Aftercare
Maintenance & support
Solar needs very little maintenance. 'Very little' is not the same as none — and because output falls gradually, an underperforming system rarely announces itself.
- Any installer’s system
- Inspection & cleaning
- Fault diagnosis & repair
Accredited & registeredIn business 13 years
SEAI Registered
Safe Electric
Solar Ireland Member- Athlone Chamber Member
- Based in AthloneTrading since 2013
Why it matters
Underperformance is quiet
A failed panel is obvious. A gradually soiling array, a failing optimiser or a string that dropped offline six months ago is not.
Solar generation varies so much day to day and season to season that owners have no natural baseline for what "normal" looks like. A system producing meaningfully less than it should still produces something on a bright day, and unless somebody is actually watching the monitoring data against expected output, the loss goes unnoticed for years.
Irish conditions add their own contributions: moss and lichen growth along panel edges, agricultural dust, salt near the coast, and organic debris from overhanging trees. None of it is dramatic. All of it accumulates.
- Soiling that reduces output gradually rather than suddenly
- Inverter faults that clear and recur without anyone noticing
- Strings or optimisers offline and unreported
- Mounting and flashing degradation after years of weather
- Monitoring that stopped reporting and was never reconnected
Cleaning
What soiling actually looks like
Panels are self-cleaning to a degree — rain does a lot of the work. What rain does not shift is the growth that establishes along frames and lower edges, where water sits.
A note on cleaning method
Panels are cleaned with deionised water and appropriate soft brushes — not detergents, not abrasives, and not a pressure washer. Aggressive cleaning risks damaging the anti-reflective coating and forcing water past seals, which causes far more harm than the soiling did. Anyone offering to jet-wash your array should be declined.
What we do
Servicing, diagnostics and repair
We work on systems regardless of who installed them, including where the original installer is no longer trading.
Performance inspection
Measured output compared against what the system should be producing for its size, orientation and the conditions — the only way to identify a system that is quietly underperforming.
Panel cleaning
Deionised water and soft-brush cleaning, with particular attention to the frame edges where growth establishes. Carried out safely with appropriate roof access.
Electrical testing
String voltage and current testing, insulation resistance, earthing and connection integrity — by a registered electrical contractor, with a certificate on completion.
Inverter servicing
Fault code interrogation, firmware status, ventilation and filter checks, and replacement where an inverter has reached the end of its service life.
Mounting and weatherproofing
Fixings, clamps and roof penetrations inspected for movement, corrosion and seal integrity. This is where long-term problems originate on a poorly installed system.
Monitoring setup and recovery
Reconnecting monitoring that dropped off after a router change or firmware update — a surprisingly common reason owners have no visibility of their own system.
Fault diagnosis
Where output has dropped and the cause is not obvious, we trace it — string by string if necessary — and tell you what it will take to fix.
Takeover of orphaned systems
If the company that installed your system has ceased trading, we can take it on: assess it, document what is there, and support it going forward.
Commercial & farm
Planned maintenance agreements
For a commercial or farm array, a service agreement is the difference between an asset that performs across its design life and one that quietly degrades. Where a system is offsetting a significant electricity spend, even modest sustained underperformance is worth more than the servicing costs.
- Scheduled inspection and cleaning visits
- Remote monitoring with alerting on underperformance
- Annual electrical testing and certification
- Priority response for faults
- Documented reporting for compliance and reporting obligations
Good to know
Solar panel maintenance and servicing: common questions
How long do solar panels last?
We install glass-glass panels — glass on both faces rather than a plastic backsheet — which carry a 30-year warranty. The inverters and batteries we fit are warranted for 10 years or more, and an inverter should still be expected to need replacement at least once over the life of the system. Your quote names the exact equipment and its exact warranty terms.
Do solar panels need maintenance?
They need very little, but "very little" is not "none". Irish conditions bring moss, lichen, salt and agricultural dust, and soiling reduces output gradually enough that owners often do not notice. Periodic inspection, cleaning where needed, and monitoring so faults are caught early are what keep an array performing across its full life.
Can I add a battery or EV charger to an existing system?
Usually yes, though it depends on your existing inverter and consumer unit. Some systems accept a battery directly, others need an additional AC-coupled unit. We can assess a system we did not install and tell you what is possible before you commit to anything.
How do I get paid for electricity I export?
Export payments come from your electricity supplier under the Clean Export Guarantee, not from the government. When we commission your system we notify ESB Networks (the NC6 or NC7 form), which is what registers you as a microgenerator; your supplier then applies its export rate to your account. With a smart meter your actual export is measured; rates vary by supplier, so it is worth comparing.
Does solar affect my BER or my house insurance?
Solar PV normally improves a BER, because it reduces the calculated primary energy use of the home — and a post-works BER assessment is part of the SEAI grant process anyway. On insurance: tell your insurer you have added solar, as with any alteration to the building. Cover for panels is routine.
Do solar panels actually work in the Irish climate?
Yes. Solar PV responds to daylight, not heat or direct sunshine, so panels generate on bright overcast days as well as clear ones. Output is strongly seasonal in Ireland — summer generation is far higher than winter — which is why we size a system around your year-round consumption pattern rather than a headline figure.
Do I need planning permission for solar panels?
Most domestic rooftop installations in Ireland fall under planning exemptions, and exemptions for rooftop solar have been broadened considerably in recent years. Exemptions carry conditions, and some buildings — protected structures and certain locations in particular — are treated differently. We confirm the position for your specific property at survey stage and tell you plainly if permission is needed.
How long does an installation take?
A typical domestic installation is completed in a small number of days on site once the system is designed, the grant offer is in place and materials are scheduled. Commercial and farm projects run longer and are phased around your operations. We give you a specific timeline in your quotation rather than a generic estimate.
Explore
Other things we do
Most systems we install combine more than one of these. We design them together rather than bolting them on afterwards.
Domestic Solar PV
Solar PV designed around how your household actually uses electricity — with the SEAI grant guided every step.
Learn more
Commercial Solar PV
Turn a large roof into a long-term hedge against electricity prices, with SEAI grant support of up to €162,600.
Learn more
Battery Storage
Keep the electricity you generate instead of exporting it, and hold power in reserve for outages.
Learn more
Get started
Not sure your system is performing?
We service systems regardless of who installed them. If output has drifted and you cannot tell why, we can find out.