Ah! So one legal option (assuming it is not a kitchen) is to do the work and then get a member of a SCAM organisation to certify it. Is there going to be any maximum time between doing the work and employing the SCAM member? If not we can legally have a large backlog of jobs to be inspected - and until we sell the house never get round to having it certified!
James
The possible issue with this arrangement would be that if there were an accident or fatality between the job being done and the house eventually being sold then the lack of certification could land the person who did the job in very hot water.
PoP
Doubt it.
Think you'd have to be pretty negligent in order to get people that actually know about this legislation involved.
Richard
-- Richard Sampson
email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk
"PoP" wrote | Amazing isn't it? I have a job fitting a new cooker hood for someone | later this week, and in doing so I won't be touching the electrical | infrastructure of the house - just connecting up to the fused spur | that is already in existence. | This cooker hood could be in or out of the new legislation (arguments | welcome), but from next April or whenever it seems certain that I'll | have to turn away work that I could have done.
The "correct" way will be to extend the flex to the cooker hood with some choccie block and tack it with bent-over half inch nails to the skirting board halfway round the room and under a couple of door thresholds before connecting it to a 13A fused plug (fused at 13A of course) and *plug it into a socket.*
Extending an appliance flex is not fixed wiring and not within the regulations.
Completely dangerous of course, but then these regulations aren't about safety.
Owain
So do I. But when stupidity is involved (at government level) someone else has to pay for it.
I don't doubt that. BUT......
In the event there was a fire then the local fire chief would be expected to do a post-mortem on the site of the blaze. I believe this is normal procedure, to ensure that causes of fire are understood.
With these post mortems I'm sure there has to be an element of doubt in some cases. In so far that the PM will indicate whereabouts the fire started but might not be totally accurate with respect to the finite cause.
And if the PM gave a hint that it might have been due to an electrical fault, just maybe the fire officer would trigger a process about whether the necessary certificates had been issued. Insurance companies like to do that sort of thing to stop their funds being paid out.
I might also add that all those space probes are wrong, and that little green men do live on the surface of Mars :)
PoP
Of course, the consultation paper shows that the chances of an accident due to fixed wiring are slight - 576 injuries per year - and of a fatality, negligible (5 per year). This is in the context of
30-odd million domestic properties in the UK.I haven't seen any data about whether these accidents are caused by old wiring or during the DIY or professional installation of new wiring, or after new DIY or professional installations, so the figures we are really dealing with for non-fatal and fatal injries could quite easily be 0 per year and 0 per year respectively.
Regards
Neil
I'm sure the black market in traditionally coloured cable will help those not willing to be subject to the new diktats...
Is there an official designation for new cable? For example, I believe that the current standard for T&E is BS6004 - 6242Y. What are the equivalent numbers for the new stuff - so we can all make sure we stock up with the current stuff and don't buy the new stuff by accident?
Roger
This could be double edged. You need the old colours if you wish to pass off new work as old work. However if you require building control regularisation at some point in the future, this could be difficult if it does not comply because the colours show (what may be then) non-compliant cable has been used.
James
Well ok, but presumably if you're successful in passing off new work as old work, it is deemed to be outside the scope of Building Control - so that regularisation doesn't come into it?
Roger
igs-ack-lee
Expect to see a rush of new DIY books as well, full of disclaimers and warnings. I presume they will have to withdraw all the old ones from sale to avoid misleading the punters.
Although if the direst predictions are correct then even changing a light fitting will require an inspection visit by a qualified electrician.
Nah - never happen.
Cheers Dave R
P.S. how long does it take to train as an electrician (inspections only)?
If they're working from instructions in a book with diagrams, then it would take about five minutes to show them what to look for on the meters they carry around with them.
Is it not the law in some countries that you have to be 'qualified' to fit a plug?
No - Qu'al el Fayed I think :-)
Yep, Australia.
That is true.
When I did my C&G2381 early this year at college we had a guy who had just returned from Oz after spending time out there practicing in the gas and electric fields (he was qualified for both), and in the tea breaks he told us that there is no such thing as DIY for gas and electric, it is qualified tradespeople only.
To some extent I would prefer that they adopted the same system over here. That way we don't have the nonsense of "if it's a kitchen then testing is required, but in the dining room it's okay", as Part P is going to enforce. Begs the question about fitting a new socket in a combined kitchen-diner.....
If there were hard and fast rules about can and can't do then you know where the barrier is and can therefore seek to jump over it, instead of playing "once upon a time".
PoP
... but I still can't see how anyone will ever be able to tell whether a particular bit of wiring has a certificate or not. These certificates (as I understand it) won't be detailed enough to tell exactly which bits of wiring they refer to.
As I understand it (and someone can correct me if I'm wrong) the tests that are undertaken could be fairly significant and involve the entire circuit - or installation - that the wiring change was introduced for.
Thus assuming that it comes to the attention of the fire officer (or whoever) that some wiring work may have been carried out it is entirely possible that the certification might have to include the entire installation.
PoP
That takes you back to the same question, how do you tell whether a certain bit (or any bit) of wiring was done before or after the certificate was issued?
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.