Panel installers damaged roof!!

[apprentice87]

Hi All,

Asking for a friend!!

My friend bought a house with them solar panels on it. [She does not like them and wishes they were not there]

Anyway, it rained rather a lot yesterday and all water leaked in.. They had an investigate, and it seems that when the panels were installed, the installers poked a large hole in the roofing felt and them bodged it up.. [see photo below]

She has been on to them and they say that THEY have to repair it.. To my mind this is total nonsense, and that she can get any electrician she likes to remove the panels, any roofer she likes to fix the roof [tiles and battens off and new felt] and the panel company will have to pay..

If they were competent to do the work themselves, they would not have knocked a large hole in the felt in the first place NOR, tried to hide it...

What you all think??

john..

 

[binky]

felting isn't meant to be waterprrof for any length of time, so there must be damage to the slates / tiles above. Unfortunatetly as they are not the original customer, I'm not sure how they would stand with regards to a claim, but the company should have supplied a warranty of at least 5 years with the system. 

Bodge fix, spray foam, proper fix, scaffolding, lift panels from the affected area and repair the roof. Might be worth lifting the whole array to double check the whole roof, but if it's old slate you need to be cautious as trampling around on the roof can stress crack old slates leading to further failures somewhere down the line when the slates decide to split. 

 

[apprentice87]

I think so too, they should have to take the panels off and repair the roof properly, and all at their expense too.. How heavy are panels??

john..

 

[ProDave]

As the company insist THEY should fix it, are you sure this is not a rent a roof scheme where the previous owners leased the roof to the solar company?  If so the house owner cannot just go and remove the panels, they are not theirs to remove and would break the terms of the roof lease.

I suspect this is the case.  If they were owned by the house and receiving a FIT that would have been transferred to the new owner and she would be happy to keep them and collect the money.

Anyway if the solar company are going to fix the roof, let them.

 

[apprentice87]

As the company insist THEY should fix it, are you sure this is not a rent a roof scheme where the previous owners leased the roof to the solar company?  If so the house owner cannot just go and remove the panels, they are not theirs to remove and would break the terms of the roof lease.

I suspect this is the case.  If they were owned by the house and receiving a FIT that would have been transferred to the new owner and she would be happy to keep them and collect the money.

Anyway if the solar company are going to fix the roof, let them.

Yes. i believe it is one of them "rent a roof" things.. I will find out later..

john..

 

[steptoe]

Agree with @ProDave 

I hope she got at least 10% off the market value of the house. 

The panels are not hers to touch. 

Those rent a roof schemes should never have been allowed. 

 

[apprentice87]

Agree with @ProDave 

I hope she got at least 10% off the market value of the house. 

The panels are not hers to touch. 

Those rent a roof schemes should never have been allowed. 

I would agree 100% there.. I would simply not be interested in a house encumbered by that sort of thing

john..

 

[Andy™]

She has been on to them and they say that THEY have to repair it.. To my mind this is total nonsense, and that she can get any electrician she likes to remove the panels, any roofer she likes to fix the roof [tiles and battens off and new felt] and the panel company will have to pay..

they are right imo - if theyve made a mistake (i.e broke the roof), then they need to be given a chance to fix it first (at their expense). which it appears as though they are willing to do? if you / customer wants to get someone else to do the repair then thats your choice, but dont expect the panel company to pay for it. for all you know, the installer damaged the roof and never said anything to their company either, this may well be the first they know of it

 

[ProDave]

To my mind this is total nonsense, and that she can get any electrician she likes to remove the panels,

If this is a rent a roof scheme they are not her panels to remove so no she can't do that.

 

[binky]

Yes. i believe it is one of them "rent a roof" things.. I will find out later..

john..

if it is rent a roof, then leave it alone. It is their legal responsibility to fix any problems. I believe you can also tell them to take the system away, not that there's any great benefit to doing that as you still get free electric. 

 

[steptoe]

I'm not sure the new owner of the property has much comeback whatsoever tbh, 

Depending on how long ago the install was.

If the original owner accepted the install, then surely it would be the new owners surveyor that should have flagged up the issue.? 

I could be totally wrong in all this tho, I often am.

 

[apprentice87]

First off, i know precisely nothing about any of this sort of thing, but i have had a look on the internet..

Am i thinking along the right lines here...

Panels, cost a lot of money..

So, a householder [read greedy mug] does a deal with a firm that leases them the panels [in the same way that you or i might lease a van] but as part of the deal the householder also grants the firm a lease [in the conveyancing sense] to install the things on the roof for the period of said lease..

In return, the firm gives the householder what in return?? a sum of money, or free electricity or what??

john..

 

[steptoe]

First off, i know precisely nothing about any of this sort of thing, but i have had a look on the internet..

Am i thinking along the right lines here...

Panels, cost a lot of money..

So, a householder [read greedy mug] does a deal with a firm that leases them the panels [in the same way that you or i might lease a van] but as part of the deal the householder also grants the firm a lease [in the conveyancing sense] to install the things on the roof for the period of said lease..

In return, the firm gives the householder what in return?? a sum of money, or free electricity or what??

john..

Free electricity, and the firm gets the FIT

 

[ProDave]

But the "free electricity" is only of use if you understand how it works.

The panels generate electricity, mostly in the middle of the day.  The FIT pays the panels owners for how much is generated but does not care how it is used.

So the home owner gets all the power generated by the panels to use themselves for free.

So what we do, is make sure water heating, and all the big appliances like washing machine, dishwasher and tumble dryer are only ever done one at a time in the middle of the day.  And then we have a solar PV diverter that sends excess power to the immersion heater.  Just by doing this we self use 95% of what is generated.  This will reduce your electricity bill.

But if you don't know this, and are out at work all day and use the big appliances in the evening when you are in, then you won't be self using much of it and won't be saving much money.

 

[Geoff1946]

Wouldn't it be a shame if the householder believed that the water coming in might be hazardous to the electrics and turned off the isolators until it was fixed.

 

[apprentice87]

Wouldn't it be a shame if the householder believed that the water coming in might be hazardous to the electrics and turned off the isolators until it was fixed.

Oooooo... how do you do that??

john..

 

[steptoe]

Oooooo... how do you do that??

john..

Should be isolators beside the inverter, on both DC and AC side. 

 

[apprentice87]

Should be isolators beside the inverter, on both DC and AC side. 

What happens then?? The installers money supply gets cut off???

john..

 

[steptoe]

What happens then?? The installers money supply gets cut off???

john..

Yes, no "export" reading on the generation meter, no money. 

I have heard stories of rabid kids that keep throwing stones and breaking the panels so much that the companies actually remove them, 

No idea how true that is though, 

:innocent

 

[binky]

Yes, no "export" reading on the generation meter, no money. 

I have heard stories of rabid kids that keep throwing stones and breaking the panels so much that the companies actually remove them, 

No idea how true that is though, 

:innocent

Not heard stoies of kids smashing panels, but next to the inverter will be a large red isolator. Turn it off and the system will shut down - that will soon get the attention of the panel owners.