Hi all, my father in law has a rental property that was completely rewired and with new split load CU five years ago. The installation is now due an inspection. Will the fact that the CU is plastic constitute a "fail"?
The legislation is often written in the manner of lawyers, nothing is quite solid and clear, until a ruling is obtained in court. Strange that really.
However, I agree that the legislation probably requires an EICR against the current book without any limitations, and this is the only kind of certificate there is defined in the British Standards, which would be somewhat difficult to deny. As anyone may carry out an EICR, using any guide they like, the standard is likely to be very low in many cases, and drive-by is not impossible. It is impossible to check an installation against the "manufacturers instructions" unless they are present at the time of inspection, and do we use the current ones for products or the ones that were in force at installation? In view of the CU ones discussed elsewhere, the main fuse value must be verified and then the CU items checked for the new compliance. How does one do this, bearing in mind that we are not supposed to unseal the main fuse? As it is impossible to provide a satisfactory certificate under these conditions, all installations must fail the Inspection and test immediately. No good EICRs from now on then! Proper responsible inspectors to the fore, please.
The legislation is often written in the manner of lawyers, nothing is quite solid and clear, until a ruling is obtained in court. Strange that really.
However, I agree that the legislation probably requires an EICR against the current book without any limitations, and this is the only kind of certificate there is defined in the British Standards, which would be somewhat difficult to deny. As anyone may carry out an EICR, using any guide they like, the standard is likely to be very low in many cases, and drive-by is not impossible. It is impossible to check an installation against the "manufacturers instructions" unless they are present at the time of inspection, and do we use the current ones for products or the ones that were in force at installation? In view of the CU ones discussed elsewhere, the main fuse value must be verified and then the CU items checked for the new compliance. How does one do this, bearing in mind that we are not supposed to unseal the main fuse? As it is impossible to provide a satisfactory certificate under these conditions, all installations must fail the Inspection and test immediately. No good EICRs from now on then! Proper responsible inspectors to the fore, please.
