- Reaction score
- 2
Hi sparkys. Just wanted some feedback on a interview I attended recently for a sparks in the maintenance social housing sector.
After meeting the qualifying supervisor he left me to complete an elcr and schedule of inspections and tests etc as a test to see my competence in completing paperwork which is fair enough. He also left me table from regs of max permissable values for type b 60898 mcb photocopied straight from regs book. I asked him if he wanted me to tabulate them I.e. divide value by 1.2 and he said no he only uses 100 percent values in his reports.
I filled out paperwork in reasonable time and when qs returned he went through report.
All was fine until we got to schedule of results. He noted that the 7 circuits that i had selected and spread over dual rcd 17 th edition db was not to his liking as I had put ltg on one rcd and power on the other rcd. Saying that if there was a fault you would lose all power or all ltg which would be a nuisance so it would be better if each rcd protected some power and ltg. Now I am not unreasonable I can see his point but this is not a reg a good idea maybe. So as a good sparky a tried to qualify my answer in unoffensive manner. (we do work in an industry where expressing your knowledge can be daunting for all parties so great care was taken to put my point over.)
I said that this is not always acheiveable . Especially in social housing properties which is where this contract is and when the circuits involved may have down ring , kitchen ring and down lts.
if you have for example a downstairs lts cct and kitchen power cct and downstairs power cct the only way you can split ccts so no light and power in the same room are protected by the same rcd on a dual rcd board is to but the two power circuits together on rcd1 . And lights on rcd2.
This is a reg.
Now I could put everything on rcbo put that would be an unnecessary expense especially for a company that operates in social housing sector where winning the contract is all about pricing for the minimum amount of material/labour costs.
Now I wasn't trying to come over as a know it all but I feel on this occasion I was correct and as i was in an interview i felt quite awkward about the whole thing especially as I recently sat 2382 and 2391which is also a requirement for vacancy as is for nearly all jobs nowadays.
The thing is what are you supposed to do when you are asked for your professional opinion , the whole point of all these course tickets is to retain some of the info so you don't have to get outo the regs bs7671 and guidance note 3 to prove your self right.
After further info was discussed i came realize that it didn't suit me as 6 hour days were all that was offered as that is all they will pay per job is the hours it takes to change db fit smoke detection and other minor upgrades. All this and a qualifying supervisor who you cant talk to are absolutely no good to me.
Also the non use of tabulated max permissable zs values. Says it all.
Just for record wasn't offered job so
I think this was the probably the best outcome for all.
What do people think and what would you say do different/better.
Thanx for your time .
After meeting the qualifying supervisor he left me to complete an elcr and schedule of inspections and tests etc as a test to see my competence in completing paperwork which is fair enough. He also left me table from regs of max permissable values for type b 60898 mcb photocopied straight from regs book. I asked him if he wanted me to tabulate them I.e. divide value by 1.2 and he said no he only uses 100 percent values in his reports.
I filled out paperwork in reasonable time and when qs returned he went through report.
All was fine until we got to schedule of results. He noted that the 7 circuits that i had selected and spread over dual rcd 17 th edition db was not to his liking as I had put ltg on one rcd and power on the other rcd. Saying that if there was a fault you would lose all power or all ltg which would be a nuisance so it would be better if each rcd protected some power and ltg. Now I am not unreasonable I can see his point but this is not a reg a good idea maybe. So as a good sparky a tried to qualify my answer in unoffensive manner. (we do work in an industry where expressing your knowledge can be daunting for all parties so great care was taken to put my point over.)
I said that this is not always acheiveable . Especially in social housing properties which is where this contract is and when the circuits involved may have down ring , kitchen ring and down lts.
if you have for example a downstairs lts cct and kitchen power cct and downstairs power cct the only way you can split ccts so no light and power in the same room are protected by the same rcd on a dual rcd board is to but the two power circuits together on rcd1 . And lights on rcd2.
This is a reg.
Now I could put everything on rcbo put that would be an unnecessary expense especially for a company that operates in social housing sector where winning the contract is all about pricing for the minimum amount of material/labour costs.
Now I wasn't trying to come over as a know it all but I feel on this occasion I was correct and as i was in an interview i felt quite awkward about the whole thing especially as I recently sat 2382 and 2391which is also a requirement for vacancy as is for nearly all jobs nowadays.
The thing is what are you supposed to do when you are asked for your professional opinion , the whole point of all these course tickets is to retain some of the info so you don't have to get outo the regs bs7671 and guidance note 3 to prove your self right.
After further info was discussed i came realize that it didn't suit me as 6 hour days were all that was offered as that is all they will pay per job is the hours it takes to change db fit smoke detection and other minor upgrades. All this and a qualifying supervisor who you cant talk to are absolutely no good to me.
Also the non use of tabulated max permissable zs values. Says it all.
Just for record wasn't offered job so
I think this was the probably the best outcome for all.
What do people think and what would you say do different/better.
Thanx for your time .