jutty

in my house the c/u is in the garage so i have changed that and added a ring with 4 sockets in the garage, new lighting circuit boiler supply and outside wall lights either side of garage door!!

my question is the existing circuits in the house ie. old ring and old house lights etc, i only have to earth loop test these dont i???? is this correct???

obviously the garage circuits i have done is a full test!

this is my major job for the inspection, should the outside wall lights be on the RCD side or doesn't it matter? this was carried out before the 17th edition too

any help appreciated thanks justin

EasyFox

Nope you need to do full testing & test all the old circuits as you have changed the cu.
It'll be an instant fail if you dont.

No the lights dont need to be on the rcd if it was designed & installed pre July 1st.

jutty

do i have to do full inspect on the old circuits making sure all sleeved up etc and gromits in boxes?

EasyFox

Well as its for an assessment I'd be inclined to make sure it's right upto scratch.

But if you change a cu you as the installer are then responcible for every circuit served by that cu, and as such have to ensure it is up to current regulation requirements.
Thats why most sparks do a pir before changing a cu.

jutty

ok will make sure it is top notch then!

thanks for the advice

a quick question regarding my test, there are some sockets i can't get too, 1 behind a radiator!!! 2 in the kitchen that have been tiled and grouted around!!
so can i write on the cert. that unable to inspect some sockets in the existing installation details? along with green sleeving used not green and yellow...im sure its ok to write the things that i have found that are not correct on the cert as a recommendation to the customer!
will this cover me and will the NICEIC inspector be ok with that?

thanks

EasyFox

Yes where it says details of existing installation, just make a note along the lines of "unable to complete testing at XXXsockets due to *****"
& as a comment in deviation section make a note of wrong cpc sleeving used.

jutty

thanks for clearing that up thats great

ONIT

Easyfox,

WHAT IF CUSTOMER DOSENT WANT A PIR BEFORE CHANGE OF CU DO YOU JUST WALK AWAY OR DO YOU TAKE THE CHANCE

EasyFox

When I say PIR I dont mean a full on job.
It normally goes as follows.

Call from customer asking for a cu change, I give them a time/date to visit to price job up.
Turn up with Fluke & screw drivers in hand run through a few wants that they want (give my ideas to make my life easier during install), tell them that I'll just need to turn cu off to do a few tests free of charge (add the cost to the cu change quote), do quick cont test/IR across whole board/Ze/pfc/pscc. quick check of equip bonds (dont bother with supplimentary bonding now) & thats it.