Soot on your Solar Technology

Open burning and solar technology are not compatible.

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The clean air act was passed in 1994 and adopted by most states. Many states allow open burning of brush, lawn debris, leaves and even trash. The law in most places is that you must keep your smoke on your own property. For those that don't follow such laws, or for places that don"t have burn ordinances, they have the capacity to destroy all of your solar technology in a few seconds flat.

If your solar technologies have experienced heavy smoke inundation for even just a few seconds, its functionality will likely automatically be reduced by 70%.

This common occurrence can occur at the worst time of the year. Late in the fall, during the rainy season, when you are just starting to rely on your solar technology for your winter heating and counting on your payback period coming into fruition.

You must somehow clean all that soot off of your solar technology, without doing damage to the technology itself. When you can clean it will likey be weather and temperature dependent and is not always available to do at that time of the year.

Soot is extremely difficult to clean off. Products such as TSP are effective degreasers and will also etch all of your glass doing even more damage to your solar technologies. TSP will also strip any paint it comes in contact with.

Any chemical compound you use to clean it off will do damage to the materials you apply it to, not to mention the expense of having it cleaned off or the amount of time, labor and materials to do it yourself. You likely do not own the equipment to do it and power washing structures like roofs always does damage to the roof.

It will likely take repeated applications with a power washer to get the soot off and even after that effort, it may not be completely removed as it may not be possible to remove it without doing extensive damage to the material.

While you are waiting to have all of that smoke damage cleaned off your private property and personal belongings, you may experience a highly irritating persistent stench of a campfire. Just as in a housefire, sometimes that smell never goes away.

You are better off making your investment someplace where open burning is not allowed.

Before you buy find out if the municipality allows open burning. They may or may not have some sort of an open burning ordinance. If you are not sure, contact the fire department or some official at the town hall to find out.

There are many places where it is allowed but you cannot be a smoke nuisance. If you choose such a location make sure that law is actually enforced. There are many places where the laws are not enforced for various reasons. One of those reasons is lack of resources. Other reasons include certain people extending favors to their friends at your expense.

Find out what the process is if there seems to be a violation of the law. In some very small townships, which don't have police departments and the fire department is volunteer, the process is to call 911 and state that it is not an emergency but someone is not keeping their smoke to themselves and is vandalizing your property Find out ahead of time what happens if you make the call.

If you are at risk, a good surveillance system is an excellent investment. The individual who lights a fire is entirely responsible for their actions. That means you can sue them for their vandalism. Consider whether or not you want to be involved in that.

For many people their right to burn means to pile up their burn material as far away from their own home and buildings as possible and proceed to vandalize yours and everyone elses.

If you happen to have your doors and windows open when they behave that way, you could end up with a house full of smoke damage. It does not easily come off of many things. If you weren't home at the time, you may not notice until it accummulates to the point that it is a serious problem. At that point, it could be incorporated into your furniture such as foam cushioning or mattresses. There could be a film all over your walls and ceilings, especially the ceilings or near the ceilings. Smoke goes up. It could be drawn in through your soffit vents and filling your attic and not leaving quickly through the ridge vents. It could be coating your attic insulation. Eventually you are going to smell it. Whether or not you can smell it, it can be very irritating. If you are constantly walking around with irritation in your sinuses, ears, nose, throat or lungs, that could be due to smoke damage. If you are suspicious, the attic, ceilings and roofs are the first place to check. Also check the vicinity of windows in your home. If smoke is coming in, it may not move quickly and could be forming evidence along the ceiling where they meet the walls or on the window sill. Smoke damage is nearly impossible to remove from many common household items. The chemicals required to remove it are highly poisonous or do damage to the article being cleaned. By the time you notice it, you're entire house, inside and out, may already be covered with soot.

A Black Streaked Roof Is a Head's Up. Check out the roofs in the area very carefully. There are only 2 things that can cause a roof to get black streaks. One of them is a fairly harmless but unsightly algae that is fairly easily removed. The roof can then be treated to prevent future incidents. The second way a roof or buildings get black streaks is from soot - from open burning.

Get a piece of biofilm and send a sample to a lab. If there is soot damage, it doesn't come off. It won't come off from sun exposure, from rain exposure, from wind exposure or any other exposure. That's why it is so difficult to clean also.

There is no such thing as a roof or building getting black streaks from normal wear and tear. There is no scientific evidence anywhere to uphold that opinion.

For some people living out in the country and living in a ghetto are the same thing.

If the prevailing winds come from the west you may also want to avoid living on the west end of a municipality if that has a neighbor that allows open burning. It might be the same as really living next door from a risk and damage point of view

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