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Short Story: My installer washed my new solar panels with hard well water, leaving them covered with water spots. I’m now looking for advice on how to handle this situation with my installer. Is there an easy fix here, a safe way to remove these water spots with cleaners that will not hurt the glass or have any long term damaging effects? Should I settle for a financial discount for having ‘damaged’ panels? Should I request that my panels be replaced? Or should I accept the spotted panels and move on?
Full story:
I just finished up my new solar installation. However, my new panels are now water spotted after my installer washed my panels with hard water. After my install was complete, my installer promised to wash the panels down to remove the dirt that had accumulated during the install. My installer did use a water deionizer, but for those who know deionizers, they don’t work very well when the resin is exhausted. My installers used a CR Spotless Deionizer System and the water coming out of the system is supposed to read 000, or pure mineral-free water, on the outflow TDS meter for 95% of the life expectancy of the resin. Once the meter reads above 020, it needs to be changed. The meter on the unit used to wash my panels read 240, meaning my panels were cleaned with hard well water full of minerals.
A professional solar cleaner came and cleaned the panels again, this time with actual deionized water, but my panels are still spotted with hard spots etched into the glass. I’ve personally tried cleaning the panels with various mild cleaning products, scrubbing them with microfiber cloths, but to no avail as the spots appear to be etched into the glass. I don’t want to use any harsh chemicals that may harm or scratch the glass or damage the anti-reflective coating. The spots are clearly visible at all times of the day (especially at night with an LED flashlight).
I look at this the same way I would buying a new car. It would be completely unacceptable to walk onto a dealer’s lot and have your brand new car covered in hard water spots, not when you’re spending thousands of dollars and making a large, long-term investment. I had already planned on buying a deionizer to clean my panels so that I would never have to deal with spotting, but it’s a little too late for that now. My biggest concern is that these spots will affect panel performance by affecting light transmission. What makes this whole situation worse is that I’ve already had a ton of issues with my installer along the way, this is simply the icing on the cake.
The reason I’m sharing all of this is because I’m looking for input and advice on how I should handle this situation with my installer, as I’m too frustrated and exhausted from the prior headaches I’ve had with this install to think straight. I’m curious to know how others would approach this situation if they were in my shoes. Is there an easy fix here, a safe way to remove these water spots with cleaners that will not hurt the glass or have any long term damaging effects? Anything safe and designed for solar panels? Should I settle for a financial discount for having ‘damaged’ panels? Should I request that my panels be replaced? Or should I accept the spotted panels and move on?
Any advice or tips on how to proceed would be very much so appreciated. Thank you.
**Note: All of these pictures were taken after the panels were cleaned; they looked about 10x worse than this before the cleaning. Also, it's very difficult photographing water spots to make the camera focus. Sorry if they're not the best; you'll likely need to zoom in to see the spots clearly**
Pic1.jpgPic2.jpgPic3.jpg
Full story:
I just finished up my new solar installation. However, my new panels are now water spotted after my installer washed my panels with hard water. After my install was complete, my installer promised to wash the panels down to remove the dirt that had accumulated during the install. My installer did use a water deionizer, but for those who know deionizers, they don’t work very well when the resin is exhausted. My installers used a CR Spotless Deionizer System and the water coming out of the system is supposed to read 000, or pure mineral-free water, on the outflow TDS meter for 95% of the life expectancy of the resin. Once the meter reads above 020, it needs to be changed. The meter on the unit used to wash my panels read 240, meaning my panels were cleaned with hard well water full of minerals.
A professional solar cleaner came and cleaned the panels again, this time with actual deionized water, but my panels are still spotted with hard spots etched into the glass. I’ve personally tried cleaning the panels with various mild cleaning products, scrubbing them with microfiber cloths, but to no avail as the spots appear to be etched into the glass. I don’t want to use any harsh chemicals that may harm or scratch the glass or damage the anti-reflective coating. The spots are clearly visible at all times of the day (especially at night with an LED flashlight).
I look at this the same way I would buying a new car. It would be completely unacceptable to walk onto a dealer’s lot and have your brand new car covered in hard water spots, not when you’re spending thousands of dollars and making a large, long-term investment. I had already planned on buying a deionizer to clean my panels so that I would never have to deal with spotting, but it’s a little too late for that now. My biggest concern is that these spots will affect panel performance by affecting light transmission. What makes this whole situation worse is that I’ve already had a ton of issues with my installer along the way, this is simply the icing on the cake.
The reason I’m sharing all of this is because I’m looking for input and advice on how I should handle this situation with my installer, as I’m too frustrated and exhausted from the prior headaches I’ve had with this install to think straight. I’m curious to know how others would approach this situation if they were in my shoes. Is there an easy fix here, a safe way to remove these water spots with cleaners that will not hurt the glass or have any long term damaging effects? Anything safe and designed for solar panels? Should I settle for a financial discount for having ‘damaged’ panels? Should I request that my panels be replaced? Or should I accept the spotted panels and move on?
Any advice or tips on how to proceed would be very much so appreciated. Thank you.
**Note: All of these pictures were taken after the panels were cleaned; they looked about 10x worse than this before the cleaning. Also, it's very difficult photographing water spots to make the camera focus. Sorry if they're not the best; you'll likely need to zoom in to see the spots clearly**
Pic1.jpgPic2.jpgPic3.jpg
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