Cleaning panels

[Joeboy]

I whizzed off an enquiry to bilthamber late last evening.

Got a reply this morning recommending their Surfex HD product for this application. A very good response time. I was impressef.

Good to hear, not used that one but the spec sheet looks good.

[Moxi]

Nowty - this sounds like a perfect outlet for your industrial deionised water production facility

Moxi

[Oliver90owner]

I reckon a window cleaner would likely charge at least £90 just to clean these panels!

The deionised water is a bit of a red herring - like nitrogen in your car tyres. It’s going to rain on them shortly, probably bringing with it some Sahara sand, industrial pollution, etc. Normal tap water squeegeed off will leave the panels virtually dry. I’ve only rinsed mine off with tap water - and ours is fairly hard.

The surfex looks about half the price of the touchless foam?

Right, more roof brackets up this afternoon. I might even get a pic of his worst panel - for here and for him next door.

[Joeboy]

I reckon a window cleaner would likely charge at least £90 just to clean these panels!

The deionised water is a bit of a red herring - like nitrogen in your car tyres. It’s going to rain on them shortly, probably bringing with it some Sahara sand, industrial pollution, etc. Normal tap water squeegeed off will leave the panels virtually dry. I’ve only rinsed mine off with tap water - and ours is fairly hard.

The surfex looks about half the price of the touchless foam?

Right, more roof brackets up this afternoon. I might even get a pic of his worst panel - for here and for him next door.

To be clear, I bought the touchless as it has no wax in it. The gentle effective way it lifts dirt is a bonus which seems to have some legs in PV world. Looking forward to hearing how it goes for you in surfex mode.

[Oliver90owner]

It’s not really my problem at all. Next door can arrange for cleaning (or even doing nothing - I don’t really care either way).

If he asks me to help, things may change. I will be able to reach my panels, for a regular clean, from my side of our boundary. But there is no way that I will be trying to scrub off lichen patches like he has on his panels!

[Joeboy]

It’s not really my problem at all. Next door can arrange for cleaning (or even doing nothing - I don’t really care either way).

If he asks me to help, things may change. I will be able to reach my panels, for a regular clean, from my side of our boundary. But there is no way that I will be trying to scrub off lichen patches like he has on his panels!

OK then, good to know!!

[Oldgreybeard]

I reckon a window cleaner would likely charge at least £90 just to clean these panels!

The deionised water is a bit of a red herring - like nitrogen in your car tyres. It’s going to rain on them shortly, probably bringing with it some Sahara sand, industrial pollution, etc. Normal tap water squeegeed off will leave the panels virtually dry. I’ve only rinsed mine off with tap water - and ours is fairly hard.

The surfex looks about half the price of the touchless foam?

Right, more roof brackets up this afternoon. I might even get a pic of his worst panel - for here and for him next door.

The dionised water makes a tremendous difference to the windows, means they dry with no streaks or water spots. I tried it when rinsing my car once ("borrowed" some from the window cleaner) and it was just as dramatic, no need to leather the car after rinsing as it just dried with no marks at all. Our water here is pretty hard, though, and it may well be that those in softer water areas don't have issues with water marking when it dries.

[Oliver90owner]

The dionised water makes a tremendous difference to the windows,

Are we really that bothered about the absolutely minimal amount of water remaining, on a flat surface, after properly removing any droplets with a squeegee?

The windscreen wipers on the car do a pretty good job at that. This problem is nothing to do with the last one per cent, or less, it’s about removing large areas of lichen. I know how resistant (to removal) these patches can be.

In biblical terms, this could be compared to planks and sawdust - not micrograms of calcium bicarbonate.

[smegal]

Wash then rinse your car without drying it (better in the summer) and see what water marks you get with tap water.

It really is noticeable.

[Oldgreybeard]

Wash then rinse your car without drying it (better in the summer) and see what water marks you get with tap water.

It really is noticeable.

It is indeed, and what's worse is that the dried rings of carbonates from the water very often adhere extremely well to surfaces and sets very hard when it forms. I suppose if anyone needs evidence of that they only need to look at calcite formation in caves etc. Bigger scale, but the same issue if you live in a hard water area. All of the window cleaners around here, bar none, have water tanks in their vans with DI water in them for rinsing. The only reason they go to this expense is because it saves them a great deal of time, in that they don't have to hand dry every window to get the hard water completely off.