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Commercial EICR strategy?

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
Hi,


I've been tasked to do some EICR's on some commercial Car Showrooms. There's lots of old DB's, little or no circuit details and the previous EICR's stated that nothing could be tested due to not wanting circuits switched off. Personally I don't think it's worth even reporting if you aren't testing anything?


I wondered if anyone had a strategy for dealing with these situations. I'm not looking for anymore work so I'd rather not fail anything unless I absolutely have to. The customer wants as little interruption to the supply as possible.


A possible strategy:

Visual check

Identify circuits where possible

Take Zs readings where possible

Check db's for signs of thermal damage

Zsdb and ipf's

Check bonding

Check tightness of terminals in db's and sampled accessories

Report on what I've seen and tested with limitations on everything else.


It is going to be impossible to identify cpc's and neutrals associated with each circuit. IR testing would have to be very limited.


Below is a picture of what I am up against. There's a mix of old and new db's with many BS3871 MCB's.

f3685b9e83139223d5bf313572195363-huge-honda-mains-position.jpg


Any advice guy's?

Parents
  • 0
    Check tightness of terminals in db's and sampled accessories

    If the suggestion is to do that live, I'd be very wary. Insulated tools might be fine if all goes well, but it only needs an unexpected failure - like the heat of a screw shearing off - to put you in a very sticky situation (remove the screwdriver and the broken part might fall onto live busbars, but you can't sort it out without moving...)


    I'd ask why they want an EICR - likely it's not just because they like collecting pretty sheets of paper - but do actually need to prove properly to someone else that their system is safe, and something full of ifs and buts and gaps and limitations won't really do. I suspect that in the end the answer will be to arrange an organized shutdown (likely out of hours) and do a proper job.


       - Andy.
Reply
  • 0
    Check tightness of terminals in db's and sampled accessories

    If the suggestion is to do that live, I'd be very wary. Insulated tools might be fine if all goes well, but it only needs an unexpected failure - like the heat of a screw shearing off - to put you in a very sticky situation (remove the screwdriver and the broken part might fall onto live busbars, but you can't sort it out without moving...)


    I'd ask why they want an EICR - likely it's not just because they like collecting pretty sheets of paper - but do actually need to prove properly to someone else that their system is safe, and something full of ifs and buts and gaps and limitations won't really do. I suspect that in the end the answer will be to arrange an organized shutdown (likely out of hours) and do a proper job.


       - Andy.
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