Solar Maintenance Made Simple: The Complete Guide
A lot of people are still thinking that solar power is a futuristic technology that their children or grandchildren may enjoy. However, the solar panel industry has already arrived in a big way, bringing in more than $17 billion each year in the United States alone! There are more than 600 solar power companies around the United States.
Of course, that means that more and more people are needing to learn about solar maintenance. Some people even want to learn about solar maintenance before they get solar panels. They may be concerned that maintenance will be so arduous that it might be better not to have solar panels installed at all.
However, with the simple tips in this article, you will know everything you need to about how to keep a solar panel system in top condition. Solar panels are so efficient and maintenance is so simple that installation is a great choice for almost anyone!
So what does it take to keep solar panels maintained and functioning properly? Read on to learn all about solar panel maintenance and how much work it can be!
Solar Maintenance Guide
Most Types of Solar Panels Require Little Maintenance
The first thing to understand about solar panel maintenance is that it is not difficult and it does not take too much time. There are a few different kinds of solar panels out there. However, all of them require only a small amount of maintenance each year.
For example, you can compare solar panels on a rooftop to solar panels that are located closer to the ground. In both cases, cleaning and maintenance require only a few hours invested over the course of a year.
Solar panels located closer to the ground may tend to pick up a little more debris and dust, requiring a little bit of extra maintenance. Of course, such solar panels are also more susceptible to accidents, since people and animals are much less likely to interact with panels on a rooftop in any significant way.
However, even accounting for that, you will see that solar panel maintenance is so simple that it is almost trivial.
That goes double when you account for the fact that solar panel maintenance is only necessary to get the most possible efficiency out of your solar panels. Even if you ignore cleaning and maintenance, your solar panels will continue to work almost as well.
Clean Your Solar Energy System
At the same time, most people invest in solar panel systems because they want to get as much possible energy out of them. As long as the maintenance is not too arduous, they are more than happy to put a few hours each year into it.
The most consistent kind of maintenance you will need to apply is cleaning. Solar panels need to receive as much exposure to sunlight as possible to generate as much electricity as they can.
As they sit outside, solar panels tend to accumulate a thin layer of dust. At first, this will not interfere with electricity generation. However, after a few months, this layer of dust can get thick enough that solar panel efficiency starts to go down a little.
However, resolving this problem is as simple as wiping off your solar panels. You may need to use water, or even add soap for maximum effect. However, the process could not be simpler.
Some people worry that solar panels are sensitive, so they think the cleaning job will require meticulous attention to avoid damaging them while removing the layer of dust. However, anyone who has held or touched a solar panel for themselves knows how robust they are.
Wiping off a solar panel is no more difficult than wiping a layer of dust off the hood of a car. If you perform this simple cleaning between two and four times each year, your solar panels will continue to function with excellent efficiency.
Use Professional Solar Monitoring Tools
You may not even need to schedule regular cleanings and maintenance. You can instead use solar panel monitoring application tools to let you know how efficiently your solar panels are performing.
If efficiency goes down, you know that it may be time for cleaning or an inspection. However, if efficiency stays the same, you don’t have to worry about anything.
You can even set up such an application to send you a special notification if efficiency drops below a certain level for a consistent amount of time. That way, you can worry about maintenance only when it is actually necessary.
The Best Solar Panels Come With Warranties
Lots of quality solar panel systems come with warranties. These warranties minimize how much you have to worry about maintenance. If something breaks your solar panels, you can replace them.
And you can have someone else do the work for you. That means that you will not have to worry about repairs or losing total energy production capacity by losing individual panels.
Of course, these warranties do not mean that your solar company will provide cleaning for you. They may also not provide other necessary services to maximize how much sunlight lands on your solar panels.
Get Maximum Sunlight for Your Residential Solar System
Dust is one thing, but shade and debris can also keep sunlight from reaching your solar panels. For example, a tree branch that does not block your solar panels today might grow to block them over the course of a few years.
Sometimes, people install solar panels in the winter only to discover that the leaves of Spring end up interfering with solar panel efficiency.
This is the only other maintenance you may have to worry about. If anything is blocking sunlight’s access to your solar panels, you will have to remove it. However, this problem only comes up in a small minority of cases.
Understand the Most Important Things to Know About Solar Maintenance
The more you know about solar maintenance, the more you can make sure you get the most out of your solar panels. Understanding solar maintenance will also help you appreciate why so many people are interested in solar panel technology. With a minimum of maintenance, you can enjoy energy savings for decades to come!
To learn more about the latest information in energy, technology, and more, take a look at our other articles!
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