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17th edition design given 18th edition certifcate

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
Hello, I recently purchased a new build home on a small development; a rather unique situation has occurred that I thought was interesting and might interest some people here to discuss. It's still currently unresolved but progress is being made.


The house has a NICEIC BS 7671: 2018 domestic electrical installation certificate dated 5/2/20 with no departures identified; with the only comment being no water bond due to plastic pipework. I noticed that no SPD had been fitted so asked the contractor for the completed risk assessment to determine that it was not needed. Initially they did not know what I was on about and then said that no SPD was fitted due to the initial design being done in December 2018 to the 17th edition. So far so good!


However on the electrical designs I have there was a revision on 27/5/2019 and at my request I later paid for an additional £1700 of fixed LED lighting to be installed throughout on 20/11/2019. After bringing this up I was told it was still to the 17th and that "any subsequent revisions are based on the regulations in force at the time of the original design". The installation certificate includes these lighting changes as many more (20+) positions are served on the circuits, everything else seems to be as the 27/5/2019 revision design.


I then asked why a 18th edition certificate had been issued with no note of that the installation is actually to 17th design and standard and was told that they had used up all their 17th edition certificates during the grace period, that the NICEIC had advised them to use 18th edition certificates but place "n/a" on items pertaining to SPDs and that their response is to amend the existing certificate to note that the installation was carried out to the 17th edition regulations.


I can forgive that yes, even a brand new home can be delivered not to the latest regulation due to a design from a grace period (as always regulations can be updated quicker than projects) but I do not get a good feeling from the 18th edition certificate being issued on a 17th edition design and installation without any indication - certainly the other homeowners on the development may not be as keen on protecting their extra gizmos as I am!



 


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    I would like to know where in the regs it says we have to fit an SPD. As far as i am aware the advise given was we should offer it to the customer and it was up to them , it is not a condition of a compliant 18th edition  install. 

    18th reg 443.4 demands that protection against transient overvoltages shall be provided unless the risk assessment (443.5) shows it's not required or (for single dwelling units only) the total value of the installation and equipment therein does not justify such protection.

    The risk assessment tends to say SPDs are needed unless you're in a city-centre kind of environment, but the details vary.

    The ‘value of the installation and equipment therein does not justify such protection’ option is a bit vague, some guidance has suggested that 5x the cost of the SPDs would be the limit - which would be hard to justify in the modern home (the cost of a TV and washing machine alone would probably put you above that line).

    (As an aside, putting SPDs on the mains alone, while leaving say the phone line and TV aerial unprotected, might not entirely provide adequate protection, which might be something to factor into the cost calculation.)

        - Andy.

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  • 0

    I would like to know where in the regs it says we have to fit an SPD. As far as i am aware the advise given was we should offer it to the customer and it was up to them , it is not a condition of a compliant 18th edition  install. 

    18th reg 443.4 demands that protection against transient overvoltages shall be provided unless the risk assessment (443.5) shows it's not required or (for single dwelling units only) the total value of the installation and equipment therein does not justify such protection.

    The risk assessment tends to say SPDs are needed unless you're in a city-centre kind of environment, but the details vary.

    The ‘value of the installation and equipment therein does not justify such protection’ option is a bit vague, some guidance has suggested that 5x the cost of the SPDs would be the limit - which would be hard to justify in the modern home (the cost of a TV and washing machine alone would probably put you above that line).

    (As an aside, putting SPDs on the mains alone, while leaving say the phone line and TV aerial unprotected, might not entirely provide adequate protection, which might be something to factor into the cost calculation.)

        - Andy.

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