Solar Maintenance FAQ - Solar United Neighbors (2024)

If you ever need help with your solar installation, contact your solar installer first, unless they’ve instructed you otherwise. Your contract should include information for the correct department to call for maintenance requests. If your installer has gone out of business or is unresponsive, find another qualified solar company to service your installation. The good news is that your solar panels and your inverter(s) come with separate product warranties from the manufacturers.

When you call a company that didn’t install your system, they may need to do a full system inspection to gauge its condition prior to performing work. They could be held liable for work that is not up to code, so they’ll need to understand the full picture before they take on maintenance of your system. This may be costly in the short term, but it will offer a valuable second opinion on the quality and longevity of your system.

Not sure where to begin? Reach out to our Solar Help Desk.

A rooftop solar array can last more than 20 years. During that time, you may need to repair or replace your roof. If so, you’ll want a qualified solar installer to uninstall the array from your roof — and then reinstall, test, and re-commission it when your roof work is complete.

The cost for this work varies by installer and the size of the array. It’s can range from $2,000 to $5,000. This charge mostly consists of the labor cost of removing and reinstalling the modules. Solar equipment can usually be stored on-site while it’s not on your roof.

Solar is a reliable technology. It has no moving parts. There is not a lot that can break. But like all appliances, manufacturer defects are a possibility. The system as a whole may need service at some point.

We recommend you set aside a small budget for inspections every three to five years and eventual service work.

For the most part, natural precipitation will clean your modules sufficiently to maintain electricity production. Your modules may benefit from being cleaned occasionally if they are installed at a shallow tilt angle or in a dusty and dry climate.

Never use chemicals or soap of any kind. If your modules are easy to access and spray with water, you can do this with little risk. If panels are on your roof, we strongly recommend calling a professional to clean them.

A hailstorm or extreme weather is more likely to cause roof damage than solar module damage. Solar electric modules are built with high‐impact tempered glass. This is like the windshield of your car.

If your modules are damaged by hail or other severe weather, it’s likely that your roof is as well. Include the removal and reinstallation of the solar array along with your insurance claim.

Most solar arrays are “grid-tied.” This means they’re connected to the local power grid. This allows solar homeowners to use their solar electricity when the sun is shining, and to switch seamlessly to utility-provided electricity on cloudy days or at night. For grid-tied solar arrays, your system will stop producing electricity when the grid goes down unless it is connected to a battery storage system.

This is a required safety feature. In the event of a power outage, inverters are designed not to feed electricity into the grid and potentially injure the utility workers who are servicing the wires. As a result, when the grid is down your inverter(s) stops converting the electricity for your home from your solar modules. Your home will not have power (even if the sun is shining). When grid power returns, no action is needed. Your inverter will sense that grid power has returned, wait for a few minutes to make sure everything is okay, and then start producing power again when the sun is shining.

There are three main warranty categories:

1. Product warranties:

• Cover potential defects with your solar modules and inverter.
• Offered by the manufacturer, not your installer.
• Modules typically carry a 10-year workmanship warranty but can range up to 25+ years.
• Inverter warranties may range from 10 to 25 years. They can often be extended for an additional fee. Check with your installer on availability and pricing.

2. Power production warranties:

• Guarantee the output of solar modules won’t decrease by more than a certain percentage per year.
• Guarantee your panels still produce some percentage (usually 80% or more) of their initial rated capacity for a minimum number of years.
• Offered by the equipment manufacturer (not your installer).

3. Labor/installation warranties:

• Cover the craftsmanship of work done by the installer to assemble equipment into a working system on your property.
• Typically includes a warranty on all roof penetration points as well.
• Installer workmanship warranties cover issues related to their installation work such as wiring and conduit, racking assembly, and roof penetrations. Typical timespan is 3-10 years, though some can be as long as 20+ years.

Most rooftop solar systems are covered through a standard homeowner’s insurance policy, according to a report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

In some states, larger “Tier 2” systems (Tier 2 size varies by local rules) require additional liability coverage. Contact your insurance company before you install your system to let them know about the addition to your property. Questions to ask your insurance agent:

• Will a solar system affect the premium?
• In the event of damage, will solar system replacement costs exceed my current policy coverage limits?
• What deductible will the solar array fall under?
• Will any supplemental liability coverage be required due to system size?
• If your system is on the ground, does it require additional insurance?

Before installation, your installer will give you a clear estimate of how much electricity your system should generate (kilowatt-hours or kWh) yearly and for each month which varies, depending on the time of year. It can also vary year-to-year somewhat based on weather and other factors.

If you have monitoring set up, checking your system production through your online monitoring platform or phone app is a great way to ensure your system is performing as expected. If you don’t have online monitoring, you can confirm your system is working properly by checking the inverter or monitoring unit display screen if your inverter has one. These display screens should show cumulative production (kWh) over the year and the lifetime of the system.