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Should you wash your solar panels?

incoherency.co.uk

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Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#141

Post by gizmo686 »

nopurpose wrote: post #132
alberth wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OT: a friend of mine recently bought a house. They were surprised to learn at closing that the seller had financed their solar panels and that wasn’t apart of the home purchase. So they had to negotiate who was going to pay off the solar panel, and this all had to be completed before home sale.

I'd expect solicitors to find liabilities like that. How did it end?

The "before closing" does a lot of work here. It sounds like the seller made the disclosure when they were legally required to. This is pretty common in large purchases. First the buyer and seller agree in principle, then they perform their due diligence. Sometimes sales fall through at that last step.

If, hypothetically, the seller never disclosed the financing, then that would be an issue between the seller and the financer. At most, the buyer would need to allow the financer access to retrieve their property. The financer could then sue the seller for the buy-out cost and/or breach of contract.

As an aside, at least around here (USA), if you see a house with solar panels, it is a good assumption that they are financed.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#143

Post by aaronbrethorst »

dlubarov wrote: post #68
austinl wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having recently bought a house, I love thinking about things that increase perceived value relative to cost (more so because they're nice to have, not because we plan to sell any time soon). A few things we changed right away: - new mailbox (replacing a rusted 30+ year old one) - lots of landscaping work (the majority of which I can do myself) - installed a wine fridge (I always felt it gave the sense that the kitche…

To add a few more: it's similarly easy to swap cabinet handles, vent covers, outlet wall plates. Fresh caulk is nice too, even if it's a bit sloppy, still beats stained or cracked caulk.

outlet wall plates

Also make sure your screws in your outlet wall plates are vertical. I've found it's a key tell between mediocre electricians & handymen, and the real pros, and it gives me confidence (perhaps unfounded) that the electrical systems are in good shape.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#144

Post by svachalek »

WalterBright wrote: post #113
delusional wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly the same reason you should probably clean the rest of the house when you're selling it. Theoretically, the price of the house before cleaning should be equal to the value if the house after cleaning, minus whatever the cleaning costs. In reality, you'll get much less for your house without cleaning it, because human emotions.

> you'll get much less for your house without cleaning it, because human emotions It's not because of emotions. It's because it correlates with other neglect that may be less obvious. A good real estate agent has a rolodex of various contractors that can fix up a house to ready it for sale.

Cleaning the house doesn't retroactively fix the neglect though. It just makes the house look cared for to the lizard brain.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#145

Post by Crunchified »

toast0 wrote: post #87
marcosdumay wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably the GP meant to hire people and order them to use a tall ladder. I don't think there's any country where it's illegal for you to use one outside of some kind of contract.

Tradespeople are typically independent contractors. You hire them to do a task, and they use their own judgement on which tools to use. You don't order them to use a tall ladder...

And hopefully these independent contractors are insured. It may well be insurance requirements that limit the use of ladders.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#146

Post by SoftTalker »

WalterBright wrote: post #114
delichon wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had a contractor doing repairs before we sold our house. Without being asked he took an orbital sander to the wooden hand railings along the stairs to the front door and said "people really notice this". A family came for the tour and before walking in the father put his hand on the rail, looked up at the house, and said "this place seems well maintained". Then they bought the house after a small pleasant (for us)…

A real estate agent told me that a customer decides to buy/not buy a house as soon as they put their hand on the front door knob. If he decides to buy, he'll look at the rest of the house looking for a reason not to. I.e. putting in an expensive door knob is a good plan!

Certainly wasn't the case for any of the houses I've bought. All were compromises in various ways; none were houses we loved on first sight.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#147

Post by majoe »

cyberpunk wrote: post #123
CapitalistCartr wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does no longer pay to be clever with solar panels; they're too cheap. Angle not quite right? Add a couple extra. Summer vs. Winter? Add a couple extra.

Except in germany where if you install too many you get classed as an energy company and have to pay extra tax. yay.

Your post sounds like there is some strange rule regarding taxation of solar installations, but it is (or rather was) just treated as any other income from commercial operation.

- If you have any income from commercial operation (selling stuff) you are required to declare that, when doing your taxes.

- When selling electricity you're not so much classified as an energy company, but fall under similar taxation rules as a company. This also means you can get the VAT back, you paid when buying panels, inverters etc.

- Since 2023 solar installations smaller than 30 kWp are completely exempt from this taxation scheme. This means you're not paying any VAT, when buying equipment for your solar installations and don't have to declare the revenue.

- You can get around the 30 kWp limit under some circumstances by having multiple separate installations.

- Parent post is talking about an off-grid installation, which would be exempt anyway, because there is no revenue from selling electricity.

The tax exemption from 2023 was a very welcome move by SPD and the Green party to reduce bureaucracy regarding solar installations and I think the 30 kWp is pretty reasonable

Would be interesting to see, how other countries are handling this.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#148

Post by Shog9 »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #119

Horses for courses. My system is off grid, so any extra power is just not used, and its designed in a way that a 2-5% change doesn't do anything. That might be a more meaningful change if I were selling power to other folks. Kind of off topic, but I see a lot of folks proximate to me have built systems to turn panels so they face the sun more closely. I can see the use in that if you don't have much space or if you h…

A lot of these designs are an artifact of a time when the panels themselves would have been far and away the most expensive component in the system. The place I'm in originally had 10 125W panels that probably cost north of $8k when installed, and they were mounted on a rotating, tilt-adjustable post. Also the entire house was wired to run off DC as much as possible, with three different wiring schemes throughout and rare & expensive appliances. It reminded me strongly of RV power schemes, and maintenance was probably a huge headache.

I replaced it all with 9kW worth of panels (about $3k, shipped) on 4 simple 60° ground mounts, normal wiring and appliances. Angle is optimized for early spring / late fall - there's effectively no sun in winter, and the rest of the year I have excess power even with fixed, sub-optimal angles.

The diminished cost of panels alone over the past 20 years has transformed "off-grid" from a pastime for wealthy hippies into a reasonable solution for remote living.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#149

Post by CrzyLngPwd »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #107
CrzyLngPwd wrote: post #90

I clean my solar panels, 7kwh, every monmth or two. When I check on the VRM portal it makes a difference, and since I am so dependent on them all year round, I have no problem giving them some attention from time to time. Ten mins well spent.

I am curious how much of a difference it makes. I have 4kw of panels and 15kwh of storage. I only get down to about 80% most nights (I heat with wood and propane). But my system will charge completely in about 2 hours of full sun. If it took 3 hours it wouldn't make a difference. So I generally don't clean them (well, the rain and snow do that work). I do remove snow, because that has a very noticeable impact. Is the…

I'm off grid, no mains power, and have 8x48v lithium Fogstar batteries in an external rack, since my cabin is small.

On December 21, due to trees, my panels get around 2 hours of full sun, if the universe smiles on me.

I use around 5-6kwh per day, if I use my computer, which I need for work.

This will be the first year with the fogstar batteries, previously had 1x48v generic lithium battery, but last year I used the generator most days from around end of november until March e.g. December consumption was 153kwh, solar generated 62kWh, and generator made up the rest.

This year, thanks to having more storage, we'll be better able to take advantage of sunny days and capture more power. I also have a freezer and washing machine this year :-) Ask me in March how it went.

All of my panels are easy to access, none on a roof, so the effort is minimal and has non-zero power benefits in my experience.

I should add that I am surrounded by trees and the panels accumulate a green tinge quite quickly, plus bird shit.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#150

Post by marssaxman »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #143
dlubarov wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add a few more: it's similarly easy to swap cabinet handles, vent covers, outlet wall plates. Fresh caulk is nice too, even if it's a bit sloppy, still beats stained or cracked caulk.

outlet wall plates Also make sure your screws in your outlet wall plates are vertical. I've found it's a key tell between mediocre electricians & handymen, and the real pros, and it gives me confidence (perhaps unfounded) that the electrical systems are in good shape.

That's funny - I always align the screws in the wall plates when I (re)install them, but imagined that to be an idiosyncratic bit of fastidiousness. I've never noticed anyone else having done it.
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