Clean Solar Panels!

[Janderso]

A quick story.
Three years ago, my wife and a friend, who owns a solar company, finally talked me into buying a system.
We were told the panels never need cleaning?

Our “true-up” last year was $75. This year it was $1,200!!!. Our electrical source is PG&E, the most corrupt and expensive municipality in the country. They own the PUC.

I had a study done )no charge) by the company we purchased from. They said there are two main factors causing the reduction in production.
Dirty panels and/or excessive shade from a neighbors oak tree. Well, the tree was there last year and the panels are very dirty.

I think it was a sales pitch, no cleaning, no mess, no fuss.

The pic shows the upper clean panels and the lower dirty panels. This was after a three inch rain a few days ago!!

He uses <20 ppm water filtered through a Reverse Osmosis system on his truck. $166 per visit. I signed up for twice a year cleaning. Hopefully it will be worth it.

Any thoughts?

 

[MrWhoopee]

When I had a two-story house, I bought a window washing system for the upper floor windows that consisted of some sort of detergent, a hose-end mixing bottle and sprayer. It worked surprisingly well.

When we first bought the house up here, there was an article in the Redding Searchlight about a guy in Mt. Shasta who installed solar electric. It never produced the expected amount of power and he was constantly having to clean the panels. Finally, he collected a sample of the dust on the panels and sent it off for analysis. It came back with high levels of barium and aluminum. Cue the conspiracy nuts.

 

[higgite]

Three years ago, my wife and a friend, who owns a solar company, finally talked me into buying a system.
We were told the panels never need cleaning?
...
Any thoughts?

As the old saying goes, with friends like that....?

Tom

 

[Janderso]

When I had a two-story house, I bought a window washing system for the upper floor windows that consisted of some sort of detergent, a hose-end mixing bottle and sprayer. It worked surprisingly well.

When we first bought the house up here, there was an article in the Redding Searchlight about a guy in Mt. Shasta who installed solar electric. It never produced the expected amount of power and he was constantly having to clean the panels. Finally, he collected a sample of the dust on the panels and sent it off for analysis. It came back with high levels of barium and aluminum. Cue the conspiracy nuts.

The fellow had some mild mix, rinse and squeegee affair.
There are lots of rules on what not to do with solar panels. A very mild cleaner and distilled water on a cool day is the main idea.
I thought of using the spray on window cleaner- wait a minute and hose it off but I hear it can damage the panels.

 

[Janderso]

As the old saying goes, with friends like that....?

Tom

Actually in Sean’s defense, it was his sales rep that said no washee.
But I hear you!!

 

[Janderso]

When I had a two-story house, I bought a window washing system for the upper floor windows that consisted of some sort of detergent, a hose-end mixing bottle and sprayer. It worked surprisingly well.

When we first bought the house up here, there was an article in the Redding Searchlight about a guy in Mt. Shasta who installed solar electric. It never produced the expected amount of power and he was constantly having to clean the panels. Finally, he collected a sample of the dust on the panels and sent it off for analysis. It came back with high levels of barium and aluminum. Cue the conspiracy nuts.

For those of us who live in the Sacramento or San Joaquin Valley, it’s a very dirty place. Lots of dust/dirt in the air. Especially around nut harvest time.

 

[markba633csi]

Need some kind of drone with a wash cloth and squeegee LOL
Actually that might not be such a crazy idea-Hmmm - I'm thinking Roomba that flies

 

[markba633csi]

Like a mini version of that rotating brush they have at the car wash- plus spray nozzles and so forth
Water is heavy though- that would be a limiting factor

 

[RJSakowski]

My gut feeling is that you shouldn't have seen the difference you are experiencing because of dirty panels. Have you looked at year to year changes in weather conditions as a possible reason? Is there a possibility that some of the panels have failed?

A more definitive test would be to do a before and after measurement of output. If you have the ability to do output measurements or diagnostics with the controller, I would suggest monitoring it for a while. If you can single out an individual panel, that would be an even better test.

 

[Jake M]

There are lots of rules on what not to do with solar panels. A very mild cleaner and distilled water on a cool day is the main idea.

I wonder if those panels could handle Rain X?