Consumer Unit Change

[Pat H]

Good tip about taking photos. It also uses up some of his time while he looks at them.
The more you fill his time on your terms the less he can grill you.

 

[Midwest]

Congrats' Nickj, are you having that beer now? Re the photos, its a useful thing to do. The Elecsa on-line certs (probably the other schemes do) allow you to upload pics, notes etc, to store with the certificate. You can add the pics to the cert, if you so wish, or just keep them there for whatever reason. Just useful to cover yourself sometimes. I always take a pic for example of the inside of a CU when I do a change, just in case someone else comes along after me

 

[TheCodboy]

Hi Guys,

Attached are my forms. Would appreciate it if you could check to see if I've ticked the correct boxes and my results look ok.

One other cause for concern is item 7.7 on the schedule of inspections.

The earthing conductor present before the board change was 6mm and so it needed to be upgraded to at least 10mm (tails are 16mm). I upgraded to 16mm.

I did not realise at the time that the tails and earthing conductor were 3 core.

It was not possible for me to bring the new earthing conductor along the same path as the 3 core cable without a lot of chasing.

I opted to bring the new earthing conductor into the house by a different route aided with trunking and fire clips where needed.

All circuits and tails were chased when installed (some 40 years ago) and entered the old fuse board through the back. I have brought all those cables through the back of the new consumer unit however I could not (without chasing and running the risk of damaging the already installed cabling) bring the new earthing conductor in through the rear.

I have read varying opinions on this with some saying it is ok for the earthing conductor to enter through a separate hole of the consumer unit (with some saying niceic advise that it doesnt apply to meter tails and earthign conductor so long as meter tails L & N enter same hole) and some saying it's not ok and should be noted as a deviation from the regs.

What would you guys do for assessment purposes? Would you enter it as a deviation? Would an assessor accept a deviation like this?

Sincere thanks to you all for the help so far

View attachment 34226

View attachment 34227

View attachment 34228

View attachment 34229

View attachment 34230

View attachment 34231

I realise this thread is a few months old,but im going in for my Stroma assessment soon and was wondering a few things. If its just a CU,tails and earthing change,on the form "comments about existing installation" should some reference be made about your prior checks and testing to the exsisiting circuits before you started the CU change?

 

[Nickj]

Hi thecodboy,

Firstly good luck with your assessment! Stressful times.

There is no requirement to test the circuits before you change the board. I absolutely always do but only to find problems before the board change and be properly prepared.

You will be testing all circuits before connecting them to new board and as long as the results are satisfactory then you have all the information needed for the eic.

If you did a pre board change eicr I see no reason not to show and discuss wth assessor however the information will be duplicated in the eic.

Nick

 

[Wilko]

Comment about existing might be - estimated age and general condition of the installation, last inspection (hah), location of any drawings (hah) any faults and fixes.

 

[TheCodboy]

Hi thecodboy,

Firstly good luck with your assessment! Stressful times.

There is no requirement to test the circuits before you change the board. I absolutely always do but only to find problems before the board change and be properly prepared.

You will be testing all circuits before connecting them to new board and as long as the results are satisfactory then you have all the information needed for the eic.

If you did a pre board change eicr I see no reason not to show and discuss wth assessor however the information will be duplicated in the eic.

Nick

I've been hearing some tales from forum posts here and on others, That Stroma say you must complete an EICR before changing a board. Now I have the relevant Initial Verification qual but no Eicr quals. Im not looking to carry out Periodics at the moment as most of the work i will be doing is mostly Minor works or CU changes, altering rings etc. The way i've always looked at it was, that as long as you test the circuits before you change the CU and energise then thats fine. If the results all comply of course!!

 

[Midwest]

There is a thread on this EICR before EIC debacle, allegedly implied by Stroma, can't be arsed to find it!

No it's not required, otherwise the customer will be paying another £200 (or whatever), before paying for their CU change.

 

[TheCodboy]

There is a thread on this EICR before EIC debacle, allegedly implied by Stroma, can't be arsed to find it!

No it's not required, otherwise the customer will be paying another £200 (or whatever), before paying for their CU change.

So just to be clear, as i thought, Initial verification is more than adequate with relevant test sheets. I've seen quite a few different discussions about this and some people say yes it does and just as many say no!!!

 

[Des 56]

So just to be clear, as i thought, Initial verification is more than adequate with relevant test sheets. I've seen quite a few different discussions about this and some people say yes it does and just as many say no!!!

No it's not required, otherwise the customer will be paying another £200 (or whatever), before paying for their CU change.

There,I made the correct answer a little larger in case the message got lost in transit

 

[Octopus]

No it's not required, otherwise the customer will be paying another £200 (or whatever), before paying for their CU change.

There,I made the correct answer a little larger in case the message got lost in transit

I HAVE to disagree ... there are premises where I insist on doing an EICR before I contemplate doing any work, let alone a CU change!

 

[TheCodboy]

No it's not required, otherwise the customer will be paying another £200 (or whatever), before paying for their CU change.

There,I made the correct answer a little larger in case the message got lost in transit

Im going to get this reply tattoo'd on my arm to show the Stroma guy

 

[Octopus]

Im going to get this reply tattoo'd on my arm to show the Stroma guy

Best you read post # 170 before you book to get your tatoo.

 

[TheCodboy]

I HAVE to disagree ... there are premises where I insist on doing an EICR before I contemplate doing any work, let alone a CU change!

A full EICR?? Surely

Best you read post # 170 before you book to get your tatoo.

To late, got the stencil done now....

 

[Des 56]

I HAVE to disagree ... there are premises where I insist on doing an EICR before I contemplate doing any work, let alone a CU change!

What your personal procedure for doing any work is entirely your choice
"Required" is a word that demands an action and in the case of installing a consumer unit it does not apply

 

[Midwest]

A monstrous mansion aka Trump Towers (bit of an execration), Mrs Miggins 3 bed semi, no way hosay

 

[Octopus]

What your personal procedure for doing any work is entirely your choice
"Required" is a word that demands an action and in the case of installing a consumer unit it does not apply

Agree - "required" its not but in certain situations definitely a good idea.

Its down to judgement - I started a full EICR once and after 2 circuits I stopped and told the client he needed a rewire...

 

[Des 56]

Agree - "required" its not but in certain situations definitely a good idea.

Its down to judgement - I started a full EICR once and after 2 circuits I stopped and told the client he needed a rewire...

I 100% agree with you, I have been known to do a DesEicr on many occasions

 

[TheCodboy]

So am I getting this tattoo or not......

 

[Nickj]

The tattoo sounds like a great idea.

It's not required, all that is required is that you change the consumer unit in accordance with bs7671 and that any and all circuits you connect to the new consumer unit test satisfactorily.

In the real world you'd be foolish to change a board without doing an eicr (or at least some testing) as the customer will never agree to a load of extra work half way through a change and you'll be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Do the eicr to satisfy yourself that the change will be a smooth one but it is not required as par the course.

 

[TheCodboy]

The tattoo sounds like a great idea.

It's not required, all that is required is that you change the consumer unit in accordance with bs7671 and that any and all circuits you connect to the new consumer unit test satisfactorily.

In the real world you'd be foolish to change a board without doing an eicr (or at least some testing) as the customer will never agree to a load of extra work half way through a change and you'll be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Do the eicr to satisfy yourself that the change will be a smooth one but it is not required as par the course.

Test before hand yes, Ze,DB Zs, Circuit Zs's, IR,visual check etc, but not taking switches off and checking for marked switches etc. Obviously if anything looks dodgy it needs to be addressed, smashed sockets that sort of thing.