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Electrical Installation User's Manual.

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We are provided with user's/owner's operation manuals with many products these days, such as with new cars or domestic electrical appliances.


Should we provide one regarding domestic electrical installations, especially if we are letting a house or flat, or after a rewire? The manual could simply cover the use of the electrical installation and the operation of consumer units and internal devices such as the main switch, M.C.B.s, R.C.B.Os and R.C.D.s. Does one exist in printed paper form already?


Z.


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    I agree. If you decide to do this, you will need a bullet proof instruction manual to hand out, as well as a very good insurance policy to cover it. 


    Regards,


    Alan.
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    davezawadi:

    Whilst this all sounds very good in principle, it may well be a bad idea, because if there is any tiny deviation from the actual installation or changing regulations you may find yourself liable for adverse outcomes.


    To give an example, if you have a general anesthetic in hospital you will be given a longish sheet saying that some outcomes may not be very safe for you, and you could be considerably bad, even dead. You may have seen on TV recently a chap who had a bad outcome, in that he could feel some actions of his operation, and wanted to sue everyone in sight as they were negligent he says. Everything he complained about will be on that sheet, which he will have signed as risks he was prepared top take. His choice, sign or no operation. It is becoming close to the time where we may need a disclaimer on electrical work, because some people think one can abuse the installation and it is always someone else's fault! No win - No fee should never have been permitted, unfortunately it came from the USA and some lawyers loved it.




    Well, you would have to word your instruction manual carefully.


    I think that UK orthodoxy is still to be careful about giving dire warnings to anxious patients. However, to give an example, would you want your child's tonsils removed if you were told that the risk of death is 1:20,000?


    Not particularly relevant to electrickery. "Madam, the defective fuse board is a C2. That means that if you don't have it replaced, there will be a 1:20,000 risk of getting electrocuted."


    The principle that giving a warning absolves the practitioner/tradesman from negligence is unsound. Awareness under anaesthetic is a slam dunk! A surgeon is hardly likely to say, "If I make a cock up, you will never walk again" any more than an electrician might say "If I make a cock up, your whole house will be lethal."


    So thinking about this, electricians are far safer than surgeons. ?


    ETA: Another difference is that surgeons are not exposed to personal risk at work, although Professor of Surgery, Harold Ellis used to delight in mentioning the case with 300% mortality. It was something to do with a surgeon doing an amputation in pre-anaesthetic times when speed was of the essence. In wielding his knife, he managed to slice through an assistant and even himself. All three died of sepsis.

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    I have often thought that a house user guide would be a good idea. Nothing complicated but the location of stop taps and any CH/HW valves and their purpose along with where the CU is and any sub boards.


    How often do you ask where the water stop cock is in order to check bonding and get a blank response. In one house I never found it or where the water supply  actually entered the house. The bit of wire that may have been the water bond had a loose end under a kitchen cupboard. 


    Whether the owner/tenant would ever have read it or be able to produce it is a different question?
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    I used to work for a company who specialized in new build electric installations. Part of their homecare package was to provide a video on how to deal with basic faults and ideosyncrasies  such as restting MCBs, RCDs and various alarm systems.

    AFAIR, It came about because too many households were phoning the company for after sales advice on out how to reset/change the above.


    Legh

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