Squirrels ate my solar panels!

luna_moonflower

It was suggested I repost this here, though it also appears in the Energy Forum.
This is a slightly ridiculous situation and you’d be forgiven for laughing, as my colleagues have shamelessly done.

We bought solar panels a few years ago, which recently completely stopped working. Today we found out that squirrels have eaten through all the wiring! This wasn’t mentioned as a hazard at the point of sale, and would DEFINITELY have influenced our decision to purchase as we have an active squirrel colony at the bottom of our garden, in our veg patch etc. I am trying to ascertain whether we have any recourse for compensation, even if that meant having them removed with a full refund. They are being repaired today at great expense (£1400 + VAT) but with no additional protection, which I find incredible. A quick google has shown that it’s a common problem and that protective options are available. I really don’t know how to find out our rights.

Thanks in advance,
Lou

Martyn1981

Have you got a cat?

Having rescued (captured) a large feral Tom, and habituated him (locked him in for 2 weeks), he rewarded us with a large squirrel, delivered, quite impressively via a cat flap.

The active squirrel colony might not be best pleased!

Mart.

PS A Pine Marten would work even better.

Sterlingtimes

luna_moonflower wrote: »

It was suggested I repost this here, though it also appears in the Energy Forum.
This is a slightly ridiculous situation and you’d be forgiven for laughing, as my colleagues have shamelessly done.

We bought solar panels a few years ago, which recently completely stopped working. Today we found out that squirrels have eaten through all the wiring! This wasn’t mentioned as a hazard at the point of sale, and would DEFINITELY have influenced our decision to purchase as we have an active squirrel colony at the bottom of our garden, in our veg patch etc. I am trying to ascertain whether we have any recourse for compensation, even if that meant having them removed with a full refund. They are being repaired today at great expense (£1400 + VAT) but with no additional protection, which I find incredible. A quick google has shown that it’s a common problem and that protective options are available. I really don’t know how to find out our rights.

Thanks in advance,
Lou

Notwithstanding any terms that you agreed with the installer, terms would be implied into the contract under the Supply of Goods and Service Act 1981.

There would be a term that the goods supplied must be "fit for purpose". Probably such a fitness for purpose provision would require that the goods remain fit for purpose during their normal life, e.g. the cables should not disintegrate, or let in water, or not conduct electricity.

However, if an unusual purpose is to become part of the contract, you would need to inform the supplier of this prior to the contract, e.g. we have an active squirrel colony at the bottom of our garden and we want you to take account of that.

I would say that most external cable installations, e.g. cables on Sky dishes do not provide rodent protection in the ordinary course of events.

I think it unlikely that a term would be implied into the contract which requires that the cables are protected against squirrels.

However, it may be a risk covered under your property insurance, and that is where I would look for compensation.

societys_child

Don't think the supplier can be held responsible for listing (or not listing) anything and everything that could cause damage to some panels fastened the roof of a house. You've had a number of replies on your other thread.

smitchy73

You could look at getting the guards in place around the edges of the panels, I think it's wiring or mesh that stops birds or indeed rodents in this case getting through and nesting or gnawing the wires.

luna_moonflower

Thanks people. I think my surprise is that from a cursory Google it seems to be a known problem, which the engineer who fixed them also indicated (said he'd seen it a fair bit, but ours was the worst case he's seen). We were verbally advised during the sales pitch that the lifespan of the Inverter is only around 10 years and so we'd need to proceed on the understanding that we would have to pay to replace it at some point. I'd naively assumed that we would have been informed of any other common issues which could result in a big hike in the long term costs. I also wonder if the email I had from the engineer implies that it's a known issue: 'we do not offer rodent protection for our projects. There are companies in the UK that do, however it is a fairly expensive installation.' So in my view, they haven't fitted a system which is fit for purpose because we were never given this option. Hmm, lots to think about.

House insurers have confirmed that the solar panels are covered... apart from for damage by rodents! Guess it's just a Bad News Day

Andy_WSM

How would the installer necessarily know you have "an active squirrel colony" living at the end of your garden? Surely you should have mentioned this to them as it's the exception. not the norm. I don't have one - in fact I haven't seen a squirrel here in the more than 10 years I have lived here.

Common sense dictates that as squirrels are known to be destructive creatures you should have taken special preventative measures against them - as there is no such risk here I wouldn't want mesh guards all around my installation and neither would most people so it's never going to be "standard" and certainly not priced in to a job!