If you’ve tried doing your part for the environment by investing in sources of renewable power to provide energy for your home, then great. That’s a wonderful principle to not only espouse but to try to implement in a very practical way at your home. However, you may feel a bit confused about how to maintain and clean these powerful tools you’ve bought, and are also probably worrying about having to ask professionals for help from time to time.
Luckily, the following are a few handy maintenance tips you can use for your renewable power system at home.
Beware of Excessive Shade
If your solar panels have a tree or a few bushes hovering over them, that’s not necessarily a good thing. This is because, of course, they will come in the way of your solar panels’ ability to function properly. The tree may grow over time, making things even more difficult. So it makes sense to trim and prune the branches whenever possible to limit the amount of shade coming their way. If the job looks a bit too complicated for you, you can simply hire a professional contractor who will employ safe practices in the garden, rather than you doing it yourself.
Maintain the System
Sometimes, you will notice that your solar panels aren’t working too well. This can sometimes be corrected by a simple reset of the power mechanism. You could reset the solar panels in the same way you would do with any major system, by turning it off and then waiting a few seconds before turning it back on again. It is recommended when servicing all segments of the solar energy market to undertake similar interventions. You can repeat this same maneuver by also looking at your monitoring system’s ethernet cable or the router since the interruption in service may be attributed to something as basic as the wireless connection in your home. However, if you’ve tried these notes and have still come up empty, then you should contact an expert to take a look at your power system as soon as possible.
Regular Cleaning
While most renewable power systems do not require regular cleaning, there are some times in which you should try to be on the lookout for the stray bit of soil or sediment hitting the solar panels and preventing them from operating effectively. This is especially true if you live somewhere out in the desert for example, in a state like Arizona or someplace similar wherein dust can easily accumulate at average levels, thus damaging the solar panels. This can be easily rectified, however, by simply taking a hose to clean the surface. And while dust is mentioned here a lot, another culprit is the snow and ice subsequently forming in the winter. While hosing it down might work, it really depends on the weather. It can be a bit trickier to get rid of. So if this is the culprit, you should consider getting a professional to help clean it for you properly without creating more trouble with the ice getting stuck.
Foolproof Your Home from Harsh Weather Conditions
As a homeowner, you probably already do what you can to take care of the house’s foundational structure, and ensure that it is weatherproof, come hail, snow, or flooding. However, certain weather conditions can be especially rough for homes using renewable power systems, and hail especially can lead to quite a bit of damage. When purchasing solar panels, you should make sure they are made of highly durable tempered glass coverings so that they don’t get damaged in the next hail storm.
Monitor Everything
There are a few important phone calls you need to make once you’ve taken the plunge and have decided to install renewable power systems at home. For one, you should make sure to contact your energy company so that they know that you have in effect become a micro-generator of your own and that the youtube of electricity should be billed differently. You should also make sure to check your online monitoring system to understand different data points that may be helpful to you when it comes to regular maintenance. And in general, you should try to monitor everything and stay on top of the small details whenever possible.
Your renewable power source is an important investment in your home’s infrastructure and should last for quite some time. However, you do need to be on top of things to make sure that you’re not missing a few key details whenever possible. That way, you and your family should enjoy energy efficiency and a relatively affordable power system for many years to come.
