EICR Electrical report

TheProfessional

Thanks for the full reply

This is the second electrician we have had through the door (first EICR). I felt the first one maybe wasn't as professional as I had have hoped hence went for one which was registered with a trade body. The first one who made a socket safe and then added another to mount a TV said at the time wiring seemed fine but I wanted something a little more formal

I suppose I could get a third electrician in to give me another EICR for another £120. Would that fundamentally change any of the readings I would get?

It's still not entirely clear to me what the differences are between fully qualified, approved, domestic installer, Part-P are so it was hard to actually choose/find someone.

It would be handy if you could just go to a list of best qualified and guaranteed to be thorough electricians but life isn't like that I suppose. 

Risteard

TheProfessional said:

Thanks for the full reply

This is the second electrician we have had through the door (first EICR). I felt the first one maybe wasn't as professional as I had have hoped hence went for one which was registered with a trade body. The first one who made a socket safe and then added another to mount a TV said at the time wiring seemed fine but I wanted something a little more formal

I suppose I could get a third electrician in to give me another EICR for another £120. Would that fundamentally change any of the readings I would get?

It's still not entirely clear to me what the differences are between fully qualified, approved, domestic installer, Part-P are so it was hard to actually choose/find someone.

It would be handy if you could just go to a list of best qualified and guaranteed to be thorough electricians but life isn't like that I suppose. 

This may be part of the problem. I wouldn't carry out periodic inspection and testing and issue a report for £120. I charge a minimum of £200 for these, with larger domestic installations being £250+. And across the border I charge a minimum of €300+VAT for these. And I am in one of the most deprived parts of Europe. So £120 may not attract a professional report. There is a lot of work involved in doing these.

Non-domestic reports can often run into several grand.

TheProfessional

I actually went for one of the more expensive ones. There were some qualified electricians offering £99 EICRs

I suppose not so much to worry about currently if the wires are all reading fine but food for thought if I need a rewire in the future 

Risteard

TheProfessional said:

I actually went for one of the more expensive ones. There were some qualified electricians offering £99 EICRs

I suppose not so much to worry about currently if the wires are all reading fine but food for thought if I need a rewire in the future 

It's not intended as a criticism of you, as obviously you aren't aware what is involved with them. But to give you an idea an average domestic property is essentially a day's work. So if you get very cheap quotes then it may be because it's someone incompetent, or alternatively they may be using it as a means to quote for lots of remedial works or rewires.

My reports are always honest - and typically identify a large number of defects. But these defects are real and can be backed up with photographic evidence. Remedial works suggested are only ever as required, though. It is extremely rare that I would state that the installation is life-expired and that the best course of action is rewiring. Ordinarily I will be able to recommend much more cost-effective remedial actions.

But I would always be suspicious of those who constanty issue "Satisfactory" reports. I would estimate that 95% of inspections I carry out will result in an "Unsatisfactory" assessment before remedial action.

Part of the problem is that the inspectors are very often incompetent or inexperienced.

GDB2222

I can see that @Risteard is annoyed at the poor report. And there’s no real way that he can know for sure whether there is a defect that the electrician failed to find.

Nevertheless, I would not get too strung up about this and get yet another EICR. Just as an aside, I would take some comfort from @Risteard's comment that he rarely finds a completely satisfactory installation.  Yet the number of people electrocuted in this country each year is tiny. RCDs and earth wiring do make for an inherently pretty safe system, and it does not appear to me that you are living in an obvious death trap. 

What I would do is get a more competent electrician to carry out the remedial work. There’s not all that much to do, anyway.

Replace the kitchen light switch.
Ditto bell transformer and under stairs light holder.
Check the kitchen power circuit.
Check that the earth bonding is in fact okay.

£50 of parts and an hour’s work? 

Removing the redundant wiring is a diy job. Personally, I would not leave it, as it is unsightly.

GDB2222

Looking at the photo of the panel again, the leftmost circuit breaker does indeed have two different sizes of cable going into it. The breaker needs to be sized to trip so as to protect the smallest of those cables, which it is.  So, it may not be ideal, but it’s not an obvious danger.

TheProfessional

Thanks for replies.

Yes I can see you guys know what you are talking about. I also get annoyed in my own industry if people cut corners or don't work to the same standard as I expect. 

Funny enough although I don't have unlimited wealth, I am always more than happy to pay for the best service when it comes to things like this. Part of the reason for going for the second electrician was that the first one didn't quite put socket on dead straight and seemed to shrug off a lot of my concerns (although he did what I asked re: new light fitting, mount TV etc.

I would rather pay £200 for the best job but when choosing a tradesman 'blind' it's hard to know how good they are and with electrics without this forum advice, this EICR seems like a good job.

I am from down south and my wife from Northern Ireland so don't really have family recommendations. It's much easier to get recommendations on things like decorators because you can see and understand their work, something not so easy for electrical 

The under cupboard light socket kept tripping whenever I tried to switch a bulb on and while there, there were loose cables which he tested to be dead but worth just removing (see pics)

The vibration from the kitchen brushed metal switch with no earth he said would need to take an earth from the kitchen lights and feed back to switch. Apparently the switch before it in the circuit was fine (in the hallway)

kdotdotdotdot

TheProfessional said:

 but food for thought if I need a rewire in the future 

Bear in mind that rewiring is not an easy job.  If you're thinking of getting it done 'one day in the future', then maybe now would be a better time.  It's hugely disruptive and not something to take lightly once you've fully settled into a house and have all your nice furnishings and decoration done.  

TheProfessional

That's true. I don't know if it would feel worth it if everything is working well though. I wonder whether £3k now is better than £3k in a decade. If the wires are 25 years old and they could I suppose go on another 10 years or they could fail earlier than that

Mickey666

TheProfessional said:

That's true. I don't know if it would feel worth it if everything is working well though. I wonder whether £3k now is better than £3k in a decade. If the wires are 25 years old and they could I suppose go on another 10 years or they could fail earlier than that

With a modern CU (ie RCD etc), what's the actual danger of failing wiring?  Obviously there will be nuisance tripping and perhaps even a permanent inability to use a particular circuit, but would there be any actual danger to life or property?

I ask, because if there is no danger to life or property, what would be the point of rewiring if the installation can still pass an ECIR even though the wiring is old?