You have your system installed, now what do you do about solar system maintenance? Just like any system made up of working pieces, your solar system requires periodic maintenance to make sure it works efficiently.
Ideally, solar system maintenance will be scheduled on a regular basis, just like your automobile maintenance. Unfortunately, with your system out of sight, it often is also out of mind.
What are some of the issues that can come up with solar systems if you don’t maintain them?
Possibly the largest concern you’ll have about your solar system will be weather-related. Damage from animals may come second.
Weather problems will most likely occur with roof-mounted systems. If you live in an area where you have significant weather events, you’ll want to inspect your roof-mounted system regularly. Wind and hail can damage panels and wiring. Even though most solar panels are manufactured to withstand fairly strong storms, if there are a series of such storms small damages can add up.
Regular solar system maintenance can pick these small areas of damage up quickly before they become really serious.
If you live in an area with severe weather conditions, you may want to consider a ground-mounted solar system rather than a roof-mounted one.
In some areas, animals can chew on the wiring and thus cause shorts or decreased efficiency. Once again, regular solar system maintenance can find these areas and make repairs.
Some regular maintenance you can do yourself include checking for shading of the solar collectors periodically. When you installed your solar system, the trees around your property may not have shaded the collectors. But with time these trees may have grown to the point of covering the collectors and degrading the effectiveness of your system.
Periodically check your solar collectors for dust or dirt covering them. This also decreased the effectiveness of your system.
There are a number of things you can check visually yourself to assure the continuing effectiveness and efficiency of your solar system. Be careful if you climb on the roof to do this.
Regular solar system maintenance is one of the services provided by Alternate Energy of Plymouth, MA. Contact us today at 800-327-6527 (800-DC-Solar) to schedule your solar system maintenance.
« Whole-House System | Home | Why Upgrade Your Solar System? »