Understanding Solar Safety for Your Family

Now that you have completed the installation of your solar panels, the real fun begins. You’ve done your part towards ensuring a safe future climate for your loved ones. Remember to safeguard them against an immediate danger, as well. 
 

Roof is Off Limits

Just as your kids know not to ever touch electrical wires, it’s recommended to make it crystal clear that there can be no climbing on the roof now that there is a solar system up there.  Any time one of your kids plans to run off to join the circus – or to sneak a cigarette on the roof – or for an illicit meet-up after dark – it must never be across out the roof. It’s out the front door only.

Your solar roof is pumping out as much as 600 volts whenever the sun is out, so safety is an important aspect of solar power. This is the reason that fire departments and building departments nationwide have set fire codes for how to safely deal with a fire in a building that has solar panels on the roof.

But let’s imagine a scenario in which you have to go up on the roof, perhaps to rescue a cat or clean the gutters. First, locate the electrical system control panel and disconnect the power coming from your solar system. This will likely be a clearly marked box that is placed (by law) where it is accessible to firefighters, typically to the front of the house. If you are not sure you can locate this box, or if you have any questions, you should contact your salesman or the local fire department, so they can walk you through the procedure for turning off your power to make it safe to walk on your roof.

Assume every electrical circuit is live, even if you have pulled the main meter and shut off visible breakers. When the sun is shining, dangerous DC voltage is still being generated in the PV panels. The only way to eliminate this is to cover all panels with an opaque tarp. Note that scene lighting is not powerful enough to generate a dangerous voltage from a PV array, but lightning may be. If the home has battery backup, household AC circuits may be live at any time.

In Case of a Fire

In a majority of home fires, if anyone goes on a roof it should be trained firefighters. Firefighters are trained on how to handle solar panel systems. In case of the rare instance when someone has to get on the roof who’s not as familiar with a solar system, there’s an additional layer of risk of electrocution to be mindful of.

Worst case scenario, if you can’t find the electrical box on the side of the garage and the system is live, don’t step on or cut into PV panels or the panels wiring. This is especially the case in daylight. After dark, it’s safer to be around the panel system since with no sun, they’ll only be non-lethal voltage within in the system. 

Even if you did locate the proper breakers to turn the power off first, you should not assume that the panels can be stepped on as alternative roof surface. Solar panels aren’t made to support your weight and get slippery when wet. For more information, click here.

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