Had my first NICEIC exam last month. Inspector turned up and I invited him in for a cup of coffee, which he only drank about 1/3 out of. He did the paper checks and asked to see my level 3 course qualifications. I pointed out to the C&G Inspection and testing pass papers. He said he wanted to see the actual papers from doing the course at the college. Well, I never did a college course for level 3, just one for level 2. After that, I just booked the exam with a C&G registered test site and did the one week prep course and passed the exam. He scratched his head for a bit, then decided the test results were good enough. He managed to get me thinking there too, for a bit.
Unfortunately, the practical didn't turn out to be as easy: we went to a house rewire I had finished working on about 4 weeks before. Empty house, on the market, to be sold, taking visits every day. We got there and he asked me to test any circuit I liked. I went to the first-floor lighting circuit, only to find a loss of CPC continuity. He said 'OK, just test a ring for me'. There I go, ground floor ring, easy one, no appliances on it. I get a 0 Ohm IR between N and E. He paused, looked a bit funny at me and asked if I had tested these before. I said I had, 4 weeks previously. He asked to see tests on another circuit. The kitchen was closest and I knew it had been fine. I get close to 0 Ohm IR between L and E. I energize the circuits to do a functional test and no wonder I get the RCD's popping on those exact circuits with the problems. Another circuit (ground floor lights)was then found to be intermittently tripping the RCD after about 15 to 20 minutes. I don't exaggerate when I say I felt like being in the Twilight zone all of a sudden. Bless him, he really did try to pass me and help me out, but everywhere I turned, there were problems. So he said exactly that: 'I am sorry, but there are too many problems that will have to be rectified before the installation is given a satisfactory'. I actually congratulated him for saying that, I wouldn't have passed myself if I was him. And I would have really doubted his integrity if he did. There is a reason for regulations being there and people's safety rests with us doing a good job. So I took it like a man, I had to do book a re-visit.
But now the interesting question was: what could have happened between the time I was there and now? The property had been empty for the last week or so, but the week before that, the carpenter was doing second fix in the kitchen and the ground floor area. So here I go, having to fault find a new install that had been fine, designed and installed and tested by myself only a few weeks before. Findings:
1. A screw had been put through a conductor in the upstairs lighting circuit
2. A second fix nail had been put through a ring cable right beneath a socket, on the ground floor(N to E fault )
3. A spur off the kitchen ring feeding a garden socket L to E fault. The same carpenter had worked in there, installing the kitchen.
4. Intermittent RCD tripping down to a poorly wired spot in the downstairs halway, wherethe carpenter was asked to install an extra spot, off the nearest one I had installed(without consulting me). 2 CPC wires were just hanging out, not connected.
Did I mention that the same carpenter guy had the nerve to wire a 7.5 KW induction oven to the 6 mm cable I had as supply, via a 5 core multifilament cable, the white round type that heating engineers use for thermostat controls? I believe the cross-sectional area on those is 0.5 mm. When I came to work one day, he goes to me 'Oh, this oven was delivered and came without a cable, I was just wiring it up so I can fit it'. He had cut 3 out of the 5 wires already, connecting only the brown and blue as he was speaking to me. No comment.
So yeah, took me a few good extra days to get it all back to where it had been, after having to cut access hatches into ceiling and dig out wires from under skirting boards and canceling out the spur to the garden(owner decided it's not worth dismantling the kitchen units in the sink area, new granite worktop, the works).
The good part is that the builder who employed the handy carpenter decided to make good and pay for my £378 revisit. The inspector came back and I did the tests, asked me a few questions regarding max Zs and RCD tripping times and all went well. Now I am having to fight to get the rest of the money I am owed, for the remedial work, as I am withholding the certificate until payment is made.
