Extraordinary footage has captured the moment a family’s solar panels exploded, ripping a hole through their roof while they were inside the house. The Sunhas the story.
Neighbours watched in horror as the family scrambled to safety.
Footage shows the terrifying moment the roof of the £600,000 newbuild was engulfed in flames in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.
Local resident and off-duty firefighter Robert Shipman was doing DIY when he spotted the inferno.
He followed the smog to the house around the corner and dashed inside to alert the family on Bank Holiday Monday.
Robert said: “As I was coming round the corner I saw a big cloud of smoke.
“I banged on the door and said I’m an off-duty firefighter can you please get out your house – it’s on fire.
“The family didn’t realise their roof had gone, they were on the first floor.
“They got out and we managed to get two of their pets out.” …
At least four cars parked in the area were damaged by the blaze as tiles fell down from the roof.
Residents living nearby described their horror at watching the family rush to safety.
One local said: “It happened so suddenly, one minute the roof was smoking a little and the next it was a raging inferno.” …
Neighbours helped affected families as firefighters worked to control the blaze.
Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Five crews and an aerial appliance from Moulton attended the fire and quickly worked to extinguish the blaze which had started in the roof of the house.
“Three adults and one child were helped from the house by an off-duty firefighter.” …
The houses on the estate were built by David Wilson Homes, part of Barratt Redrow.
I have thatched rooves, and have to jump through hoops to get insurance – quite rightly.
Just as withdrawal of insurance fed the ‘Sports club has to close because of Covid, scam, the flames of which were fanned by frightened insurers, maybe that’s the best way to end the solar panel scam? We’ve got to reverse the eco-madness bit by bit right now, pending electoral annihilation for this Government
mrbu
3 months ago
Having had a solar PV installation at my previous property, I suspect the problem was caused, not by the panels themselves, but by the catastrophic failure of the inverter. Inverters generate a huge amount of heat at the best of times, so it’s obvious there’s a lot of very high voltage stuff going on inside them.
Not a lot to go bang inside an inverter though, apart from a few capacitors. They tend to be metal cased as well. My money is on some lithium based battery storage put in the incredibly hot attic… this is not recommended, as anyone who’s been in an attic when the sun is shining would attest…
RTSC
3 months ago
I would imagine that inferno added more carbon to the atmosphere in a few minutes than the panels would ever have “saved.”
DontPanic
3 months ago
Not an expert but sounds like the inverter or diode that prevents mains electricity going back into panels failed. According to google ai feeding high-voltage alternating current (AC) backwards into them overloads the system, resulting in shattered glass, melted wiring, and the total destruction of the panel.
iconoclast
3 months ago
That is not “ripping a hole”. That is destroying the roof. At least 95% of the roof has been destroyed as the picture indicates.
JXB
3 months ago
What a shame.
EppingBlogger
3 months ago
No one has yet considered the possibility this was caused by right wingers. The Prime Minister tol;d us there are loads of them around and they are dangerous.
I suspect it was started by a faulty connection. Each panel of a typical rooftop installation generates at least 10Amps in full sun. A 10 panel installation will be producing 100 Amps collectively and any faulty connection is going to heat up pretty fast igniting roof timbers. Any explosion is likely to be sealed panels overheating and exploding from build-up of internal pressure.
GunnerBill
3 months ago
I can’t see any panels on that section of roof in the footage.
The doorbell camera also seems to show the problem developing over a considerable period as the shadow cast by the angle of the sun changes. Mind you whatever it is that finally blows does a damn good job of it!
Matt Dalby
3 months ago
There’s no way a few solar panels could produce an explosion that big. I’m sure they were connected to loads of batteries in the attic and it was these that exploded.
100% – solar panels don’t explode, they can overheat and catch fire in extreme scenarios, loose connections etc, but generally don’t explode. Some home battery storage, if placed in the attic (crazy) letting go could generate the gas to cause an explosion like that…
Marcus Aurelius knew
3 months ago
See? The amount of energy involved? It means that solar PV is the solution to the UK’s soon-to-be world-beating energy infrastructure.
Those weird anti-science folks saying that solar isn’t reliable, or not powerful enough, they don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s the same as folks who say that socialism has never worked and that we need only to look at places where it’s been tried to see how bad it is. NO – socialism has never been done PROPERLY.
These folks didn’t do their solar PROPERLY.
😉
JohnK
3 months ago
Not much more to learn from reading it in full, in the Sun.”After an initial fire investigation, the fire is believed to have been started accidentally”; they’ll get a bonus for that. However, it does appear that all those houses have a system that is pretty much the same, being installed by the developer, not an add-on (like the one I have). Maybe there is equipment in the attic that is vulnerable to the high temperature that occurs in places like that.
Slightly off topic, round here many houses have had gas boilers installed in their attics. That would not have been done some years ago when we used to have cold winters with the risk of freezing etc.
Modern boilers have built-in frost protection so that they can be installed in loft spaces or small outhouses.
I don’t claim that winters aren’t warmer than they used to be – in particular I remember winter 1963 in Croydon… with icicles hanging off the gutters of nearby houses and the frozen milk expanding out of the bottles on the doorstep and the paths cut through the packed snow on the pavements. It was great fun for a young lad.
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You’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh!
At least their NHBC certificate should cover them for a new roof. I bet they won’t specify the same system again.
I have thatched rooves, and have to jump through hoops to get insurance – quite rightly.
Just as withdrawal of insurance fed the ‘Sports club has to close because of Covid, scam, the flames of which were fanned by frightened insurers, maybe that’s the best way to end the solar panel scam? We’ve got to reverse the eco-madness bit by bit right now, pending electoral annihilation for this Government
Having had a solar PV installation at my previous property, I suspect the problem was caused, not by the panels themselves, but by the catastrophic failure of the inverter. Inverters generate a huge amount of heat at the best of times, so it’s obvious there’s a lot of very high voltage stuff going on inside them.
Not a lot to go bang inside an inverter though, apart from a few capacitors. They tend to be metal cased as well. My money is on some lithium based battery storage put in the incredibly hot attic… this is not recommended, as anyone who’s been in an attic when the sun is shining would attest…
I would imagine that inferno added more carbon to the atmosphere in a few minutes than the panels would ever have “saved.”
Not an expert but sounds like the inverter or diode that prevents mains electricity going back into panels failed. According to google ai feeding high-voltage alternating current (AC) backwards into them overloads the system, resulting in shattered glass, melted wiring, and the total destruction of the panel.
That is not “ripping a hole”. That is destroying the roof. At least 95% of the roof has been destroyed as the picture indicates.
What a shame.
No one has yet considered the possibility this was caused by right wingers. The Prime Minister tol;d us there are loads of them around and they are dangerous.
Good point. Threat level is still severe I think?
🙂
Come on, get the language correct. It was caused by Faaaah Rite people ……
Isn’t that a yogurt?
Far right-wingers, surely?
I was right wing until picked to be centre-forward.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I suspect it was started by a faulty connection. Each panel of a typical rooftop installation generates at least 10Amps in full sun. A 10 panel installation will be producing 100 Amps collectively and any faulty connection is going to heat up pretty fast igniting roof timbers. Any explosion is likely to be sealed panels overheating and exploding from build-up of internal pressure.
I can’t see any panels on that section of roof in the footage.
They were probably on the gable facing to the right. Judging from the shadows that would be the best place for full sun.
The doorbell camera also seems to show the problem developing over a considerable period as the shadow cast by the angle of the sun changes. Mind you whatever it is that finally blows does a damn good job of it!
There’s no way a few solar panels could produce an explosion that big. I’m sure they were connected to loads of batteries in the attic and it was these that exploded.
100% – solar panels don’t explode, they can overheat and catch fire in extreme scenarios, loose connections etc, but generally don’t explode. Some home battery storage, if placed in the attic (crazy) letting go could generate the gas to cause an explosion like that…
See? The amount of energy involved? It means that solar PV is the solution to the UK’s soon-to-be world-beating energy infrastructure.
Those weird anti-science folks saying that solar isn’t reliable, or not powerful enough, they don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s the same as folks who say that socialism has never worked and that we need only to look at places where it’s been tried to see how bad it is. NO – socialism has never been done PROPERLY.
These folks didn’t do their solar PROPERLY.
😉
Not much more to learn from reading it in full, in the Sun.”After an initial fire investigation, the fire is believed to have been started accidentally”; they’ll get a bonus for that. However, it does appear that all those houses have a system that is pretty much the same, being installed by the developer, not an add-on (like the one I have). Maybe there is equipment in the attic that is vulnerable to the high temperature that occurs in places like that.
Slightly off topic, round here many houses have had gas boilers installed in their attics. That would not have been done some years ago when we used to have cold winters with the risk of freezing etc.
Modern boilers have built-in frost protection so that they can be installed in loft spaces or small outhouses.
I don’t claim that winters aren’t warmer than they used to be – in particular I remember winter 1963 in Croydon… with icicles hanging off the gutters of nearby houses and the frozen milk expanding out of the bottles on the doorstep and the paths cut through the packed snow on the pavements. It was great fun for a young lad.
Making Mad Ed Miliwatt proud, one roof at a time.
Indeed
He would probably be able to reassure us that these solar panels are “Safe & Effective”
Well he does have a few slates missing.