Advise please regarding solar panel cleaning

[Windowcleaner88]

Hello and happy new year to you all.

I’m just looking for some advise regarding solar panel cleaning, I’ve cleaned a few property’s now and have got on well with them no issues but a lot of property’s have access issues so wondering if a scaffold tower is the best way to go ? I have no experience in using one at all but they look pretty straight forward. Does anybody rent one for these kind of jobs ? I can’t imagine it’s easy to pass the cost into the customer ? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Pjj]

Some jobs do require scaffold towers or similar, this is both costly and time consuming, also erecting a scaffold tower needs two people so if working on your own it will be difficult, it may pay you just to do the ones you can without access equipment.

 

[Windowcleaner88]

Some jobs do require scaffold towers or similar, this is both costly and time consuming, also erecting a scaffold tower needs two people so if working on your own it will be difficult, it may pay you just to do the ones you can without access equipment.

Thanks for the advice. Do you clean many solar panels that are difficult to access and required scaffold or lifts ? If you don’t mind me asking.

 

[ched999uk]

From what I have seen the 'mi towers' are designed to be erected by a single person and a lot of hire companies hire them out for about £100 a week. They pack down quite small but would probably need a medium sized van to transport. If you could book a few jobs in for the same week and transport the tower you could spread the hire costs.

 

[Pjj]

Thanks for the advice. Do you clean many solar panels that are difficult to access and required scaffold or lifts ? If you don’t mind me asking.

Yes unfortunately, we no longer do the large commercial arrays with thousands of panels, but still do a lot of domestic and smaller private arrays ( several hundred panels a go ) for regular customers but don’t usually take on awkward jobs for non customers unless it’s extremely well paid .

 

[Pjj]

From what I have seen the 'mi towers' are designed to be erected by a single person and a lot of hire companies hire them out for about £100 a week. They pack down quite small but would probably need a medium sized van to transport. If you could book a few jobs in for the same week and transport the tower you could spread the hire costs.

Have you ever tried to do it on your own ? It can be done but is awkward we usually have the bigger one think it’s about 3 meters long ? Again they are awkward to erect by yourself, why do this type of work unless it’s extremely well paid when there is more than enough easy work out there that’s my moto , staff also hate solar cleaning with a passion and so do I .??

 

[ched999uk]

Have you ever tried to do it on your own ? It can be done but is awkward we usually have the bigger one think it’s about 3 meters long ? Again they are awkward to erect by yourself, why do this type of work unless it’s extremely well paid when there is more than enough easy work out there that’s my moto , staff also hate solar cleaning with a passion and so do I .??

The mi towers are a lot easier to put up than the long ali ones with diagonal braces. I haven't used the ones with diagonal braces for about 30 years and I agree they where a right pain to put up on your own, and that was when H&S wasn't really a thing

I do think you are right that once you account for tower hire, setup and packup plus the time to actually clean the panels the customer would have a heart attack at the price.

I have done my own panels, some from ground and others from my diy steel tower and they where OK. I do have about 30 panels to do at some point this spring for an existing windy customer that had a load installed and wants them cleaned twice a year, it is a bungalow so can be done from the ground.

I do like easy work though, going to be cutting back on difficult jobs or ones with access issues this year and just focus on 'nice' jobs.

 

[Windowcleaner88]

Would it be unprofessional to tell the customer they had to sort access to the panels out ? Like scaffold or cherry picker

 

[Iron Giant]

Would it be unprofessional to tell the customer they had to sort access to the panels out ? Like scaffold or cherry picker

What if they sort it out and it isn't erected correctly and you have an accident.

 

[ched999uk]

Would it be unprofessional to tell the customer they had to sort access to the panels out ? Like scaffold or cherry picker

Too risky. I think you legally need an IPAF cert to use a cherry picker. You could tell the customer your price and say plus £x for scaffold tower hire from X company. That way they can check out the tower hire price for themselves to see you are not taking the mickey.
We once had a decorator quote for painting the exterior of our property. He turned up on the day to start then tried to get me to hire a cherry picker at my expense - he hadn't mentioned this additional costs on his quote - he was told to Foxtrot Oscar! Had he included a line on his quote mentioning the additional costs of access equipment he would have been way more expensive and not got the job. So he lost a 2 week job and we had to find an alternative decorator.

So be up front about the hire costs whether you include them in your quote or as an additional itemised cost that way everyone knows what is included and what isn't.

 

[Part Timer]

I think you legally need an IPAF cert to use a cherry picker.

You can hire one with a licensed operator which covers you going up in the cradle as technically you're not operating it. It does however up the cost

 

[Pjj]

Would it be unprofessional to tell the customer they had to sort access to the panels out ? Like scaffold or cherry picker

To use a cherry picker you need an ipaf licence , as others have said if the customer supplies the tower you have no guarantees it’s safe we always hire them in as they come with all the paperwork for testing etc , we are all trained in the use and erection of them , I just tell the customer the price to clean the panels is xxx and scaffold tower hire is xxx so total of xxx if they want it doing that’s fine if they don’t ime not bothered as we have more than enough work ,as a side point I always add on £75 to the hire costs to cover admin time .

 

[Pjj]

You can hire one with a licensed operator which covers you going up in the cradle as technically you're not operating it. It does however up the cost

Yes prices usually start from £350-400 per day for this I believe , so unless it’s a lot of panels not really a cost effective option , we pay £75 for a tower including delivery and collection.

 

[K in Kent]

To use a cherry picker you need an ipaf licence , as others have said if the customer supplies the tower you have no guarantees it’s safe we always hire them in as they come with all the paperwork for testing etc , we are all trained in the use and erection of them , I just tell the customer the price to clean the panels is xxx and scaffold tower hire is xxx so total of xxx if they want it doing that’s fine if they don’t ime not bothered as we have more than enough work ,as a side point I always add on £75 to the hire costs to cover admin time .

I agree and in relation to the original point about passing on costs to customers - you have to do that! We pass on all costs directly or indirectly when quoting, i.e. expense of biocides/hypo/Virosol or whatever it might be.
If you need lift equipment for safe access that get passed on and if the customer doesn't like the price then walk away. If they fo elsewhere for a quote any other reputable firm will be doing the same thing and the customer has the choice of paying the going rate for what they want done or don't have it done....pr get in Billy The Kid and the cowboys.
Don't risk breaking your neck for the sake of a few quid.
I think I'm also right in saying that actually the customer has a degree of legal liability for making sure you comply with health and safety and working at height regs while on their premises. So you could always point that out to them. But if they don't care walk away.

 

[Tony Thong]

Hello and happy new year to you all.

I’m just looking for some advise regarding solar panel cleaning, I’ve cleaned a few property’s now and have got on well with them no issues but a lot of property’s have access issues so wondering if a scaffold tower is the best way to go ? I have no experience in using one at all but they look pretty straight forward. Does anybody rent one for these kind of jobs ? I can’t imagine it’s easy to pass the cost into the customer ? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Hello and happy new year to you all.

I’m just looking for some advise regarding solar panel cleaning, I’ve cleaned a few property’s now and have got on well with them no issues but a lot of property’s have access issues so wondering if a scaffold tower is the best way to go ? I have no experience in using one at all but they look pretty straight forward. Does anybody rent one for these kind of jobs ? I can’t imagine it’s easy to pass the cost into the customer ? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Have a look at how it done using a water fed pole

 

[Orgasmic window cleaning]

We use scaffold towers. Can’t do a great job from the floor, unless they’ve been cleaned regularly.
Remember your PASMA course.

 

[Elliott randall]

Just stay clear of stuff like that. Plenty of easier work going these days

 

[Limbo_117]

Personally, I find a lot of the videos about cleaning solar a little misleading. They usually only show arrays that have a coating of dust / algae which are an absolute dream to clean. I'm sure I've seen one what looks like they've thrown flour over it!

You can't properly clean panels from the ground (bungalows an exception) , especially not if there is lichen on it, is a waste of time.

I have yet to see a video of panels full of lichen with the poster showing you how they clean it!
Honest truth is that you scrape it off, then scrub like billy-oh to get the brown muck off that is invariably left behind. Hard graft.
Because the owner has neglected the panels for so long, the lichen has damaged the AR coating which leaves hazy spots on the glass where it was happily living - which doesn't look too good on a YouTube video does it!

Most people would baulk if they knew you used a scraper on the panels, yes there is a chance you would scratch the panel, (same chance if used scraper on a window for that matter), but it's the only way to get it off, so be gentle and not heavy handed

Access wise, Mi tower is great for this stuff (but expensive), or ladders with a microlite stand off, if your comfortable at heights, but not on a windy day!

You need to charge properly for this, panels full of lichen easily £20-£25 per panel. If they say no, who cares, they'll get some other monkeys in and call you back to do a proper job. No point risking your neck for a tenner!

 

[ched999uk]

Most people would baulk if they knew you used a scraper on the panels, yes there is a chance you would scratch the panel, (same chance if used scraper on a window for that matter), but it's the only way to get it off, so be gentle and not heavy handed

If the lichen is removed then the odd scratch doesn't really matter, I doubt they could be seen from the ground anyway.
I think Ashley Mac cleaned some lichen infested panels in a vid a few years ago but that wasn't the main subject of it and he used a scraper.