Are my panels ok?

ely_ellis

Hi,

I noticed the other month that when my panels have dew on them it shows up lots of marks.
I have been away working and just got home and today being a miserable day I noticed again these marks.
A neighbour down the road has the similar panels but his does not have these marks, if anyone could take a look at the photo (hopefully the link works) and advise me if there could be a problem or not.


Thanks
Martin

nobby1963

Hi Martin,
Never seen that before !!
I'm guessing that it has been caused by some packaging 'spacers ' or the like .
Perhaps some sort of polystyrene strips used so as the panels can be packed close together but not actually touching.
I don't know but I would assume that these will go away over time.
Am I right in saying that they have not been up for that long ?

Nobby.

ely_ellis

Hi Nobby,
They have been up just over a month now.
I thought that too with packing marks.
As a 'panel spotter' I have never seen this either. The neighbour round the corner had his fitted about 1 week before me, yet his do not have these marks.
I wonder if they should have been cleaned by the installer before they left or there could be some form of protection on there.
It almost looks like there is something stuck on them!
I may contact the manufacturer and see what they say.
There doesn't seem to be any advers affect, in fact my panels seem to be working quite well.
Thanks

EricMears

I'd guess it was some sort of oil-based contamination on the panels. In some ways that might even help in that it might make it harder for bird excrement etc to stick to them. Whatever it is, I'm also confident that a few days heavy rain will get rid of the 'problem'.

If the panels are easy to access (i.e. probably within reach of a hosepipe when you're standing on a ladder) you might want to try spraying them with detergent & rinsing off but I doubt it will result in a huge improvement (other than in the half hour after you finish spraying and have chilled the panels).