SolarCleaningBossPro Blog — Commercial Arrays

Water on Commercial Sites: Spigots, Pure-Water Systems and Notes for the Next Visit

On a house, water is usually easy. There is a spigot on the side of the house, the homeowner says go ahead, and the hose reaches. On a commercial site, water can be the hardest part of the job. The spigot is locked, or behind a fence, or three hundred feet from the array. The roof has no water at all. Or maintenance has to turn it on from a boiler room nobody can find.

Water Is Part of Access

The safety habits in Safety on Commercial Roofs: Practical Habits for Solar Panel Cleaning Crews include keeping water away from electrical equipment. This article is about getting the water there in the first place.

Treat water like any other access question. Where is it, who controls it, and how does it get to the panels? The answer goes on the address in SolarCleaningBossPro, in the access notes, alongside the hatch and the key. It shows on the tech's phone every visit.

Finding the Water

On the first visit, ask and look:

• Roof spigots. Many commercial roofs have one near HVAC equipment. It may need to be turned on from inside.
• Wall spigots. Often locked with a removable key handle. Ask if maintenance can leave the handle out, or if you can carry a standard key.
• Landscape spigots and hydrants at farms and office parks.
• No water at all. Some carports and ground mounts have nothing nearby.

Also ask whether the customer is fine with you using their water. Most are, but some sites want you to bring your own.

Bringing Your Own: Pure-Water Systems and Tanks

Many solar cleaning crews use a pure-water system that filters water so it dries without spots. On a commercial site, that might mean running site water through your system, or bringing water in a tank on the truck. Either way, note the plan on the address:

• “Use roof spigot, run through the truck's pure-water system via hatch.”
• “No site water. Bring full tank. One tank covers about half the array, plan a refill run.”
• “Farm well water is hard. Do not use site water, bring the tank.”

Notes like these tell the crew what to load before they leave the shop. Finding out on site that there is no water is an expensive way to learn.

Long Hose Runs

On big flat roofs, hose runs can be long, and the hose has to get from the truck or spigot to the roof through a hatch, over a parapet or up a wall. Note:

• How much hose the site needs.
• The route the hose takes, and what it must avoid, such as doorways, walkways or rooftop equipment.
• Whether the hose can stay on the roof between sections or must be pulled each time.

Keep hoses out of walkways and entrances. A tripping hazard across a lobby door will get a call to the manager quickly.

Runoff

Rinse water off a commercial array goes somewhere: roof drains, gutters, the parking lot, landscaping, sometimes an entrance. Watch where it goes on the first visit and note anything that matters: “Runoff from carport row C lands on the clinic entrance walkway. Cone it off and rinse that row first, before opening.” Some sites may have their own rules about runoff. Ask, and follow them.

Think about the roof itself as well. On a flat roof, water pools before it reaches the drains, and a wet membrane is slippery. Plan the cleaning so the crew works away from wet areas instead of walking back through them, and keep an eye on drains that are clogged with leaves or debris. If a drain is blocked and water is backing up, note it, photograph it and tell the manager. It is not your job to fix, but they will be glad you mentioned it before the next big rain.

Coordinating With Maintenance

If someone has to turn water on for you, that is a step that can fail. Text the facility manager from the office the day before: “We're there tomorrow at 6am. Can maintenance turn on the roof spigot?” Their reply comes back to the office through two-way texting. If water is not on when the crew arrives, they can text the office instead of waiting. If it never comes on, they tap Skip with the reason, and the office rebooks. See When a Commercial Solar Cleaning Visit Gets Skipped: Locked Hatches, Weather and Rebooking.

Price the Water Work

Bringing water, refilling tanks and running long hoses take time. If a site needs extra water work, consider a line on the estimate for it from your service list, so the price covers the job. Notes about water time on the address help you check the price at renewal. To see how water notes fit with the rest of commercial work, visit the commercial solar cleaning software page.