Maintenance

[thebfamily]

Hey guys, I posted separately on here asking for advice on panels/inverters. I've pretty much decided on which panel I want (Panasonic AC). Now it's a matter of vendor. One of the vendors is trying to sell me that I should pay much more to go with them because the panels will need maintenance and they are best suited to perform it. Others have said the panels require no maintenance other than an occasional rinse in the summer.

Any thoughts?

[nwdiver]

Hey guys, I posted separately on here asking for advice on panels/inverters. I've pretty much decided on which panel I want (Panasonic AC). Now it's a matter of vendor. One of the vendors is trying to sell me that I should pay much more to go with them because the panels will need maintenance and they are best suited to perform it. Others have said the panels require no maintenance other than an occasional rinse in the summer.

Any thoughts?

No; Panels don't need maintenance. Washing them only slightly increases production for a couple weeks. Complete waste of time IMHO.

[thebfamily]

No; Panels don't need maintenance. Washing them only slightly increases production for a couple weeks. Complete waste of time IMHO.

Thanks! Most importantly, even if it's washing, I can do that myself. I don't need the the vendor

[solardreamer]

If you are in California then cleaning will give at best 4-5% extra temporarily so it's not really worth it. However, I think you are in upstate NY so if the vendor would come and remove snow off the panels then it might make a bigger difference.

[J.P.M.]

Hey guys, I posted separately on here asking for advice on panels/inverters. I've pretty much decided on which panel I want (Panasonic AC). Now it's a matter of vendor. One of the vendors is trying to sell me that I should pay much more to go with them because the panels will need maintenance and they are best suited to perform it. Others have said the panels require no maintenance other than an occasional rinse in the summer.

Any thoughts?

That vendor is conning you. Even in desert locations, paying for panel cleaning is a rip off. With your weather, summer and winter, you won't even need much, if any, hosing.

Read the book.

[RichardCullip]

Like others have said, the vendor is selling you something he needs that you don't.

[Mike90250]

rinse dust off before panels warm up in morning (don't put cold water on hot glass)

[peakbagger]

The only maintenance is to fix the shortcuts that they did when they installed it. Its highly likely they will be out of business long before they would actually do anything. You may want to consider buying a extension on the inverter guarantee from the manufacturer if its central inverter as past units tended to start having issues in the ten to 15 year range.