Commitments and Contingencies

Warranties and guarantees

In connection with the disposition of our businesses or product lines, we may agree to indemnify purchasers for various potential liabilities relating to the sold business, such as pre-closing tax, product liability, warranty, environmental, or other obligations. The subject matter, amounts and duration of any such indemnification obligations vary for each type of liability indemnified and may vary widely from transaction to transaction. Generally, the maximum obligation under such indemnifications is not explicitly stated and as a result, the overall amount of these obligations cannot be reasonably estimated. Historically, we have not made significant payments for these indemnifications. We believe that if we were to incur a loss in any of these matters, the loss would not have a material effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

We recognize, at the inception of a guarantee, a liability for the fair value of the obligation undertaken in issuing the guarantee. In connection with the disposition of the Valves & Controls business, we agreed to indemnify Emerson Electric Co. for certain pre-closing tax liabilities. During the second quarter of 2017, we recorded a liability representing the fair value of our expected future obligation for this matter.

We provide service and warranty policies on our products. Liability under service and warranty policies is based upon a review of historical warranty and service claim experience. Adjustments are made to accruals as claim data and historical experience warrant.

The changes in the carrying amount of service and product warranties of continuing operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 were as follows:



In millions	September 30, 2017
Beginning balance	$	38.9
Service and product warranty provision	44.1
Payments	(46.7		)
Acquisitions	1.1
Foreign currency translation	0.7
Ending balance	$	38.1

Stand-by letters of credit, bank guarantees and bonds

In certain situations, Tyco International Ltd., Pentair Ltd.'s former parent company ("Tyco"), guaranteed performance by the flow control business of Pentair Ltd. ("Flow Control") to third parties or provided financial guarantees for financial commitments of Pentair Ltd. In situations where Flow Control and Tyco were unable to obtain a release from these guarantees in connection with the spin-off of Pentair Ltd., we will indemnify Tyco for any losses it suffers as a result of such guarantees.

In disposing of assets or businesses, we often provide representations, warranties and indemnities to cover various risks including unknown damage to the assets, environmental risks involved in the sale of real estate, liability to investigate and remediate environmental contamination at waste disposal sites and manufacturing facilities and unidentified tax liabilities and legal fees related to periods prior to disposition. We do not have the ability to reasonably estimate the potential liability due to the inchoate and unknown nature of these potential liabilities. However, we have no reason to believe that these uncertainties would have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

In the ordinary course of business, we are required to commit to bonds, letters of credit and bank guarantees that require payments to our customers for any non-performance. The outstanding face value of these instruments fluctuates with the value of our projects in process and in our backlog. In addition, we issue financial stand-by letters of credit primarily to secure our performance to third parties under self-insurance programs.

As of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, the outstanding value of bonds, letters of credit and bank guarantees totaled $193.3 million and $331.0 million, respectively.