- Reaction score
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Hi,
I've got my first Part P assessment coming up soon and I'm planning on doing a consumer unit change and first fix of an extension on my own house and a consumer unit change and some additional sockets on a friends house. I couldn't decide whether to cut seals or get isolator switches fitted (I've read a lot of forum posts on the subject) and in the end I decided to get isolator switches fitted, mainly because my meter tails are too short (they currently just go to henley blocks to feed two consumer units) and my friend’s tails are undersize, so I would potentially have to cut seals on both the cut-out and meter.
Getting British Gas to fit an isolator on my place seems painless, I phoned them yesterday and they are coming next Mon, but my friend's supplier can't do it for three weeks, which is a bit too close to my assessment (if they don't turn up then I'm stuffed). So now I've got a bit of a dilemma, do I ask them to fit an isolator switch and wait 3 weeks (and hope they turn up on time), or do I just go ahead and do the job anyway which may be a bit dodgy because, as I understand it, you're not allowed to touch their equipment and they've made a note now that an enquiry has been made about fitting an isolator switch (I haven't checked to see if the seals are in place yet though and as it’s a old meter I guess that they may well be missing).
My third option is to not rely on changing his consumer unit before the assessment, but then I can't add the additional sockets because he's got an old fuse box with rewirable fuses, so no RCD protection, ahhhhh! This would leave me with no second job and no minor works certificate. Or maybe I should just try to delay the assessment (which I really don't want to do).
I feel that I am at the mercy of the electricity supplier. Any suggestions/advise welcome!
Thanks
I've got my first Part P assessment coming up soon and I'm planning on doing a consumer unit change and first fix of an extension on my own house and a consumer unit change and some additional sockets on a friends house. I couldn't decide whether to cut seals or get isolator switches fitted (I've read a lot of forum posts on the subject) and in the end I decided to get isolator switches fitted, mainly because my meter tails are too short (they currently just go to henley blocks to feed two consumer units) and my friend’s tails are undersize, so I would potentially have to cut seals on both the cut-out and meter.
Getting British Gas to fit an isolator on my place seems painless, I phoned them yesterday and they are coming next Mon, but my friend's supplier can't do it for three weeks, which is a bit too close to my assessment (if they don't turn up then I'm stuffed). So now I've got a bit of a dilemma, do I ask them to fit an isolator switch and wait 3 weeks (and hope they turn up on time), or do I just go ahead and do the job anyway which may be a bit dodgy because, as I understand it, you're not allowed to touch their equipment and they've made a note now that an enquiry has been made about fitting an isolator switch (I haven't checked to see if the seals are in place yet though and as it’s a old meter I guess that they may well be missing).
My third option is to not rely on changing his consumer unit before the assessment, but then I can't add the additional sockets because he's got an old fuse box with rewirable fuses, so no RCD protection, ahhhhh! This would leave me with no second job and no minor works certificate. Or maybe I should just try to delay the assessment (which I really don't want to do).
I feel that I am at the mercy of the electricity supplier. Any suggestions/advise welcome!
Thanks