Warranty claim, where do I stand?

[Daniel]

Installed a 50kw solar system last March with 2 Fronius 20kw inverters. One has gone wrong and is stuck in some kind of reboot cycle.

We bought it from an installer in the local town, who have since ceased trading. However they were owned by another company in town who specialise in glass works. Do I chase them as the parent company to get the warranty work done? I've given them a call but naturally they are 'going to get back to me'.

 

[turbofarming]

Try the manufacturer direct if not

 

[wasted years]

As I understand it your claim is with the supplier not the manufacturer, how you stand when supplier is no longer there I do not know.

 

[turbofarming]

Of course, but always worth giving them a call direct just in case.

 

[straightandnarrow]

you would have 12 months warranty from the manufacturer, I would contact them with evidence of purchase and installation.

 

[Daniel]

One of the managers of the parent company rang back this afternoon and said that as the installation company was a separate limited company that had now been wound up, the best he could do was give me Fronius' number and leave me to take it up with them.

I asked who would pay the electrician to rewire a new inverter and was told that would be between me and Fronius.

He was a paid manager, but I still shared with him my thoughts about his directors who hide behind limited company structures to absolve themselves of having to honour their obligations.

Tempting to take the muckspreader up to their yard and offer them 5 minutes to decide whether or not they still wish to claim it's no longer their problem.

 

[Exfarmer]

Daniel , I sympathise, have issues with small Fronius inverters supplied by Mosscliff. Fronius are very happy to replace parts for free, but am left having to find engineer to do the wiring.
I currently use Total Solar Care which was set up by two former employees. They may not be the cheapest though.

 

[Daniel]

Daniel , I sympathise, have issues with small Fronius inverters supplied by Mosscliff. Fronius are very happy to replace parts for free, but am left having to find engineer to do the wiring.
I currently use Total Solar Care which was set up by two former employees. They may not be the cheapest though.

I was told Fronius were better than SMA. 3 SMA inverters on our other system are in their 4th year now I think, without issue.

 

[Exfarmer]

I only use Fronius , apart from 3 platinum inverters.

 

[Exfarmer]

actually have only had issues on smaller Fronius, fingers crossed.

 

[Giles1]

I've had the same type issue with a domestic biomass installation.Installer changed name.I suspect the installer had never let on to the manufacturer that there were problems with a part of their boiler,either through a deliberate policy or ineptness.Speak to the manufacturer anyway,they may well be unaware there are issues .The net result of our problems are that we are paying someone else to look after our system but are getting parts at a discount.And yes it does stink and p**s me off but appears to be the only way forward.

 

[Daniel]

Update.

Fronius themselves have been helpful and will send a man to repair or replace. However the man is a 3rd party and I have to cover his labour bill.

 

[Stephen E]

I have Fronius inverters here and last week one was showing a red light and error code. I checked the 3 20A fuses in the main isolator box and found that one had blown. Once replaced the green light came on and it's now up and running again. Not sure why the fuse went but so far so good. Could be worth checking yours if you haven't already before calling someone out.

 

[Exfarmer]

I have Fronius inverters here and last week one was showing a red light and error code. I checked the 3 20A fuses in the main isolator box and found that one had blown. Once replaced the green light came on and it's now up and running again. Not sure why the fuse went but so far so good. Could be worth checking yours if you haven't already before calling someone out.

Interesting, have you checked the voltages across the different phases?
We had an issue for 2 years on a large system which no electrician could get to the bottom of. This was thst one phase was consistently higher voltage at the inverters by about 5% . At the actual main Mpan meter this did not show. But we had intermittent tripping and eventually a trip burning out. The array was at least 200 metres from the meter
After further investigation, it turned out that the roof panels were wired so that more power was going back in to the inverters on one of the 3 in feeds feeding the same phase
As there were 3 inverters this was easily cured by changing the wiring around and the feeds were balanced.this should have been spotted at the installation of course but at the time was believed to being caused by usage in the building.

 

[Daniel]

Thanks all.

It seems to have been resolved by software updates to both inverters. I think I will have to pay the independent chaps labour charge though. Will have to clarify with Fronius.

 

[Exfarmer]

Not too bad a result, who were the third party contractors, out of interest?

 

[Daniel]

Not too bad a result, who were the third party contractors, out of interest?

A company called evogreen from Newmarket

 

[Exfarmer]

cheers!