Solar panels and chimneys are awesome, but birds can cause problems you never thought of
Do you have a chimney on your home? Have you recently had solar panels installed on the roof of your home? They look clean and shiny and they’re all ready to cut down on your bills and carbon footprint. You’d be justified in thinking that your new source of renewable electricity would be the envy of your neighbors. However, in this blog we explore how the complete opposite can end up being the case, and what you can really do about it.
To allow space for electrical equipment and cables and to ensure your panels don’t overheat, a small gap must be left between your roof and your solar panels (known as PV). However, this inadvertently provides a suitable home for rodents such as the Grey Squirrel, and more commonly urban bird species such as the Feral Pigeon (Columbia Liva).
Although the presence of such creatures around your solar panels or chimney may seem relatively innocuous at first glance, their prolonged residence underneath your solar PV has proved a nuisance for many micro-generators who’ve contacted us, with common complaints often concerned with both noise and mess.
Many of you who installed solar panels may have done so to benefit the environment, including animals within the ecosystem! However, you may not have envisioned being woken up at the crack of down by cooing and scratching noises, your gutters filled with Pigeon debris and feces on the roof, external walls and garden.
Birds nesting under solar panels can be very inconvenient, annoying, and costly.
Not only is this unsightly and inconvenient, but it could also lead to damage to the roof tiles and even to the PV panels. Pigeon droppings on and around your solar PV is likely to have corrosive effect on your roof tiles, particularly on older rooftops. Bird droppings on top of the panels is also likely to have the effect of reducing their efficiency depending on the extent of it. The area underneath the panels can also be damaged because of nesting, as Pigeons can dislodge wiring and even stop the solar panel system working altogether.
There’s a whole host of pest control companies out there offering their own solution to the problem. However, we suggest that you check first whether and attempt to remove Feral Pigeons and other critters from your roof top will be done in a way that is legal, humane and not unnecessarily harmful to local wildlife.
The best way to address this problem is to install a solar panel pigeon barrier, ideally when solar panels are first installed, or at the very least before pest birds arrive. However, this may be not always be possible – if your panels were installed some time ago, you may be facing a bird issue now.
We can help, whether you currently have a bird problem in your solar panels or if you want to prevent the issue from happening! The Rid-A-Bird system is designed to prevent pest birds from accessing the area beneath solar arrays. Solar panel bird proofing is important because pest birds will nest under the solar array, creating a huge mess, causing damage and costly repairs and cleanup. We stop birds nesting under solar panels.
Rid-A-Bird system uses a non-evasive method to attach the screen to the tile with self-sealing fasteners, so attachments are NOT affixed to the actual panel, so not to void any solar panel warranty and we are the only company that offers a lifetime warranty.
Rid-A-Bird company is a family owned and have operated for over 30 years although we specialize in pigeon and bird problems we are a full-service pest control company, we do general Pest and Termite Control. Not to mention we offer a great Termite Warranty for your home.
Please give us a call today at 623-587-0125 to schedule your no obligation free inspection and quote to rid birds from nesting under your solar panels or to remove any pest from your home or yard.
Thank you,
Ken Gray, Owner