Solar panel cleaning

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
is there anyone who has tried any of these cheaper powered brushes.
We have a very long stretch on one set up 24m from bottom to top and I strongly suspect the cleaning suffers from this
A 24 metre pole is not common either.
These brushes are either powered by water pressure or a low voltage motor
some are quite heavy which is not ideal for working on a roof either
I have seen Chinese twin rotor brushes quoted as being less than 10Kg , which is manageable compared to a German brush which quotes 22Kg and is 4 times the price
any ideas?
I would be very keen to see one in action but have not found a UK retailer handling them
 

rollestonpark

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Burton on trent
I cleaned ours about a month ago after taking a look at them, they were quite bad in places.
They had areas of lichen growing on them (or whatever it's called). You often see this stuff on roof tiles it a yellowish or green colour.

Anyway it's almost like concrete to remove.
I probably used a rough farmer's method to clean them, but this is what I did and no harm (it seems) has come to the panels (they work better than ever)

They are roof mounted on a fairly flatish roof.
I'm a small light person.

So I got my pressure washer and walked on the panels, where the mount bolts are, then pressure washed them at close range.
Took a bit to remove to be honest.
I was worried about blasting water between the laminate of the panels and thus damaging them.
However all has been fine now for over 2 months.
The resistance to ground (across the array) reported by the inverter is unchanged (before and after), so think all is good.
Took about a day on a 30kw system (250w panels)

Honestly, unless the roof is quite flat and new-ish condition (strong), I would probably not recommend this method.
A neighbour who has a lot of solar on his roofs, got a company in with a large cherry picker and they used some sort of rotary brush type equipment.

If you have this lichen on them like I had, just getting a window cleaner guy in isn't going to do anything.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
I cleaned ours about a month ago after taking a look at them, they were quite bad in places.
They had areas of lichen growing on them (or whatever it's called). You often see this stuff on roof tiles it a yellowish or green colour.

Anyway it's almost like concrete to remove.
I probably used a rough farmer's method to clean them, but this is what I did and no harm (it seems) has come to the panels (they work better than ever)

They are roof mounted on a fairly flatish roof.
I'm a small light person.

So I got my pressure washer and walked on the panels, where the mount bolts are, then pressure washed them at close range.
Took a bit to remove to be honest.
I was worried about blasting water between the laminate of the panels and thus damaging them.
However all has been fine now for over 2 months.
The resistance to ground (across the array) reported by the inverter is unchanged (before and after), so think all is good.
Took about a day on a 30kw system (250w panels)

Honestly, unless the roof is quite flat and new-ish condition (strong), I would probably not recommend this method.
A neighbour who has a lot of solar on his roofs, got a company in with a large cherry picker and they used some sort of rotary brush type equipment.

If you have this lichen on them like I had, just getting a window cleaner guy in isn't going to do anything.
I started seeing Lichen after about 3 years, and now clean at least once a year (usually on wet day like today!) using a window mop on an extension. Seems to be keeping the dreaded green away now.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
is there anyone who has tried any of these cheaper powered brushes.
We have a very long stretch on one set up 24m from bottom to top and I strongly suspect the cleaning suffers from this
A 24 metre pole is not common either.
These brushes are either powered by water pressure or a low voltage motor
some are quite heavy which is not ideal for working on a roof either
I have seen Chinese twin rotor brushes quoted as being less than 10Kg , which is manageable compared to a German brush which quotes 22Kg and is 4 times the price
any ideas?
I would be very keen to see one in action but have not found a UK retailer handling them
Alibaba it??

 

rollestonpark

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Burton on trent
I started seeing Lichen after about 3 years, and now clean at least once a year (usually on wet day like today!) using a window mop on an extension. Seems to be keeping the dreaded green away now.
I think your right, if you let it get established, you've got quite a job on your hands to sort it out.
I will probably go over the array quickly every March from now on, ready for the summer season (esp given the price of power).
That should mean a quick an easy job each time.
 

rollestonpark

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Burton on trent
Alibaba it??

given the lichen issue on our array, that cleaning kit would have not removed it very easily at all.
I think that kit would be fine if your keeping on top of it, like cleaning every year.
I had my chap working on the array by walking around the perimeter of it, with a stiff yard brush and a bucket of car cleaning mix and it didn't work very well.
 

Fogg

Member
Livestock Farmer
I get mine done every three years. It'd probably pay to get them done more regularly given the amount of dust that can accumulate.

285392891_10160135258842774_8441400577979449952_n.jpg
 

f0ster

Member
one of our customers had the opportunity to replace an inverter on a 50kw system (three inverters) he also had an extra string added to the new larger inverter,
the new inverter was able to show all of the string voltages, this being the old strings and the new strings, the new strings were more than double the output of the old strings
due to a covering of dust on the old strings which was not immediately visible until you wiped one of the old panels
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Alibaba it??

That is where I have seen most of them
Looks a good concept but only k’archer have sold a version which is four times the price.
To be fair, time I had imported a chinese one I expect it would be at least double and possibly a fair bit more with postage and duties here. The other issue with the Chinese ones all seem to have a non standard pole attachment.
The Chinese ones use a dc motor to drive whgich means water usage would be lower and that vcounts a lot in hard water areas.
There is a roller brush by a german company called Solar Tec
I would like to see one at work or at least get other peoples experiences before shelling out a few thousand on a brush
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
There are some amazing outfits on Youtube
I would love a true robot but prices are crazy
Have seen some on Alibaba fraction of the cost but am shy with regards weight, panels and controls , falling off an 8 metre roof would be a little expensive!
 

Farmer 059

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Staffordshire
Clean our ground mounted panels when they are snow covered. The moisture has loosened any grime, and as we pull the snow off with a pole and window cleaning attachment, it leaves them spotless. Output readings still very good 8 years after install, so seems to work!
 

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