Are there any recommended cleaning chemicals for solar systems?

The use of cleaning chemicals on solar systems is not necessary in many cases, as the combination of pure water (from osmosis systems or mixed bed resins) and suitable washing brushes (rigid, manual or rotating) is usually sufficient to carry out a complete, professional and gentle cleaning of the panels. However, in special cases or after many years without cleaning, this technique reaches its limits. For example, lichens, burnt-on tree resin or bird droppings, bitumen, mortar etc. that have developed over many years can usually no longer be removed with demineralized water and brushes. Dealing with these cases can be quite complicated. From our point of view and practical experience, such impurities already represent damage in themselves. The first step here is to rule out removal at the quotation stage and make the customer aware of the issues. In most such cases, there are no cleaning agents that can overcome the following two hurdles simultaneously and also achieve the desired effect: 1) Approved by the panel manufacturer. 2. the discharge of the dirty solution into the roof drainage system or directly into the open environment without collecting the dirty solution is legally approved. More and more products are gradually overcoming the first hurdle. The second hurdle is currently, and probably in the long term, the bigger problem, as the collection of the dirty water during solar cleaning is usually technically impossible or at least completely uneconomical. We are monitoring the market here and will adjust our view accordingly if there are any new developments.

Until then, we are unfortunately unable to recommend products that may be effective and are probably approved by the manufacturers, if we have to assume that in 9 out of 10 cases the resulting dirt is disposed of improperly or seeps into the ground.

As an alternative, a solution can be found in some cases by using a higher level of mechanics (hard brushes, pads, etc.) with appropriate protection for the customer or client (caution: micro-scratches and the like can occur!).

However, as described, this technique is often associated with a risk of damage to the substrate and, for practical and economic reasons, the method is also not suitable for large-scale problems of the type described.