> taking your point about the inverter not being in the loft, the only >
> When we had our 4kW solar array installed 3 years ago, I got quotes from
> (in the end) 5 different firms. Two (maybe 3) insisted that the inverter
> had to be in the loft as you lose too much power from long runs of DC
> cabling. This is simply not true: my panels are in two strings and the
> peak voltage is over 300 V, so the current is, if anything, lower on the
> DC side than the AC side. So I was able to eliminate these firms from the
> running right away as having a totally inadequate grasp of Ohm's law. >
> Also, as others have said, a hot location is undesirable, and you want to
> have the inverter accessible to admire the pretty lights and check the
> dials now and again.
>
> We have our inverter in the garage on a side wall which is entirely
> suitable - they don't take up much space and at worse hum very gently when
> working hard.
The inverter wants to be somewhere cool, dry and dust free. One of mine is in the garage too. The other is in a well ventilated garden shed. Electronic stuff doesn't like the heat.
There are some inverters rated for outdoors. I have heard a couple of bad stories though.