The Importance of Solar Maintenance

Every 3-5 years you should do a solar maintenance on your solar system. Much like a car needs an oil change every 3,000 miles to run appropriately and efficiently, a solar system needs a maintenance every 3-5 years as well to maintain its efficiency and longevity. Important corrosion protection and safety equipment components such as the sacrificial anode rod and P&T relief valves should be renewed during this time, along with a visual inspection of all other solar components.

You can't get tax credits for repairs such as repairing a solar tank, but replacing a solar tank can cost almost as much as a brand new system once you consider the tax credits, so once you've put the effort into purchasing and installing a new system, make sure you take care of your money-saving investment!

This is what could happen when maintenance is never done on a water heater...









TIP OF THE WEEK: DON'T SKIP OUT ON YOUR REGULAR SOLAR MAINTENANCE! Flush out your system annually and make sure you call us every 3-5 years to replace the important components!

To PV Pump or Not to PV Pump (Conventional Controller and Pump)

Solar DC pump (also called PV pump) is a mixed bag.

The good:

You never pay to run the pump (free electric)—might be a buck or two a month.
The “control system” is elegantly simple…when the sun shines, is when the water is getting hot, and then the pump run automatically to bring the hot water down.

The Bad

If you go on vacation, its harder to control the maximum temperature or prevent overheating. We do add a switch so you can turn off the pump, though.
It costs $250.00 more than standard system.
The DC pump motors tend to have a little highly service rate than AC pump motors.
If inside a living space (laundry room or bi-fold door closet) they do make some noise that changes as clouds go by.

The Neutral
If you have the 120V plug in controller, even in power outage, you can just plug this into your computer UPS and you will be producing hot water.