Earthing conductor route

LOL.

Nice one Zoom

You say it goes to an earth rod? I wonder why its 25mm? It would be interested to measure the earth resistance of that installation. I assume it is TT?

I don't think this is a professional job and so some DIYer has not quite got the idea of Earthing right. I cannot think why anyone would do that unless the building is on a big rock and the rod cannot be driven elsewhere, which is possible. I do see why the cable is not buried however, that is the rock! Would it be satisfactory if laced with a warning tape? I wonder if any of you have ever got a big digger with breaker and tried to bury cables across rock, it is not easy and very expensive! I don't think my hedge trimmer could cut a 25mm cable, it has trouble with some branches of 8mm or so.

eventually found the rod below a discarded water tank at the rear of the building. The DNO earthing arrangement was lost and after six months of waiting for a fix, the client decided to engage a contractor to convert to TT. His EIC shows a Ze and Ra of 0.26 but was 127 when I measured it. The reason for the long run is unclear but there were definitely easier alternatives. I originally thought that the fix was temporary until the DNO got their act together but that is not the case.

Might have been better to bury and earth the old water tank.

I have seen the reverse, maybe the prize for the shortest cable to a rod, the head of the rod being inside the building, under suspended floor, driven out at about 45 degrees though the footings via a hole in the bricks below the DPC.


If the intention  of the job was it only had to last until the DNO came back,  and the intention was later to coil it in and take it away later, maybe.


It does beg the question of why you want to use a potential that could be a few volts different to the earth the house is actually standing on. (only in a built up area with PME)

Stealth VLF comms antennas can be made this way, but I'm very sure it is not that.



Is the rest of the TT OK? - RCDs and all that.

Ok, some may be stronger than others!

I am amused that the EIC(?) said 0.26, that's another untested installation then with fraudulent paperwork. Your value is much more realistic, but as others have said the earthing is a mess. I think I am going to start another campaign, like JP, but mine is going to be for legal action against duff paperwork. It endlessly annoys me that some people (I pause to call any of them electrical professionals) fill out paperwork which bears no reality with the installation, and particularly for EICRs. If you could get 6 months in prison it would stop very quickly, and probably sort out a few other problems as well. Of course this is encouraged by the QS system which I also think is totally faulty, so another 6 months for those "office" certs.

David


You will be pleased to hear that it is already a criminal offence to issue fraudulent test certificates and reports. Fraud is notoriously difficult to prosecute and convict. However I have been involved in providing expert witness reports for a couple of Trading Standards departments. The offence is much simpler to prosecute. The prosecution hinges on the test certificate or report being false OR misleading and it was produced by way of trade. So only 2 things to prove. The by way of trade part of the offence is proved by the person advertising their services and the victim paying money for the report. Often, sadly, victims are reluctant to provide a signed statement and even more frightened to come to court and give evidence if required to do so.


The false OR misleading bit is the bit I do presenting a statement pointing out all the errors and exhibiting photos. The last line of my statements is the document was both false AND misleading which they always are.


The offences are triable either way so can be dealt with by a formal caution, magistrates court which they usually are. I have had 2 cases go all the way to trial at the Crown Court. On indictment the offence can carry 2 years imprisonment and an unlimited fie. The last case I did the jury were onl,y out 10 minutes and came back with a guilty verdict. The lady judge went to town on the electrician ripping him to pieces for his lies and deceit. She announced she was going to consider a custodial sentence. The convicted person's barrister asked for a 15 minute adjournment to take instructions. The judge baled the convicted person to the confines of the court and when the barrister returned he did an excellent sob story speech on why the conviction would destroy his life. In the end the electrician got a suspended sentence, a £5k fine and £5k costs and a victim payment.


The judge ordered that his regulating body be informed which it was, and he was removed from the nominal roll. He is now back on their nominal roll so that is alright then!

Interesting that it is trading standards. It is good that occasionally someone does get caught, but nothing like enough people are brought to book. Looking at the number of QS signed certs one sees, and the included accuracy, there probably should be a much larger number of prosecutions. The example above (a contractor we are told) is a disgrace. It is true that fraud prosecutions are very difficult but getting trading standards to take any notice is also difficult. A single case should get the QS struck off, multiple ones in prison. Unfortunately they are full! However I will continue with my efforts, we will see what happens.

David


Trading Standards did not have adequate resources before all the government cuts and even less now so will only prosecute very serious maters with a high probability of a certain conviction. The costs awarded by the courts probably only cover a quarter of the actual prosecution costs let alone the investigation costs.

You say it goes to an earth rod? I wonder why its 25mm?

I wonder if the installer considered that it'll become buried in time and so applied table 54.1 - 25mm² copper supposedly being adequate against both mechanical damage and corrosion.


That said, my hedge trimmer will happily cut through broom-handle sized branches - so doubt a few mm of annealed copper will stop it - and my loppers would certainly make short work of it - so given it isn't actually buried...


   - Andy.