Tea and sympathy or tough luck?

I always harbour a degree of empathy with contractors....been at the coal face myself for many years and I am well aware of the ups and downs.

However, I am not sure that I would warm the teapot and get the buns out in this case.

A contractor friend just completed 112 mid-range dwellings. He and the guys working for him are meticulously neat but far too nonchalant when it comes to regulatory requirements.

The site is complete, not one single EIC asked for or issued. That is until one of the last people to purchase one of the units was a contractor specialising in electrical I+T. That contractor identified the lack of certification and a number of concerning issues in his own home. 

1. 16mm2 tails almost 15m in length supplied directly via an isolator from mains intake in the cubicle recessed in the exterior wall to a remote consumer unit. 100A service head fuse in each property (confirmed by NIE). 

2. Cables enter the consumer unit from the rear without fire stopping. Timber frame house.

3. Ground floor ceilings peppered with downlights with a suggestion that this is unacceptable and

4. No certification issued and no inspection and testing carried out for any of the properties.

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  • Given it is you Lyle, is this BS7671 land or  Eire ?

    What is the problem with 1,

    If the DNO are happy with it, perhaps a concession to use their fuse may be possible.  Perhaps the problem is not real, only administrative.

    2) is a squirt off mastic enough.

    3) are up and downstairs different fire zones ?

    4) well, I;m sure some realistic results can be  created over a few pints...

    M

  • Mike,

    If you go out the back door of one of the houses and spit hard enough it might just land in another country, but the estate is definitely in 7671 land.

    For 1) The tails are 16mm2 so unless NIE were up for changing to 80A devices, overload, at least as determined by 433.1.1, would not be in place.

    For 2) maybe, for 3) it is a fair point but 30min REI is the minimum period of fire resistance. Whilst I cannot conceive how a few downlights would impact on that requirement, I am not aware of any tests to confirm otherwise. 

    For 4) Love it!

  • Apologies, I had missed the 100A fuse (not quite) covering cables rated at 94A or less dependent on routing.. Perhaps by way of excuse,  I have recently come back from South America, and I am not really fully back in the correct UK regs mental state and the insulated and sheathed current ratings  - actually there is rather a large expectation gap (!)- what you describe would be just fine out there....

    The real tragedy by the sound of it, is that the same noddy errors have been made 100 times in rapid succession -  if it was juxt the one, then it would  be a failry quick fix.

    Please realise my solution to pt 4 was a bit tongue in cheek, but perhaps represents fairly common mainland UK practice at the shallower end of the workforce.

    Mike.

Reply
  • Apologies, I had missed the 100A fuse (not quite) covering cables rated at 94A or less dependent on routing.. Perhaps by way of excuse,  I have recently come back from South America, and I am not really fully back in the correct UK regs mental state and the insulated and sheathed current ratings  - actually there is rather a large expectation gap (!)- what you describe would be just fine out there....

    The real tragedy by the sound of it, is that the same noddy errors have been made 100 times in rapid succession -  if it was juxt the one, then it would  be a failry quick fix.

    Please realise my solution to pt 4 was a bit tongue in cheek, but perhaps represents fairly common mainland UK practice at the shallower end of the workforce.

    Mike.

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