https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/can-you-really-test-circuit-6-dan-jackson-fiet
incasee u dont use liked in heres the article in 2 posts
An interesting article about testing , as there are companies out there pricing at £6/£8 a circuit ( madness) basicly just giving a report with unable to locate or FI
Let’s look at this in more detail.
Although it can be tempting to contract an electrician who offers testing each circuit for low rates, let us explore what is required to carry out testing.
Many properties have no previous testing records including installation and periodic testing. Many circuits have been altered and added to over the years. One of the first steps of testing a circuit requires identifying what is on the circuit. I call it a point count. How many points does it have, i.e. how many sockets, fused spurs or lighting points are on that circuit. There are a few ways of doing this, but often it involves turning off the circuit and counting up lights that aren’t on, or plugging in a socket tester or appliance to check if it has power or not, THEN turning the circuit back on to check the points come back on just in case lamps are not working or a socket is fed via an isolator that is turned off. This task alone can vary in time. In a house it can be relatively quick but an office, a restaurant, a car show room… can really vary in time. Don’t forget that power is required to be turned on and off for this task. This may affect commercial operations so many commercial premises may require this to be carried outside of normal working hours. Why is the point count important? The point count is important because it forms part of the record to show what is on the circuit and essentially what you are testing. If an outlet is missed, essentially it won’t be tested and how can you as the duty holder prove it is safe to use? A socket can have a reverse polarity which can be dangerous, or missing an earth which can be potentially dangerous. If it is missed, are you discharging your legal duty as a client?
Straight away we have spent about 3 minutes in a simple domestic environment verifying the points on 1 circuit. In a small commercial environment, I would like to say an average of 5 minutes.
Let’s say there are 12 circuits on an install. That is 36 minutes on our domestic and 60 minutes on our light commercial such as a retail unit.
Now let’s get the tester out, check that it is functioning and start testing a circuit.
What tests are required to be carried out? The following are ‘some’ of the tests that are required to ensure the circuits are safe and meet requirements.
· Earth CPC continuity
· Ring continuity
· Polarity
· Insulation resistance
· Earth Fault Loop Impedance
· Functional Testing - RCD trip times
The above tests require further turning on/off the circuit as some are dead tests, some are live tests. How long does it take for each circuit? Well again it depends what is on the circuit. Testing is actually quite intensive if you do it correctly. There are ways of not doing it correctly by still being able to obtain results. I can point you to a couple of videos which prove this, but that is for another time.
I would say an average circuit takes 20 minutes for a simple domestic circuit and 30 minutes in a light commercial.
BUT…. It doesn’t stop there! We haven’t completed our visual inspection and observations. These are any defects we find that are not found via test equipment as such. These are defects which are coded C1, C2, C3 or FI (further investigation). These form part of the report that are items that are dangerous, potentially dangerous, items that are not immediately dangerous but do not meet the current electrical standards and items which are not apparent but require further investigation such as faults. These could be accessories which show thermal damage, cables that are showing the inner insulation because the outer sheath is missing or damaged, damaged sockets, etc. The list is quite extensive and reports tend to have a tick box section to highlight if any items are cause for concern.
This again can vary in time depending on the condition and age of the installation and should be carried out with attention to detail because ultimately if something is missed, you could easily have part of the installation that is not safe but also cannot be picked up by test equipment.
I would say a domestic could take 1 hour because some of it you will be doing as you test the circuits but you have to write it up. A light commercial could be 1 hour 30 minutes.
Dangerous and potentially dangerous items can easily be missed like this burnt out contactor that was missed by a previous inspection.
So that’s the circuits ‘tested’, but hang on. There is one vital part missing which forms part of the report. We need to inspect and carry out testing to the consumers electrics after the electricity supply meter, verify the supply details such as earthing arrangements and main bonding conductors. Some circuits on a distribution board or consumer unit will be fed via a sub-main from another distribution board. They may require testing to as the supply is a distribution circuit. Inspection of the installation at the origin is important because without knowing some important details, you are unable to verify that the measured Earth Fault Loop Impedance values are acceptable and that the installation is safe and suitable because the installation doesn’t just include the circuits.
incasee u dont use liked in heres the article in 2 posts
An interesting article about testing , as there are companies out there pricing at £6/£8 a circuit ( madness) basicly just giving a report with unable to locate or FI
Let’s look at this in more detail.
- £6 gets you about 1 ½ pints of Fosters in your local.
- £6 gets you 6 rolls of Plenty One Sheet kitchen towels.
- £6 gets you a DVD that has been released for quite a while.
- £6 gets you 3 bags of apples from the supermarket.
- £6 gets you just over 5 litres of petrol
- £6 gets you a Toby Carvery Breakfast and a drink
Although it can be tempting to contract an electrician who offers testing each circuit for low rates, let us explore what is required to carry out testing.
Many properties have no previous testing records including installation and periodic testing. Many circuits have been altered and added to over the years. One of the first steps of testing a circuit requires identifying what is on the circuit. I call it a point count. How many points does it have, i.e. how many sockets, fused spurs or lighting points are on that circuit. There are a few ways of doing this, but often it involves turning off the circuit and counting up lights that aren’t on, or plugging in a socket tester or appliance to check if it has power or not, THEN turning the circuit back on to check the points come back on just in case lamps are not working or a socket is fed via an isolator that is turned off. This task alone can vary in time. In a house it can be relatively quick but an office, a restaurant, a car show room… can really vary in time. Don’t forget that power is required to be turned on and off for this task. This may affect commercial operations so many commercial premises may require this to be carried outside of normal working hours. Why is the point count important? The point count is important because it forms part of the record to show what is on the circuit and essentially what you are testing. If an outlet is missed, essentially it won’t be tested and how can you as the duty holder prove it is safe to use? A socket can have a reverse polarity which can be dangerous, or missing an earth which can be potentially dangerous. If it is missed, are you discharging your legal duty as a client?
Straight away we have spent about 3 minutes in a simple domestic environment verifying the points on 1 circuit. In a small commercial environment, I would like to say an average of 5 minutes.
Let’s say there are 12 circuits on an install. That is 36 minutes on our domestic and 60 minutes on our light commercial such as a retail unit.
Now let’s get the tester out, check that it is functioning and start testing a circuit.
What tests are required to be carried out? The following are ‘some’ of the tests that are required to ensure the circuits are safe and meet requirements.
· Earth CPC continuity
· Ring continuity
· Polarity
· Insulation resistance
· Earth Fault Loop Impedance
· Functional Testing - RCD trip times
The above tests require further turning on/off the circuit as some are dead tests, some are live tests. How long does it take for each circuit? Well again it depends what is on the circuit. Testing is actually quite intensive if you do it correctly. There are ways of not doing it correctly by still being able to obtain results. I can point you to a couple of videos which prove this, but that is for another time.
I would say an average circuit takes 20 minutes for a simple domestic circuit and 30 minutes in a light commercial.
BUT…. It doesn’t stop there! We haven’t completed our visual inspection and observations. These are any defects we find that are not found via test equipment as such. These are defects which are coded C1, C2, C3 or FI (further investigation). These form part of the report that are items that are dangerous, potentially dangerous, items that are not immediately dangerous but do not meet the current electrical standards and items which are not apparent but require further investigation such as faults. These could be accessories which show thermal damage, cables that are showing the inner insulation because the outer sheath is missing or damaged, damaged sockets, etc. The list is quite extensive and reports tend to have a tick box section to highlight if any items are cause for concern.
This again can vary in time depending on the condition and age of the installation and should be carried out with attention to detail because ultimately if something is missed, you could easily have part of the installation that is not safe but also cannot be picked up by test equipment.
I would say a domestic could take 1 hour because some of it you will be doing as you test the circuits but you have to write it up. A light commercial could be 1 hour 30 minutes.
Dangerous and potentially dangerous items can easily be missed like this burnt out contactor that was missed by a previous inspection.
So that’s the circuits ‘tested’, but hang on. There is one vital part missing which forms part of the report. We need to inspect and carry out testing to the consumers electrics after the electricity supply meter, verify the supply details such as earthing arrangements and main bonding conductors. Some circuits on a distribution board or consumer unit will be fed via a sub-main from another distribution board. They may require testing to as the supply is a distribution circuit. Inspection of the installation at the origin is important because without knowing some important details, you are unable to verify that the measured Earth Fault Loop Impedance values are acceptable and that the installation is safe and suitable because the installation doesn’t just include the circuits.
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