On January 18^th, 2011, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a voluntary recall of Xantrex Technology Inc.'s (Burnaby, Canada) Xantrex Grid Tie (GT) Series Solar Inverters. The recall will cover roughly 25,000 inverters manufactured between September 2005 and August 2010.

Fault involves wiring covers blowing off

In the recall notification, the CSPC notes that off-gassing from degraded inverter components, when combined with an electric arc, can create an explosion which can blow the cover off the wiring compartment. Xantrex parent company Schneider Electric has received five reports of wiring compartment covers blowing off, with no injuries or property damage reported.

The Xantrex GT inverters being recalled were manufactured in China and sold by solar distributors and system integrators in the United States and Canada from September 2005 through January 2011. The CPSC notes that now that the recall is in place, it is illegal to resell or attempt to resell these inverters.

Free repair of inverters offered by Xantrex

The CSPC states that Xantrex customers should immediately contact their authorized dealer to set up an appointment for free repair of the inverter. The CPSC also notes that it is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to the product recall or involve a different hazard with Xantrex Grid Tie Inverters.

Xantrex Technology is a subsidiary of Schneider Electric SA (Rueil-Malmaison, France).

2011-01-21| Courtesy: Consumer Product Safety Commission | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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