Overview
Hot Solar Solutions is a small company headquartered in Burbank, Washington. The company was founded in 2009 and offers residential and commercial solar panel installation services.
Solar Panels and Services
Specific Solar Panels Offered
Heliene 72M Series: Panels in this series are extremely efficient, with efficiency ratings lying between 17.8% and 18.8%. Unfortunately, they degrade rapidly and lose 20% of their original production capacity within 25 years. Their temperature coefficient is also not too impressive, averaging around -0.39%.
QCells: Suitable for residential rooftop arrays, the QCells panels are rated to produce between 385W and 405W of electric power. They ride a high-efficiency wave of 19.6% to 20.6% and have an impressively low temperature coefficient of -0.34%. Besides these fantastic specifications, they maintain an 86% production capacity at the end of their 30-year warranty period.
Mission: Mission modules are made of P-type monocrystalline solar cells, which are cheaper but of passable quality. Their efficiency ratings range from 18.61% to 19.35%, and each one can produce between 380W to 390W of power. While this efficiency range isn’t the best, their temperature coefficient of -0.375% makes up for it. However, they degrade almost as fast as Heliene panels, producing just 80.2% of their original capacity after 25 years.
Solaria: Hot Solar offers only one Solaria model, and its power rating is 400W. Its temperature coefficient of -0.39% matches the industry average, but it degrades at a slightly high rate per year, leaving it producing 86% of its normal capacity after 25 years. Finally, it’s 20.2% efficient, which is amazing for a panel of its power rating.
Canadian Solar: Hot Solar uses Canadian Solar panels in the HiDM5 range. These modules are all-black, which increases their visual appeal. Surprisingly, their efficiencies don’t suffer, as they have efficiency ratings of up to 20.1% and power ratings of up to 405W. Their temperature coefficient beats that of some solar panels of similar price, falling at -0.37%.
Specific Types of Solar Offered
Residential solar: Hot Solar has a robust residential solar profile, with many homeowners having nothing but good things to say about the design and above-par performance of their systems. However, the company doesn’t appear to incorporate backup batteries with grid-tie solar systems, which may be an issue for clients that need to add a backup battery to their solar systems later on.
Commercial solar: Hot Solar passively claims to carry out commercial solar projects, but there’s no show of its capacity to do that. However, some of the models of panels that this company installs are suitable for commercial installations, so it may be worth giving a try.
Off-grid solar: It’s unclear if Hot Solar restricts its off-grid offerings to commercial or residential clients. But the company is likely to include LG Chem, Enphase, or SolarEdge batteries in off-grid systems. These battery brands are very reputable.
Installation Costs and Processes
The customer schedules a physical consultation with a Hot Solar representative. Before the meeting, the customer must’ve sent relevant information regarding the size of their potential solar system. The client is free to ask as many questions concerning their solar project after the consultation, and once they decide to hire Hot Solar, they sign a contract with it. Then, the company secures permits and equipment to connect the system to the grid (if it’s a grid-tie system). Finally, the system is inspected by the local authorities and set up and running.
Costs
Most customers reported their customized quotes translated into spending almost half of what other solar companies would have charged them. This denotes that Hot Solar Solutions offers affordable services.
The company also allows customers to pay for their solar systems through solar loans obtained from either Verity Credit Union or Tri-CU (Credit Union).
Legitimacy
The company is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). However, it is a member of the Washington Solar Energy Industries Association (WASEIA) and partners with Tri-CU and Verity CU. In addition, there are multiple positive observations about the general state of its services, including its customer care.
Maintenance
Hot Solar offers no workmanship warranty on its services as it relies on the manufacturers’ warranties covering the product it installs. This means that if a solar array component should stop working within its warranty term, Hot Solar will replace the component for free but charge the customer for the cost of labor required to replace the component. Customers can also contract the company to clean their solar arrays routinely.
The SolarEmpower View
Hot Solar Solutions is a reliable solar panel installation company. Although the narrowness of its financing options may disincentivize potential clients from choosing it, it does not compromise the quality of its services.
| 💲Cost: 8/10 | ✅Legitimacy: 7/10 |
| ⭐️Quality: 9/10 | 📞Customer Service: 7.4/10 |
