Stuphedd Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 The chap next door is a modern "green guy " drives a Lexus Hybrid and is mainly vegitarian so as to safe guard the planet for his kids . all very meritoriuos ! He covered his roof with solar panels , and has enjoyed the benefits for I guess 4 years or so . He began suspecting that his power output from the panels was dropping off , he tried to contact the installer only to find they have gone to the wall , Therefore he sort an expert in the field who quickly found the problem , Squirrels !! They are living underneath the panels and have "eaten" some of the wiring ,. The repair costs are horrendous , first you need scaffolding ,thats not cheap and then the "repairs" .He recons it will take 3 years until the system begins to be back in the black again . So buyer beware , make sure you dont live where there are squirrels !! Stay Happy cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 I do wish you hadn’t told us that! We have solar panels and we have squirrels too. However the panels have been there for over eight years and there is no discernible drop on output so the squirrels seem not to be attracted to them. However, we did recently cut back a tree in which I suspect they nest so I’m hoping they haven’t read this or they may get ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 We've paid for our solar panels after 8 years from the Feed In Tariff (FIT), what we get paid for what is assumed we feed back into the grid and what we save when using electricity during daylight hours. It means any battery charging done during the day for either our bikes or my models, is free! In any case with interest rates on savings so low it's a reasonable investment. Fortunately we don't have squirrels and if we did I think we would have noticed because the roof is quite low ? Very pleased with them so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuphedd Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 also beware of feral pigeons nesting underneath them !! Thats another problem a mate of mine has had ! And locals dont like the use of air rifles . I gather there is a development to make the panels double up as roof tiles and that should cure these problems ! cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 In our case I wouldn't have thought there was sufficient space between the panels and the roof for a pigeon to get underneath. We often get a pair of collared doves in the garden sweeping up the seeds the sparrows throw out of the feeder but wood pigeons are rare. There's quite a few homing pigeons but that doesn't seem as popular as it once was now there are hardly any former miners still alive. Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Smith 14 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Bad installation if squirrels or pigeons are under the panels, they should have fitted vermin guards all the way round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.