Please ensure your electrics are up to date!!!!!!!!!

keystone

Hejo wrote: »

Can someone help please - I had an extension done. The builder supplied an electrician who went awol. A second spark came along and finished off. I now need an electrical certificate which this spark says he can't give me as he's not Part P but knows a Part P qualified spark who will come and certify the work.

I am having problems with the builder and asked council's advice. They have said if I cant get the spark back I could get a Perioidic Inspection Report.

I could call the spark and his Part P mate back independently from the builder and get the electrical certificate or go for the PIR from another spark (who will obviously be Part P)

From a safety point of view which is better?

Start a new thread in the main "In My Home" board. This doesn't belong in this thread.

Cheers

keystone

zax47 wrote: »

Rubbish..................

snip

snip

NICEIC don't write the rules (the IET do) - they only think they do!

Ha. The old NICEIC red mist having descended dear old Zax has missed that our Caribbean contributor has just answered a 5 year old post to little effect except to raise him close to boiling point, Never mind.

But he does have a very valid point.

Just pullin' your leg old son.

Cheers

Mary_Hartnell

[FONT=&quot]Any electrical experts out there?

Here is a chance to change my opinion about the usefulness of the modern regulations.

I borrowed a plug in analyser from a friend (who had thought he was going to set up a business supplying HIP's to home owners - but that is another story).

The purpose of the analyser is to identify homes that probably need further investigation from a qualified electrician.

The analyser plugs into the normal three pin socket and then flashes its lights as it it obviously going through a routine. It then displays a pattern of results "good" and bad.

Now as I have posted somewhere above - I have a simple 1960/70 type of installation. Company fuse -> meter -> Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker_-> fuse box of 4 pull out fuse-wires with coloured dots identities and an on/off switch -> off we go to 4 circuits: cooker, ring main, immersion & lights.

The analyser gizmo thinks all the sockets are wired up correctly BUT it also has a row of lights marked in Ohms (this is a measurement of resistance to the free flow of electricity: "[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Ω[/FONT][FONT=&quot]" ); that should be in theory zero but the green lights light up until the 10 [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Ω [/FONT][FONT=&quot]result turns it red.

So I experimented to see if I got the same result on the cooker circuit - I did

So I went next door, we share the same electricity pole - their home recorded only a green 5 [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Ω, this means it is looking like something not quite right in my house, not somewhere out there on the electricity company's side of the meter? [/FONT][FONT=&quot]

What does this mean?
Am I paying to push power through 10 ohms and heat the toes of the birds on the wire?
Should this red light worry me?

[/FONT]

keystone

Mary_Hartnell wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]Here is a chance to change my opinion about the usefulness of the modern regulations.

Not sure what the regs have to do with the questions you ask.

[/FONT]

The purpose of the analyser is to identify homes that probably need further investigation from a qualified electrician.

Is it a proper piece of calibrated test equipment or did he just buy something cheap to make it look good and justify the HIP fee? When was it last calibrated? What is it actualy supposed to be measuring? Based on the info you've provided so far I don't think I would trust its output for one solitary microsecond.
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

Am I paying to push power through 10 ohms and heat the toes of the birds on the wire?

As V=IR what do you think the answer is?

Cheers

Mary_Hartnell

Having trawled about on the web - I think the 10 ohms must be the resistance for current flowing to earth, when there is a fault?
If it were the resistance in the power circuit when the cooker was cooking Xmas dinner, I would have noticed something burning or at least smelling.:D

The earth leakage circuit breaker still seems to trip out promptly when something is reaching the end of its life - last example was a strip light - that took a bit of tracking down.

Perhaps I need an extra one of those metal spike things to be hammered into the garden to act as an extra earth, especially as the existing one has been rendered into the wall?

keystone wrote: »

Is it a proper piece of calibrated test equipment or did he just buy something cheap to make it look good and justify the HIP fee? When was it last calibrated? What is it actualy supposed to be measuring? Based on the info you've provided so far I don't think I would trust its output for one solitary microsecond.

Well in fairness, the plug in gizmo did know the difference between me and next door.

The next door neighbour proudly boasted that he had been "Pat" tested - what ever that means.

DVardysShadow

Mary_Hartnell wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]Any electrical experts out there?

Here is a chance to change my opinion about the usefulness of the modern regulations.

I borrowed a plug in analyser from a friend (who had thought he was going to set up a business supplying HIP's to home owners - but that is another story).

The purpose of the analyser is to identify homes that probably need further investigation from a qualified electrician.

The analyser plugs into the normal three pin socket and then flashes its lights as it it obviously going through a routine. It then displays a pattern of results "good" and bad.

Now as I have posted somewhere above - I have a simple 1960/70 type of installation. Company fuse -> meter -> Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker_-> fuse box of 4 pull out fuse-wires with coloured dots identities and an on/off switch -> off we go to 4 circuits: cooker, ring main, immersion & lights.

The analyser gizmo thinks all the sockets are wired up correctly BUT it also has a row of lights marked in Ohms (this is a measurement of resistance to the free flow of electricity: "[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Ω[/FONT][FONT=&quot]" ); that should be in theory zero but the green lights light up until the 10 [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Ω [/FONT][FONT=&quot]result turns it red.

So I experimented to see if I got the same result on the cooker circuit - I did

So I went next door, we share the same electricity pole - their home recorded only a green 5 [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Ω, this means it is looking like something not quite right in my house, not somewhere out there on the electricity company's side of the meter? [/FONT][FONT=&quot]

What does this mean?
Am I paying to push power through 10 ohms and heat the toes of the birds on the wire?
Should this red light worry me?

[/FONT]

This, Mary, is not a question to go on a sticky. You should start your own new thread.

Mary_Hartnell

You are right. The thread is entitled ensure your electrics are up to date I think I am trying to point out that electrics might have a "best before date" but that does NOT make them deadly dangerous the following day; just because the legislation is constantly changing.

For example if your home has all copper pipework, it is unlikely that it needs to be strapped together all over the place and the earth connection to the rising main is probably still working.

Perhaps the thread should be titled "get a basic understanding of electricity and have your installation tested reasonably frequently".

I agree we live in world where some people don't understand why plugging three tea urns into one extension flex is unlikely to heat much water.

badbaz1975

good advice.

I was changing a light bulb in my oven extractor hood, and the very same thing happened to me.

Scared the s**t out of me

missile

Part P certified by sparky the bodger, please see here> https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3857919

Grizzly01

Mary_Hartnell wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]The analyser gizmo thinks all the sockets are wired up correctly BUT it also has a row of lights marked in Ohms (this is a measurement of resistance to the free flow of electricity: "[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Ω[/FONT][FONT=&quot]" ); that should be in theory zero but the green lights light up until the 10 [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Ω [/FONT][FONT=&quot]result turns it red...[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]What does this mean?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Am I paying to push power through 10 ohms and heat the toes of the birds on the wire?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Should this red light worry me?[/FONT]

Mary,

It sound like what you have borrowed is a plug-in socket tester. A Martindale EZ150, or a Socket & See SOK34, perchance?

The rows of indictators marked in Ohms are giving a measure of the 'earth loop impedance' of your electrical installation.
Basically, this is a measure of how good your earth connection is, and therefore how well it will provide protection in the event of a fault. The lower, the better.
It has nothing to do with supplying the electricity through a certain resistance (impedance is a way of expressing resistance).

If this tester is showing a red indication on the earth loop side of things, you should definitely get it checked out by an electrician, as it could indicate that your earth loop impedance is much too high for your installation, and could pose a danger in the event of an electrical fault.