Part P Electrics and kitchen

Annie1960

When I had my last kitchen fitted in 2006, I needed to get a Part P qualified electrician to install the new electrical circuit for the cooker. He provided a certificate for this.

I know there have been some changes subsequently, and understand that the electrical regulations have relaxed a little.

For my new kitchen that I'm working on designing at the moment, do I need certificates for any new electrical circuits, and is Part P still relevant?

PheoUK

A new electrical circuit (ie one run from the consumer unit) is notifiable, but changes to existing is not. So for our kitchen, adding sockets and adjusting the mess of a cooker socket (wires all over the place in the wall!) it wasn't notifiable. Neither were the spotlights.

Annie1960

I already have one cooker circuit. The vendors took the cooker with them, so it is just wires with the ends wrapped up at the moment. I expect this one will be used for my new oven. It will just need to be moved to a different place.

I will also be getting an induction hob, so I will presumably need a new circuit for this. So, from what you say, this will be notifiable.

What do I need to look for in terms of qualifications. Before, it was about finding someone who was Part P qualified. What is it called now?

DTDfanBoy

It all depends on your existing circuit, it may be perfectly adequate to run both an oven and an induction hob, I've got three ovens and an induction hob running off one circuit at present.

Justicia

Annie1960 wrote: »

What do I need to look for in terms of qualifications. Before, it was about finding someone who was Part P qualified. What is it called now?

Nothing different!

If you do go down the route of getting a contractor in and don't have any word-of-mouth recommendations, they need to be deemed competent.

Here's a couple of starting points:

http://www.competentperson.co.uk
http://www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk

Ectophile

"Part P" was never a qualification - it's a building regulation.

If an electrician is carrying out work that is covered by Part P, then they should be registered with one of the schemes (BSI, NAPIT, ELECSA or NICEIC).

In theory, these organisations should check that their people are well qualified, and do the job properly. In practice, they may accept even the lowest electrical qualification and inspect just one job a year. That's because they make money out of every registered electrician, and don't want to turn people away just for being barely qualified or incompetent.

The actual qualifications are done by City & Guilds. A good electrician should have a handful of C&G certificates. Unfortunately, the courses keep changing, so it's hard to define a "correct" set.

Annie1960

Ectophile wrote: »

"Part P" was never a qualification - it's a building regulation.

Yes, I know this, I read all the regulations at the time. However, for shorthand, people (including the electricians themselves) used to call it this.

If an electrician is carrying out work that is covered by Part P, then they should be registered with one of the schemes (BSI, NAPIT, ELECSA or NICEIC).


In theory, these organisations should check that their people are well qualified, and do the job properly. In practice, they may accept even the lowest electrical qualification and inspect just one job a year. That's because they make money out of every registered electrician, and don't want to turn people away just for being barely qualified or incompetent.

The actual qualifications are done by City & Guilds. A good electrician should have a handful of C&G certificates. Unfortunately, the courses keep changing, so it's hard to define a "correct" set.

Thanks for this. I had not realised standards could be so low.

Annie1960

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

It all depends on your existing circuit, it may be perfectly adequate to run both an oven and an induction hob, I've got three ovens and an induction hob running off one circuit at present.

Does it make a difference what the fuse is, and how many watts the cooker/hob use?

zax47

Annie1960 wrote: »

Does it make a difference what the fuse is, and how many watts the cooker/hob use?

Yes it does! The fuse/breaker will be appropriately sized to the electrical load (Watts) and size of cable that load safely requires.

Think of it as a weight hanging from a rope - if the weight (load) gets bigger then the rope (cable) needs to be thicker to hold the load....

DTDfanBoy

Annie1960 wrote: »

Does it make a difference what the fuse is, and how many watts the cooker/hob use?

You need to ensure that the circuit is capable of handling the load from all appliances connected to it, as it's a dedicated cooker circuit you can apply diversity.

Ectophile

Annie1960 wrote: »

Thanks for this. I had not realised standards could be so low.

It gets worse. If you employ a company, rather than a sole trader, then they only have to have one qualified electrician on their payroll. That person does not have to be the one who works on your electrics.

It could be done by the trainee, then rubber-stamped by the electrician, who has never even seen the installation.