Cleaning Horticultural Luminaires: Best Practices

Unless you regularly measure your light levels, you may not realize that light output can be reduced to 10% due to dust and dirt buildup on a luminaire and/or reflector.

A buildup of dirt on the luminaires can also lead to overheating and reduced performance. Horticultural lights that are not properly cleaned and maintained can result in a loss of quality in your crop, possibly increase your crop cycle, and reduce overall yield. To maintain optimal performance, it’s highly recommended to include the cleaning of lamps and/or reflectors as part of your regular cyclical maintenance routine when cleaning other parts of your CEA facility.

The summer months, when the days are longer, are typically a great time for greenhouse growers to consider cleaning their grow lights, since they won’t need supplementary lighting in the greenhouse.

It’s also important to note that proper maintenance protocols are critical to ensuring optimal performance and longevity of all greenhouse equipment. When cleaning the ceiling/walls of your grow facility, luminaires should ideally be removed from the mounting structure. If that’s not possible, lights should be properly bagged to protect them from the ingress of any water/cleaning agents, just like this customer did.

To clean your luminaires:

1. As is always the case before commencing any maintenance work, be sure to turn off and lock out the branch circuit. Ensure the luminaires are completely cooled.
2. Use low-pressure compressed air to remove dust and/or debris between the heat fins on the driver housing and/or LED modules.
3. Wipe the luminaire housing down with a dry or slightly damp cloth.
4. To remove the limescale buildup on the LED lens, lightly dampen a clean, soft cloth with vinegar and water solution (1:100 ratio). Gently wipe down the lens.
5. Allow the luminaire to dry completely before powering on again.

CLEANING YOUR REFLECTORS

To maintain the highest level of performance for your HIDs, it’s recommended that you also check and clean your reflectors every year as part of your regular maintenance routine.

P.L. Light Systems’ NXT family of HIDs is designed so the reflectors can easily be removed for cleaning (even when the lamp is installed). So, to clean the reflectors, it’s as easy as lifting them off the light(s) and washing them in the same simple vinegar and water solution (1:100 ratio) used for cleaning the lens of your LED(s). You can check out this short video for step-by-step instructions on how to do this.

Obviously, the aluminum material of the reflectors will start to degrade over time as part of normal wear and tear in a CEA environment. So, at some point, you will need to replace them if you want to maintain optimal PAR light output over the long term.

For your safety, when cleaning luminaires and/or reflectors:

• Always maintain the correct ratio and never add other chemicals to vinegar and water solution.
• Never clean the luminaire with corrosive cleaning agents, abrasives, or other aggressive liquids.
• Wearing hand and eye protection is advised.
• Any luminaire maintenance should always be performed in accordance with local and national building; electrical and/ or safety codes.