Class 1 appliance with no exposed metal work to connect test lead too

It is good to know the code of practice is sensibly worded in this regard - the next thing is to make sure folk doing testing  actually understand and follow it.

It cannot be right that a process supposed to improve the quality of life for of everyone can lead to perfectly good equipment potentially going to landfill, either with the loss of use of a facility , or the  waste of resources on buying a replacement that could have been directed elsewhere, due to what is in effect an administrative error. I fully agree that dangerous kit needs to be removed from service, but only when it is dangerous.


At the other end of the spectrum it is hard to catch some very cavalier manufactures who seem happy to stick "CE" on a total death trap, having seen plastic bodied chargers that warm up, and come unglued and then leave the pins in the socket when removed, and things where the clearances to, and enclosure of, live parts is far from adequate. How Joe public, or indeed a PA tester,  is supposed to know if the standards are really met in all cases is unclear.


Amusingly I have personally suffered at the hands of the odd over-enthusiastic PAT 'er.  Just because something does not fit one of the pre-agreed settings for testing, does not mean I did not intend to build the thing  that way, nor does it mean that it is unsafe... 

A case I recall well was a mains powered box  (3 core lead) with a metal antenna on it - the antenna, for very good reasons in that case, could not be solidly earthed, nor could it be 500VDC tested to the earth of the supply cable without breaking the receiver inside. But the design of the innards was such that a failure of the internal PSU  from primary to secondary would have created a short from live to the CPC, and the CPC was isolated from the antenna anyway.

Cue a need to write a supporting document, and to fit it with a non-standard plug. Which spends all it's time plugged into a 13A adaptor.. At least as the deign authority I was around to explain stuff, but that will be rare.


Mike

It is good to know the code of practice is sensibly worded in this regard - the next thing is to make sure folk doing testing  actually understand and follow it.

It cannot be right that a process supposed to improve the quality of life for of everyone can lead to perfectly good equipment potentially going to landfill, either with the loss of use of a facility , or the  waste of resources on buying a replacement that could have been directed elsewhere, due to what is in effect an administrative error. I fully agree that dangerous kit needs to be removed from service, but only when it is dangerous.


At the other end of the spectrum it is hard to catch some very cavalier manufactures who seem happy to stick "CE" on a total death trap, having seen plastic bodied chargers that warm up, and come unglued and then leave the pins in the socket when removed, and things where the clearances to, and enclosure of, live parts is far from adequate. How Joe public, or indeed a PA tester,  is supposed to know if the standards are really met in all cases is unclear.


Amusingly I have personally suffered at the hands of the odd over-enthusiastic PAT 'er.  Just because something does not fit one of the pre-agreed settings for testing, does not mean I did not intend to build the thing  that way, nor does it mean that it is unsafe... 

A case I recall well was a mains powered box  (3 core lead) with a metal antenna on it - the antenna, for very good reasons in that case, could not be solidly earthed, nor could it be 500VDC tested to the earth of the supply cable without breaking the receiver inside. But the design of the innards was such that a failure of the internal PSU  from primary to secondary would have created a short from live to the CPC, and the CPC was isolated from the antenna anyway.

Cue a need to write a supporting document, and to fit it with a non-standard plug. Which spends all it's time plugged into a 13A adaptor.. At least as the deign authority I was around to explain stuff, but that will be rare.


Mike