Question about snow fence

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

bsa0021

Feeling the Heat
Oct 1, 2008
406
Ohio
Every winter I contemplate whether to install snow fence along my driveway. When I do, a couple times a year the strong winds will rip the fence from the top of the posts and I have to go out in the weather and reinstall the fence. I have the plastic fence and I support it to the posts with furing stips (I know wood snow fence is better but too hard to store). We don't get large amounts of snow around here. Typically , most of the snow is 1-2 inches with a couple 3-4 inch snows. So I was woundering if I cut the height of the the fence in half, would the fence still do it's job? The lower fence would stay in place better. As the snow piles up over the fence, wouldn't the drift itself act as a fence?
 
Does the fence do enough good to make it worth the bother? Depending on where it's installed, a snow fence can make the situation worse, too.
 
heat seeker said:
Does the fence do enough good to make it worth the bother? Depending on where it's installed, a snow fence can make the situation worse, too.

West of my house is a acre of grass that I cut and west of that is about 10 acres of farm land. My house stops the wind 10' east of the drive. So,If it snows just an inch, I end up with about 6" of snow on the drive. With the snow fence I rarely have snow on the drive unless there isn't any wind which is hardly ever. So, yeh the fence is a big help. Of, course there has been several years in the 10 that I've lived here that we didn't have enough snow to make the fence worth while.
 
The snow drift will act as a fence as well.

A snow fence will hold only the height of the fence. As the height is filled, the length of the drift from the fence will continue to increase. If you decrease the height of the fence, you may increase the length of the drift more than you anticipate.

What type of posts are you using? I use the T posts and mount the fence on the side of the posts that the wind blows the most from. This way the wind blows the fence into the post and helps hold it in place. I have the wood snow fence and use tie wire to secure the fence to the posts. I have used baler twine as well in the past, but find the wire easier to tie with.
 
Former Farmer said:
The snow drift will act as a fence as well.

A snow fence will hold only the height of the fence. As the height is filled, the length of the drift from the fence will continue to increase. If you decrease the height of the fence, you may increase the length of the drift more than you anticipate.

What type of posts are you using? I use the T posts and mount the fence on the side of the posts that the wind blows the most from. This way the wind blows the fence into the post and helps hold it in place. I have the wood snow fence and use tie wire to secure the fence to the posts. I have used baler twine as well in the past, but find the wire easier to tie with.

I also mount the fence on the wind side (west) but the plastic fence tears at the top of the post from the wind.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.