Do I need to rewire?

[sydbardo]

Hi
What would be your thoughts on this one?
I bought this property last year, it was rented since 2005.
EICR from 2016 states "wiring in fairly good condition".
EICR from 2021 states "wiring in average condition".
I am planning on full refurb of the property but won't be adding more electrical outlets to the existing ones. I will be removing power shower and getting thermostatic one and also getting rid of glasswasher. I will be adding spot lights only and non electric underfloor heating.
I don't get any of the aged electrics signs at all and would rather spend money elsewhere and yet want to have a safe property.
Is it necessary to fully rewire or would part rewire of the kitchen suffice?
Thank you very much for your time and opinion shared here.

 

[oscar21]

Both reports say satisfactory though, that's good isn't it. I gather the consumer unit was upgraded since the 2016 EICR as that one stated 3871 breakers and the 21 reports says 60898's.
Saying that though, one socket circuit and one lighting circuit is a pretty basic spec and probably quite old, is it a small house. I will also bet that if you pull the floorboard up or in the loft there will be badly terminated junction boxes or even connectors everywhere.

 

[sydbardo]

Both reports say satisfactory though, that's good isn't it. I gather the consumer unit was upgraded since the 2016 EICR as that one stated 3871 breakers and the 21 reports says 60898's.
Saying that though, one socket circuit and one lighting circuit is a pretty basic spec and probably quite old, is it a small house. I will also bet that if you pull the floorboard up or in the loft there will be badly terminated junction boxes or even connectors everywhere.

Hi
2 bed 90m2
Floorboards will be refurbished too, so is it worth rewiring room by room and upgrading that single circuit when doing kitchen?

 

[oscar21]

If you are redoing the kitchen then certainly put in a dedicated circuit for the kitchen sockets, maybe put a new lighting feed in for that as well. we always do this when we wire new kitchen/dining extensions, keeps it totally separate form the rest of the household electrics.

 

[Dustydazzler]

If you are gutting the house, taking up large portions of the floors then if it were my job I would take this opportunity to do a basic re-wire. get some mains smokes wired in and some nice modern lighting and USB sockets etc.
A small house won't cost the earth to Re-wire and it will future proof it for years to come

 

[MJPD29]

IR testing is highly likely to have been carried out correctly if at all as all results would not be expected to be that high if the cabling isn’t new or nearly new so it would be wise for I have a proper EICR carried out before proceeding.

 

[Taylortwocities]

IR testing is highly likely to have been carried out correctly if at all as all results would not be expected to be that high if the cabling isn’t new or nearly new so it would be wise for I have a proper EICR carried out before proceeding.

Dont you mean that

IR testing is highly unlikely to have been carried out correctly....

 

[MJPD29]

Dont you mean that

Yes indeed I do

 

[sydbardo]

IR testing is highly likely to have been carried out correctly if at all as all results would not be expected to be that high if the cabling isn’t new or nearly new so it would be wise for I have a proper EICR carried out before proceeding.

Hi
It is good point however do you mean that both (2016 and 2021) EICRs look too good?
Please see this picture of exposed wires. How old do they look?
Thanks

 

[Taylortwocities]

Hi
It is good point however do you mean that both (2016 and 2021) EICRs look too good?
Please see this picture of exposed wires. How old do they look?
Thanks

The key indicator is the Insulation Resistance figure. The minimum allowed is 2Megohm. Older installations degrade over time from their initial installation results.
The report shows an IR figure of greater than 500Megohm on all circuits. That is a figure that is hard to get even on a newly installed installation. Therefore i wouldn't trust that any IR tests have actually been carried out and calls into question the validity of the report.

Re age of the wiring. The use of red/black as wiring colours ran until March 2006 when they changed to blue and brown.
Up until 1970ish the cables often had stranded conductors. If yours are solid conductors it in dicates the red&black wiring could be anything from 50 to 20 years old. the brown&blue flex is a later addition (I guess for a wall light?) .

So...do you need a rewire? If the cabling is in good condition and the IR tests are ok then the cabling is probably OK for a good time yet. But I dont believe the IR tests. So the answer is "maybe"

 

[westward10]

No where in BS7671 does it suggest a minimum value of insulation resistance for circuits when carrying out an EICR. The values given in Table 64 are for the purpose of initial verification.

 

[Taylortwocities]

No where in BS7671 does it suggest a minimum value of insulation resistance for circuits when carrying out an EICR. The values given in Table 64 are for the purpose of initial verification.

Well, yes. But I was trying to make a simple comparison for the OP to illustrate that the test results can’t be believed.

 

[MJPD29]

Hi
It is good point however do you mean that both (2016 and 2021) EICRs look too good?
Please see this picture of exposed wires. How old do they look?
Thanks

Yeah I would think so. Could be wrong but seems too good to be true in my experience. They look extremely rough and potentially have the cpc cut off. Definitely need a proper eicr done, wouldn’t rule out rewiring or not at this stage.

 

[sydbardo]

The key indicator is the Insulation Resistance figure. The minimum allowed is 2Megohm. Older installations degrade over time from their initial installation results.
The report shows an IR figure of greater than 500Megohm on all circuits. That is a figure that is hard to get even on a newly installed installation. Therefore i wouldn't trust that any IR tests have actually been carried out and calls into question the validity of the report.

Re age of the wiring. The use of red/black as wiring colours ran until March 2006 when they changed to blue and brown.
Up until 1970ish the cables often had stranded conductors. If yours are solid conductors it in dicates the red&black wiring could be anything from 50 to 20 years old. the brown&blue flex is a later addition (I guess for a wall light?) .

So...do you need a rewire? If the cabling is in good condition and the IR tests are ok then the cabling is probably OK for a good time yet. But I dont believe the IR tests. So the answer is "maybe"

Thank you

Yeah I would think so. Could be wrong but seems too good to be true in my experience. They look extremely rough and potentially have the cpc cut off. Definitely need a proper eicr done, wouldn’t rule out rewiring or not at this stage.

Thanks
I gather an E

Yeah I would think so. Could be wrong but seems too good to be true in my experience. They look extremely rough and potentially have the cpc cut off. Definitely need a proper eicr done, wouldn’t rule out rewiring or not at this stage.

Thanks
I gather a proper and full EICR test would be beneficial.
It feels though, that anybody who carries out these test, wants to have a further follow up works of rewiring, so their results would in most cases indicate that.

 

[Taylortwocities]

It feels though, that anybody who carries out these test, wants to have a further follow up works of rewiring, so their results would in most cases indicate that.

A way round that temptation to “create” work is to make it clear to the testing electrician that, he/she would not be doing any remedial works.