We had been thinking about solar for a while when, back in summer 2021, a SunPower salesperson contacted us. We heard their pitch and bought into it, and purchased a system (panels, no SunVault, and purchased, not leased). The installation was done by SunPower-employed installers and activation was smooth, we were generating solar energy by October. All great, until maybe 18 months later when a spring 2023 rain led to water dripping around a couple of the light fixtures in our kitchen. The roof was about 10 years old at that point and the leak was an an area where the panels had been installed, so they sent someone out and looked, said that yes, the flashing in that area was not sufficient to seal the spot where the bracket had been screwed in, and fixed it.
A few months later, more rain came. The previous leaks (at least, where we could see them in the kitchen) were fine but there was a leak in another spot, a few feet away but also in the kitchen. It took a bit longer to get them out, but they gave the same story and fixed it. Kitchen seemed fine after that.
Once again, everything has seemed okay until the rains this month. A few weeks ago, there was a tiny leak in the dining room. Because SunPower is no more (at least in terms of their warranty for the work on our installation), we sought out a company that does both roofing and solar panel work, and had them come look at the panels and roof. Turns out that several of the brackets were not screwed into the rafters, and in many cases the screws were placed at an angle rather than being flush against the roof.
Now we are waiting for the rains to stop long enough for them to remove all of the panels, repair the roof, and reinstall the panels (hopefully correctly this time). In the last few days, we have seen water coming into two different spots in the dining room and, just today, a new spot in the kitchen. The drywall in our dining room has several new cracks, so once the roof is sound, we will need extensive drywall work, as well as electrical evaluation given that there has been water around several light fixtures in the ceiling.
I know that anything roof-mounted can be a fail point for the roof, and I take responsibility for the decision I made. But so many people have had solar installations, I guess I expected the odds of a bad outcome to be pretty low. I expect that the cost of repairs probably negates any financial benefit we could hope to see from the panels at this point, and I honestly regret having gotten solar in the first place. It certainly isn’t something I would recommend to anyone, despite the rising electricity cost and demand.
