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what size pole usually for solar panel going to top of roof?

ks789

Well-known member
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Location
ipswich
Just trying to think if i'd be better off getting longer reach pole for such jobs. Prob wouldnt use much. The panels are in two rows and seem to reach near the top of the roof, so together with the angle reckon gonna need quite  a reach. cant load up pics, but you can picture a house (  with looks like big loft/roof space) and solar panels going to near the apex. I thought of portable scaffold tower, but maybe better to just get long pole? cant really splash out on a good one, but as dont do many such jobs thought id get a long cheapy if poss. Any views? scaffold tower? long cheap pole?

 
F@ck, Im fair sure long pole wouldnt fit in my connect. I use slx 22 and have to have that in there sideways. I know glass fibre not great, but titan at 40 foot should reach. and cheap ( in comparison) only use it for those few roof jobs occassionally

 
Personally wouldn't use a fibreglass pole of that size at that angle. The brush probably wouldn't touch the panels.
Exactly the centre of the pole will be rubbing in the gutters.  To clean solar panels from the ground you need a good quality stiff pole with a 10 inch goose neck dont extend the top section of the pole this will then miss the gutter and you can clean the panels successfully , generally you will need a pole length of between 35-47 feet depending on the pitch of the roof . 

 
Personally wouldn't use a fibreglass pole of that size at that angle. The brush probably wouldn't touch the panels.
Ah not good then. Biggest ive used is my slx 22. So rare I need any longer to be fair. This roof job would be be £200 or more, but at only once a year would take years to recoup if I bought a decent pole. At a push could do it up a ladder with ladder stay. Take a day and have adequate breaks/rests, should be do-able I reckon.

 
Ah not good then. Biggest ive used is my slx 22. So rare I need any longer to be fair. This roof job would be be £200 or more, but at only once a year would take years to recoup if I bought a decent pole. At a push could do it up a ladder with ladder stay. Take a day and have adequate breaks/rests, should be do-able I reckon.
How many panels is it ? A typical 16 panel array on a roof shouldn’t take more than 30-40 muinits tops  .

 
How many panels is it ? A typical 16 panel array on a roof shouldn’t take more than 30-40 muinits tops  .
I think it was 50 altogether, theres an easier panel on the roof of their indoor pool which will be easier as thats only ground floor roof. Could get that from ground i think. Yeh I should be ok. Does strain a bit but will take a few rest breaks etc to not f@ck myself up.

 
You could consider doing the same as the Sky Engineers do.

Use ladders tied off. You might have to drill a suitable anchor point/s in the wall.

Get a safety harness that has a clip on the front for your lanyard. Secure lanyard to the ladders.

This way you can work with 2 hands on a shorter pole at roof height.

Or

not do the job at all. Buying an extra long pole for a couple of jobs a year isn't worth the outlay.

I have a 40' SLX. I cleaned some panels on a modern house a while back. Thankfully the back garden slopes toward the house. I was just able to clean them. Had the garden sloped back from the house I wouldn't have been able to do the job.

 
You could consider doing the same as the Sky Engineers do.

Use ladders tied off. You might have to drill a suitable anchor point/s in the wall.

Get a safety harness that has a clip on the front for your lanyard. Secure lanyard to the ladders.

This way you can work with 2 hands on a shorter pole at roof height.

Or

not do the job at all. Buying an extra long pole for a couple of jobs a year isn't worth the outlay.

I have a 40' SLX. I cleaned some panels on a modern house a while back. Thankfully the back garden slopes toward the house. I was just able to clean them. Had the garden sloped back from the house I wouldn't have been able to do the job.
True, thinking about it, has to be a two hand job. Could do with kind of a hybrid step ladder/scaffold tower. The ground on this place is level but like you say, its not worth spending big on a barely used pole. Lucky not in victorian London, would be sending street urchins up there, like the old sweeps assistants.

 
Just trying to think if i'd be better off getting longer reach pole for such jobs. Prob wouldnt use much. The panels are in two rows and seem to reach near the top of the roof, so together with the angle reckon gonna need quite  a reach. cant load up pics, but you can picture a house (  with looks like big loft/roof space) and solar panels going to near the apex. I thought of portable scaffold tower, but maybe better to just get long pole? cant really splash out on a good one, but as dont do many such jobs thought id get a long cheapy if poss. Any views? scaffold tower? long cheap pole?
This was us yesterday. I was using an SLX 30 and only just able to reach the furthest panel. Pole against the van is an SLX 22, for scale. I think it's the second job in six years that I had to stand on the van roof. I won't be making a habit of it. The top panels were further away than they look in the photo. It was a tough enough job to get them clean even with a soap wash.

I personally wouldn't pay big money for a pole to clean solar panels on rare occasions. We have our 30 footer mainly for a handful of the higher houses on our round.

IMG-20200603-WA0000.jpg

 
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This was us yesterday. I was using an SLX 30 and only just able to reach the furthest panel. Pole against the van is an SLX 22, for scale. I think it's the second job in six years that I had to stand on the van roof. I won't be making a habit of it. The top panels were further away than they look in the photo. It was a tough enough job to get them clean even with a soap wash.

I personally wouldn't pay big money for a pole to clean solar panels on rare occasions. We have our 30 footer mainly for a handful of the higher houses on our round.

View attachment 20777
I thought about the van roof, still not enough height with a 22. I wasnt gonna soap them first, I thought would be tricky. Just low flow scrub and then higher flow rinse off. I guess really its just getting the dust off, not really any baked on muck.

 
This was us yesterday. I was using an SLX 30 and only just able to reach the furthest panel. Pole against the van is an SLX 22, for scale. I think it's the second job in six years that I had to stand on the van roof. I won't be making a habit of it. The top panels were further away than they look in the photo. It was a tough enough job to get them clean even with a soap wash.

I personally wouldn't pay big money for a pole to clean solar panels on rare occasions. We have our 30 footer mainly for a handful of the higher houses on our round.

View attachment 20777
I'm not sure this is the best place to put this photo up. H&S would certainly not approve of doing it this way and it may give someone else the idea that they could also do this.

If you were working from a platform with side protective rails on the roof then you might be able to justify this with H&S.

 
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I haven’t bothered reading any of the replies so not sure what has been said.....I have a 39’ carbon fibre pole and never had a problem using that for solar panels, but certainly wouldn’t bother with anything shorter as you need quite a shallow angle to get to the top. I wouldn’t use a cheap fibreglass pole as they are soooooo bendy lol you’ll keep clipping the gutters when scrubbing, a PITA. Unless you really need the solar panel work I wouldn’t get a pole just for that; a carbon fibre 39’ from gardiners set me back about £540 3 years ago so it has to be a worthwhile investment. However those longer poles are great for 2nd floors.

Oh, I did see the bit about someone saying a longer pole might not fit in a connect.....I have a connect and it fits in fine ?

 
This was us yesterday. I was using an SLX 30 and only just able to reach the furthest panel. Pole against the van is an SLX 22, for scale. I think it's the second job in six years that I had to stand on the van roof. I won't be making a habit of it. The top panels were further away than they look in the photo. It was a tough enough job to get them clean even with a soap wash.

I personally wouldn't pay big money for a pole to clean solar panels on rare occasions. We have our 30 footer mainly for a handful of the higher houses on our round.

View attachment 20777
Christ. I’d love to read your RAMS.

 
I haven’t bothered reading any of the replies so not sure what has been said.....I have a 39’ carbon fibre pole and never had a problem using that for solar panels, but certainly wouldn’t bother with anything shorter as you need quite a shallow angle to get to the top. I wouldn’t use a cheap fibreglass pole as they are soooooo bendy lol you’ll keep clipping the gutters when scrubbing, a PITA. Unless you really need the solar panel work I wouldn’t get a pole just for that; a carbon fibre 39’ from gardiners set me back about £540 3 years ago so it has to be a worthwhile investment. However those longer poles are great for 2nd floors.

Oh, I did see the bit about someone saying a longer pole might not fit in a connect.....I have a connect and it fits in fine ?
Probably the best bet, and maybe an extension section just in case. I have some 2nd floor (ground floor, 1st floor 2nd floor) (dunno if to call them 3 storey?) where I barely reach the top windows with the slx 22, so a 39 would be great for them, and solar panels too. Do you just scrub and rinse with pure? Cant do much else at those heights i guess.

 
This was us yesterday. I was using an SLX 30 and only just able to reach the furthest panel. Pole against the van is an SLX 22, for scale. I think it's the second job in six years that I had to stand on the van roof. I won't be making a habit of it. The top panels were further away than they look in the photo. It was a tough enough job to get them clean even with a soap wash.

I personally wouldn't pay big money for a pole to clean solar panels on rare occasions. We have our 30 footer mainly for a handful of the higher houses on our round.

View attachment 20777
I know I do some crazy things to earn money, like 800 mile round trip to clear gutters, but even I would baulk at climbing on a van roof. 

 
Id go on the roof if i had to. looking at that property as an example, would you say the slx 39 would get top ones ok? Im guessing my muscles will get more of a work out.

 
I thought about the van roof, still not enough height with a 22. I wasnt gonna soap them first, I thought would be tricky. Just low flow scrub and then higher flow rinse off. I guess really its just getting the dust off, not really any baked on muck.
Hi KS, I wouldn't recommend using the van roof. Though I do mostly figure my own way of doing things, as safely as I can and I'm extremely careful. We very often soapwash solar panels to kill off the lichen and moss. The ones in the photo were really bad with, lichen, moss and dirt. We sprayed our mix on and lathered it in. Then left it on for a while, while we cleaned the ones with no moss or lichen. My photo was to help give you an idea of scale and just how long a reach it can be to get to some solar panels, before you part with your hard earned on a new pole. I was on almost full stretch with the SLX 30. We don't do that many. I would be reluctant to spend big money on an extra long pole unless you really have a lot of well paid work for it. I'd bear in mind that as we go longer and higher we also have to work harder for our money. It's important that the prices reflect this.

Good luck mate, whatever you decide. And please let us know how get on. ??

 
Hi KS, I wouldn't recommend using the van roof. Though I do mostly figure my own way of doing things, as safely as I can and I'm extremely careful. We very often soapwash solar panels to kill off the lichen and moss. The ones in the photo were really bad with, lichen, moss and dirt. We sprayed our mix on and lathered it in. Then left it on for a while, while we cleaned the ones with no moss or lichen. My photo was to help give you an idea of scale and just how long a reach it can be to get to some solar panels, before you part with your hard earned on a new pole. I was on almost full stretch with the SLX 30. We don't do that many. I would be reluctant to spend big money on an extra long pole unless you really have a lot of well paid work for it. I'd bear in mind that as we go longer and higher we also have to work harder for our money. It's important that the prices reflect this.

Good luck mate, whatever you decide. And please let us know how get on. ??
Cheers ? yeh I reckon a 39 would be much heavier. Hopefully the panels would take most of the weight? But true, sometimes even with the 22 its a struggle, usually when at angles for awkward ones, or over connys. I'd prob only use a 39 for panel jobs and 3 story top floors. This 50 panel job would pay a big chunk  for it after the first time, and I think it would be yearly but I see what you mean if it got hardly used.

 
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