Can solar cells which are on your roof (especially the solahart hot water systems) of being damaged by hail?

Public Comments

Yes they can be damaged by hail. One of mine was and the insurance Co. paid me about twice what it was worth. So in the end I made a little cash from the damage and never replaced the solar module. It was a small 24 watt cheapy SolarWind brand that got damaged. My other 8 good brand modules never even got a dent.
Not by Normal hail for the electric panels but the water heaters are more delicate with the radiators, they can easily get damaged There have been events of hail the size of cricket balls or bigger ,any bigger and they can come through the roof or your house or flatten your car , considering today's conditions we cannot predict normality for the future But don't spend your life expecting disasters ,get the solar panels thousands of people do and if you want to protect them ,you can stretch some chicken wire about a meter above them .
Anything can be damaged by hail if the hail is large enough. The best way to tell is to inspect the solar panel. The solar panel that you mention is not photoelectric so it does not generate electricity and thus is a more durable type of panel. Solarhart panels simply collect heat fromt he sun to warm your water. For a system like this to be damaged by hail you would need a large enough hail to make a dent to damage the pipe your water is flowing through enough to restrict the water movement. This is highly unlikely. If you did get hail damage it could reduce the efficiency of the collectors some. The best thing to do would be to call the local distributor of the solar system and ask for someone to come inspect the system if it is not working as it should. (Solarhart is an Austrailian company so if you are not from there you may want to check out a different, but similar company) http://www.solahart.com.au/default.asp?V_DOC_ID=779