Aftercare
Warranties and Guarantees
A solar installation is covered by several separate warranties, provided by different organisations, on different terms. This page explains what each one is, who stands behind it, what it excludes and how to claim.
- Seven distinct covers
- Provider named for each
- Claims handled by us
Before anything else
Our standard warranty cover is below. The exact product, performance, inverter, battery and workmanship terms that apply to your installation are confirmed in your written quotation before work begins.
On the systems we install, you are covered for 30 years on the solar panels, 10 years on the battery, 10 years on the inverter and 6 years on our workmanship. The panel, battery and inverter warranties come from the manufacturers; the workmanship warranty comes from us. Battery warranties also carry usage limits set by the manufacturer, and every term that applies to your installation is set out in writing in your quotation before you commit.
The covers at a glance
Seven separate covers apply to a typical solar and battery installation. They come from different providers and they do not all begin on the same date.
| Cover | Who provides it | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Panel product warranty | The panel manufacturer, not the installer. | 30 years |
| Panel performance warranty | The panel manufacturer. | 30 years |
| Inverter warranty | The inverter manufacturer. | 10 years |
| Battery warranty | The battery manufacturer. | 10 years |
| Mounting system warranty | The mounting system manufacturer. | Confirmed in your written quotation before work begins. |
| Workmanship guarantee | Solar Fx. | 6 years |
| Weathertightness of roof penetrations | Solar Fx, for the penetrations we made and the covering we disturbed. | Confirmed in your written quotation before work begins. |
Panel product warranty
Covers the panel as a manufactured item — the thing itself being defective, rather than the electricity it produces.
Who provides it
The panel manufacturer, not the installer. Solar Fx registers the warranty on your behalf and handles the claim, but the obligation sits with the manufacturer.
Which services it applies to
Every installation that includes new panels supplied by us: solar panel installation, in-roof solar, flat roof solar, ground-mounted solar, and panels supplied as part of a solar and battery system.
What is covered
- Manufacturing defects in the cells, busbars, frame, backsheet, junction box or bypass diodes.
- Delamination, backsheet failure and moisture ingress attributable to manufacture.
- Frame corrosion or separation not caused by installation, impact or environment outside the product rating.
Duration: 30 years on the solar panels. The full terms and start date are set out in your written quotation.
Start date: Normally the date of delivery or the date of installation, depending on the manufacturer’s terms. Which applies to your panels is stated in your quotation.
Panel performance warranty
A separate warranty covering output. Panels lose a little output each year; the performance warranty is the manufacturer’s commitment about how much.
Who provides it
The panel manufacturer. It is a distinct document from the product warranty and has its own duration and its own claims test.
Which services it applies to
The same installations as the product warranty. Panels supplied by a customer or already on the roof are excluded.
What is covered
- Output falling below the manufacturer’s stated retained-performance curve for the panel’s age.
- A claim is tested by measuring output under standard test conditions, corrected for irradiance and temperature — not by comparing your annual generation against an estimate.
Duration: 30 years on the solar panels. The full terms and start date are set out in your written quotation.
Start date: Set by the manufacturer’s terms, usually from delivery or installation. Confirmed in your quotation.
A performance warranty is not a statement about your bills. It concerns the panel’s electrical output under test conditions, and says nothing about savings, payback or export income, which depend on your usage, tariff and the weather.
Inverter warranty
The inverter is the component most likely to need attention during the life of a system. Its warranty is separate from the panels and separate again from any battery.
Who provides it
The inverter manufacturer. Some manufacturers offer an extension purchased at the point of installation; where that applies it is offered as a priced line in your quotation rather than assumed.
Which services it applies to
Solar panel installation, solar and battery systems, battery retrofit and inverter replacement, where the inverter is supplied by us.
What is covered
- Failure of the unit through manufacturing or component defect.
- Depending on the manufacturer: a replacement or repaired unit, and in some cases the labour to swap it. Whether labour is included is a manufacturer-by-manufacturer question and is stated in your quotation.
- Firmware faults attributable to the manufacturer.
Duration: 10 years on the inverter. The full terms and start date are set out in your written quotation.
Start date: Usually commissioning, sometimes delivery. Registration of the serial number with the manufacturer is normally a condition and is done by us at handover.
Battery warranty
The most conditional of the warranties, because a battery wears with use as well as with time. Battery warranties are usually defined by three limits at once, and the warranty ends when the first of them is reached.
Who provides it
The battery manufacturer.
Which services it applies to
Battery storage installation, solar and battery systems, and battery retrofit, where the battery is supplied by us.
What is covered
- Capacity retention: the manufacturer commits that usable capacity will not fall below a stated percentage of the original rating within the warranty period. A claim is assessed against measured usable capacity, not against how long the battery runs the house on a given evening.
- Throughput: a total quantity of energy, in megawatt-hours, that may be passed through the battery. Heavy cycling — arbitrage on a time-of-use tariff, or charging from the grid overnight as well as from solar — reaches that figure sooner.
- Cycles: a stated number of full charge and discharge cycles. Partial cycles are usually counted proportionately.
- Defects in the cells, battery management system, enclosure or integrated power electronics.
Duration: 10 years on the battery, subject to the manufacturer’s usage limits. The full terms and start date are set out in your written quotation.
Start date: Normally commissioning. Registration and, for many products, a maintained network connection so the manufacturer can read the system’s history are conditions of cover.
Because capacity, throughput and cycles run concurrently, how you use the battery changes when the warranty ends. We will explain which limit your intended usage pattern is likely to reach first when we size the system. Our page on battery sizing covers that trade-off.
Mounting system warranty
The rails, anchors, clamps, flashings and in-roof trays that hold the array to the roof carry their own manufacturer warranty.
Who provides it
The mounting system manufacturer.
Which services it applies to
All roof-mounted, in-roof, flat roof and ground-mounted installations where the mounting system is supplied by us.
What is covered
- Structural failure or corrosion of components used within their rated wind and snow loading.
- Defective flashings, seals or trays supplied as part of the system.
Duration: Confirmed in your written quotation before work begins.
Start date: Usually installation. Cover is conditional on the system having been installed to the manufacturer’s instructions — including anchor spacing taken from their structural tables and clamps torqued to their stated figures, which is exactly why <a class="text-accent underline underline-offset-2" href="/installation-standards/">our installation standards</a> are written the way they are.
Workmanship guarantee
Everything above is a product warranty from a manufacturer. The workmanship guarantee is ours, and covers the way the installation was carried out.
Who provides it
Solar Fx. Where an approved installation partner carried out the work to our specification, the guarantee still runs to you from Solar Fx — you do not have to chase a subcontractor.
Which services it applies to
All installation work carried out through Solar Fx. Repair and maintenance visits carry their own, shorter cover, stated on the job documentation at the time.
What is covered
- Faults arising from the way the system was installed rather than from the products: mounting set out incorrectly, connections not made properly, cable not supported or contained as specified, labelling missing, isolation not as designed.
- Rectification of the defect, including any access required to reach it.
- Re-testing and re-issue of documentation where the remedy affects the certified installation.
Duration: 6 years on our workmanship. The full terms and start date are set out in your written quotation.
Start date: The date of commissioning.
Weathertightness of roof penetrations
Distinct from the workmanship guarantee, because it is the point customers worry about most and the one where responsibility is most often argued over.
Who provides it
Solar Fx, for the penetrations we made and the covering we disturbed.
Which services it applies to
All roof-mounted, in-roof and flat roof installations.
What is covered
- Water ingress through a penetration we formed, or through covering we lifted and reinstated, where the cause is the way that work was carried out.
- Making good the roof covering, flashing or seal, and remedying resulting damage caused by that defect.
Duration: Confirmed in your written quotation before work begins.
Start date: The date of commissioning.
This cover does not extend to the rest of the roof. If the covering was already at the end of its life, if a ridge or valley detail elsewhere fails, or if water enters through a chimney flashing we never touched, that is a roofing matter and not a warranty claim. Where a survey identifies a roof in poor condition we will say so before quoting, and may recommend the covering is dealt with first.
What is excluded
These exclusions are common to manufacturer warranties and to our own cover. They are set out here so they are not a surprise at the point you need to claim.
Roof condition
Deterioration of a roof covering that was already worn, or failure of structure, felt, battens or flashings that were not part of our works. A pre-existing defect identified at survey and declined by you is excluded in full.
Storm and impact
Damage from wind loading beyond the mounting system’s design rating, falling branches or masonry, hail, flood, lightning strike or fire. These are insurance matters. It is worth telling your buildings insurer the system is there.
Pest and wildlife
Nesting, droppings, and damage to cabling from birds or rodents. Bird protection can be fitted, and is quoted as an option — our bird proofing service explains what mesh does and does not do. No mesh system prevents every intrusion, and none is offered on that basis.
Third-party interference
Work on or near the system by anyone other than Solar Fx or our approved installation partner: another contractor’s roof works, an aerial or satellite installation drilled through an array cable, panels cleaned with unsuitable equipment, unauthorised changes to inverter or battery settings, or an electrician altering the installation without our involvement.
Misuse and environment
Operating equipment outside its rated conditions, disconnecting or obstructing ventilation, allowing a battery to sit outside its permitted temperature range, or continuing to run a system after a fault has been reported by the monitoring.
Consequential loss
Estimated generation not achieved, higher electricity bills during a period of downtime, or export income foregone. Warranties cover the equipment and the workmanship, not financial outcomes.
What you have to do to keep cover in place
Warranties carry obligations on your side as well as ours. None of these are onerous, but ignoring them is a common reason a claim is refused.
- Keep the system connected to the internet where the manufacturer requires monitoring data for warranty support — several battery and inverter warranties depend on it.
- Report faults, error codes and unexplained drops in generation promptly. A fault left running can turn a repairable issue into an excluded one.
- Allow manufacturer firmware updates to be applied where they are required for continued cover.
- Have the installation inspected at the intervals recommended in your handover documentation. A solar health check records condition, and that record is what supports a later claim.
- Do not clean panels with abrasive materials, pressure washers or hot water, and do not walk on an array.
- Keep the documentation pack. A claim without the certificate, the commissioning results and the serial numbers is slow at best.
Transferring cover when you sell
Manufacturer warranties normally attach to the installation at the address rather than to you as an individual, and pass to a new owner with the property. Some manufacturers require written notification of the change of owner within a set period; where that applies to your products it is stated in the documents in your handover pack. Our workmanship guarantee and the weathertightness cover transfer to a subsequent owner of the property for the remainder of their term.
In practice the thing that determines whether cover survives a sale is the paperwork. Pass on the whole documentation pack — certification, commissioning results, manuals, serial numbers and warranty registrations — and tell us when you exchange so we can confirm what each manufacturer needs. A buyer’s conveyancer will ask for those documents in any case, as our guide to how solar panel warranties work explains.
How to make a claim
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Tell us what the system is doing
Call or email with the address, what you are seeing, any error code on the inverter or app, and when it started. Monitoring screenshots help. We will tell you whether to isolate the system in the meantime.
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Remote diagnosis
Where monitoring is connected we look at the data first. A surprising number of faults — a tripped RCD, a lost network connection, a changed tariff schedule, an inverter derating in heat — are identified without anyone attending.
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Attendance and diagnosis on site
If a visit is needed we test and identify the cause, and establish which cover applies: a product warranty with a manufacturer, our workmanship guarantee, the weathertightness cover, or work outside all of them that has to be quoted.
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Claim submitted
For a product fault we submit the claim to the manufacturer with the serial numbers, commissioning data, test results and evidence they require, and keep you updated on their timescale — which is theirs, not ours.
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Remedy and re-test
The component is repaired or replaced, the installation is re-tested where the remedy affects the certified work, and the documentation is updated and re-issued to you.
Documents you will need
| Document | Why it is needed |
|---|---|
| Proof of installation | Your quotation and invoice, showing the equipment supplied and the installation address. |
| Certification | The electrical installation certificate and the scheme certificate issued at handover. |
| Commissioning record | The schedule of test results taken at commissioning, used as the baseline for a performance claim. |
| Serial numbers | Panel, inverter and battery serial numbers from your handover pack — the manufacturer will ask for them first. |
| Evidence of the fault | Error codes, monitoring data covering the period, and photographs where the fault is visible. |
| Maintenance history | Records of any inspections, health checks or previous repairs, including work by others. |
If you are not satisfied with how a claim has been handled, our complaints procedure sets out how to escalate it and what happens at each stage.
Common questions
How long is my warranty?
Warranty terms vary by manufacturer and product. The exact product, performance, inverter, battery and workmanship warranty terms that apply to your installation will be confirmed in your written quotation before work begins.
What is the difference between a product warranty and a performance warranty?
A product warranty covers the panel as an object — a defect in how it was made. A performance warranty covers its electrical output against a retained-performance curve, tested under standard test conditions. They are separate documents, with separate durations and separate claim tests, and a panel can be within one and outside the other.
Does the warranty transfer if I sell the house?
Manufacturer warranties usually attach to the installation rather than to you personally and pass to the new owner, sometimes on written notification to the manufacturer within a set period. Our workmanship guarantee transfers with the property to a subsequent owner. The exact transfer conditions for your products are set out in your quotation and in the manufacturer documents in your handover pack; tell us when you exchange and we will confirm what each provider requires.
My generation is lower than the estimate. Is that a warranty claim?
Not by itself. An estimate is a model of a typical year; actual generation depends on weather, shading, soiling and usage. A performance claim is made against the panel’s output under test conditions, not against an estimate. That said, an unexplained drop against your own previous years is worth reporting — it is usually a fault, and faults are what warranties exist for. Our guide to the <a href="/advice/signs-your-solar-system-is-underperforming/">signs a solar system is underperforming</a> sets out what to look for.
Who do I contact — you or the manufacturer?
Us, in the first instance, for any installation we carried out. We diagnose the fault, establish which cover applies and deal with the manufacturer on your behalf. You are not expected to work out whether a fault belongs to the panel, the inverter or the installation.
Are repairs to somebody else’s installation covered?
Not by the original installer’s guarantee, which we cannot claim under. Where we repair or replace part of a system installed by someone else, our own work carries its own cover, and any new component we supply carries its manufacturer warranty. The rest of that installation remains as it was.
Related reading
How the cover above relates to the way systems are installed, maintained and diagnosed.
- Our installation standardsInstalling to the manufacturer’s method is what keeps mounting and product cover valid.
- How Solar Fx worksWhere warranty terms are confirmed, registered and handed over in the process.
- Solar panel degradation and lifespanWhat retained-performance curves actually describe, and how panels age.
- Solar panel maintenanceThe inspection regime that keeps a claim supportable rather than arguable.
- Inverter replacementWhat happens when an inverter reaches the end of its life, in or out of warranty.
- Complaints procedureHow to escalate if a claim or a repair has not been handled properly.
Information reviewed on 2026-08-23.
See the terms before you commit
Every applicable warranty is named and set out in the written quotation you receive after survey, not afterwards.