5-yearly electricity test certificates

Risteard

Autocorrect changed tenanted to tenants. I assumed the property was rented due to the five year interval suggested. Apologies. The fact remains that every electrical installation should be periodically inspected and tested.

Le_Kirk

Risteard wrote: »

The fact remains that every electrical installation should be periodically inspected and tested.

But what is a period? Five years is a period, ten years is a period. It's like saying regularly, so long as it is exactly every 10 years, it's regular. If there were to be a law, it should state a timescale so nobody could be misled or ill informed.

Risteard

The initial interval is set by the installation Designer and subsequent intervals are set by the previous Inspector. These are displayed on a warning notice at the origin of the installation.

Heedtheadvice

"These are displayed on a warning notice at the origin of the installation. "
or maybe should be! Many a premise do not have them, in my experience!
or have never had them when there was never a formal design as such!


So, where does that leave us?

Warwick_Hunt

Risteard wrote: »

The initial interval is set by the installation Designer and subsequent intervals are set by the previous Inspector. These are displayed on a warning notice at the origin of the installation.

Why don't you just give a straight answer?

Risteard

Warwick_Hunt wrote: »

Why don't you just give a straight answer?

It is a straight answer. As every installation is different it is hardly reasonable to expect me to state a particular period. That's why it is left to the Designer initially, and the Inspector subsequently (taking account of the use and condition of the installation). If you can't understand that then I doubt there's much more I can do to help you.

Risteard

Heedtheadvice wrote: »

"These are displayed on a warning notice at the origin of the installation. "
or maybe should be! Many a premise do not have them, in my experience!
or have never had them when there was never a formal design as such!


So, where does that leave us?

Certainly "should be". (Actually, must be.)

Even without a "formal design" it still needs to be there. Although you may not consider a typical domestic premises to be "formally" designed, the Electrical Installation Certificate still must be signed with a declaration for the Design! It is a design whether written down with lovely CAD drawings or not.

Ectophile

Heedtheadvice wrote: »

"These are displayed on a warning notice at the origin of the installation. "
or maybe should be! Many a premise do not have them, in my experience!
or have never had them when there was never a formal design as such!


So, where does that leave us?

Let's face it, nobody actually has domestic installations checked every 5 years, or 10 years, whether there's a sticker or not. So long as everything works, and nobody's been electrocuted, why would they bother?

One might be done whenever a house is sold, but not always even then.

Risteard

Ectophile wrote: »

Let's face it, nobody actually has domestic installations checked every 5 years, or 10 years, whether there's a sticker or not. So long as everything works, and nobody's been electrocuted, why would they bother?

One might be done whenever a house is sold, but not always even then.

Not nobody - although far fewer than should. It should be remembered, however, that many electrical installations are in an unsafe condition. Just because they appear to function does not mean that they are safe to remain in service.

Be_Happy

Read another Home Information Report today which mentioned the same 5-yearly requirement, but rated the lack of certificate as a category 1 repair ie no problem whereas mine was rated category 2 ie should be given future consideration.

Only difference is that the other house is only 20 years old, so age of house must also be taken into consideration when rating the problem.