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zesty

  • Posts: 2454
Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« on: April 27, 2020, 01:09:11 pm »
As per title.

Done two solar panel jobs in the last week.

Both covered in white lichen. Horrible.

I actually ended up pressure washing the one job. They wanted me to at there own risk of damage. It worked really well. Obviously this is never ever recommended, but there was absolutely no other way.

Hate doing them sometimes!

I even tried softwashing them, also not recommended, but again, customer agreed to risk of damage.

 Nothing but high pressure touches that lichen.

Ooooooog

  • Posts: 1083
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2020, 01:31:54 pm »
We use this


Pressure washing will void the warranty. Soft washing is just mental.
Nothing but purified water.

Ooooooog

  • Posts: 1083
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2020, 01:32:54 pm »

NWH

  • Posts: 16952
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2020, 01:40:02 pm »
They love hot water I’m afraid you obviously are not hot.

Splash & dash

  • Posts: 4364
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2020, 01:44:57 pm »
Spray with water first so  that the licken  softens up then scrub with hot water , comes off a treat

zesty

  • Posts: 2454
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2020, 02:25:19 pm »
Never seen that brush Ooooog

Nope, hot water wouldn’t touch it.

Neither would a light softwash mix

Neither would wetting it up, and leaving to soak.

Not being funny lads, the first job was an absolute mess. The amount of lichen on the panels was unreal. I’ve been in this game long enough (12 years)  to see my fair share of solar panels, and the first job was unbelievable.

I ended up using a turbo nozzle with medium pressure, it worked very well. There was no water ingress and no issues. They are working great. Again, the customer was well aware of the issues it could have caused.

It’s a good job they were on a low roof, an outhouse building. Otherwise there would have been no way what so ever.

It was literally like cement.

The second job (done this morning, wasn’t as bad, more just extremely annoying to clean it off.)

I suppose the point of the is thread to vent how incredibly annoying some solar panel cleans can be.


zesty

  • Posts: 2454
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2020, 02:34:24 pm »
Does that brush rotate ooooog?

Doesn’t look like it does, but I doubt even that would have touched these panels mate, it needed serious pressure, applied to the panel and even then I had to resort to pressure washing.


Softwashing per se, isn’t actually that ‘mental’. It’s amazing how resistant solar panels are to Chems. It’s the wires underneath and the aluminium surrounds you have to careful of. The panels themselves are fine with a small amount of hypo in a mix with surfactant.

I sprayed the mix in the panels, didn’t even touch the lichen.

Turbo nozzle was the only way to get the lichen off.

Low pressure, but enough for the turbo nozzle to break up the lichen. Being careful near the panel edges is a must, although in fairness, solar panels are lot tougher than people think. Like a lot tougher!

That said, you obviously would only use high pressure with the customers permission and also as a last resort.

You also need to ‘know what you’re doing’ with a pressure washer, and not willy nilly blast the panels to bits.

I ended up earning well out of it. But my word was it annoying.



NWH

  • Posts: 16952
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2020, 02:50:05 pm »
Never seen that brush Ooooog

Nope, hot water wouldn’t touch it.

Neither would a light softwash mix

Neither would wetting it up, and leaving to soak.

Not being funny lads, the first job was an absolute mess. The amount of lichen on the panels was unreal. I’ve been in this game long enough (12 years)  to see my fair share of solar panels, and the first job was unbelievable.

I ended up using a turbo nozzle with medium pressure, it worked very well. There was no water ingress and no issues. They are working great. Again, the customer was well aware of the issues it could have caused.

It’s a good job they were on a low roof, an outhouse building. Otherwise there would have been no way what so ever.

It was literally like cement.

The second job (done this morning, wasn’t as bad, more just extremely annoying to clean it off.)

I suppose the point of the is thread to vent how incredibly annoying some solar panel cleans can be.
I do about 10 panels once a year that are covered in Lichen they are under an oak tree so they have a lot of sapp on them also hot water get em clean enough.
Anything like that using cold is only good for an old scrubber.

zesty

  • Posts: 2454
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2020, 02:51:43 pm »
This was another level NWH, on a farm, and hadn’t been cleaned in 8 years.

Trust me when I say this, there ain’t no way they were coming up without high pressure!

Ooooooog

  • Posts: 1083
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2020, 03:03:10 pm »
Does that brush rotate ooooog?

Doesn’t look like it does, but I doubt even that would have touched these panels mate, it needed serious pressure, applied to the panel and even then I had to resort to pressure washing.


Softwashing per se, isn’t actually that ‘mental’. It’s amazing how resistant solar panels are to Chems. It’s the wires underneath and the aluminium surrounds you have to careful of. The panels themselves are fine with a small amount of hypo in a mix with surfactant.

I sprayed the mix in the panels, didn’t even touch the lichen.

Turbo nozzle was the only way to get the lichen off.

Low pressure, but enough for the turbo nozzle to break up the lichen. Being careful near the panel edges is a must, although in fairness, solar panels are lot tougher than people think. Like a lot tougher!

That said, you obviously would only use high pressure with the customers permission and also as a last resort.

You also need to ‘know what you’re doing’ with a pressure washer, and not willy nilly blast the panels to bits.

I ended up earning well out of it. But my word was it annoying.

Yes, spins around. Powered by pressure washer. Designed for cleaning solar panels.

zesty

  • Posts: 2454
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2020, 03:10:25 pm »
Got a link to it ooooog?

NWH

  • Posts: 16952
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #11 on: April 27, 2020, 03:24:24 pm »
This was another level NWH, on a farm, and hadn’t been cleaned in 8 years.

Trust me when I say this, there ain’t no way they were coming up without high pressure!
Yeah baked on 🤣 it’s warm today down south my water was boiling hot all work I did today very few spots of water left on the glass when I left each job if any.

NWH

  • Posts: 16952
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #12 on: April 27, 2020, 03:25:38 pm »
You should have wet them and then bronzed Wooled them on a pad first m8 that would have shifted it better.

Splash & dash

  • Posts: 4364
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #13 on: April 27, 2020, 03:35:33 pm »
Never seen that brush Ooooog

Nope, hot water wouldn’t touch it.

Neither would a light softwash mix

Neither would wetting it up, and leaving to soak.

Not being funny lads, the first job was an absolute mess. The amount of lichen on the panels was unreal. I’ve been in this game long enough (12 years)  to see my fair share of solar panels, and the first job was unbelievable.

I ended up using a turbo nozzle with medium pressure, it worked very well. There was no water ingress and no issues. They are working great. Again, the customer was well aware of the issues it could have caused.

It’s a good job they were on a low roof, an outhouse building. Otherwise there would have been no way what so ever.

It was literally like cement.

The second job (done this morning, wasn’t as bad, more just extremely annoying to clean it off.)

I suppose the point of the is thread to vent how incredibly annoying some solar panel cleans can be.



This is part of the reason we do very little solar now it’s not financially viable and can be difficult, if we do take any on I always view them first or get customers to send up to date pictures, if they are as bad as you are describing it would be very expensive or I would decline the job , I still say soak with water then do with hot eater it comes off ok but is harder work and takes more time .

NWH

  • Posts: 16952
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #14 on: April 27, 2020, 03:42:34 pm »
Pain in the arse they are I only do and would do them for existing customers I’d never just quote for solar panels only,earn more cleaning windows.

zesty

  • Posts: 2454
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #15 on: April 27, 2020, 04:05:28 pm »
Yep they are a right nuisance at times, I did have photos, but they weren’t good enough to show the shear state of them.

I made sure to charge extra or walk away. In fairness, once I got the pressure washer out, it was a piece of cake.

I generally decline, or quote silly amounts when they are awkward to reach, or need to be done from the ground.

Ooooooog

  • Posts: 1083
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #16 on: April 27, 2020, 06:27:18 pm »
Got a link to it ooooog?

Cleantecs

Slacky

  • Posts: 8278
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #17 on: April 27, 2020, 06:37:20 pm »
A turbo nozzle on solar panels?

I've heard it all now.

And if it was like cement you get bet your arse you damaged the solar panels; simply because you've had to apply that amount of pressure to them to effectively remove cement.

Splash & dash

  • Posts: 4364
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #18 on: April 27, 2020, 07:06:55 pm »
Got a link to it ooooog?

Cleantecs



Just out of interest  what does one of those brushes cost ? They don’t have prices on the web site for some strange reason , that tells me they must be mega money 😂😂😂😂

Ooooooog

  • Posts: 1083
Re: Solar panels covered in white lichen.
« Reply #19 on: April 27, 2020, 07:27:21 pm »
Got a link to it ooooog?

Cleantecs



Just out of interest  what does one of those brushes cost ? They don’t have prices on the web site for some strange reason , that tells me they must be mega money 😂😂😂😂

About 5 or 6k depending on what you need.
We do a lot of poultry sheds and agricultural buildings. Perfect tool for the job. Guzzles water though.