<div dir="auto">I have seen repeat melting and freezing rip the frames from the modules, granted these modules were not sealed or glued in. But just consider if water can get in a rail and freeze then any extruded frames with inclosed channels can be effected. Option is to drill the boxed channel to promote drainage. Once the rail is weakened or warped then what was holding the glass in is no longer and then the glass failed without the support. So if you have a ground mount then tilt it to vertical.</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Mar 27, 2022, 9:52 AM Jeff Clearwater via RE-wrenches <<a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)" text="#000000">Hi Blake,<br>
<br>
I'm curious why the assumption that the snow will destroy the array -
how about 3 rails instead of 2 under the modules?<br>
<span>
</span><br>
<blockquote type="cite" style="border:0px none!important"><div style="margin:30px 25px 10px 25px"><div style="width:100%;border-top:2px solid rgba(146,154,163,0.7);padding-top:10px"> <div style="display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;vertical-align:middle;width:49%">
<a style="color:#485664!important;padding-right:6px;font-weight:500;text-decoration:none!important" href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Blake Gleason via RE-wrenches</a></div> <div style="display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;vertical-align:middle;width:48%;text-align:right"> <font color="#909AA4"><span style="padding-left:6px">March
26, 2022 at 8:39 AM</span></font></div> </div></div>
<div style="color:#909aa4;margin-left:24px;margin-right:24px">
<div dir="ltr">Hi all, <div><br></div><div>I think there's a lot of
experience on this list with PV in snowy regions.</div><div><br></div><div>I'm
wondering if anyone has ideas and/or specific hardware/racking systems
to allow for easy "stowing" (in vertical or near-vertical position) or
"seasonal removal" of the ground mount PV modules for the winter (snow)
season? Or ideas for a completely different approach to solving the
challenge I'm facing?</div><div><br></div><div>I'm planning a new
off-grid system in the Sierra (around 6000') for a small commercial
community center facility. The facility is accessible and in use only
during the summer months. So, I want to optimize production for the
summer, and also avoid having the array destroyed by the heavy Sierra
snow during the winter. </div><div><br></div><div>To further paint the
picture, here are some more details and constraints:</div><div><br></div><div>-
System size: 23kW (likely 48 Silfab 490 mods)</div><div>- Must be
ground mount (beautiful very tall trees completely surrounding all roof
options)</div><div>- Must be relatively low profile, visually. Pole
mount not an option</div><div>- Ideally one clean rectangular array 4x12
mods (13' x 90') or two 4x6 arrays (13' x 45')</div><div>- Array tilt:
10-15 deg (summer use only, must be low-profile)</div><div><br></div><div>There
is a caretaker who has a seasonal crew, and could be trained to "stow"
the array each season as long as that process is relatively
straightforward. </div><div><br></div><div>At one end of the spectrum,
it could be as simple as disconnecting and un-installing all of the
modules to store them in a stack underneath the nearby deck for the
winter. I'd like to think there might be a more "elegant" solution (and
less labor intensive, and less wear and tear on the modules over the
years). I wondered if there's a clever way to "drop" the modules to a
near-vertical orientation so they could remain in place during the
winter (some kind of hinge at the top and release at the bottom). I
guess this might require individual rows of modules instead of one large
array.</div><div><br></div><div>(As a bonus, I'd like to keep about
four mods (out of the 48) operational through the winter for battery
maintenance and a few incidental loads. These could be vertically
mounted on the south side of one of the buildings, above the typical
snow drift level, for example.)</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks in
advance for any suggestions, ideas, things you've tried that haven't
worked, etc!!</div><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div>Blake</div><div><br></div><div>--
<br><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136)"><br></span></div><div><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt">Blake
Gleason, PE | Employee Owner<br>Director of Innovation and Technical
Excellence<br>O: 510-845-2997 x128<br>C: 510-867-5878<br><br>1035 Folger
Ave.<br>Berkeley, CA 94710<br><a href="http://www.sunlightandpower.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">www.sunlightandpower.com</a><br>License #326203<br></p><div><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">
</span></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br><fieldset></fieldset><br><div>_______________________________________________<br>List
sponsored by Redwood Alliance<br><br>Pay optional member dues here:
<a href="http://re-wrenches.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">http://re-wrenches.org</a><br><br>List
Address:
<a href="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a><br><br>Change
listserver email address
& settings:<br><a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a><br><br>There
are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the
other:<br><a href="https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/</a><br><a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a><br><br>List
rules & etiquette:<br><a href="http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm</a><br><br>Check
out or update participant bios:<br><a href="http://www.members.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">http://www.members.re-wrenches.org</a><br><br></div>
</div></blockquote>
<br>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br>
List sponsored by Redwood Alliance<br>
<br>
Pay optional member dues here: <a href="http://re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
List Address: <a href="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
Change listserver email address & settings:<br>
<a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other:<br>
<a href="https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
List rules & etiquette:<br>
<a href="http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm</a><br>
<br>
Check out or update participant bios:<br>
<a href="http://www.members.re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.members.re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
</blockquote></div>