UKH

Thinking of extending our solar array. Any firms to avoid/embrace in South Lakes area? Any experience of Lakes Solar ?

We've just had panels/battery put in in Kendal by eden solar. Happy with what we've got.

As a solar installer myself, I would say anyone local with MCS accreditation, who has preferably been trading for a few years.

Avoid any national firm, or anyone who sends a salesman over, even if they call it a "surveyor".  Trust pilot etc reviews are often all fake.

Thanks for the tip. Looks like good advice.

Thanks for your reply. Just wondering if you got quotes from other companies and if you did was your choice made on the basis of price or something else.

I had an installation of panels and a battery by Lakes Solar 2 weeks ago. They were quick and did what they said. I liked the 2 people I had contact with.

Thanks. That’s encouraging.

I'm about to get a system fitted by Eden Solar via personal recommendation. They've been great to work with thoughout the design process.

We got an array and battery installed by Lakes Solar in Feb. Good to deal with.

However, despite the app showing our system has been working, we've seen no decrease in bill payments - I'm wondering if there's something gone wrong with the wiring and it still gets counted on our meter. Been in contact with the office and they keep saying someone will come out to take a look but nothing yet. ME not being particularly proactive may have something to do with it, but still.

Also started getting water ingress below the array, got a local roofing contractor to check/sort and seems there was more tile movement/damage than expected and the specific contractor said it was a bit of a mess (could have been there already, but we had no ingress issues last winter) always a risk but it did happen, no ingress with the rain in the last couple of days though.

Thanks. Eden was another outfit I was considering.

Food for thought there. Thanks

Your app (well ours does) shows what source of power the house is using (be it solar, battery or grid)

We did have another quote, I can't remember who from but could probably dig it out. The initial quote (12 panels) wasn't too bad, but when I asked them to quote for 14 and 16 panels, the per-panel price went up at each step, so I thought they were taking the piss and went with Eden. 

Sounds stupid, but have you registered for an export tariff with your energy company?

I'm curious about avoiding national firms. I've just had a quote from Octopus and one of the attractions is that they're still likely to be in business for the period of the warranty.

I'm slightly nervous of very small, albeit local,  firms still being around to sort problems out if anything goes wrong in 5 years. 

What is the issue with national firms? 

I got a quote and ordered from Eon Solar in August 2022. 
 

When it got to July this year and there had been no progress and constantly being fobbed off I cancelled. 
 

They might be National but the service before fitting was shocking so no chance would I take the risk as if something went wrong you would never be able to get in touch with them. 
 

I’m now back to the drawing board with a year lost. 
 

Thanks, but don’t go to any trouble 

I have done but whether I get anything from it - no smart meter and no contact with Octopus.

I got the panels installed but had very little time to research before or since (very busy last few years with 2 house moves, health scare, busy job and a baby - basically I get to the end of the working day and I just want to go for a run or spend time with the boy, not spend my time learning about electricity). From brief glances over forums etc. there's lots of stuff for people with time to learn (e.g. my retired father) or passing knowledge of electrics, which is just hyper-confusing for me.

The Sunsync app is quite good but some of the interfaces are confusing and I haven't looked at it in months. I know it's producing electricity but I don't know what all the different bars mean. Again, they have lots of youtube videos but they are all focused at installers or people with time and inclination to learn this stuff.

I've been tracking my grid energy usage as per my meter readings and comparing against the few months between moving into the house and getting the panels installed. There's been negligible reduction in energy usage per day.