fuse board change - call out

[ian]

Hi Guys.

My mate was called out on Wednesday night, an elderly ladies CU had blown up. When my mate arrived he found water had got in and flash bang wollop went the main switch.

There was no main bonding, no cpc to lights and problems with the sockets, anyway he said there was nothing he could do unless these faults ware rectified, offered her a quote left her to think about it without any electricity.

We had an argument today, because I said he could have replaced the fuse board because it was an emergency, he said he couldn’t.

Whose right.


Ian

 

[oldtimer]

Well first of all I would have made the installation safe and yes fitted a replacement twin RCD board just to get the old biddy up and running ok there was no earthing to gas and water but then again how many times have you checked a job out and founfd the same so my rule of thumb would have been to check the initial ciircuits and say 2 2.5mm cables on a 30 amp fuse supplying sockets and there is no continuity so move the cables to a 16 amp breaker until you resolve the problem.

In this situation me thinks you are making the instalation a lot safer by fitting CBs and RCDs yes maybe there is discrepencies but these can be picked up later and these should be pointed out to the customer and if you put it in writting and get the customer to sign it to confirm they understand the implications.

You could look at it as a PIR report where you grade the installation Unsatisfactory but you dont do a BG and put a proabition sticker on it isolate the electricity and walk out the door.

Tell your mate that old biddy could have been his granny but then again .................................

 

[nickblake]

Elderly lady without power sorry i would have replaced her CDU ,but would have advised her that the bonding was needed ,and installed it at the same time she would have been charged for the board replacement any way so how much extra would it have cost ,not alot, also with a fault or situation like that she could have claimed off her insurance

 

[Guest123]

I think we all know we would have replaced the CU on this occasion, if not our gran she's someone elses.

 

[ezzzekiel]

quick runs of temp bonding and basic lighting and power (rcd) to get her away then renew

 

[philip962]

Defo would have put a board in for her you can't leave an old lady with out power the way I would look at it is you do a good job and she will call you back and the word of mouth will spread

 

[alarm man]

what if it had been winter,an old gran without power heat etc,could lead to something worse,then opens up a load of other problems,could have set up a temp install at least..you can imagine the headline,'SPARKY KILLS LOVING GRANDMA'

 

[Phil]

yep that one would have made the front page allright.