EICR turned into a nightmare

[kingeri]

I was doing an EICR yesterday and all was going well. I'd decided to inspect behind all the accessories cos the first couple I looked at were a right mess. I had found spurs off spurs and suspected there was a hidden JB behind kitchen unit, was easy enough to take unit down, so I did. Could I get the bugger back on, could I hell as like. Was a right pain. Then, three of the metal back boxes had knackered threads so I couldn't screw the sockets back. I know this can happen, but three on one job, come on please!!! Got to six o'clock and I was still there trying to sort them out. Customer standing there giving me some right filthy looks like I'm some kind of idiot. Ended up leaving power off on one circuit, got to go back today and finish off. Tsk. Hope I get the remedials out of it.

 

[Knobhead]

You'll probably get "it's working, leave it be".

 

[i=p/u]

lol like friends mom aswked myself to put 4 nice chrome sockets in her living room , no problem since i use to use her house like my own when younger...

all old plastic boxes and all threads were rounded so much impossible to re thread , abour 4 hours then took me..

future dont open it if dont have too

 

[oldtimer]

Or carry a 3.5mm tap and dwang

 

[i=p/u]

yeah didnt fit was rounded and probably just jammed in , plastic box was probably 50 years old

 

[rattlehead85]

This is where EICR can get you into all sorts of trouble. Really if you felt there was a J.B behind the unit and you suspected problems you should have just noted it as requiring further investigation and let the tenant decide if she wanted the cupboard removed. End of the day you spent time and got stress and will probably end up with no remedials from it. If you inspected sockets and found a mess it would be reasonable to assume they are all like it and therefore put a sum in to carry out more intrusive testing at a further cost to cover the problems you encountered.
The EICR is designed to give an indication of the condition of an installation it is not a fault finding exercise. Easy to say in hind site i know but you probably ended up making little to no money there for just a load of agro.

 

[oldtimer]

I carry 3.5mm tap to clean out threads in boxes 4mm and 5mm I use this to redo the 2BA and 3/16 threads on uv boxes as I find that there is either one or no screws in the box

 

[Sintra]

It also makes you look like a numpty when you can't put the things back together :lol:

 

[glasgospark]

not just change the boxes ?

 

[ste77]

i wouldnt have been removing anymore after the second box played up, things have a habit of coming in 3s.

 

[kingeri]

not just change the boxes ?

Change the boxes? In this case no, "Erm madam sorry but I'm going to have to mess up your lovely wallpaper". Boxes were well deep and partially plastered over, no matter how careful I was I would have made a mess. Plus....didn't want to go down that road at that stage.

 

[Guest55]

well if your daft enough to take the kitchen apart looking for a jb........
lesson learnt then ?
;-)

 

[ipf]

I was doing an EICR yesterday and all was going well. I'd decided to inspect behind all the accessories cos the first couple I looked at were a right mess. I had found spurs off spurs and suspected there was a hidden JB behind kitchen unit, was easy enough to take unit down, so I did. Could I get the bugger back on, could I hell as like. Was a right pain. Then, three of the metal back boxes had knackered threads so I couldn't screw the sockets back. I know this can happen, but three on one job, come on please!!! Got to six o'clock and I was still there trying to sort them out. Customer standing there giving me some right filthy looks like I'm some kind of idiot. Ended up leaving power off on one circuit, got to go back today and finish off. Tsk. Hope I get the remedials out of it.

You think that's bad...2 weeks back.

A friend's son and his girlfriend were intent on buying an old, large, terraced house. 'Can you check the electrics' came my way. Had a 10 min look and could see things weren't up to scratch, all sorts of probs expected. It seems the girlfriend was intent on the purchase so I agreed to do a test, with the aid of the lad to do some running about. Couple of hours basic and condemn, was the plan.
Didn't get there 'till 10, roads jammmed with the snow...good start. Owner still residing and only got 'till 12.30.
Don't want to go into to much detail..... too much detail.
Dead tests on house rfc. No cable length in cu so tested at a d socket. Contiuity not bad, IR zero (500v). Replaced socket and went into cellar to energise for live test. switched on plug-in cb......bang. Only disturbed socket so checked, same result. Must have disturbed something with 500v test......31 sockets on circuit, all over the place. There 'till 7.00, having isolated most of the upstairs sockets overnight. Problems everywhere.
Another job planned for the morning, so returned at lunch time. Managed to get away about 6.00 pm.
Needless to say, they aren't pursuing the bloody purchase, thank goodness.

 

[kingeri]

well if your daft enough to take the kitchen apart looking for a jb........
lesson learnt then ?
;-)

With all due respect, you weren't there and you don't know why I did it......

 

[glasgospark]

Change the boxes? In this case no, "Erm madam sorry but I'm going to have to mess up your lovely wallpaper". Boxes were well deep and partially plastered over, no matter how careful I was I would have made a mess. Plus....didn't want to go down that road at that stage.

Ah I see , thought they were behind kitchen unit no ?