Will an EICR help me understand if the house needs a rewire or not?

Risteard

bris said:

An insulation resistance test will determine the the state of the wiring. It indicates the amount of degridation over the years

The insulation breaks down in very old wiring, the test machine measures just how badly that is.

It only need to be 1 mega ohm to pass but ideally you are looking for an infinit reading..

Inspection is merely supplemented by testing. An insulation resistance test is not guaranteed to show up problems or degradation, although it might. An infinite reading is impossible - it might exceed the scale of the meter but it cannot every be "infinite". The scale is Megohms (not "Megaohms".)

justwhat

Think this thread has gone a little of course....

When i buy a house , rule off thumb. Check consumer unit if old or if no rcd's . Then it will need a rewire. If pendent lights  are twin wire(next no insulation), it will need a rewire. If sockets are antique or the wiring is very old (insulation or colour of wires) , it may indicate it needs a rewire.(i have actually purchase properties with rubber insulation on wire and paper/wax/lead)

Sometimes you find a part rewire of  a property or a bodge thats a little harder to decide if it needs a rewire.

These are just tell tail signs. Many things that do not comply with current regs are perfectly safe and may never have been part of the regs in yester year.