Solar panel maintenance checklist
Updated August 2026
Solar upkeep is lighter than most systems: glance at production once a month and rinse the panels once or twice a year, more often in dust, pollen, or wildfire-ash country. Add a yearly look at the mounts, wiring, and anything new casting shade. The panels themselves run 25 to 30 years, but plan for the inverter to quit around year 10 to 15, and know that skipped cleanings can shave output by up to 20%.
| Task | Interval | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Check production in the app against last year | Monthly | 2 min · DIY |
| Note any panel or string reading low | Monthly | 1 min · DIY |
| Task | Interval | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Rinse panels with a hose and soft brush | 1–2x per year | 30–60 min · DIY |
| Clear leaves, nests, and debris off the array | Twice a year | 15 min · DIY |
| Check for new shading from grown trees | Yearly | 10 min · DIY |
| Task | Interval | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Inspect racking bolts and roof penetrations | Yearly | $0 DIY / $150–300 pro |
| Look at wiring and conduit for rodent or UV damage | Yearly | 15 min · DIY |
| Task | Interval | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Budget for inverter replacement | 10–15 years | $1,500–3,000 pro |
What neglect costs
Dirt does not break a panel, it just steals from it. A film of dust, pollen, and bird droppings commonly drops output 15 to 20%, and in a dusty or high-pollen area a never-washed array can lose more, which on a typical system is hundreds of dollars of electricity a year quietly not generated. Ignore a string that reads low and you may be watching a failing inverter or a corroded connector head toward a repair-or-replace decision instead of a $20 cleaning. The monthly app check is what turns a big surprise into a small one.
Leave these to a pro
Do not turn a $20 cleaning into an ER visit: rinsing a low, single-story array from a ladder is fine, but a steep or two-story roof is a pro job, and a professional solar cleaning runs $150–350 depending on system size. Leave anything electrical to a licensed installer, including inverter faults, arc-fault trips, and any warm or discolored connector at the combiner. A full $1,500–3,000 inverter swap around year 10 to 15 is planned maintenance, not an emergency, so get quotes before it dies mid-summer.
This whole checklist ships as reminders in OnOtto: every task above, on the right schedule for your home, snooze-proof.
Load this checklist as remindersFrequently asked questions
Do solar panels really need cleaning if it rains?
Rain rinses off loose dust but leaves the sticky stuff: pollen, pollen-glued grime, bird droppings, and wildfire ash bake into a film that rain alone will not lift. In a wet, tree-free climate one or two rinses a year is plenty. In dusty, agricultural, or smoky regions, or under a lot of birds, quarterly cleaning pays for itself. The honest test is your monitoring app: if production is trending below the same month last year, and it is not shading or weather, the glass is due.
How do I know if my solar inverter is failing?
The inverter is the shortest-lived major part, typically 10 to 15 years against the panels' 25 to 30, so it usually fails first. Watch for a red or flashing fault light, an app showing zero or sharply reduced output on a sunny day, or frequent resets. String inverters are the usual suspects; microinverters fail one panel at a time and are harder to notice without the app. Replacement runs $1,500 to 3,000 for a string unit, and it is a licensed-electrician job, not DIY.
Can I pressure-wash my solar panels?
No. A pressure washer can drive water past the panel seals and crack the tempered glass or the anti-reflective coating, and most manufacturers void the warranty over it. Use a garden hose, a soft brush or squeegee on a pole, and either plain water or a little dish soap, working in the early morning or evening so the glass is cool. Hot panels hit with cold water can thermally shock and crack. If the array is out of safe reach, that is exactly what a professional cleaning is for.