This week we received a telephone call from a concerned owner of a Solar PV system. His system had been installed less than a year ago by another company and he had come back from holiday to find that the solar circuit in his fuse board had tripped. When reset, half the system was not working properly. He phoned the company that had installed the system only to find that they had ceased trading. Fortunately, this client had an insurance backed warranty. This meant that he had somewhere to go to try and resolve his problem. And this is where Morgans Solar stepped in.
The client contacted us and asked if we could find out what the fault was. Peter visited the client within a couple of days and carried out a full inspection and test of the Solar PV system. This involved not only testing the electrical side of the system but getting up into the loft and onto the roof to inspect the whole installation. Unfortunately for the client, the findings were not good! The main issue was that some of the panels had become disconnected as a connector plug had become unplugged. Wires were hanging loose on the roof and because they could flap around in the wind, one string had obviously come under some tension and the connector had worked its way off. All of the wires should have been securely fastened to the mounting frame in the first place.
Upon inspecting the rest of the installation, numerous examples were found where the system had not been installed to the required MCS standards and in some cases, the issues found were dangerous. It makes you wonder how many other systems there are out there like this one but we can take some positives from being involved in this. For us it highlights how important compliance to the MCS standard is and reinforces the quality of our own installations. For the client, the insurance backed warranty has saved him a lot of personal expense. We will now be going back to complete remedial works a the request of the insurance company, to correct all the issues found and leave the system in a fit for purpose condition as it should have been when it was installed originally.
We would really like to talk to any companies who offer insurance backed warranties for Solar PV installations about our inspection, test and maintenance service. If you know anyone who might be interested, please pass them our details. The number to call is 01525 213103 or email info@morganssolar.com.
