Rant: Overheard a guy at the hardware store say solar panels are a scam because of his neighbor's broken inverter

I was grabbing some caulk and this older guy is telling the clerk how his neighbor spent 15 grand on panels and the inverter failed after 3 years. He was all smug like "see, told you. " I get it, inverters break. But my system in Tucson has been running fine for 5 years with zero issues. I wanted to say something but held back. Does one bad experience really mean the whole thing is a waste? Has anyone else dealt with people dismissing solar based on one story they heard?

2 comments

2 Comments

lilykelly13d ago

Ngl that guy sounds like the type who'd say airplanes are a scam because his neighbor's flight got delayed once. One broken inverter and suddenly solar is a conspiracy cooked up by Big Sun or whatever. Honestly my system has been humming along for years too, and inverters are like tires on a car. They wear out, you replace them, life goes on. That 15 grand he mentioned probably paid for itself in savings by now anyway. Tbh the real scam is paying the power company forever just because some dude's neighbor had a bad part.

murphy.linda12d agoTop Commenter

Picked up a used inverter off craigslist for 200 bucks when mine went out last year. Had a buddy who knows his way around solar help me wire it in, took maybe an afternoon. That whole 15 grand scare is just people repeating numbers they heard somewhere without doing the math on their own setup.