Wattsup Solar LTD maintains a 10 year labour and workmanship warranty. This covers leaks in the roof or any equipment that fails under it's manufacturer's warranty.
Wattsup Solar LTD has been around since 2014 and so we feel a 10 year labour warranty is justified even if it is unusual for the construction industry. The Efficiency Nova Scotia preferred partner standard is 2 years. The failure rates of our equipment choices (Enphase microinverters) and the ease of maintenance make this an achievable promise to make, even with 1400 installations across Nova Scotia.
The caveat is that an installer warranty is just a promise, unlike manufacturer's warranties, installer warranties aren't backed by 3rd party insurance. Caution: We've noticed a trend of smaller installers or out-of-province marketing companies over-promising on labour warranties despite not having the physical resources to follow through. We would recommend
Solar Panel (Module) Warranties
Solar panels have 2 types of warranties, most installers only mention the first type;
Production or Linear Output Warranty - Solar panels degrade over time, typically by 15% over 25 years. A production warranty allows you to replace the panel if it degrades faster than it's expected to. Regardless of the brand of solar panel, you can expect to see at least a 25 year production warranty on solar panels.
Our current panel offerings offer a 30 year production warranty. This information can be found in the equipment specification sheets, often in the form of a graph like the image below.
Caution: Without the ability to monitor each panels production independently, using microinverters or DC Optimizers, it is nearly impossible to know if a panel has degraded faster than it's supposed to. The only method is using an infrared camera, or physically testing the voltage of each panel. String inverters without DC optimizers are sometimes favoured by solar installers because they cannot track individual panel production. production warranty.PNG102 KBProduct Warranty A solar panel product warranty covers the product in case of outright failure, this is always listed separately from production warranties. Typically, cheaper Asian panels have shorter product warranties. We generally try to source European or North American made panels for this reason.
We currently offer;
Bauer (German) - 30 Year Product Warranty Peimar (Italian) - 30 Year Product Longi (Chinese) - 12 Year product Warranty
Inverter Warranty - 25 Years
Enphase micro-inverters have a standard warranty of 25 years. They are the only inverter manufacturer to offer that warranty out of the gate. All other brands are between 10 and 12 years, often with the option to extend the warranty to 20 or 25 years - basically buying it twice.
Enphase warranties are not pro-rated, which means if it's been 24 years and an inverter fails, you get a brand new one, not a percentage cost of a new one.
Enphase Warranties are transferable to the new owner.
Check out our guide on the Enphase Warranty in more detail. https://wattsupsolar.ca/insights/enphase-microinverters-built-for-the-long-haul-backed-by-real-warranties
Caution: Be aware that extended warranties often require the installer to submit paperwork to the manufacturer within a short time period, often 3 months. You don't want to find out on year 13 that your installer did not file the paperwork.
Racking Warranty - 25 Years
All racking we use has a 25 year warranty, we typically use several different brands but there aren't any clear outliers in this department. Common brands of racking are Clenergy, Fastrack, or Pion.
Roof Penetration Warranty - 25 Years
We use Roof Tech Mini II attachments for our racking systems. These are "feet" with an EPDM backstrip, and they carry their own manufacturer's 25 year roof penetration warranty. - Check out this video of them being installed underwater. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gFHpO5UfSo