Just had a 5 yearly electrical installation report conducted.
Same house, same electrics, but different results, ie gone from satisfactory to unsatisfactory and £350 to remedy.
Results 2013:
Results 2018:
I’m going to stump up and get it ‘fixed’, but it seems odd to me how something goes from advisory to mandatory in 5 years. Should I challenge the inspection company (same one, same engineer, 5 years apart), or has the governance really moved on?
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C1 and 2’s should be actioned and C3 are a recommendation.
I would fit RCD protection on an electric shower.
Was unable to see what other issues were categorised.
Suggest you chat with them to see why the change ie retrospective improvements or has their interpretation of the regs changed?
Unfortunately this is all down to interpretation of the regs.
B
Last edited by bomberman; 14th April 2018 at 21:28.
Thanks, I’ll give them a call on Monday, but unless the regulations have changed since 2013 I can’t see how their interpretation could have altered that much, guess I’ll find out on Monday!Originally Posted by bomberman
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In general ther's no requirement to modify an installation to modern standards provided it met the standards in force at the time it was installed. However, there's no money to be made telling you that. The only issue may be if it's a rental property - the rules may require you to upgrade but check first. I suppose it can't be a rental though as you would need to have had annual inspections.
Rentals don’t need yearly inspections for electrical installations. Only gas .
This was 5 yearly.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Regs have changed , i.e. Metal clad fuseboard is now required (I'm talking new installation - unsure if it's required on existing)
Items 1,2,3,4,5 on new test sheet is basically a long winded way of saying exactly what item 1 on the older test sheet is saying.Just had a 5 yearly electrical installation report conducted.
Same house, same electrics, but different results, ie gone from satisfactory to unsatisfactory and £350 to remedy.
Results 2013:
Results 2018:
I’m going to stump up and get it ‘fixed’, but it seems odd to me how something goes from advisory to mandatory in 5 years. Should I challenge the inspection company (same one, same engineer, 5 years apart), or has the governance really moved on?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Spot on there are no requirements to modify an installation to modern standards all they have to do is comply with the regulations at the time of the installation - unless any alterations are made then those altered / added to circuits have to meet the current regs.
Sounds like £350 is for a board change which is about right but don't forget to ask for a full test cert as by law if the board is changed the entire installation must be tested after and cert issued. They may try and fob you off with the old cert they did but that's not right and not allowed as it will not have rcd tests results and may have only been a test of 20% of the installation
It does make sense to convert to RCBOs if you are going to live there for years but otherwise I wouldn’t worry apart from maybe the shower to an RCD incase of a fault.
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The 3rd amendment to the 17th Edition regs came out in 2015. There were changes in that that affected special locations like bathrooms. All circuits in a bathroom now need protection via a RCD or RCBO.
What are they proposing to do for the £350? Is that to fit another RCD or RCBO into your consumer unit? It doesn't seem expensive to me.
We've just had our consumer unit changed for very similar reasons to the things raised in your report a cost of about £700 for a now obligatory metal one with about 20 RCBO's in it. When you add up the cost of a new consumer unit and the RCBO's themselves, that seemed quite cheap. There's about £400 in materials in that. Labour costs down here in deepest Devon are a lot less than London prices.
That is incorrect. All NEW installations may need the protection you describe but it is NOT obligatory to change if no other relevant work is being undertaken.
OK, I didn't phrase what I wrote as well as I could have done. The OP has got a C2, that is "potentially dangerous, urgent remedial action required".
Basically, under the current regulations, anyone having an electrical inspection who doesn't have bathroom circuits protected by an RCD or an RCBO is going to get a report with C1's or C2's in it. Having received such a report, you would be extremely foolish in my view not to do anything about it.
It is obviously the case that where you don't have your installation inspected and you don't have RCD protection in your bathrooms, then no one apart from the homeowner is going to be any the wiser, and there is no obligation , legal or otherwise to make any changes.
I'm sorry, but this is still scaremongering. I'd wager the majority of the housing stock in the UK dos not have RCD protection for bathroom circuits & to use the words "potentially dangerous, urgent remedial action required" is utterly wrong. Action is not required, although it may be advisable. It's just another attempt by the industry to force householders into expensive & uneccessary work. It's on the same lines as the aggressive con used by the electricity suppliers who claim smart meters must be fitted when there's actullay no requirement to do so.
I would not let my family use an electric shower where an RCD is not fitted. A few £ for the sake of safety and peace of mind.
Spot on.
I called the installer and mentioned the point Ian made about not appraising the installation against current regs. He did concede this was correct and waffled on a bit, main concern being the electric shower.
The quote was to add RCD protection to the existing consumer unit, not replacing it. I asked for a requote to include a larger metal unit to address all the issues, a marginal cost increase to £320+VAT including new testing certificates.
It’s a rental property, so I’d rather make sure it is as safe as possible. £400 is nothing in the grand scheme of things.
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I would have done the same thing. Peace of mind.
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