Love the fact it melts snow In area where we had problems with ice dam...seems to.be working well which pleases me.
Less worry!!!!

These mats are much more effective in melting snow than cables. Keep in mind this will required more electricity so make sure you don't overload the ratings for your home

Easy to install. Takes a while to warm up, but once it does, melts the snow fairly well. I've got it at a juncture in my roof where I always get ice dams. The only small problem I'm experiencing is right at the seam of the roof, once the melt has occurred, there is a slight residual "shelf" of ice above the heater (hanging over it).

I am using the RHS Snow Melting System I purchased from amazon, which is attached to my roof under the lower edge of my solar panels to start the melting of snow anytime the sun is shining and there is an accumulation of snow on the panels, but only for my southern exposure panels, since only they produce much energy during the winter months. I incorporated this snow melting system with my solar panels, since I can't stand to have a ZERO solar power day, after having payed good money to have the panels produce power.

The heater sections through amazon are available in five and ten foot lengths. My southern panel array requires 20 feet of heater in three segments, which uses one kilowatt of power if run for an hour, but is quickly regenerated when the panels are exposed to the sun. This method of heating the solar panels does not void their warranty, since the panels are attached to the roof and do not physically touch the solar panels.

The heat from the RHS Snow Melting System rises under the panels and slowly warms them at the bottom, but I only activate the heater when the sun is breaking through the clouds. This heating works in tandem with the sun, which starts the snow melting process at the top of the panels. The heater is run for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on snow thickness and melting progress, which melts the bottom snow accumulation and removes the snow backup resistance from the accumulation above, which allows the snow to completely slide off much sooner than waiting for the sun to get the melt going at the bottom.

I live in Utah and before I started using the heater, it took most of the first day of bright sun to remove about 80 percent of the snow, but that pesky bottom snow just usually hangs on until the second day of sun finally melts it off.

I haven't been able to find a countdown timer that will run during the day, since they are generally designed to come on at sundown and run for a specified time for lighting, so what I do is switch the heater on using the Dewenwls ODT12B Outdoor Light Sensor Timer with its remote control, which is from amazon and then set a manual kitchen timer to remind me to look at the panels and turn off the heater as soon as the snow has melted. There is no set time to power up the heater, so programmable timers are not useful, either. If the sun breaks through at 12 noon, that's when I activate the heater to work along with the sun's energy.

How you design your heater system for power control has to be what will work for you, so take time to consider the options that fit your needs. A WiFi controlled power switch is another option if you want to have control remotely from work or other locations. A camera setup to view the solar panels where the heater is installed would be good to monitor the melting progress to know when to turn off the heater.

If your panels are exposed to a lot of wind, it works well to wedge foam rubber strips in just at the top of the heater segments under the panels to encapsulate the rising heat, which increases the effectiveness of the heater and prevents the wind from blowing the heat away. After the snow season is done, the foam should be removed, since the panels require air flow for cooling in hot weather.

I've had this on a vulnerable area of flat roof for 4 winters now and it's been trouble free. I'm a little concerned now because there is a spot on the back side that looks like it's been very hot. Probably will replace for this season.