Solar Panel Cleaning for Seasonal Residents in South Florida

If you spend the summer up north, your solar panels spent it here: through the wet season, Saharan dust and hurricane season, with nobody looking at them. A pre-arrival solar panel cleaning in October or November gets the glass clean before your winter bills start. You don’t need to be home. We work from the outside, register with your gate if you have one, and send the before and after photos to your phone wherever you are.

What a South Florida summer leaves on your panels

More than the rain takes off. The National Weather Service in Miami defines the South Florida wet season as May 15 to October 15, the stretch when 60 to 70 percent of the year’s rain falls. That sounds like a lot of free rinsing. It isn’t. Here is what an array that sat unattended from May to October usually has on it:

• The pollen tail. Oak and pine pollen runs from February into May here, and a film left in May has had all summer to bond to the glass.
• Saharan dust. Dust events in June through August arrive as a fine haze. The humidity glues it to the panels, and the afternoon storms move only the loose part.
• Algae along the lower edge. The wet band where water collects at the bottom of each panel is where algae and mildew start in the wet season.
• Storm debris. Fronds, leaves and grit from any storm that came through, including debris pushed into the gap under the array.
• Birds. Pigeons live here year-round, and a roof nobody checked all summer can host a pair without anyone noticing. If they moved in, the droppings are on the glass and the nesting is underneath. Our pigeon guide explains what that means for the array.

Why rain doesn’t clean any of it is its own article: does Florida rain clean solar panels.

How pre-arrival cleaning works

For seasonal owners, the maintenance plan is built around your calendar rather than the other way round:

1. A pre-departure clean in March or April, before you leave. It clears the dry-season dust and the spring pollen.
2. A pre-arrival clean in October or November, before you’re back. It takes off everything the summer left.
3. Photo reports to your phone after every visit: before and after pictures of the array and a condition note on anything we saw.

Both visits come at 15% off our standard price, and we confirm each one by email a few days ahead. We need access to the property, not to the house.

Gated communities and condos

If your home is in a gated community, in Boca Raton or Parkland for example, tell us the community’s name when you book and we’ll register with the gate ahead of the visit. Waterfront homes in Lighthouse Point and Fort Lauderdale just need a way into the yard. If your association asks for a certificate of insurance, we send it first. For condo buildings with a shared rooftop array, the association or property manager usually books the cleaning; see commercial and HOA cleaning.

If a storm came through while you were gone

Hurricane season runs through November 30, according to the National Hurricane Center, so a pre-arrival visit can follow a storm you only watched on the news. If a named storm passed close while you were away, ask for a visual inspection with the cleaning. It’s a photographed, panel-by-panel check for cracks, staining, debris and anything visibly loose or out of place. You get a dated record before you’re even home. The post-storm guide lists what’s worth checking yourself when you arrive.

Why arrival timing matters

A clean array going into the dry season means the months you’re home aren’t spent on glass that’s been filmed over since spring. Near the beach or the Intracoastal, salt adds up faster; a quarterly schedule keeps the salt from building between visits.

The South Florida soiling calendar shows the whole year at a glance. When you’re ready to book, get a free quote or call (954) 872-1622 and tell us your arrival date.