Yes, you can.\nA certain amount of care and planning should occur before you do. While we do\nnot recommend manual cleaning if you are not trained or experienced walking\naround on a rooftop or around solar panels, you should consider the following\nif you do wish to do so.
\nFor sake of discussion, we will assume that your solar panels are on the roof\nof a residence or building and that they cannot be reached from the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before you\nstart, you should have a plan for cleaning. Assemble the tools that you will\nneed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. First\ndetermine the sequence in how you want to wash the panels. We recommend\nstarting at the top and working your way down.
\n2. You will need to connect a hose to a water connection point (most likely on\nthe ground). You will probably want to have a rope and a spray nozzle. Turn on\nthe water and the nozzle should be off. Connect a rope to the hose trigger\nnozzle at one end.
\n3. Have an empty bucket (fill when on the rooftop).
\n4. Put the correct amount of soap concentrate in the bucket before you go up.
\n5. Have an extendible pole with a soft window pad attachment.
\n6. Squeegee
\n7. Take the pole, squeegee, bucket and the other end of the rope up to the\nrooftop. When you arrive, pull the hose up and ensure that it is secure on the\nrooftop (will not slip off).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cautions:
\n1. Make sure that the ladder is properly placed and is secure.
\n2. Consider using safety harnesses and safety ropes if you are on a roof with a\nsteep pitch.
\n3. Do NOT touch any of the electrical connections. If you see a loose connection,\nor pull one loose when cleaning, contact your solar electric integrator.
\n4. Do not spray water directly onto the electrical connection boxes. Do not\nspray water under the panels.
\n5. Ensure that the pad on your brush pad is in good condition and will not\nscratch the glass on the solar panel. Be careful not to snag the fastening\nbolts when pushing the pole and pad over the glass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cleaning:
\n1. Fill the bucket with water to achieve the correct mix level with your soap\nconcentrate. Make sure that you do not use a harsh detergent or one that has a\ncolor or odor. Any cleaning product that has a color or odor leaves a film.
\n2. Wet down the solar panels with the hose. Then dip you cleaning pad into the\nbucket and clean the panels one at a time. Do not allow the soap to dry on the\npanels.
\n3. Only clean an area small enough at any one time to allow you to rise off before\nthe soap dries.
\n4. Continue from top to bottom. When completed, use a squeegee to remove any\nremaining water. IMPORTANT Make sure to remove any water if you have hard water\nas you do not want any hard water metals, such as magnesium and calcium to dry\nand spot the panels. If you do not have a water softener, you can always take a\nwater sample into a pool supply store and have them test it for hardness.
\n5. We recommend that cleaning be done early in the morning at first light so as\nto avoid the panels heating up and soap drying prematurely on the panels.
\n6. When finished, safely remove all materials from the roof top and secure the\nladder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have trouble\nfinding a cleaning product that is safe, will not void your warranties and will\nnot damage the environment, contact Heliotex. We sell our soap concentrate\nwhich can be diluted for manual use. By the way, it also works well on window\ncleaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How often you clean your panels\nwill be determined by how dirty they get in your local area. The more frequently\nthey are cleaned, the better your production will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you get tired of cleaning them, as I did, call Heliotex. We can install an automatic solar panel cleaning system which keep your panels clean all the time. It never falls off the roof, breaks a solar panel or calls in sick. \ud83d\ude0a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yes, you can. A certain amount of care and planning should occur before you do. While we do not recommend manual cleaning if you are not trained or experienced walking around on a rooftop or around solar panels, you should consider the following if you do wish to do so. For sake of discussion, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,7,4,15,12,11,3,8,9,2,22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarpanelcleaningsystems.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarpanelcleaningsystems.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarpanelcleaningsystems.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarpanelcleaningsystems.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarpanelcleaningsystems.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarpanelcleaningsystems.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarpanelcleaningsystems.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions\/295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarpanelcleaningsystems.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarpanelcleaningsystems.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarpanelcleaningsystems.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}