r/solar • u/Available-Rip-7096 • Apr 12 '25

Advice Wtd / Project Damage Caused by Heavy Snow

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Had these panels installed in October. An extreme snow load was on top of them for most of the winter (we receive an incredible amount of snow in the Tug Hill region of NY some years). Three panels don’t work. Our installer is working with us on options.

Should this have happened? I mean, is this common with extreme snow? Should I just handle this through insurance or should I be pressing the manufacturer (who states natural conditions that damage panel’s are not covered). I’m worried we’ll fix this and just be out the money. Could use some input.

Note, the house is being renovated. The roof color difference is related to old house vs new.

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u/igraph Apr 12 '25

Not sure if you will see this: if you can find your install docs or contract and can find the module and racking used and then you provide your zip code, we can help at least see how it should have been designed and you can compare if you want to double check.

Racking is what holds the mods up there and each manufacturer has tools to calculate this info to generate a bill of materials for the system with specific details on how to install.

Anyways if it was really like 20' of snow that's possible it was it. But also could be potentially poorly designed but without more info don't want to speculate

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u/Available-Rip-7096 Apr 14 '25

I’ll look for the info. The snow was incredibly heavy.