Solar Panels Maintenance Tips

Posted on July 4, 2020

Solar panels have seen some growth in popularity over the years because they’ve proven to be a good alternative to regular electricity. Installing them on your roof is a good way to start saving money on your monthly bill, but to ensure their long-lasting and full performance, some maintenance is needed.

I never really thought much about solar panel maintenance, but Action Solar shared that if you want to use them to full capacity, then here’s what you need to do.

Cleaning

As with any home appliance or machine, cleaning is one way of ensuring their long-lasting and good service. You don’t have to do this too often, but climbing on a roof once or twice a year wouldn’t hurt. Especially after a storm or a windy day when much debris might cover front panels and reduce the performance significantly.

Also, it is important to consider the area you live in. If there’s a lot of wind and dust then you can wipe them even more often. If there are trees around the area then leaves might end up right on your solar panels.

You don’t even have to climb the roof, you can simply use a water hose and, if possible, do the job from the safety of your backyard. It is useful to glance at the roof every now and then and check the panels to see if there’s anything blocking them.

Avoid Shade

Solar panels are installed to have full access to the sun, which makes perfect sense, but sometimes a new shade can appear and ruin the fun. If there are trees in the area you live in you shouldn’t cut them by any means, but some trimming might just do the trick.

Do not disregard the shade from newly formed trees, as they can do much more harm than you think. Even if only a small part of the panel is covered, the amount of energy it produces might be greatly reduced, this only means that you are not getting the best service for your money.

Check Panels

This is just a precaution. You don’t need to monitor the inverter display all the time, but a quick look every now and then will ensure that your panels are doing fine. The sooner you notice something is wrong the more money you’d save. If you see that something is wrong and that there’s no green light on, you should seek help within the manual, and if that is of no use then contact professionals or refer to your warranty.

You shouldn’t attempt any repairs, just check if everything looks fine when you are in the area. Being cautious will ensure that the system is working as intended and you are getting all the energy. If there is a need for an intervention, consult a solar panel technician.

Monitor the Performance

You can always be extra cautious and follow the system’s performance yourself. You can write down the amount of produced energy on a daily basis and then compare results. If you don’t see any drastic change over a period of time then that means that the system is ok, but if you see drops or if the numbers showing don’t match with the promised amount then you can conclude that something is wrong, and yet again, contact professionals and ask for their opinion.

You don’t have to manually monitor the performance, there are ways to digitally get those results on a platform of your choice and you will be one click away from seeing how your solar panels work. This all might seem like too much hustle, but if you want to be sure that you are not overpaying your monthly bill then checking your energy source for malfunction is just being smart and careful.

The technology behind solar panels is getting better and cheaper, both for industrial and residential purposes. If you were ever wary of the technology because you don’t know how to care for it, the general guidelines are shown above, and any reputable solar installation company will give you some instructions. So, what are you waiting for? Join the trend, go solar.