Why, When, and Who Should Clean Solar Planels?
Why should I clean solar panels?
- Dirty solar panels are much less efficient, reducing your savings
- Safety is paramount when cleaning solar panels, yourself.
- Check with the manufacturer that cleaning panels won’t affect your warranty
- Solar panels require little or no maintenance
Why is the cleaning and maintaining your solar panels so vital?
Out on the roof, your solar panels can accumulate layers of:
- grime
- dust
- tree sap
- bird droppings
These stop daylight from getting through to the panels, which makes them less efficient.
However, there’s debate over whether cleaning is critical. Some people recommend yearly cleaning, while others say it’s only needed if:
where you reside is especially dusty (e.g., beside a busy road)
your roof is exposed to bird droppings or trees (e.g., beneath power lines or near a park).
Unfortunately, letting the rain do the work may not work. Rainfall can worsen by washing dust into the corners of the panels. This causes them to heat up, which again lessens their efficiency.
Do it yourself or call the professionals?
It’s certainly cheaper to wash your panels yourself. There are, however, important aspects to think about regarding:
safely avoiding damage that would invalidate the panels’ warranty
We always recommend that you just ask the manufacturer before attempting to scrub the solar panels yourself.
If you continue to shall we go ahead with the cleaning, here are some tips:
- Always shut off your system beforehand—this will remove any risk of you being electrocuted.
- Inspecting solar panels means employing a long ladder and special belt.
- If you aren’t experienced at doing this or lack the correct equipment, don’t go au fait the roof!
- Clean solar panels together with your feet firmly on the bottom by employing a telescopic extendable brush or squeegee.
- Do a web rummage around for ‘solar panel cleaning kits’ and you ought to find lots of retailers selling everything you would like.
- Make sure any brushes, sponges, or cleaning products you utilize don’t seem to be so abrasive that they scratch the surface of the panels.
- Don’t use high-pressure jet washers—these may cause damage.
- Filter (or “soften”) H2O (tap water that contains lots of minerals) before you employ it to wash your solar panels. Untreated H2O can leave a layer of calcium on the panels that, over time, can cause permanent damage. You can buy special water softeners online.
- Clean when the weather’s cooler and darker because the panels won’t be as hot.
- Some manufacturers advise against spraying cold water onto hot panels, while there’s also the difficulty of your soap solution drying and leaving streaks before you’ll be able to rinse it off.
Hiring a cleaning company
If you’d rather employ someone to try to do the work for you—whether it’s a solar battery cleaning company or your everyday window cleaner—always ensure they need the required experience and might demonstrate that they’ll do a professional job.
Maintenance Aside from cleaning your solar panels once a year, there isn’t way more you wish to try and do. Solar panels don’t contain any moving parts and won’t rust or break down, so require little in the way of maintenance.
In the unlikely event that something does fail, contact the installer. they will give advice over the phone and can kick off if necessary. the foremost common issue is resolved just by resetting the inverter.
The installer might be charged for the call-out if your panels are not any longer under the installer’s workmanship warranty.
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