Panel cleaning
Solar panel cleaning across Southern California
Searching for solar panel cleaning near you? We wash, inspect, and verify production on residential arrays across SoCal — any brand, any installer, with the before/after numbers to prove it.
Southern California is one of the best places in America to own solar — and one of the worst places to keep it clean. Long dry seasons, freeway film, wildfire ash, coastal salt, and birds all settle on your glass, quietly shaving output month after month. Under NEM 3.0, the power you use from your own roof is worth several times what you get for exports, so a dirty array costs more than it used to. We clean panels the way we install them: carefully, with the production data shown to you before and after.
What every cleaning includes.
A wash without a production check is just a wet roof. You get the numbers — and a second set of trained eyes on your system.
Deionized-water wash — no soaps, no abrasives, no hard-water spotting
Frame, racking, and visible-wiring inspection while we’re on the roof
Bird-dropping and debris removal from panels and under-panel gaps
Production reading before and after, so you see the recovered output
Any panel brand, any installer — including systems we didn’t install
Flat quote up front based on panel count and roof access
What actually dirties SoCal panels.
Dust & freeway film
Most of SoCal sits in a dry basin. Dust, pollen, and traffic film build steadily between rains — especially within a mile of a freeway or in the Inland Empire.
Wildfire ash
One smoke event can coat an array overnight. Ash is alkaline and cakes on with morning marine layer — it usually doesn’t rinse off with rain alone.
Coastal salt & marine layer
From Malibu to Huntington Beach, salt spray plus overnight moisture leaves a film that hardens in afternoon sun.
Bird droppings
The worst offender — droppings fully shade individual cells, which can knock out a whole panel string and create hot spots over time.
Why homeowners have us on the roof.
Installers, not a window crew
We install and repair solar for a living. We know what a failing connector or lifted flashing looks like — and we’ll tell you if we see one.
Warranty-safe methods
Deionized water and soft tools only. No pressure washers, no abrasives, nothing that voids a panel warranty or spots the glass.
Proof in the numbers
Production reading before, production reading after. If the wash didn’t move the needle, you’ll know that too — and we’ll help find what will.
Panel cleaning near you
We clean and service arrays across the same 64 SoCal cities we install in. A few of the most requested:
Don't see your city? See all 64 service areas or bundle cleaning with a maintenance visit.
Solar panel cleaning questions, answered.
- How much does solar panel cleaning cost in Southern California?
- Most single-story SoCal homes run $275–$350 for a full cleaning, including the frame-and-wiring inspection and a production reading before and after. Two-story homes, steep pitches, and tile roofs typically add $75–$150. You get one flat price up front before any work — no hourly meters, no surprises. Ask about our annual plan: two cleanings a year plus an inspection, timed for after fire season and before peak summer production.
- How often should solar panels be cleaned in Southern California?
- Once or twice a year for most homes. Clean more often if you’re near a freeway, in an agricultural or high-dust area, downwind of a recent wildfire, on the coast, or if birds have discovered your array. If your monitoring shows a slow drift downward with no fault codes, soiling is the usual suspect.
- Doesn’t rain clean solar panels?
- Only partially. SoCal averages just 10–15 inches of rain a year, concentrated in a few winter storms — and light rain on a dusty panel often leaves it dirtier, streaking the grime and drying with mineral spots. Rain also does nothing for bird droppings or caked wildfire ash.
- How much production do dirty panels actually lose?
- Typical soiling in dry climates like ours costs roughly 5–15% of production, and heavy soiling or bird droppings can cost more — droppings can effectively knock out an entire panel string. Under NEM 3.0, where self-consumed power is worth far more than exported power, every recovered kilowatt-hour matters more than it used to.
- Can I clean my solar panels myself?
- You can rinse ground-reachable panels with a hose in the early morning — never spray hot glass with cold water. We’d discourage getting on the roof: beyond the fall risk, abrasive brushes, pressure washers, and hard tap water can scratch or spot the glass, and physical damage from improper cleaning isn’t covered by panel warranties.
- Do you clean solar panels that another company installed?
- Yes — most cleaning and service calls we get are for systems other companies installed. While we’re up there we’ll flag anything that looks off (loose wiring, failing sealant, pest damage), and if something needs repair you get a separate line-item quote with no obligation.
See what your panels are hiding under the dust.
Flat quote up front, warranty-safe wash, and the before/after production numbers in your hand before we leave.