How Do You Clean Solar Screens and Zip-Track Screens Without Damaging Them?

Clean a solar or zip-track screen with the screen fully lowered: brush off dry dust, sponge on mild soap and water (or the maker's bleach mix if it allows one), rinse thoroughly, and leave it down until it is completely dry before you retract it. The chemistry is where the mesh makers disagree: Phifer allows bleach up to a 10% dilution on SunTex, Twitchell's standard Textilene mix is about a fifth of that strength, and some Phifer SheerWeave styles are dust and vacuum only. Find your fabric in the table below before you mix anything.

What each mesh maker allows

Most exterior solar screens and many zip-track screens use a vinyl-coated polyester mesh, and the most widely known families come from two mills: Phifer (SunTex, SheerWeave) and Twitchell (Textilene). Twitchell describes Textilene as "woven from polyvinyl chloride-coated polyester core yarns." (Our screen mesh types guide covers how these differ from fiberglass insect mesh.) "Not specified" below means the sheet is silent, which is not permission.

Sources: Phifer SunTex cleaning instructions, Phifer SheerWeave cleaning instructions, Twitchell Textilene cleaning instructions and Twitchell's anti-microbial and cleaning note. Every sheet ends with a thorough rinse; Textilene adds "air-dry completely."

Phifer says SunTex and most SheerWeave styles carry Microban protection (Infinity2 is the exception) and that its listed practices, bleach included, "will not affect the products' ability to resist the growth of microorganisms." Twitchell says the biocides in Textilene "will not wipe or wear off" because they are part of the fabric.

How strong is "10% or less" next to the Textilene mix?

Phifer gives a ceiling and does not define the base; read as bleach by volume in the finished solution, 10% is about 1 1/2 cups (380 ml) of bleach made up to one gallon. Twitchell gives a recipe: 1 cup of bleach in 50 cups of total liquid, which is 2%.

So on Textilene, use Twitchell's recipe as written rather than the stronger awning mix. On SunTex and the bleach-safe SheerWeave styles, either mix is inside the limit. On the dust-only SheerWeave styles and Performance+, bleach is not on the sheet, so leave it out.

If you do not know which mesh you have

Check the installer's quote or handover pack. Phantom Screens NZ tells owners to do exactly that, because its brands "do not share one universal care instrument." The openness factor printed on a quote (3%, 5%, 10%) narrows it down but does not name the mill.

If you still cannot identify it, start with dry brushing or vacuuming, which every sheet allows. If it needs more, mild detergent on a damp soft cloth, no scrubbing, no solvents or abrasives, a thorough rinse and drying with the screen down fits every sheet except the dust-only SheerWeave styles, which list no wet cleaning at all.

Step by step: cleaning a motorized zip-track screen

On a zip screen the fabric, side channels, pile seals and head box all have to be clean and dry together. This order follows the Apollo side-retention screen care sheet, Phantom's care guide and Streme's roller screen maintenance notes. For how the edges and channels are built, see our guide to zip-track and keder edges.

1. Switch automation to manual. Turn off any sun sensor, timer or scene so the screen cannot retract wet mesh mid-job.
2. Lower the screen fully. Clean it deployed, with the mesh flat and held in the channels. Streme gives the same instruction for its roller screens: pull the screen to its closed position, then brush.
3. Remove dry dust first. Brush lightly from top to bottom with a soft brush, or vacuum with a soft brush attachment. Streme warns that pushing too hard can dislodge the mesh from the side channels.
4. Wash with your mesh maker's mix. Apollo allows water, a soft brush and "a mild detergent like dish soap," and says "do not use chemicals." Where the fabric sheet allows bleach, keep to its strength. Work with a sponge or soft brush and a gentle hose spray, never a pressure washer.
5. Rinse thoroughly. Rinse both faces until no suds remain.
6. Clean the side channels, bottom bar and housing. Apollo lists the housing, side tracks and hem bar as washable with water and a soft brush. Vacuum debris out of the bottom of each channel with a nozzle attachment, and run a finger down the pile to loosen dust, as Streme describes. Debris in the channels is a common cause of a screen that sticks partway (see screen tracks and guide rails), and pile that stays flattened after cleaning is due for replacement (see brush seals and pile weatherstrip).
7. Leave it down until fully dry. Apollo: "allow it to dry fully before rolling it back into the housing." Phantom says the same for its motorized screen.
8. Lubricate only if the maker says so. Apollo specifies a dry silicone spray on the tracks and forbids "oil, grease, petroleum, or oil base sprays," which may attract dirt. Phantom notes that lubricant requirements differ by product.
9. Run one full cycle and watch it. Apollo recommends watching motorized screens while they operate.

Can you pressure wash a solar screen?

No. Pressure washing is not a cleaning method in any of the eight maker documents we read for this page; the mesh sheets call for a sponge or a damp cloth. Apollo states the mesh, housing and side tracks can be cleaned with water and a soft brush "but not with a pressure washer." Phantom Screens NZ answers the question directly: "No. High-pressure water can stretch insect mesh and force water into the hardware." A wide fan tip does not change the answer: no screen maker's instructions include one, at any setting.

Fiberglass insect mesh on roll-up screen doors

Retractable screen doors usually use fiberglass mesh: glass-fiber yarn coated in PVC. It is cleaned the same way, but gently, because it tears more easily than metal mesh when poked (see retractable screen doors for how the roll-up and pleated types differ).

1. Close the screen across the opening and hold it by the handle. Streme's instruction for its roller door screens is to brush lightly from top to bottom in this position. Pushing too hard can pull the mesh out of the top and bottom channels; if that happens, release the screen and guide the mesh back in with a finger as it retracts.
2. Vacuum or wipe. Centor's guide for its integrated door screens: vacuum the insect mesh with a soft brush attachment for a quick clean, or for a thorough one, wipe it with a soft cloth dampened in water and "a few drops of mild detergent."
3. Clear the floor channel. Centor has owners lift the sill cover and vacuum the floor channel, because sand, leaves and animal hair affect operation. Streme adds: check the guide wheels turn freely.
4. Clean magnetic strips. Streme says to clean both faces with a spirit cleaner and leave no grit on them.

None of the insect screen instructions we read mention bleach or disinfectants. The bleach rules above are for the named solar fabrics and do not carry over to fiberglass insect mesh.

How often to clean, and why it can affect your warranty

Centor makes cleaning a warranty condition: every 6 months in general environments, and every 3 months in coastal and industrial ones, where coastal means within two miles of a body of salt water. It is the only fixed interval we found in a maker document. Phantom adds that salt deposits should not be left to build up and that coastal hardware and tracks need fresh water rinses more often than at a sheltered home.

Where this guide stops

• Clear vinyl panels. Clear PVC window curtains have their own rules. Apollo, for example, says not to use Rain-X on them because it causes hazing, discoloration and distortion over time.
• Hurricane screens and heavy PVC fabrics follow their manufacturer's care sheet, not the solar mesh sheets.
• Awning fabric is a different material with different rules; see how to clean awning fabric.
• Fabrics or style numbers not in the table. Use the strictest common rule above until you have the maker's sheet.

Frequently asked questions