Exposed: Cash for logos and drive by inspections

I remember working as a carpenter on a new housing site presumably early in the 1980’s, it was pouring with rain and a couple of us were sheltering in the garage of one of the houses being built.

The electrician was in the garage knocking a couple of holes in a wall with his lump hammer and Rawlplug tool to fix a double pattress box to it, he then installed a 30 mA single socket SRCD fitting, I asked why he was fitting it and he said they had been pulled up on their NICEIC annual inspection for not fitting a RCD protected socket for outdoor use, so now had to fit a RCD protected socket in all the garages.

This did actually create an issue, back in the 1980’s it was very common for people to have a large chest freezer in the back of their garages and obviously in these new homes they were plugged into the single socket SRCD, however the electricians were fitting active SRCD fittings with no-volt releases in them, which was the correct choice for supplying outdoor equipment such as lawn mowers, but not freezers because the slightest interruption in the power supply would mean the no-volt release in the active SRCD would trip it and it would need to be manually reset.

As a result of this many people lost a freezer full of food and these RCD units gained a reputation for “nuisance tripping” and people started saying that they needed a socket without RCD protection for their freezer, when there wasn’t a problem with the RCD function and the units had actually tripped due to the no-volt release during an interruption to the power supply.

The other obvious issue with the single socket SRCD is that people did not actually use it to mow their lawns, because it had the freezer plugged into it and other sockets were more accessible.

It wasn’t long before the electricians started fitting Memara 2000 consumer units with a two module 30 mA RCBO for the sockets, which was a huge improvement however there was often a single socket built into the cooker control switch which did not have RCD protection, I coded several of these as a C2 whilst undertaking landlords EICRs because the tenants do open the kitchen window and plug in lawn mowers and other outdoor equipment, just like in the diagram in the Part P document.

Like others, I don’t make issues up when preparing EICRs they are quite clearly present, some of us don’t just choose to ignore them.

pretty much my take on things too. i totally disliked the one dedicated rcd skt by front and back or thereabouts for same reason and the fridge freezer and battery charger in garage is a classic example of why a non rcd socket was selected for outside with the lawnmowers etc.

then the flavour of the month became well ok all ground floor sockets.

people looked at me as if I`m daft to suggest upper floors sockets get used for plugging in extension leads to dangle outside. I`d seen that many times..

also the CCU with inbuilt socket non RCD and ditto the socket on that circuit used to dangle an extension lead outside.

If you have a 2 up 2 down sort of domestic with a cellar and a loft then even so you might not expect the loft or cellar skt to be used in preference to any other but would you be happy to guarantee it will not happen?

I took the view many years ago that all sockets should really have RCD protection whether collectively or separately by circuit or by outlet.

And no, I do not think that RCDs are the be all and end all of safety and we should always use any socket etc as if RCD protection is not present but hey-ho folk tend to rely on safety devices by reducing their own safety practices.

pretty much my take on things too. i totally disliked the one dedicated rcd skt by front and back or thereabouts for same reason and the fridge freezer and battery charger in garage is a classic example of why a non rcd socket was selected for outside with the lawnmowers etc.

then the flavour of the month became well ok all ground floor sockets.

people looked at me as if I`m daft to suggest upper floors sockets get used for plugging in extension leads to dangle outside. I`d seen that many times..

also the CCU with inbuilt socket non RCD and ditto the socket on that circuit used to dangle an extension lead outside.

If you have a 2 up 2 down sort of domestic with a cellar and a loft then even so you might not expect the loft or cellar skt to be used in preference to any other but would you be happy to guarantee it will not happen?

I took the view many years ago that all sockets should really have RCD protection whether collectively or separately by circuit or by outlet.

And no, I do not think that RCDs are the be all and end all of safety and we should always use any socket etc as if RCD protection is not present but hey-ho folk tend to rely on safety devices by reducing their own safety practices.

ebee said:

but hey-ho folk tend to rely on safety devices by reducing their own safety practices.

Which might be another way of stating my comment below (or was it above?) that if you maintain your equipment properly, and use it properly, you should never trip an RCD.