I raised an observation about two interlinked hardwired smoke alarms made by two different manufacturers recently on an EICR, I did email one of the manufacturers who replied saying they were incompatible, so there was no point perusing it with the other manufacturer. So if anyone comes back and queries my report I can refer them to the manufacturer.


If I do an EICR and there is an EV charger that appears to be unsatisfactory because of its design I should be able to refer to the manufacturer’s documentation provided for me to refer to along with the installation instructions and installation certificate, all of which will be made available to me by the person ordering the work or their agent, assuming it’s not stored adjacent to the consumer unit.


However that’s how it’s really going to happen is it? So faced with a lack of information most people reach for their phone to have a look at the manufacturers website, now that’s really the place a copy of all the relevant documents should be immediately available.


But it appears that isn’t going to happen either, so without documentation being handed to the inspector for reference or information on the manufacturers website the next alternative is to contact the manufacturer. So the inspector sends an inquiry by email, without receiving a reply with the required document the options really have all been used up.


Presumably the EV charger is installed and presumably in use, compliance with the current edition of BS7671 cannot be confirmed, without being able to precisely identify an issue or indeed if there even is an issue the code can only be FI.


Ten minutes seems a reasonable amount of time to spend trying to resolve this before coding it FI and failing the whole installation. Ask the person ordering the work for documentation, check on site for documentation, check the manufacturers website, email the manufacturer and read their reply.


The person reviewing the EICR may not appreciate it being  coded FI, but actually they were the first person the inspector asked to supply the information, so maybe unwittingly become part of the problem, if asked for information they should provide it if they want a satisfactory report. Okay, they might not have realised they should have the information or may not have realised the importance of keeping it to hand.


Ultimately if inspector cannot write a report without relevant manufacturers information concerning installed equipment it is not the inspectors job to source that information.


There’s a bit of a denial culture when it comes to responding to requests for previous certification, EICRs and other information about electrical installations for which an EICR has been requested, many people appear to think they are being clever or “getting their monies worth” if they do not provide the inspector with any information at all as they will do “a proper job” rather than “just copying” the last report.


Then they wonder why EICRs are so expensive.


Andy Betteridge 

I raised an observation about two interlinked hardwired smoke alarms made by two different manufacturers recently on an EICR, I did email one of the manufacturers who replied saying they were incompatible, so there was no point perusing it with the other manufacturer. So if anyone comes back and queries my report I can refer them to the manufacturer.


If I do an EICR and there is an EV charger that appears to be unsatisfactory because of its design I should be able to refer to the manufacturer’s documentation provided for me to refer to along with the installation instructions and installation certificate, all of which will be made available to me by the person ordering the work or their agent, assuming it’s not stored adjacent to the consumer unit.


However that’s how it’s really going to happen is it? So faced with a lack of information most people reach for their phone to have a look at the manufacturers website, now that’s really the place a copy of all the relevant documents should be immediately available.


But it appears that isn’t going to happen either, so without documentation being handed to the inspector for reference or information on the manufacturers website the next alternative is to contact the manufacturer. So the inspector sends an inquiry by email, without receiving a reply with the required document the options really have all been used up.


Presumably the EV charger is installed and presumably in use, compliance with the current edition of BS7671 cannot be confirmed, without being able to precisely identify an issue or indeed if there even is an issue the code can only be FI.


Ten minutes seems a reasonable amount of time to spend trying to resolve this before coding it FI and failing the whole installation. Ask the person ordering the work for documentation, check on site for documentation, check the manufacturers website, email the manufacturer and read their reply.


The person reviewing the EICR may not appreciate it being  coded FI, but actually they were the first person the inspector asked to supply the information, so maybe unwittingly become part of the problem, if asked for information they should provide it if they want a satisfactory report. Okay, they might not have realised they should have the information or may not have realised the importance of keeping it to hand.


Ultimately if inspector cannot write a report without relevant manufacturers information concerning installed equipment it is not the inspectors job to source that information.


There’s a bit of a denial culture when it comes to responding to requests for previous certification, EICRs and other information about electrical installations for which an EICR has been requested, many people appear to think they are being clever or “getting their monies worth” if they do not provide the inspector with any information at all as they will do “a proper job” rather than “just copying” the last report.


Then they wonder why EICRs are so expensive.


Andy Betteridge