How To Prevent Solar Panels Fire Risks? Causes & Safety Measures

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Solar Panels Fire
22Oct

Although solar panel fires are rare, incidents have occurred, making it a critical issue for homeowners and businesses. Fortunately, there are ways to prevent these fires and ensure your solar system remains safe. Understanding the causes behind these fires is key to avoiding them. In this article, we’ll explore the main reasons solar panels can catch fire. You’ll also learn important prevention tips to keep your home or business safe from potential fire hazards.

According to solar experts, most of the fires caused by solar panels have been due to problems in installation or not properly following standard safety guidelines. To ensure that you don’t end up repeating a similar mistake, it is important to understand the causes of solar panel fires, which we have listed below:

1- Poor Installation

There is a lot of focus on getting high-quality solar panels but very little on hiring professional installers. Even if you spent a good amount on high-quality solar panels, if installation wasn’t done right, the result can be horrible. The more common issues in installation that can lead to solar panels catching fire are improper electrical wiring, poor ventilation, or incorrect insulation.

Solar Panels Fire
Source: Solargraf

Additionally, if any component of your solar system isn’t installed properly, it can result in issues like the formation of excessive heat leading to your solar system catching fire. Therefore, as much as you stress on getting premium-quality solar panels, put a similar focus on hiring a professional installer that has extensive experience in solar installation so you don’t incur any such problems. 

2- Defective Components

When you switch your home or business to solar energy, you are not only getting solar panels but a whole system in which there are different components like isolators and inverters. Therefore, you need to ensure that you get high-quality components that will make up your whole solar system.

Solar Panels Fire
Source: SlashGear

If you have faulty wiring, an inverter, or any other component of your solar system, it can also become the cause of fire hazards, as faulty components of the system can produce excessive health, leading to issues like short circuits. It is also recommended to do regular inspections of your solar system to ensure all of its components are working perfectly, and in case there are any issues, they should be fixed at the earliest. 

3- Weather and Climate

While it is true that poor installation, faulty components, and human errors or carelessness can lead to solar panel fires, sometimes weather can also cause such issues. Climatic conditions such as lightning strikes, extreme heat, and hailstorms can also damage solar panels and result in solar panels.

Solar Panels Fire
Source: Cikit

We cannot control weather and environmental factors, but what we can do is invest in high-quality solar panels. For instance, Doart solar panels come with robust structure, a wide operational temperature range, and extreme weather endurance properties, which make them perform optimally in any weather or climatic condition. So, you won’t have to worry about your panels getting damaged by severe climatic conditions.

4- Sudden Voltage Surges

Sudden voltage surge is also a critical problem and can be a major cause of your solar panels catching fire. The surge in voltage can be caused by lightning strikes; it can be any internal factor or utility grid switching. Whatever the reason, it also poses a threat to the solar components.

Solar Panels Fire
Source: Usfull Company

To prevent fire caused by sudden voltage surges, you can opt for earthing or voltage surge protectors. They act as gatekeepers for a system, helping to monitor the electrical charge entering the system and removing excess voltage during a surge. 

Solar Panel Inspection Methods for Prevention

To avoid any issue, regular inspection of your solar panels is very necessary. Because just with this one method, you can prevent all of the major issues mentioned above. However, the problem is that people are not doing solar inspection in the right way. To make sure you get the best results from it, you need to do it properly. The first and most important step is to turn off your system and follow proper shutdown procedures to safely shutdown your system for some time to avoid the risks of electric shock. After that, you need to visually inspect your system to look for things like if there are any issues with the connectors or wires hanging near the sharp edges. 

Once you are done with the visual inspection, it is also important to do your system’s performance check. Start the system and check whether your system is working properly or not. You can keep checking during any time of the day or at peak hours, and if you feel like your system isn’t providing optimal performance, it is a sign that your system might have some issues. You can get help from a technical professional to check your system and get it fixed. In this way, you can continuously keep a check on your solar system and ensure that if a small issue arises, it doesn’t lead to a major problem.

Bottom Line

Solar panel fires aren’t a common occurrence, but it is better to be on the safe side. By ensuring your solar system is installed by professionals, using high-quality materials, and conducting regular inspections, you can significantly reduce the risk of a fire. Adding surge protectors and other safety measures also helps protect your investment. With these preventive steps, you can enjoy the benefits of solar energy while keeping your home or business safe from potential fire hazards.

Posted in: Doart

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