Have I got a poor EICR?

[Confused]

Please help a confused home owner. I commissioned an EICR on my recent house purchase.

1st electrician said "You don't need an EICR. You need an RCBO. Anyone who tells you it needs rewiring is wrong".

2nd electrician did part of the EICR & summarised "This property has many factors which make it electrically unsafe. I have suggested a complete rewire." There are no details about the unsafe factors apart from the list of C1, C2 and C3 conditions.

The C1 conditions are :
4.8 Manual operation of circuit-breakers and RCD(s) to prove disconnection (643.10)
4.18 RCD(s) provided for fault protection - includes RCBOs (411.4.204; 411.5.2; 531.2)
4.19 RCD(s) provided for additional protection / requirements - includes RCBOs (411.3.3; 415.1)
5.12.5 for circuits supplying luminaires within domestic (household) premises (411.3.4)
6.4 Presence of supplementary bonding conductors, unless not required by BS 7671:2018 (701.415.2)

I expected better detail than this - perhaps to pass to several contractors to provide quotes. Is this the level of detail that can be expected in an EICR? Is the list meaningful to a professional? Have I been given a poor EICR?

I'd be most grateful for any comments.

 

[ackbarthestar]

I suspect that each one of these BS7671 regulations stated are absent in the installation. Both Electricians are right. The second one is more precise and leads to the possibilty that the installation is likely to be unsafe.

 

[davesparks]

I suspect that each one of these BS7671 regulations stated are absent in the installation. Both Electricians are right. The second one is more precise and leads to the possibilty that the installation is likely to be unsafe.

How is the second one right when they've given a C1 for light fittings without an RCD?

 

[ackbarthestar]

correct to current regulations.
Try and convince an insurance company that the regs are non retrospective.

 

[Andy78]

Without doing the inspection myself I can't really comment too far on what the condition of the installation might be.
I will say that none of the issues listed appear to constitute a C1 as stated. The observation descriptions will have been generated by the certification software as they seem very generic. The report should have been fully explained and discussed with you. None of the issues listed would indicate a rewire would be needed but other issues may exists that would support that view.

 

[MJPD29]

Whilst it could need a rewire as I have not seen it a c1 is very extreme and unwarranted unless there is a detail missing

 

[Confused]

Thank you for your responses.
Yes, the observations seem to be generic and computer generated. Rather than have the report explained to me I would have preferred it to make some sense - ideally to me, but at least to an electrician.
Surely the observations need to specify what the problem is. For example "Presence of supplementary bonding conductors" doesn't really say much.
Is this normal text for an EICR?

 

[MJPD29]

Was it stayed before hand that I was a visual inspection or anything like that? And out of interest what have you been charged it is often an indicator to what standard the work will be done to

 

[MJPD29]

I should say often, but not always

 

[JK-Electrical]

Thank you for your responses.
Yes, the observations seem to be generic and computer generated. Rather than have the report explained to me I would have preferred it to make some sense - ideally to me, but at least to an electrician.
Surely the observations need to specify what the problem is. For example "Presence of supplementary bonding conductors" doesn't really say much.
Is this normal text for an EICR?

Could you possibly upload a copy of the EICR with your own personal details and those of the contractor redacted please? This will help us better scrutinise the report and spot any irregularities and/or inconsistencies.

 

[Deleted account]

1st electrician cannot say you don’t need a rewire, unless a full test and inspect has been carried out.

2 nd electrician is also wrong in his C1’s. I would not categorise any of the things listed as C1. Without completing the EICR in full and giving you details how can you make an informed decision.

It may be the case you do need a full rewire and new board to recifify any issue. Or it may be a good recommendation to get this done or you may not need anything done.

It’s u;fortunate you’ve managed to get 2 electricians who have given poor service and advice.

 

[Risteard]

"Presence of supplementary bonding conductors" doesn't really say much.
Is this normal text for an EICR?

Not really. It should really state something like "supplementary bonding not connected between extraneous-conductive-parts and exposed-conductive-parts within a room containing a bath/shower" presuming that it was in fact required for this installation. To me it would be a C2 defect - I can't fathom how it could be argued to be a C1 defect.

 

[Confused]

Thanks to all.
Risteard - that was the sort of text I expected - written by the electrician rather than computer generated or the classification of the observation.

The original charge was going to be £150. The electrician said he'd reduce this to £90 as he had found sufficient defects to recommend a rewire (he didn't tell me what the defects were though). He said he'd send a quote for the rewire (still waiting). He said he wouldn't do a full report as he didn't want to waste my money when remedial work was definitely needed. I did agree to this.

I'm now wondering whether I wasted my money on the report. I don't understand "4.8 Manual operation of circuit-breakers and RCD(s) to prove disconnection (643.10)". If this isn't sufficient information to ask an electrician to quote to fix this, I have wasted my money.

 

[Risteard]

I don't understand why finding sufficient defects should reduce the price. The more defects the more writing.

The last one I did about a week ago had something like 38 defects which was heartbreaking to write up and certainly wouldn't cause me to suggest discounting it.

That said my charge was well north of your £150 anyway.

In my opinion you'd have been better with the Report - then you could have had others price remedial works if necessary. That said, if that was the standard of the Report I'm not sure how much having it would have helped.

I presume he's suggesting that either there isn't a linked main switch or that it isn't disconnecting all poles as intended, but really that's conjecture based on the observation listed.

 

[Strima]

Could you post a picture of your fuse box, meter and incoming supply etc? This won't help us with the classification codes given on the report but will give us a clue to the type and age of installation etc.