Sunday September 4 2016, 7:50 AM

MAINTENANCE OF SOLAR PANELS

If you do install solar panels you WILL save BIG $$ over the course of a year just so long as you continue to use electricity as you have in the past year.

Our first years savings were $1806. We used $1466. to make the payments on the 12 year 3.99% loan; this left us with $340. "profit." So, our system is paying for itself and, given that, it is FREE.

However, as in life, "all that glitters is not gold." You cannot install rooftop panels and then 'gloat' while counting the $$ saved. :) You MUST perform a certain amount of maintenance.

If you search the net for info on "How often should I clean my solar panels" you will find precious little info. What you do find will vary widely. I've seen a 5% to 20% figure for the loss of efficiency, in a year, due to the environment, i.e., blowing dust, bird droppings, tree leaves, etc. clouding over the panels. Which is right? The answer is, who knows?

How often you should clean them depends on WHERE you live. Are you in a clean coastal area, out in the desert, or do you live next to, or in an industrial area?

The only way you can answer the question on how often to clean panels, IMHO, is to take data daily for a year, or preferably for longer, so you can "look back" and compare a past month to the present month. This should work, I would think, providing "global warming," if it exists, is not a factor. :)

We have a "Smart" power meter. It gives us a continuous "rolling readout" on power both taken AND fed to "the grid." It is cumulative, so, if we write down the number at sundown every day we will build up a data base for future comparison.

A comparison of our August 2015 data to August 2016 shows that our panel efficiency has dropped 4.61% between back then and now. BUT BUT, and this is why we still don't have enough data: California, where we are, 2 miles from the ocean, is in a 5 year drought. We have had NO rain in a long time. This is NOT a normal year. The rain would help clean our panels and reduce the loss in efficiency. We HOPE for rain this winter. Perhaps then we will be able to make a rational judgement as to how OFTEN we need to clean or panels in our area. I suspect, given what we are seeing, that, in our area, a once/year cleaning is likely reasonable.

I mentioned above that we had a $340. surplus over and above the $$ spent monthly to pay off the cost of our system. We are, as you can see, getting the system for FREE. :) We can use the $340. surplus to pay to have the panels professionally cleaned. We have a company locally that gave us a bid of $208. to clean up to 20 panels on our 2-story house; we have 14 panels. So, we are still "ahead of the game." The system is paying for itself AND for its maintenance. Your situation may be different as your panels may degrade quicker; I can't answer that.

From what we've learned, panel cleaning takes a bit of "finesse." The panels are a bit "fragile" and should be cleaned with a soft brush, on a long pole. NO, you can't WALK on them, or crawl across them! :) No regular cleaning detergent should be used as it will leave a residue and impair efficiency. If you want to do this YOURSELF you will have to do research on the proper cleaning solution to use. But, in our case, we both being over 70, we do NOT want to climb up to and crawl around our roof! :) We think it makes more sense to PAY the $208. out of our "solar profit" and let someone younger and more foolish do it. :)

So, stay tuned for "News at 11." I will post when we have more data on the cost and need for panel maintenance. :)


Stay here on Earth. It's the only planet with DARK CHOCOLATE !!

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River Song (aka Linda Latte on planet Earth)
"Happy I-Phone girl on the GO GO GO"

Yes, $208 does sound reasonable, 70, being 56 and having OA, I completely understand.
And yes I too like Chocolate.
My internet speeds are greatly reduced, TWC is coming out on Tuesday to fix this problem, like 2.1K, instead of 30/5M that I'm paying for.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Yes, $208 does sound reasonable, 70, being 56 and having OA, I completely understand.
And yes I too like Chocolate.
My internet speeds are greatly reduced, TWC is coming out on Tuesday to fix this problem, like 2.1K, instead of 30/5M that I'm paying for.

ahhhhhhhhh, our net download speed varies from about 50 to 150 MB/sec depending on if I'm thru a router or wired direct. But, it costs us an arm and a leg, like about $82/month thru Cox Cable.

let's face it, if we HAVE to HAVE a vice, liking CHOCOLATE isn't all that bad. :)

Tha fact that there's a HIGHWAY TO HELL and only a STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers!

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River Song (aka Linda Latte on planet Earth)
"Happy I-Phone girl on the GO GO GO"

Yes, $208 does sound reasonable, 70, being 56 and having OA, I completely understand.
And yes I too like Chocolate.
My internet speeds are greatly reduced, TWC is coming out on Tuesday to fix this problem, like 2.1K, instead of 30/5M that I'm paying for.

ahhhhhhhhh, our net download speed varies from about 50 to 150 MB/sec depending on if I'm thru a router or wired direct. But, it costs us an arm and a leg, like about $82/month thru Cox Cable.

let's face it, if we HAVE to HAVE a vice, liking CHOCOLATE isn't all that bad. :)

The fact that there's a HIGHWAY TO HELL and only a STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers!

I think I solved My problem, it might be a Firefox browser extension that I downloaded, Better Privacy, this worked for 2 days, then My troubles began, but only on Firefox, instead I'm using Hitman Pro to get rid of the dreaded tracking cookies.

As to the cost, well TWC(soon to be Spectrum, lovely, now where is Captain Scarlet. ;) ) has Me on a retention's package I think, of $109.68 per month, I get Cable TV in HD and 30/5 to 37/6 internet for that amount, up to a year, plus I'm being billed up to a year at 20/2 speeds cause of the upgrades that are going on, plus the poor performance the area has had, the 30/5 is the Extreme package, 20/2 is Turbo, the modem is a Black Arris 6183 which is capable of about 300/20M to maybe 325/25M, the modem cost Me $55.00 when I'd bought it some time back from a seller in China, the area was being upgraded to Maxx speed before Spectrum came around, now, no one knows for sure, some areas will get the upgrades, others maybe, We'll have to see.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's