Help new kitchen nightmare

[Ner123ak]

Hi
We have just spent quite a lot on having a new kitchen in another part of our house. This was a complete installation including new electrics plumbing etc.
It us now apparently finished and quite frankly the electrics scare me
The power cables are running in and out of the radiator pipes everywhere for a start. When I asked I was told it's ok it's heat protected cable.
Couple of pictures below I have many more from all over.
The hob and oven are just on a 13 amp plug and that don't seem right to me as well. The whole work is quite shocking but I will stick to electricals
Please could someone help me as I don't know what I should do
thnx v much for any advice
k

 

[Electric Magic]

Hi Ner123ak,

I've just read this thread from start to finish and felt compelled to write my first post. I'm glad you've decided to get a proper electrician in to inspect and test the work, and someone from this forum may well be able to help.

Having been on the other side of the fence not too long ago, I know that part of the issue for people getting electrical work done is that they don't know how to find a decent electrician. Recommendations from others can be helpful but even then, if the person making the recommendation does not know anything about electrical installation work themselves then their recommendations are often based on one or more of the following (worse case scenarios in brackets):

"the price was good" (essential stuff could have been neglected due to ignorance or to cut costs e.g. correctly rated cable or accessories, proper testing)
"the work looked tidy" (doesn't mean it is appropriate for the use it has been put to)
"the electrican was nice and very helpful" (most people are when they want your money)
"the electrican has been working for X years" (I recently saw an advert on a builder comparison website I shall not name where the most popular electrician on there in my area under qualifications said "fully qualified to the 16th edition" - I am hoping that was either unintentionally misleading or just a typo as the 17th edition came into force in 2008 and the 3rd amendment to that has recently been published)

Although these things are important the crucial parts are often missed because consumers dont know what they should be looking for e.g.

1) what qualifications do they have?
2) If it is notifiable work under the building regulations* are they a registered competent person?

Regarding 2), you can find out if the company you have been using belongs to a competent person scheme by searching the company name on:

Home

Unfortunately, this alone will not tell you whether the person that company sent out was competent to do the work they are doing (as from the pictures and what you have told us they clearly are not), but it will tell you which scheme provider you can report them to. Unfortunately, most of the complaints procedures do not guarentee you a lot (and virtually nothing if you've got no contract in place). That said, from looking at the work it looks highly unlikely that the "electrician" that has been to do work on your installation is part of a company that belongs to a scheme anyway (not that the people working for companies belonging to schemes are automatically competent as many on this forum would be quick to tell you, but they are normally a bit better than the work you have shown pictures of implies).

Regarding 1), I'd ask for proof of a level three electrical qualification, and preferably a relevant NVQ. One way of possibly avoiding having to ask this of a load of random electricians is by sourcing an electrician directly from a scheme providers website (and choosing the right option when doing so). For example on the Napit site (NAPIT Consumer Search) you will hopefully get someone with an NVQ if you search using only the electrical certifier option (other Napit members may be less qualified). If you used the NICEIC site (NICEIC), you might want to only get quotes from people who are approved contractors (as you are again more likely to get someone with an NVQ). Again though, this isn't fullproof (unless they are a soletrader) as the qualified person who enabled the company to become an approved contractor may not be the person sent out to you (so ask what qualifications the person coming out to you has). Other scheme providers I am aware of include Elecsa (who are owned by the people that own NICEIC), Stroma and BSI (but I don't know how you go about finding electricians from the latter two or what qualifications they will have).

Hope that helps.

*Notifiable work under the building regulations (e.g. work that must be reported to your local authority building control) includes any completely new circuits or any work - other than like for like replacements - within 2.25m from floor level and 0.6m of the edge of your bath/shower - see here for more detail on the scope of this)

 

[Ner123ak]

Sorry, I was working on 5400W, got this one mixed up with the kitchen I've just quoted.

It's still less than 16A after diversity though, a 20A supply wouldn't be troubled by that load.

I'm sure the hob manual says 23 amp min
and 5800 watt
thnx

 

[Silly Sausage]

(NICEIC, the home of contracting excellence - NICEIC)

You haven't been here long, have you EM?!

The above is absolutely no guarantee whatsoever.
There are countless examples of appalling work on here done by their members.

 

[Electric Magic]

Not sure why the "the home of contracting excellence" bit appeared on the link - it is not what I wrote (honest!).

 

[Engineer54]

Originally Posted by Electic Magic (NICEIC, the home of contracting excellence - NICEIC)

Any Scheme provider that considers and endorses 17 day and 5 week courses as appropriate training and considers it's graduates as even being remotely competent has nothing whatsoever to do with ''Contracting Excellence''

There have been more than just a few examples of NICEIC AP Contractors abysmal work on this forum too...

 

[Electric Magic]

Until I've got 6 posts up they get moderated (I'm certainly not blaming the esteemed moderators for whatever happened to my last post, but it does mean I'm now watching in frustration as people respond with understandable contempt for a comment I didn't even write having to wait for my self-justifying remarks to be posted).

And for the record, it is not just NICEIC that has members that do bad work (a recent example from a friend of mine, an electrician listed as a NAPIT inspector was asked to come out and find an overheating fault on a ring power circuit - all he did was replace the MCB - did not question householder, no testing, inspection only of the CU, and this despite the fact the fault had been serious enough to cause a bit of melting in the CU - a subsequent EICR by a more competent electrician revealed a 46.3Ohm reading on the line conductor, further investigation found a damp socket with blackened conductors)...

 

[Ner123ak]

Hi
I have a private message from someone
thnx
..
blood pressure dropping slightly

 

[trev]

Take your email address off mate, we're in open forum. It can be harvested by all kinds of spammers

 

[Ner123ak]

Got my message now
thnx

 

[Electric Magic]

There have been more than just a few examples of NICEIC AP Contractors abysmal work on this forum too...

Hence I suggested the damage limitation of asking for someone with an NVQ. I'm sure you would agree that there are examples of bad workmanship/incompetence from other schemes as well. My post was aimed at helping Ner123ak improve their chances of getting a good electrician - as I clearly stated, I wasn't trying to say this is a fullproof method, but might help when you don't know what you don't know. Happy for my advice to be constructively corrected/added to by those with more experience.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Hi
I have a private message from someone
thnx
..
blood pressure dropping slightly

Would be better to get your Pop Up Blocker trained a bit better.


:90::53:

 

[telectrix]

anyway, call that a kitchen nightmare. you've obviously not seen a woman at work in a kitchen. they make more mess than a plumber.now that is a kitchen nightmare.

 

[Silly Sausage]

anyway, call that a kitchen nightmare. you've obviously not seen a woman at work in a kitchen. they make more mess than a plumber.now that is a kitchen nightmare.

Which increases exponentially with number of daughters.
I know, I live the nightmare.

 

[Geordie Spark]

You haven't been here long, have you EM?!

The above is absolutely no guarantee whatsoever.
There are countless examples of appalling work on here done by their members.

I'm wondering if he lost an "r" from his name somewhere on the journey here.

No matter ..... he'll probably find it on his way out.

 

[Silly Sausage]

I'm wondering if he lost an "r" from his name somewhere on the journey here.

No matter ..... he'll probably find it on his way out.

Or a 'c'.
I reckon he's a schemes stooge.