Once you add in the value of your time the chance of falling off the roof and killing yourself and how cleaning panels usually only adds a couple of percent to their average output it is not really worth it.
Paint overspray on solar panels.
It came to our attention from the owner of a winery where the paint oversprayed vehicles were parked that the paint overspray had also affected 630 solar panels.
As you can see in the before and after pictures above and below we also discovered that a thick glazed layer of dust accumulation and debris spots had collected across the entire system.
I ve been here for 2 years so it s 2 3 years old at a guess today in cental qld at lunch time i m producing 1 7kw on a 3kw system 10 panel single string system.
I have already written about why it doesn t make sense to pay people to clean your solar panels.
Solar panels are generally pretty much self cleaning as natural rainfall will usually wash away the accumulated dust and grime.
Looks like 2 or 3 of my panels have some paint over spray on them from when my facia was painted.
Unlike traditional solar panels it s extremely easy to scale solar paint using the same spray gun you can just spray a smaller or larger area.
We have experienced an increase in calls this year related to paint overspray affecting the energy production of homeowners pv systems.
Per national electric code nec internal parts of electrical equipment including bus bars wiring terminals insulators and other surfaces shall not be damaged or contaminated by foreign materials such as paint plaster cleaners or abrasives.
Significant paint and or drywall finishing material overspray found inside the electrical panel.
Solar paint can also be applied to surfaces of almost any shape or size and to numerous surface types including plastic fabrics and even car bodies.
This was definitely preventing the solar system from experiencing optimal solar output.
Paint over spray on pv panels acetone will remove most paint and not harm glass.
I don t know if you have an ar coating on the outside glass very rare in that case i don t know if acetone will harm it.
It will do bad things to the edge seal so be careful to only clean the glass over the cells don t go all the way to the edge seal.
Removing paint over spray from 630 solar panels proved our cleaning process to very effective september 28 2013 by overspray removal uncategorized we had a very unusual request a few years ago when we were removing paint overspray from many affected vehicles at a location at a california winery.
This unfortunate situation happens when the homeowner has their home repainted and during the application of paint on the eaves and gutters overspray covers the pv modules.
I also wrote it doesn t make a lot of sense to clean them yourself.