots I see touting solar panels always seem to be in areas that rarely experience hail.

I had a metal roof built on this house because of hail and so far (9years) it has saved my insurance company about 10 grand.

What does 1"-6" hail do to solar panels?
 
aspeck

aspeck

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Re: Solar panels vs. hail

It depends ... when I was looking into solar power in Ghana I learned there were different grades that could withstand different types of storm events. But one thing none of them could withstand was excessive amounts of dust - in the dry season (which is incredibly dusty) the panels needed to be cleaned every day.

But strength wise, you can get panels that would be able to handle most of the hail, but it will be expensive!
 
B

BF

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Re: Solar panels vs. hail

JB said:
What does 1"-6" hail do to solar panels?
Click to expand...

I have a hard time imagining anything would handle 6" hail very well! Baseball sized hail does crazy amounts of damage, but cantelope sized?! Yikes. How does your metal roof like 6" hail? Hard to imagine it not being damaged.
 
JB

JB

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Re: Solar panels vs. hail

It has a few dimples from what I think were 2", slightly smaller than baseball, but they don't even show unless you look for them.

I was thinking of the storm we had about '95-'96. Those were coming through windshields and totaled a lot of cars. Reports said up to 6". I dodged the bullet on that one. Only had about 3/4" here, but it beat heck out of the roof on my single-wide (without creating any leaks). That is why my present house has steel panels.
 
mthieme

mthieme

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Re: Solar panels vs. hail

I have 13 panels on my roof. Fortunately, we don't get any hail around here. Wind has been my biggest issue. I've lost two panels due to wind over the years. If I thought we were in for hail, I would have to protect them some way. They have a thin layer of glass on top. Someone mentioned 6" hail. I'd be worried about other things than my solar panels with those meteorites dropping out of the sky!
 
P

Pierutrus

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Re: Solar panels vs. hail

Have had my system for a little over a year.
Have had 2 hail storms in the 1" range....No problems.

BUT 6".:eek:

IMAG0054.jpg
 
jlinder

jlinder

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Re: Solar panels vs. hail

Why not make your own shields? Perhaps mount a 1/2" or 1" wire screen about 6" above the panels?

A 1/2" or 1" screen would probably not block too much light and would catch the bigger hail.
 
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