Method, materials & detail
The proper standard —
explained.
Solar panel cleaning sits naturally alongside pure-water window cleaning because it uses the same equipment, the same water treatment and the same safety principle: reach the glass from the ground, and leave nothing behind on it. Here's exactly how the work is carried out and where the sensible limits are.
Why pure water is the right choice for PV glass
Deionised water has had its dissolved minerals stripped out. That matters twice over: it lifts and holds dirt more aggressively than tap water, and it evaporates without leaving the mineral spotting that hard South Hampshire tap water bakes onto glass in sunshine. On a solar panel, mineral spotting is not just cosmetic — it's a residue sitting between daylight and the cells. Pure water also means no detergents, so nothing is left on the panel to attract dirt back or to run down into the seals and connectors.
Reach-and-pole access, not roof access
Panels are cleaned with a lightweight carbon-fibre pole from ground level, the same system used for reach-and-pole window cleaning to around five storeys. Nobody stands on the tiles, no ladder is leant against the guttering, and no weight goes anywhere near the array or its mounting rails. Where a section genuinely cannot be reached safely from the ground — a steep hidden pitch, an obstructed rear elevation — you'll be told before the work is booked rather than after.
What never touches your panels
No pressure washer. No bleach or sodium hypochlorite. No washing-up liquid or general-purpose detergent. No abrasive pads or scrapers. Each of those can scratch or chemically dull anti-reflective coatings, perish frame gaskets, or force water past seals. Manufacturers and installers are consistent on this point, and the method used here is built around it.
How often panels should be cleaned locally
For most South Hampshire homes, once a year is the sensible baseline. Twice a year makes sense for properties under overhanging trees, near open farmland at pollen and harvest time, on busy roads carrying traffic film, or close to the water at Gosport, Stubbington and Portchester, where salt-laden air deposits a fine film. Arrays at a shallow pitch also self-clean less in rainfall than steeply pitched ones, so they hold soiling for longer.
Booked alongside the rest of the exterior
Most solar cleans are added to an existing visit. If the pole system is already on site for the windows, adding the panels, the conservatory glazing or a gutter clear costs less than booking each separately. Customers on a 4-weekly or 8-weekly window round typically have the panels done once a year on a scheduled visit and simply forget about it in between.
Honest limits
Cleaning removes soiling — it doesn't repair hardware. If a panel is cracked, delaminating, showing burn marks, or the array is underperforming with visibly clean glass, that's an electrical or hardware issue for your installer or an MCS-registered engineer, not a cleaning job. If anything of that sort is spotted during a clean, you'll be told and shown a photo. No inverter work, no wiring, no isolation of the system is carried out — the work here is confined to the outside face of the glass and the frames.
