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BS7671 Rant and Recomendations

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
Hi, I'm about a quarter way through reading BS7671 and not impressed at all. I've been studying daily for months now. It's written in a way that makes it very difficult to understand. Long complicated sentences that make you loose track of what's being explained. Repetition. Poor headings and formatting. References to other BS7671 regulations and other BS every few lines. If you want electricians to work safely then make clear and concise safety instructions. I'm guessing most people skim over it. I'm struggling to stay awake reading it. I have started reading a few of the IET guidance notes. They are better but still poorly structured and there's repetition and nonsense. Does anyone know of any better books to learn from that are clear and concise and well structured? Thanks.
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    Probably a good idea to do a course.


    It is not intended to be read cover-to-cover, but you need to learn to use it efficiently. If you stick around in here, you will also learn quite a lot about it. ?
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    Well, BS 7671 isn't meant to be read as a guide or tutorial for budding electricians - it's meant to be a standard: for example the sort of thing that might end up being used in a trial to help decide whether someone should be convicted of manslaugher or similar. So it reads more like an act of parliament than a friendly guide.


    Having said that, there are definitely some poorly worded sentences, badly-titled section names etc. This is partly due to the fact that it has a 100 year revision history, plus being merged into an IEC standard, which is pulled back into an EU standard, then back to a UK standard. With a desire not to gratuitously reword and reorder everything between editions - which would make it a lot harder for existing electricians to keep up to date ("Which bits have changed? Everything!").
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    Jimi:

    Hi, I'm about a quarter way through reading BS7671 and not impressed at all. I've been studying daily for months now. It's written in a way that makes it very difficult to understand. Long complicated sentences that make you loose track of what's being explained. Repetition. Poor headings and formatting. References to other BS7671 regulations and other BS every few lines. If you want electricians to work safely then make clear and concise safety instructions. I'm guessing most people skim over it. I'm struggling to stay awake reading it. I have started reading a few of the IET guidance notes. They are better but still poorly structured and there's repetition and nonsense. Does anyone know of any better books to learn from that are clear and concise and well structured? Thanks.


    I'd certainly agree it's not the easiest thing to read. Partly that's the result of 130-odd years of amendements by committee, but also due to trying to cover a very wide range of situations without leaving gaps in the logic. If the regs only had to cover domestic wiring for instance they could be a fraction of the size and much simpler - but as things stand they need to cover just about everything from a garden shed to a huge factory, from the supply to a domestic pond pump to a sewage works, from a lamp-post to Blackpool Tower. So simple details get replaced by somewhat abstract concepts - which it's expected the reader will have to apply to whatever situation they find themselves in.


    Believe it or not references out to other standards can actually make it briefer and easier to read - if you look back at much older versions you'll find page after page for things like the construction of cables and insulation testing during manufacture (including soaking samples in water for so many hours) and the requirements for plugs and sockets. Just saying 'xyz must comply with BS whatever' cut out a lot of clutter.


    But stick with it - there is a knack to reading it - after a while it starts to make more sense. There are simpler books out there to start with - the On-Site Guide might outline the basics better and there are plenty of Electrician's guides.


       - Andy.


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    You’re supposed to look at the list of chapters and work your way in from the front of the book to read specific regulations, not read it all the way through as a textbook.
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    I suggest you read section one and wait for the abstract concepts to kick in then follow the path of enlightenment into the specific area of interest.

    That translates into find and read the areas appropriate to your need.

    Examples

    'What's this green and yellow wire for?

    section 5

    chapter 54

    Is it an earthing wire?

    sub-section 542

    Is it circuit protective conductor?

    sub-section 543

    Is it a bonding conductor?

    sub-section 544

    We can do the same for isolation and switching, chapter 53, overload and short circuit chapter 43, etc.

    If this means nothing to you then enroll on a BS7671 wiring regulations course

    Legh

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    I'd agree, it is a very clunky read, and I'd not use it as a primary source if you are not already familiar with the basics -

    I suspect you'd not really expect to understand everything you needed to know about the world after just reading a dictionary right through from 'Apple'  to 'Zebra', and in a similar way BS7671, and British standards generally, need treating in the same vein.

    The other problem is that standards writing becomes a full-time job, and a very inward looking process, so it develops it's own meta language and structure which is not the one normal folk use.

    Luckily it is not a legal requirement.

    Mike.
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    "Luckily its not a legal requirement" 

    Thankfully. The way the same questions keep being asked year in year out a court case would never be resolved. Bizarre how these IET committee members never show their faces on here and put the members out of their misery. The latest fiasco, EICR reports. 

    Regards, UKPN
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    Agree it is not a text book intended to be read cover to cover.

    It is a list of regulations.

    An experienced electrician, should memorise the more commonly applied regulations, and know how to look up and sensibly apply the less commonly applied bits.

    As an example, I would expect an experienced electrician to be able to wire a standard domestic lighting circuit without reference to the regulations. They should know "of by heart" the applicable rules.

    On the other hand, a large and complex job would almost certainly require consulting the regulations at the design stage.


    An electrician should also be able to apply the "common sense test" to an existing installation or to a proposed new one. For example I would not normally "second guess" cable sizes chosen by an experienced designer, but WOULD HOPEFULLY SPOT a greatly undersized cable that has been specified in error.


    Example, designer specifies 2.5mm cable for a 20 amp domestic socket outlet circuit. That is the widely used size and correct in all but unusual cases. 

    Alternative example. Designer specifies 2.5mm cable for a 16 amp circuit to a distant outbuilding to be used as a home office. That I might well double check, firstly is 16 amps enough ? perhaps not if electric heating is called for. Secondly, what is the voltage drop ? probably excessive depending on the distance.
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    UKPN:

    "Luckily its not a legal requirement" 

    Thankfully. The way the same questions keep being asked year in year out a court case would never be resolved. Bizarre how these IET committee members never show their faces on here and put the members out of their misery. The latest fiasco, EICR reports. 

    Regards, UKPN


    Some committee members do show themselves in I.E.T. videos and the like.


    Z.


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    I missed that trick, just read the 'wiring regulations' and you know all about electricity wiring. It would have saved years of of effort like 5 years of being shouted at for not understanding something or wiring up an adhesive factoryor just discovering secret nailed oak flooring in a ball room. Not fogetting the other odd 40 years learning and I still have yet to read the recent versionsof 'the book' from cover to cover from start to finish.

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