Ashton Estates sits off the Deer Flat end of Highway 69, and arrays here carry something most Kuna panels do not: an oily film from road traffic. Oily soiling behaves very differently on a panel than dust does, and it needs a different approach.
Tire wear, brake dust and exhaust particulate from Highway 69 bind with moisture into a genuinely oily film, and on a panel that is worse than dust for two reasons. It spreads into a continuous layer that shades the entire cell surface rather than scattered spots, and it is adhesive, so it holds every subsequent bit of airborne dust rather than letting rain carry it away. A panel with an oily base film soils faster and faster over time rather than reaching an equilibrium.
An oily film repels water, which means rain does almost nothing for these panels and a hose does almost nothing either. That surprises owners who assume Idaho rain keeps an array reasonably clean; near a highway it does not. The film has to be emulsified so it can be carried away, and then the panel flooded with pure deionized water so it dries with nothing left behind. Pressure is not the answer and is never used on panel glass.
The temptation with a greasy panel is to scrub it. The anti-reflective coating on panel glass is the reason the panel performs as well as it does, and abrading it costs output permanently, which is a worse outcome than the film you were trying to remove. Nothing abrasive touches the glass. No soap is left on it either, because soap residue is itself adhesive and would accelerate the next round of soiling.
Idaho Transportation Department winter maintenance puts brine and de-icer on Highway 69, and traffic aerosolises it well past the shoulder onto roofs and arrays, where it leaves a dull haze and is mildly corrosive to frames and fixings. A clean in late winter or early spring is therefore worth more on this corridor than elsewhere. Solar panel cleaning is quoted by array size, and near the highway a twice-yearly rhythm is genuinely justified.
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Because the film near Highway 69 is oily and repels water, so rain runs off it rather than lifting it. That surprises owners who assume Idaho rain keeps an array reasonably clean; on this corridor it does very little, and a hose does very little either.
Two reasons. It spreads into a continuous layer that shades the whole cell surface rather than scattered spots, and it is adhesive, so it holds every subsequent bit of dust. A panel with an oily base film soils progressively faster rather than reaching equilibrium.
Please do not. The anti-reflective coating on panel glass is what makes the panel perform, and abrading it costs output permanently, which is worse than the film. The film needs emulsifying and rinsing away, not scrubbing, and no pressure is used on panel glass.
Yes. Brine and de-icer aerosolised off Highway 69 reaches roofs, leaving a dull haze on the glass and acting mildly corrosively on frames and fixings. A late-winter or early-spring clean is worth more on this corridor than it would be elsewhere in Kuna.
Twice a year is genuinely justified here, once after winter for the de-icer and once for the summer road film, because the oily base film means soiling accelerates rather than levelling off. Quoting is by array size.
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