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Let’s talk about the different types of warranties available on solar systems . . .
The standard manufactures warranty for solar panels in the market is a 25 year Efficiency Warranty. This can range anywhere from 20 to 30 years but 25 is the most common. Understand that this warranty only covers the efficiency of the panels — not the panels themselves.
Let me explain . . .
The way most warranties work for panels is that they guarantee to produce no less than 80% production over 25 years. So whatever your system is supposed to do on the day it is installed it can’t have more than a 20% energy loss over that time frame. The standard warranty is no more than 10% loss or (90% production in the first 10 years) and no more than 20% loss or (80% production over the next 15 years).
What this means is that your system could be installed tomorrow and drop 10% efficiency in the first year and still be within normal warranty parameters.
This type of warranty is called a ‘Block’ or ‘Stepped Warranty’.
The best products also have a workmanship and material defects warranty to cover the panels or ‘hardware’ themselves. Not all products will come with this additional warranty.
The best panel warranty on the market is called a ‘Linear Performance Warranty’ which guarantees a 97% power output efficiency in the first year and then no less than 0.7% energy loss each year for 25 years.
You can see by the graph the substantial increase in production over time a product that comes with this sort of warranty will provide.
Inverters too come with a range of warranties but the best ones on the market will usually offer a 10 year performance warranty.
Another thing you may want to know when talking about the warranty is the company’s procedure for replacement if stock is found to be faulty. Let’s say you get your system installed and four weeks later realise that your inverter is not working for some reason. What course of action will the company take? Do they send it away to be fixed while you wait months without any solar production or do they just replace it with another one right away?
In the last 12 months we’ve had two recalls on inverters. The first was replaced before the ETSA meter was even installed so no down time to the customer at all. The second was replaced seven days after the ETSA meter was installed so once again very little down time to the customer.
When you consider the amount of volume we do annually here at Solar Coach you can see that this is a very low recall rate indeed.
You see we are all human, the manufactures, the retailers, the sales guys, the installers and wow even the customers are humans! So everyone makes a mistake at one time or another. It’s not making a mistake or encountering a problem that’s the issue — it’s how you deal with it when they arise.
The best companies act on it right away with little or no down time to the client!
Ask your coach for more details about your product warranties!
Go to www.SolarCoach.com.au to register for our next educational webinar.
Post time: Jun-22-2017