Electrics and gas
A solar inverter sits on the loft deck beside the hatch. What has not been done when the survey names the box and does not run the array?
Not a test of the array. When the survey names the solar inverter beside the hatch and does not run the array, it has not operated the system, measured an output, or proved the panels are connected and generating. Naming the box is a visual record of equipment on the loft deck. It is not an electrical installation condition report and not a performance test. The survey has not switched the inverter through a generation cycle. Ask an electrician or a solar installer what the array actually does. Do not press the buttons yourself.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
An inverter turns the array's output into power the house can use. The box beside the hatch can be seen, labelled and photographed. Running the array would mean checking it produces power, that isolators work as a function, and that the panels linked to it are the ones on the roof. The survey did none of that. A named box can belong to a working system, a switched-off system, or a leftover from panels that are incomplete. The name does not choose among those.
Ask for any installation papers and for a competent person to inspect the inverter, the isolators and the array it is supposed to serve. Do not cycle the loft isolators on a viewing. If the roof survey is silent about panels, do not invent them from the box by the hatch. Keep the sentence as identification of equipment that was not operated. A later test can say whether it generates. The home survey has not already said that.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What did you see on the inverter: a label, a display, isolators, or only the case?
- Were any panels recorded on the roof, or was the box the only solar item?
- Did you operate anything, or is the note limited to naming the unit?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the named inverter as equipment that was not run.
- Ask a solar installer or electrician to test the array separately.
- Do not operate the loft isolators on a viewing.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the display is lit, has the array been tested?
No. A lit display is not a generation test. The survey named the inverter beside the hatch and did not run the array.
Does the box mean every roof slope has panels?
No. The inverter does not map the roof. Panels are a separate observation, and naming the box does not prove they are fitted on every slope.