Marlec Engineering Co Reviews 45

First class product Rutland 914i and repair. Exceptional staff and service.
Over 15 years they have consistently provided this level of customer support.
Many thank
Prof Robert Barratt

There are many good things about this product, and when it is working it works pretty well. However...it has some issues. The main one is that the electronics that drives the immersion heater is prone to blowing up. I have had two units now, and each gave up the ghost in this way after about 5 years. Yes, they were correctly installed and positioned by a qualified electrician. If you do the sums, the cost of replacing them every 5 years exceeds the money saved. Luckily I have some electronic skills and was able to figure out that its power bridge rectifier had blown up, and repaired it after the most recent failure myself. But if you google, you will find that this failure is common. A less serious, though annoying issue is that its cooling fan is noisy, even if you follow their advice to wedge it with a piece of cardboard. So if anyone is using our spare bedroom, adjacent to the unit, I have to turn it off overnight.

This is all rather a shame has otherwise it does its job very well. Marlec, how about some decent protection on its output to avoid the bridge rectifier meldowns?

We had an issue with connectivity of a solar iboost unit, I contacted Sarah who was in customer care and she helped me diagnose the issue, and then offered to have the unit checked. It turns out there was a small fault with the unit and they have sent me a new unit free of charge. All throughout the service has been excellent, thank you

I bought a Boost+ unit and it stays on even at night with no solar input. I followed all instructions from Marlec, but nothing changed. They asked me to send the unit, then later the clamp and sender too. After almost a month, they say everything works — but the issue is still unresolved and I’ve been left without the unit all this time.
Very poor service and support. I wouldn’t recommend based on my experience.

I recommend avoiding this company and its products. Their indifference to proper customer service is very disappointing.

I have been very reasonable and patient thus far, but I have to share my experience so others may make an informed purchasing decision when buying from Marlec (I apologise in advance for the long post).

I purchased a brand new Rutland 1200 48v wind turbine from the online store, had it professionally installed, but the unit never produced more than 1.5 amps, even in over 30+ knots of constant wind.

I contacted Marlec (Ben) who to his credit was initially helpful and receptive to the problem with their generator's poor performance, but after much to-ing and fro-ing, all they could suggest was that I ship the unit back to the UK from New Zealand at my expense which was cost prohibitive to me. I believe he was dealing with others (in a technical department) at Marlec that were uninterested in helping.

I tried to be as helpful as I possibly could be by providing Marlec with detailed information about the installation and various voltage/current measurements as taken by my electrical contractor, unfortunately Marlec ultimately did not reciprocate with exact details of what voltages and currents should be expected. This information would have been very helpful to my electrical contractor, enabling them to properly trace and diagnose the root cause(s) of the problem(s). I got the distinct impression that either Marlec was being deliberately evasive (as they knew there was a flaw in their design) or they simply were indifferent to the situation as mentioned above.

Our independent analysis suggests the Marlec 48v design is likely flawed and suspect they simply dropped a 48v stator into their existing 12/24v turbine models without proper testing, expecting the 48v stator to be driven sufficiently by the existing blades shape and size, but this appears to be not be the case and the unit cannot achieve necessary torque/rpm to generate anywhere near the 8.3 amps stated in their literature.

End result: It's been two years now, my so called warranty just expired, I have enriched Marlec by >$3000 and I have nothing productive to show for it. Marlec has stopped corresponding with me, refuse to publish my feedback/review on their website's product page as a warning to others. This whole experience was a costly waste of time and money from my point of view.

My learnings from this experience: I should have just paid extra for a professional wind generator. I didn't know it about Marlec at the time I ordered, but now I have had one, the Marlec wind generator is just a plastic toy not worth the box it came in. Worse still, I learnt that Marlec do not back their products and apparently have no problem with leaving their customers in the dark, literally.

I am now looking at ordering an Eclectic Energy D400 48v or even a Superwind 48v generator, with the hope that it will provide many years of good service. Yes it is a far more expensive unit, but I suspect it will not be wasteful in any way... unlike my brand new Marlec Rutland generator which is now on its way to a landfill somewhere.

Edit: Buyers considering the Marlec Rutland 1200 48v should also know it is a very noisy wind generator. I don't know if this was symptomatic of a fault with my unit, I only wish Marlec would've taking the time and effort to help me find that out. I had a D400 12v for many years (before my upgrade to 48v) and it was whisper quiet compare to the Rutland 1200. I was actually recommended the Rutland 1200 by my electrical contractor, they had worked on their 12v models before and thought they were okay (albeit at the cheaper end of the spectrum), they had no experience with the 48v rutland until my unit arrived. Needless to say, they feel very different about the Marlec Rutland product and (lack of) service now.

I called for help and was given an excellent service by Lynn who was clearly knowledgable and also provided a checklist which saved a great deal of time as the first line found the fault was on my side with the Emersion itself having the thermostat tripped out.
Corrected in a few seconds and checked back with Lynn with all now working as it should. A number of companies I deal with should understand the value of being able to actually talk to technical support. It saves time and money.
Highly recommend.

Solar iBoost installed Mar 2020.Failed with no prior warning within 12 months.Replaced it and lo and behold failed again.This time fused the immersion switch.
Contacted my Solar installer to check it out.It took since Last December for him to make the call.The electrician confirmed the unit was indeed faulty and would have to be replaced.
I don't need to look at reviews to know this product is rubbish and a waste of money.What idiot would buy a 3rd one.
More concerning is that it was tripping the switch on the Fuse board.
Marlec Engineering UK need to recall these.Not interested in we're taking on board your feedback.No your not.Your product is expensive and unreliable.
You need to address what makes them fail.Recall.

Excellent customer service

Commendable response time.

Brilliant product and support

Six and a half years ago I purchased the iBoost together with its little Buddy as part of my new solar panel system and it has served me well providing lashings of hot water and has more than paid for itself.
I have now moved on to a fixed tariff with E.ON whereby I can purchase electricity at only 6.7ppkh from midnight to 0700 hours but I can sell my surplus electricity at 16.5ppkh so it makes sense to heat the hot water overnight from the grid and then sell the electricity I would otherwise have used from the panels.
Being very old I found it difficult to understand how to program the iBoost to achieve what I wanted. I contacted Taylor Meakins at Marlec who was most understanding and arranged for a colleague, Lyn, to telephone me and walk me through the setup.
Both Taylor and Lyn were most kind and patient with me for which I am very grateful.
Excellent customer service from a company which makes an excellent product.

Fast and professional response to advise on an incorrect location of a CT clamp by a national energy supplier.

Very good service and follow-up from Marlec with my solar iBoost+ unit. Thanks to Lynn and Taylor.

Marlec Engineering UK
Look no further for your
Number 1 . British Made
British Product with a Renound
Back up Service.
On line support. Wind Generators
Designed to be Serviced
And Last for Life.
Tied in With VICTRON NL
you can not go Astray
Engineer Jim

Marlec customer service second to none. Alex Hill in technical help outstanding going out of his way to resolve a sender unit issue.

I like to thank Marlec Customer Support Team especially Taylor, for his kind offer of a replacement on our 26 month old Iboost unit that had stopped heating our water. However, with Taylors advice, upon further inspection it turned out to be the safety cut out switch on the emmersion thermostat had tripped.

I originally had naturally contacted the retailer who Flatley refused any assistance other then passing the buck to Marlec.

However, Marlec's experience and expert advice via email was seemless responding very quickly.

Well done Marlec. Keep up the first class Customer Service !!

I would like to thank Marlec support team for their support when our solar iboost failed.

Their professional approach and explaining each and every step was very useful.

I can confirm that our solar iboost energy diverter is installed and running fine, diverting the extra solar to the hot water cylinder.

They repaired the unit, covered shipping costs and supported at every stage of the process.

Electronic products can fail but support teams should not fail the customers. Marlec team proved that they value their customers in the UK. Keep up the good work !

Checked and repaired my controller which was on the boat I'd bought. Excellent Customer Service, people available on the phone, prompt return - top Company !

We had a solariboost fitted along with our solar panels in September 2019 in February 2023 it failed and fused the immersion switch. Marlec said it was out of warranty but did sell me a new one at a discounted price.I had a qualified electrician install the replacement who said he wasn’t surprised as he had replaced quite a few of them. July 2023 guess what it has happened again!
Do yourself a favour and don’t touch this terrible product

My 5 yr old i solar boost failed recently and complained to Marlec how disappointed I was in that there was only a 2 yr warranty on this excellent system and I had also replaced the sender unit a year ago, I must give Alex and Marlec 5 stars for the service I received as they sent me a complete replacement system free of charge.
Richard Lloyd.

I contacted customer services about a Solar iBoost+ that Megaflo had factory-fitted to one of their hot water tanks, which had developed a fault. It was about two years out of warranty. Marlec immediately arranged for a replacement unit, and within 3 working days (plus a 2-day weekend) the system was up and running again. Every contact I had with Marlec was refreshingly courteous and professional. Moreover their prompt and efficient response is to be commended. Thank you Marlec!

Following alterations to my electrical system my iBoost+ would not work. I contacted Marlec and they replied with a solution the following day. Their solution worked and I am once again getting free hot water from the sun. I cannot praise them enough for their customer service and expertise.