OP
Toneyz
post 47 states consumer unit changed 28th April so that's over a week !.Sparky is coming Monday, Monday IS next week
Discuss New Consumer Unit Installation - L&N Reverse at the sockets in the The Welcome Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net
post 47 states consumer unit changed 28th April so that's over a week !.Sparky is coming Monday, Monday IS next week
Thought you meant a week b4 the sparks is coming smart arsepost 47 states consumer unit changed 28th April so that's over a week !.
Hi Vol, The electricity company, Scottish Power, have obviously noticed that the tap service supply to your flat needs upgrading, as do most tenement flats in Glasgow. This should not be at any cost to yourself.Some information to add, On May 16th the electricity company (the main electricity infrastructure company not the name on the electricity bills) comes to upgrade the supply side meter at the close mouth (for those that don't know, close is the entrance way to a Glasgow tenement). That will be upgraded in order for me to have SMART gas and electricity meters installed. This, with the CU replacement, is part of the general upgrade of systems in the house.
The supply side upgrades will include a new isolation unit as the existing fuse box with the big ceramic cartridge fuses is well out of date. I obviously don't actually know what they will be changing/installing as they don't share that information with me, of course!
The RCD does not "trump" reversed polarity the danger of reversed polarity trumps the RCD. If we leave aside the RCD for a moment, the danger lies between L-N. This means the installation can still be live even when the breaker operates (or is switched off) in the consumer unit for any particular circuit. The ramifications of that are quite exhaustively numerous.
While I think that the subject has been "beaten to death" I would like to address your suggestion vis a vis the trolls, it is only natural we will confer among ourselves in order to orientate ourselves to the facts presented against the facts not presented which are garnered by inference (we all sometimes have to fill in the blanks). I think any electrician knows there is no way you can leave a client with the situation you have described, I know I could not leave until I had rectified or issued a danger notice and isolated the supply and possibly called the DNO or maybe REC as @MrLights has suggested, (and if you look at his qualifications, I am sure you will attach significance to his statements)
An electrician would (must!) be aware this would break the law and leave the client in a hazardous situation. Personally I find a deep lack of congruency in the assertion that an electrician left you in such a potentially dangerous situation. It leads me to feel that there is something missing. I am not suggesting you are obscuring vital facts, I can accept you may have missed or not be able to know the true situation. The idea that RCD can obviate a reversed polarity is dangerously misleading. Again I can not imagine an electrician could have made such an assertion. Hence the sense of incongruency. Sorry to go on but there it is.
I offered something germane to the conversation. At no point have I stated or inferred you have lied. But if the cap fits then indeed wear it. In fact I took pains in stating I accepted this may be something beyond your ken. But no matter I have had worse insults on this forum and elsewhere. There is no evidence as there is no accusation. I will stand by my assertion that something is missing. You have been told the cause may be on the DNO side as opposed to the electricians. I would not venture opinion on such a set of vague facts without personally inspecting the installation myself (which I guess will not happen til hell freezes over!) However the fact you are left in this situation is a breach of the law. That is incontravertible. I suggest you take heed of the cautions you have been offered.If you have a real suspicion of something germane, then speak up and give your evidence.
Sorry missed it, what allegation??? Can't see any such thing on here, on the contrary. Or were you listening the OP's worst fears?allegation
He got paid and did one a bit quickThe one thing that doesn't add up to me - assuming the CU change was carried out by a qualified sparks with the proper test equipment- is the fact that a reverse polarity situation that sounds like it affects a majority (if not all) circuits would've taken seconds to diagnose and highly likely a couple of minutes or less to find the cause. Surely his 'pressing arrangement' can have waited another 90 seconds.
Thought all the guys had given the op the benefit of doubt, that's why they carried on replying.
Sorry missed it, what allegation??? Can't see any such thing on here, on the contrary. Or were you listening the OP's worst fears?
@Vol
You can get basic checks on an electrician using the Registered Competent Scheme - Electrical here:-
Home - http://www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk/
This will tell you if the person you are about to employ is a member of one of the competent persons schemes. As you've pointed it, whether these schemes adequately serve their purpose is open to debate, but it is a good start as they do require you to prove you have certain qualifications, certain insurances etc. in place. I have photographic ID provided by my scheme and if you were my customer I would happily provide you with the details you need to go off and confirm what I'm telling you.
However, in the case of electricians, you don't need to be a member of these schemes to meet your legal obligations under the building regulations and this is where it starts to get a bit tricky. I can't say for Scotland, but in England and Wales if I want to change a consumer unit I either be part of a scheme and notify the work myself via my scheme or I pay LABC and submit an application to carry out the work and they will inspect it.
So the reality is, you could notify building control, pay their fees, change the consumer unit yourself and they'll arrange for it to be inspected/tested to ensure compliance with BS7671 and the building regulations (how good a job they do is probably another subject which is open for debate). The unfortunate thing is there is nothing stopping an unscrupulous cowboy not telling you what his obligations are, and all too often this works because home owners are, in my experience, woefully uneducated when it comes to the requirements of building regulation and electrical certification.
QUOTE]
The 'regulations' are quite different in some aspects to England and Wales, have a look at # 63 & 76
Can you give us a quick precis of the information your electrician entered on the EIC?PleaseI promised an update to the saga. The electrician came this morning and within 10 minutes had established that the meter tails were installed incorrectly (ie reversed). He kicked himself for not having checked for polarity reversal prior to the CU installation and he maintains that he reinserted the tails as they were oriented in the previous fuse box. But he refused to insist that was the case accepting that he may have inadvertently made the mistake and was much humbled and chastened that either he caused it and/or he left it that way (whoever caused it originally). As soon as the tails were swapped my wee socket tester responded well with three lights flashing! The electrician used a number of different testing devices.
For the next few hours there was a lot of testing and form filling.
The form was completed on his tablet and he emailed it to me before he left: It is a Domestic Electrical Installation Certificate (Requirements for Electrical Installations - BS7671 Wiring Regulations). A 6 page document with lots of details which I will peruse thoroughly when I have more time.
The electrician apologised profusely for his errors of testing and not paying sufficient significance to the L&N reversal.
I got to look in the open CU while the electrician was here this morning and I took a photo of his work. A snap of the meter tails and some surface wiring is shown too.
As far as I am concerned the problem has been resolved for now though I am still planning to have a complete EICR done in the near future.
Reply to New Consumer Unit Installation - L&N Reverse at the sockets in the The Welcome Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net
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