how do they get away with it ??????

gp66 · Aug 26, 2010

enterd a house today to install 6 times firerated down lights in a bathroom.checked cu first customer said they had just recently had it upgraded by a british gas subcontractor split load rcd cu ,all well and good i thought .how wrong was i! climbed into loft unscrewd nearest j.b no earths to lighting circuit .no notice on cu to state niether up nor down lights had a cpc. asked customer to see test certs from cu instalation. and as he said it was put in two months ago by an niceic domestic installer.some how he had managed to get a r1 r2 reading on both circuits and a zs reading on both circuits. in comments on existing installation he had put NONE he also managed

to get a continuity reading on the water earth , very clever as there was no such earth,16 mm main earth put on test sheet >it was 10mm no buzzbar cover ,and when he had put the cover on the cu he had screwed through the top insulation on the 25mm main incoming line.god help us !!!

IQ Electrical · Oct 11, 2010

Well if it was a PIR then code 4 if all items are class 2 and the DB has a notice to indicate lack of CPC's to the lighting circuit etc etc.
Code 1 if class 1 fittings are installed.

If it's an EIC following a board change then you simply can't connect the circuit while class 1 items are in use.
If there are only class 2 items and the notice mentioned above is present then you record this situation in the departures and comments box on the EIC.

The best action is of course to persuade the client to have at least the offending lighting circuit rewired.