Batteries located in the home, a fire risk?

[Andy]

I'm remortgaging whilst the rates are low for 10 years and taking a bit of money for panels and potentially batteries. However, I don't have a separate shed to put the batteries in. I was looking at a Pylontech/Victron setup but I am hesitant to have the batteries in the barn(horses)/house due to my perceived fire risk. I've found very little about home storage batteries and the risks whilst googling around.

Building a little shed outside a) takes a bit more time than I have right now as I'm still working on my living room. b) adds more money to the cost of everything.

I was wondering what peoples opinions on the safety risk of these batteries? Cheers.

[Burble61]

Back in Dec-19, we went Powerwall mainly as it was the best fit to what was needed that could be installed outdoors.

I did check with our insurance company as advised by individuals “on another forum”. The insco response was that as long as the unit had the necessary approvals and was installed/certified by appropriate contractors they were fine.

Of course that has no bearing on the actual risk of incident - but they are usually quite risk adverse so we were ok with that.

I guess there *could* be more risk on a system built on site, but if its installed and configured according to the appropriate regs - and configured correctly - the risk shouldnt be any higher (and you could check/see what was going on).

I’d check with your insurance co as their attitude to such systems might have a bearing on your decision!

If you go ahead i’d also suggest checking the installer has training experience in these systems. My (professional) experience in looking for electricians for this type of work is that many have quals and certification to undertake such work but system config aspects are a different matter! I’ve had to rescue more than one system suffering from “interesting” configs.

Good luck!

[Tinbum]

If you go ahead i’d also suggest checking the installer has training experience in these systems. My (professional) experience in looking for electricians for this type of work is that many have quals and certification to undertake such work but system config aspects are a different matter! I’ve had to rescue more than one system suffering from “interesting” configs.

I've just had some of my barn roof re-sheeted as part of a solar insurance claim (well zero credit interest loan) and the installer said the fixings supplied with the sheets were too short. I disputed nicely what he was saying as he was going to fix the sheets through the peaks. I wanted them fixed in the troughs to which he wanted me to sign to that effect, which I was happy to do. He said he'd been fixing them that way for the last 10 years as that was the way he was originally told to do them. Now whether he will continue doing it his way or the correct way I do not know.

[andygo999]

I've just had some of my barn roof re-sheeted as part of a solar insurance claim (well zero credit interest loan) and the installer said the fixings supplied with the sheets were too short. I disputed nicely what he was saying as he was going to fix the sheets through the peaks. I wanted them fixed in the troughs to which he wanted me to sign to that effect, which I was happy to do. He said he'd been fixing them that way for the last 10 years as that was the way he was originally told to do them. Now whether he will continue doing it his way or the correct way I do not know.

I put a roof on my woodshed over the summer and was told to put the fixings through the peaks as there is less chance of leaks when water was running off through the troughs. Made sense to me....

[Andy]

I've just had some of my barn roof re-sheeted as part of a solar insurance claim (well zero credit interest loan) and the installer said the fixings supplied with the sheets were too short. I disputed nicely what he was saying as he was going to fix the sheets through the peaks. I wanted them fixed in the troughs to which he wanted me to sign to that effect, which I was happy to do. He said he'd been fixing them that way for the last 10 years as that was the way he was originally told to do them. Now whether he will continue doing it his way or the correct way I do not know.

I put a roof on my woodshed over the summer and was told to put the fixings through the peaks as there is less chance of leaks when water was running off through the troughs. Made sense to me....

I’m having a barn put up for my wife in the next month. I’ll let you know if they did peaks or troughs the best part is think I can fit 24 panels on the roof bringing me up to 18kw generation. No point without batteries and expensive leccy. I was going to ask an installer to do the Victron to grid and then I’d mess around on the dc side.

[Tinbum]

It depends on the sheets. Corrugated sheets (curved) you fit on the peaks because the trough isn't flat and the fixings are out of the rainwater run off. Modern flat sheets you fix in the trough. I think the reason being that the peaks are not as rigid, as the sheet is thin, and therefore the sheet can flex and not seal as well round the fixing screw. If you screw the fixing in tight the peak will move towards the timber/steel purlin and the trough rise away from the purlin. They also look better. Modern fixings provide a good seal nowadays as long as not over or under torqued up.

[andygo999]

I’m having a barn put up for my wife in the next month.

Blimey, have you thought about maybe starting with separate bedrooms first....

[Andy]

Seperate duvets was considered to be not enough :}