PIR in a factory

[gmwinstallation]

hi all, am new to this forum.

i am recently qualified and have worked as maintenace electrician in factories. i've recently been asked to PIR a factory, which is a fair size building. trouble is i know its going to be one of them jobs that you go round in circles, i've seen the silly things these maintenance guys do in factories. what would be the best thing to do... just say thanks but no thanks and walk? or go for it meaning tracing never ending cables and being messed about by not being able to shut boards fown etc. thanks guys

 

[ezzzekiel]

depends on the value of the job and any future works it may bring wether its worth the hassle to you

 

[pevvers]

Depends on how much they're going to pay you, and how far you can get them to agree limitations on the I&T.

If you can't shut boards off, then insulation resistance would be a problem, and would probably mean you're falling foul of the Electricity at Work Regs regarding working live. Also, tracing circuits used to be on a 15 minute basis with my company, i.e. if you can't find it in that time it is noted as not found. You'd be surprised how many circuits you find as you work your way through the building though...

Good luck if you take it!

 

[johnboy6083]

if you are recently qualified, then i think PIRs are out of your league mate. No disrespect, but i believe to do it properly takes years of experience.
Im speaking for myself on this also. Im quite happy testing installs as i understand the 16th and 17th edition. However a PIR on a factrory is a completely different prospect.

Its uptio you mate, and id be inetersted to hear what others say also.

PS, i cant comment on your abilties, and im being very generalist, im just talking aout experience.

 

[gmwinstallation]

i know someone who works in the factory as an operator of some fancy binding machine, apprently the engineer in the factory has shown about 5 people round to do the pir but haven't got the job, so either they are charging too much or the job is going to be one of them 'why did i'. i have done pir in smaller industrial units and mechanics garages but a factory employing 300 people with warehouses and offices blocks etc is obviously a whole different story. am coming to the conclusion that give it a miss a install the socket for the extremely "happy" (yeah right) down the round as his wife cant iron and watch jeremy kyle at the same time

 

[Guest123]

hi all, am new to this forum.

Are you sure???

 

[ian]

I have done many a PIR in factories, some with just a couple of dozen circuits the latest was in excess of 9000 (where I was a subby) and had to be phased over 3 years by 6 sparks during shut down periods.

The first thing you need to establish is the limitations, for example if there are hundreds of fluorescent lights, it would not really be viable to disconnect each lights to obtain a IR test, so most companies will accept a limitation, also if a machines with loads of capacitors, resistors and other forms of venerable equipment its not really viable to disconnect those, so again a limitation would probably be expected, or what we use to do is simple full test to the open switch.

If you are required to test panel wiring you would probably be better involving someone with a thermal imaging camera.

The main thing you have got to remember is that you need to be organised and try to test one panel, or area at a time and start with the easy circuits, sockets and lights are always the place where I would start. Don’t spend to long hunting for circuits that you can’t find, the likely hood is that you will come across them when you are testing others. Also ask to see previous reports, they can be invaluable.

Factory PIRs are really not a problem to a competent tested who has a good knowledge of the regs and testing techniques, however you need to work out what the limitations are, how long you would be expected to hunt for lost circuits, if any of the work can be done during working hours or are they to be tested during outside working hours and how they want the report to be presented. The first time 1 did a factory PIR for myself there was only around 120 circuits, but it took me hours to input the results into my P.C.

ian