Has anyone noticed whether a layer of solar panels sucking up the sun makes the house cooler?

[Southpasfan]

Its seems as if it might. Many of the layouts posted are fairly close to covering every available square foot of roof.

 

[marnao]

I actually just bought a temperature sensor to stick in my attic. I'm getting panels installed in a month or so. I have a dark roof that probably absorbs a lot of heat so I am hoping the panels help a little bit.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Yes, it's well studied. It will decrease cooling load, but could increase heating load a bit.

E.g. this article from 2011 references a study that says it lower temperatures by 5 degrees Fahrenheit Study Discovers That Solar Panels Have a Cooling Effect on Buildings

 

[strykeroz]

Ours certainly do. It's probably more to do with it creating a tropical roof with airflow under the panels and the original roof shaded though than photons being absorbed. Our summertime temperature on the roof is on the high side of 70C in the open sun facing north so any benefit in that regard was a welcome bonus.

 

[jboy210]

Our homes is staying cool since getting solarroof. But another thing we have done is leave the garage door open 6 inches. That seems to have dropped the temp in the garage to near ambient or cooler. We especially notice this on the room over the garage (my office).

 

[GaitherBill]

We've noticed our second floor is a couple of degrees cooler this summer, to the point where the AC has only come on a few times, despite it being 90F out for a month straight.

Never realized it could be the solar panels.

 

[gpez]

All about the watts, right? If you've got a system that is producing 6kw that energy had to have come from somewhere. Maybe some reflection off of your roof but probably the majority was being absorbed and converted to heat. Running a bunch of 1,000 watt hair dryers in your attic all day will really heat things up.