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EICR Remedial Work

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
Hi, my first post, I wondered if I could get some advice from the community regarding a failed EICR report and the subsequent remedial works.

Me letting agent appointed a local electrical firm to conduct an EICR report on my flat before new tenants moved in. The timescale was tight since the new tenants were due to move in on the 1st Feb.


The flat is a purpose-built flat constructed in 2005 so id be surprised if the electrics were too far out of spec.


The report came back as failed due to the following points:


1 No Bonding, substantial metal pipework in property

8 Fan is not low voltage in bathroom, and is in zone 2


the quotation for the remedial work was to install 100mm bonding from the consumer unit to the stop cock and replace the extractor with an extra low voltage fan and controller.

"estimate of a morning for 2 which hopefully will be less, however the route is not particularly easy" - £630 inc VAT.


the quote sounded high for a mornings work but due to time constraints i had to agree.


the final invoice came back as 28 hours work, £1399...  so that's 28 hours work to run about 6metres of earth bonding and replace the bathroom fan when the initial quote was a morning's work for £630.


So obviously I've questioned this and after doing some digging, I found that firstly 230v fans are allowed in zone 2, and not all incoming water pipes need to be bonded if there is plastic in the incoming supply..


I'll upload screenshots of the paper work and photos of the job, but any advice would be greatly appreciated!

fef58217ef06411ab3fcb5e012db7a01-huge-quotation.png



b2dc16ff7b1f285e61c95ea8dd664268-huge-eicr-report.png


  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    davezawadi (David Stone):

    Also Joe please take some photos of the work done and closeups of the connections made. These may be important later. Thanks

    David


    Photos of the work? here's the only photo i took, unfortunately -  I now have a huge transformer poking out through the bathroom wall into the hallway above the bathroom door for the new ultra low voltage extractor fan which I'm not sure was even required...  The isolator switch was already present. 



  • 0
    I would expect to find some type of suspended ceiling in that flat with a void above to pull a cable through, but the overcharging is only part of the issue
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    mapj1:

    I assume the did not demolish and rebuild a wall and re-plaster to put  a cable in  - where have they put it ?

    There are cheap and ugly surface trunking options, or did they go through the ceiling ?

     


    I asked them to avoid trunking if possible as it's really ugly. I made a small hole in the ceiling to see what was there and sent them a video to which they said "Perfect, we can work around that"

    So I naturally I assumed they knew what they were talking about and would be able to run the cable through the ceiling void...  But no.. after seemingly wasting an entire day trying to pull a cable through the ceiling i still ended up with mini-trunking in the bedrooms. here is the chat.... 

    6435a0af1c87e35b43b211221656283c-original-image.png




    After 


  • 0
    Ok Joe. Please email me as above, you need some facts which I will give you free. All part of the service here, but I suggest not for publication because your contractor can look too, which may not help you. The photo above went wrong somewhere.


    Regards

    David
  • 0
    Regarding the EICR: if the water supply is in a plastic pipe, there is no requirement to main bond it, so all those C2s fall away. The absence of a label could never be higher than C3.


    As you have found out, a 230 V fan may be installed in zone 2, but supplementary bonding may be required and the circuit would need to be RCD-protected (almost certainly the case for a 16 y.o. property). Any switch would need to be outside the zones.


    This appears to be a classic illustration that inspectors should be independent of those who do remedial work.


    I think that the core of the problem is the EICR. I would get in touch with Trading Standards.


    ETA: I do not think that consumer protection will help. You are letting the flat in the course of a business. If I understand things correctly, your agent has already paid the electrician, and clearly will add the fee to the management charges, which they will deduct from the rent.


    I would consider changing to a different agent, but perhaps you are locked in with a new tenant.
  • 0
    Read this article and Just be aware of what is going on.
  • 0
    Trading standards probably won't want to know Chris, too technical. They like weights and measures best, simple!

    Moving back to the EICR, I assume no gas?

    Multiple flats do not require main bonding in the flat even if the supply is conductive, the bonding should be from the electrical Intake position to the extraneous conductive parts entering the building. Inside the flat, it is supplementary bonding anyway, because you do not know the size of the incoming supply which could be considerable for a large block, main bonding should be as close to the entry of the extraneous conductive part to the building as possible, preferably within 400mm if possible. Even domestic EICRs may not be as simple as this one clearly thought. I bet you he did not check the main supply fuse, the bonding, that the supply cable was adequate to the flat, the PSCC, or anything much else, and I wonder if the drains were lead jointed iron pipes which they often are for large buildings? If he did the EICR would have taken this lot a week!
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    davezawadi (David Stone):

    Ok Joe. Please email me as above, you need some facts which I will give you free. All part of the service here, but I suggest not for publication because your contractor can look too, which may not help you. The photo above went wrong somewhere.


    Regards

    David


    ive emailed you the report and quote, thanks for your help :)

     


  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    davezawadi (David Stone):

    Trading standards probably won't want to know Chris, too technical. They like weights and measures best, simple!

    Moving back to the EICR, I assume no gas?

    Multiple flats do not require main bonding in the flat even if the supply is conductive, the bonding should be from the electrical Intake position to the extraneous conductive parts entering the building. Inside the flat, it is supplementary bonding anyway, because you do not know the size of the incoming supply which could be considerable for a large block, main bonding should be as close to the entry of the extraneous conductive part to the building as possible, preferably within 400mm if possible. Even domestic EICRs may not be as simple as this one clearly thought. I bet you he did not check the main supply fuse, the bonding, that the supply cable was adequate to the flat, the PSCC, or anything much else, and I wonder if the drains were lead jointed iron pipes which they often are for large buildings? If he did the EICR would have taken this lot a week!




    No gas in the building. it's a block of eight flats, two per floor. I find it hard to believe that a relatively recently built block of flats wouldn't have the required level of earth protection/bonding so I checked another flat in the block and that also didn't have a bonding wire visible close to the stop cock, so what you said above about multiple flats not requiring bonding seems to fit with what I was seeing - no bonding inside the flats.

    The water pipes inside the flats are all plastic so no earth on the plastic pipes under the sink either. 






     


  • 0
    No if the pipes are plastic and therefore an insulator, one cannot make a connection! It is only conductive pipes that might require an Earth connection, but see my post above.


    David

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