Are Home Battery Installs BANNED In The UK?

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Just in the loft. Please don't go all click baity.

We are having Solar with Battery installed next week. Installers last month have said they can fit it all in the loft, I've said I will clear a wall in the garage for you.

What kind of insanely sensationalist clickbait title is that? No cool.

You almost pulled on the correct thread with this document but missed it. A considerable part of these changes are due to the risk to third parties - this includes fire fighters, visitors, children and even neighbours sharing a roof space (eg the average UK terraced or semi-detached house) as these loft spaces are not part of the protected fire zone and are not usually sealed against the gases and material ejected at high velocity from a thermal battery event. It is not within the gift of customers or the installers to accept these identified and foreseeable risks. Please do not the confuse the early stage for these new notes (as this will be part of a series) with the methods used for generally improving standards against the urgency that prompted the release of this (somewhat incomplete) document as fast as practicable.

A battery in the attic is completely wrong, because there the temperature in summer reaches up to 47 degrees Celsius, which does not do the battery good. In winter it freezes there again, which is also not good. 😐

You say you don't like batteries in a loft - but don't say why!? Are batteries really bursting into flames that much? We all have pressurised gas pumping around our houses - and there are explosions now and then - but we haven't banned gas boilers inside the house.

Potential customer here with a few questions: I've got a linked flat roofed out building which could easily be fireproofed on the small wall that links it to the house but it gets devilishly hot in the summer. I'm assuming this would be a no-no as a place to put a battery or an inverter? The only other place outside that complies with the proximity rules is a place on a gable end wall next to a metal shed but it's right next to the path to the front garden. We've got a fair sized back garden so somewhere to escape in a fire. My question is could a battery be mounted higher on that wall above the metal shed, say? Or are they just plain too heavy? Alternatively it might just comply with proximity and go between two windows on the back wall, its east facing so does get quite hot for a few hours in the summer...would some sort of enclosure for it be good to protect it? Thank Jordan, this is the most comprehensive commentary on the new guidelines I've heard yet, a big thumbs up from me.👍👏

Greetings. You recorded this video in a container, which has insulation on the roof. What insulation did you use? Did you screw or bolt it to the roof, thus rendering the container no good for shipping. I have a container workshop in southern Spain and last summer the Max/Min thermometer read 66C. So I couldn't have a solar battery in there then! Thank you.

It never made sense to put batteries and inverters into lofts. Now it’s just confirmed.

I get it completely, I've been an electrician all my working life (25 years). We specialise in EICRs so everywhere I go I'm looking for codes instinctively. Now, I was born in Barbados, trained in Essex and spent all my working life in London. But when I go back to the Island and I compare our regs with theirs (non existent lol) it makes me question things. I mean, over there, batteries are stacked like you wouldn't believe in timber framed houses. No fires at all. Some of their installations are down right dangerous but no fires ever???? Kind of leads me to believe that we in the UK have the BSI and IET just shifting goal posts to keep EICR remedial work flowing........ Which is absolutely fine by me and my bank manager,,,,, just saying thats all! Nice vid son!!

When u say 80 outside and 40 inside does that mean a max of 80 or could you combined the two it get a 120 total storage ?

In Australia we have detailed regs around home batteries and they need to be specifically sited to not create an emergency fire risk.. So, no, you can't put them in the roof space...

This is an informative and much needed video, thank you Jordan.

My installer earlier this year was going to install in the loft, but it was a bit hard for them to get it up there, so they talked me into installing it in my office (its about 1.5 meters behind where I sit. Its much cooler then the loft in the summer - but it is very close to me all day.... are there any issues with this?

Mine are in the understairs cupboard as i didn't want them in the loft and having them outside isn't an option.

are there any IP rated, fire resistant cabinets that can be used for eternal positioning of the batteries?

I wonder if the standards/guidance is not followed, could home insurance companies start to void insurance or not pay claims if they find out they was installed afterwards

What about all the homes that don't have garages or outside buildings to stick batteries in? This just for the rich kids with detached homes?

Interesting good. Although I'm not a big fan of the Electronics on the outside of the house method. Batteries like conditions spaces but maybe at some point that might change.