Do You Have To Clean Solar Panels

One company selling an automated washing system says panels should be washed.

Do you have to clean solar panels.

How to clean solar panels. It s a good question and one with a lot of different answers. Your solar panels need to be exposed to sunlight in order to produce power. In this article you will learn how to clean solar panels the right way.

If you do find it necessary to clean the panels and wish to carry out the task yourself contact the installer to find out if you should take any special precautions aside from not falling off the roof. Yes you have to clean your rooftop solar panels and you have to clean them regularly. Solar panels are generally self cleaning but in particularly dry areas or where panel tilt is minimal dust and other substances such as bird droppings can build up over time and impact on the amount electricity generated by a module. If you do decide your solar panels need to be cleaned there are two main ways of doing it.

According to the clean energy council 2018 also saw a 45 per cent growth in commercial solar power systems. Companies specializing in cleaning solar panels generally say. Do not use high pressure. A third issue is bird droppings which if heavy enough could block enough sunlight to make a cleaning necessary.

Some say panels need an annual scrub others say quarterly. Using high pressure to clean the solar panels can force water to enter into the junction box or plugs that are not 100 sealed. They might have specific recommendations for cleaning. Many homeowners opt to clean their own solar panels.

Grime and bird poop doesn t need to cover an entire panel to have an effect. However cleaning is one aspect of solar panel maintenance that should not be taken lightly. How to clean solar panels. They found that tilted panels don t require cleaning as much as flat panels.

The first thing you want to do is to check with your solar panel manufacturer. At the very least you should do an annual cleaning of your panels. Google did a study on the need to clean solar panels. You can include a solar panel cleaning as part of your spring cleaning routine.

But first let s look at when and why you might need to invest in solar panel cleaning equipment or hire a professional cleaning service. Hire a professional or do it yourself. A lot of solar companies will offer this type of service to you for a fee of course. If you do not have access to de ionized or distilled water you can use a water softening hose attachment to filter those minerals.

If you choose this approach remember that it is safer to do so on the ground where possible. This tends to result in a 3 to 5 increase in efficiency. Do you need to wash your solar panels. We ll get to the best way to clean your solar panels in a minute.

To help you we recommend you read our cleaning solar panels guide for more tips.