Solar panels….?

[Alex321]

I suspect it would cost an awful lot of money to have the panels removed to be able to fix the roof.

It is more about getting people with the appropriate expertise I think.

I don't think they are all that hard physically to remove and replace (they are attached to brackets which are in turn attached to the roof), but it is about doing so without electrocuting anybody or buggering up the house supply.

A quick look up finds some companies who seem to suggest it isn't anything exceptional
https://www.collierroofingsurrey.co.uk/how-do-we-repair-roofs-that-have-solar-panels/
https://solarrepairs.co.uk/upgrades/moving-solar-panels/

 

[Gillstay]

Genuine question. If you have solar panels and something happens to your roof and it needs to be repaired, how can you do that

I just switched the power off with the big switch, climbed on the roof, undid the brackets with Allen bolts and lifted them down carefully after undoing the small plug. Very, very easy.

 

[Drago]

I've mention this elsewhere. Had a very pleasant 5kw system, 16 panels, on the old Chez Drago. Worked very well and let me get by with negligible leccy bills.

Sadly, it was a right PITA when moving house, questions about standards etc, and I ended up having to get them inspected and certified again to rhe current Standard just to shut them up as it was slowing things down and I had a deadline with which to complete on the new house.

It was such a ballache I'm not going to have them on the new house, which also has a large and exactly south facing roof. It's hardly worth the hassle in my A rated property with such low bills anyway and the thought of facing that grief if we ever move in the future just turns me cold.

The government should be making such things easier, not harder, but I guess governments aren't in the business of making things better.

 

[Gillstay]

I've mention this elsewhere. Had a very pleasant 5kw system, 16 panels, on the old Chez Drago. Worked very well and let me get by with negligible leccy bills.

Sadly, it was a right PITA when moving house, questions about standards etc, and I ended up having to get them inspected and certified again to rhe current Standard just to shut them up as it was slowing things down and I had a deadline with which to complete on the new house.

It was such a ballache I'm not going to have them on the new house, which also has a large and exactly south facing roof. It's hardly worth the hassle in my A rated property with such low bills anyway and the thought of facing that grief if we ever move in the future just turns me cold.

The government should be making such things easier, not harder, but I guess governments aren't in the business of making things better.

We thought we would have the same problem but the solicitor sorted it out with little or no hassle. Was it your mortgage company that was the problem ?

 

[Drago]

It was the buyers solicitors.

Fortunately I didn't have a mortgage. I still don't have a mortgage, but now I've moved I don't have any savings either

 

[Gillstay]

It was the buyers solicitors.

Fortunately I didn't have a mortgage. I still don't have a mortgage, but now I've moved I don't have any savings either

That must have been very annoying then. I often suspect it is down to ineptitude that leads them down the path of needing all this information rather than being practical about it. I know of one chap who took a wood burner out of the house and left it in the garden for the new owner to pop back in rather than sort out the paperwork. Quite amusing.

 

[MrGrumpy]

That must have been very annoying then. I often suspect it is down to ineptitude that leads them down the path of needing all this information rather than being practical about it. I know of one chap who took a wood burner out of the house and left it in the garden for the new owner to pop back in rather than sort out the paperwork. Quite amusing.

If you have certificates for install for all of these things , then surely that should be enough ? Our solar panels have all the certificates, had to have them to claim funding . Our wood burner had to have Hetas certificate as well . Well …. I dare say you don’t need any of these things but when you come to sell …….

 

[Gillstay]

If you have certificates for install for all of these things , then surely that should be enough ? Our solar panels have all the certificates, had to have them to claim funding . Our wood burner had to have Hetas certificate as well . Well …. I dare say you don’t need any of these things but when you come to sell …….

Exactly you just put it in the garden. if there isn't one then it doesn't need a certificate.

 

[Smokin Joe]

We've had a stroke of luck (For once in our lives) as the dear old Welsh government, God bless'm, have given a 100% grant for the installation of a heat pump and solar panels to those aged over 65 who have a person with a disability in the house. We qualify because Mrs SJ has a blue badge because of limited mobility and high blood pressure. Of the first eight houses in our close seven of us have fulfilled the requirements, four are already up and running and we had the heat pump installed last week (What a palaver) and the panels are going up on Wednesday.

I don't know how they can afford it, but what the hell, it was there and we grabbed it.

 

[biggs682]

That's a good result @Smokin Joe does make you wonder how they afford it though.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I often suspect it is down to ineptitude that leads them down the path of needing all this information

I can support that. My partner's old house had a converted loft bedroom, completed in 1972. The buyers mortgage company said they had inspected it and were happy. The day before we were due to move, they put the brakes on and said they needed to see the building cert for the conversion. We even got an email from Plymouth Housing to say that certs were not issued or required in 1972, but they wouldn't listen. We then got a surveyor out who spent 20 minutes upstairs, to come down and say it was fine. Cost us a week, but cost the earlier people in the chain a lot as they had already moved out and had nowhere to move in. Absolute muppets

 

[Drago]

If you have certificates for install for all of these things , then surely that should be enough ? Our solar panels have all the certificates, had to have them to claim funding . Our wood burner had to have Hetas certificate as well . Well …. I dare say you don’t need any of these things but when you come to sell …….

I did, but standards have moved on and they wanted proof they were compliant with the current installation and eleftrical regs, and not the regs when they were fitted in 2015.

 

[MrGrumpy]

I did, but standards have moved on and they wanted proof they were compliant with the current installation and eleftrical regs, and not the regs when they were fitted in 2015.

Maybe that’s a thing with Solar , which is a worry . If it was installed to the standards relevant then . Did you have to alter them to the current standards ?

 

[Drago]

The electrical bit was easy as my SiL is a sparky and he signed the mains connection off for me.

The DC and current standards bit required getting a local firm in, and other than sticking some warning/informative labels on various boxes they declared it compliant and issued me a cert. No actual electrical or mechanical work required.

But what a ballache.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I had problem with a buyer many years ago

Thing is - stuff is installed to the standards current at the time - they don;t get a crystal ball out and work out the standards when the house will be sold at some undetermined point in the future
Unfortunately some buyers - or their solicitors - don;t seem to realise this

Basically this buyer did all the survey and everything and made an offer - which I accepted - but then wanted everything brought up to standard before she would go further
I was willing to do the minimum - but refused to go further
This was actually electrical stuff
specifically there was an electrical socket too near the back door - hence - apparently - tempting to plug garden equipment into without a saftery thing
I offered to blank the socket off - thus leaving no sockets in the dining room. If she wanted it moving (and hence the damage etc) then she would have to pay for it.

In the end I told her to get lost - to be fair it probably lost me thousands as I ended up selling to a builder for a lower price

so you ahve to decided if it is worth spending a few hundred to keep the sale