Can an inverter catch fire? [RE-wrenches]

[Chuck Heath, SunPower]

On 2/10/01, Hugh Piggott <hugh.piggott at enterprise.net> wrote:
>Although I have on occasion fitted inverters to wooden panel 
>surfaces, I am not comfortable with this practice, and I wonder how 
>you others feel. Where possible I prefer to put fireproof material 
>behind the inverter (ideally, concrete blockwork wall, with the 
>battery on the other side).
>
>comments?
All of my installs are on some form of heavy plywood, painted and sealed, 
in an insulated room. I have never experienced an inverter fire, but on 
two occasions over 13 years I've seen two that fried and died. Both 
smoked but did not show evidence of flame. The causes were unrelated to 
the installation or inverter itself (in one instance, the nearby 
soft-water conditioning system malfunctioned, soaking the entire 
powerboard with many gallons of water. It fried one U2512SB, but the 
other continued running normally).

I've never had a client even suggest using a concrete wall since I've 
never seen a room wall using concrete. The ETL listed Trace units 
purposely have no openings on the top or bottom. I do all my wiring in 
conduit (except my new work van system).

Chuck Heath _now serving California's North Coast_

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