low impedence at gas meter

[chris gray]

hi
we just got a call back form a client whos house we recently rewired, he said that the gas board had been down and checked the impedence when checking the gas meter and noted <100 ohms? and classed this as an issue?
we went back and did an end to end continuity of the gas bond and all was good, did our ze and all was good?
i just cant see the issue?

 

[ian.settle1]

You mentioned it in your first line GAS BOARD

 

[chris gray]

try convincing a client that a national institute such as gritish bas is wrong.

 

[acat]

Im not a gas fitter my expertise is in electrical work they are gas fitters and thats what they do.


I find that does the trick nicely.


Chris

 

[m4tty]

british gas looking for work again ffs what a bunch of mugs.

Ask for them to put the problem in writing and bet they wont

Scaremongers ffs



say youve checked the gas pressure with your u guage and theres problems. See how they like it

 

[oldtimer]

I agree with M4tty as I have just quoted for a CU replacement due to the customer having a totalmaintenance package with BG Basically he was in to check the electrics / alarm / plumbing/ CH and he sucked air through his teeth and mentioned that the board needed changing but he had no time to do it so he would pass it on to the office.

I had a look and was honest with the customer stating that he was under no obligation to upgrade his CU. Anyway removed the CU cover and found that the BG intruder alarm supply of 1.5mm cable was wired directly into the live side (yes I know) of the main switch.

First of all BG fitted the alarm did they not realise that a 1.5mm cable cannot be protected with a 100A main fuse also why was this not picked up during the total maintenance package. Me thinks BG should stick to boilers instead of getting their service (churners) engineers to frighten the life out of the poor customer just to get a commission on a sale

 

[Des 56]

Get the contact name off the customer and have that customer forward an invoice(head office) for your time spent investigating the issues raised by their company which he had to pay

Tell them the bill has been sent to them because they highlighted the issue (through ignoranece and incompetence) when none was evident and that if they continued frightening customers with incompetent scare stories they will find themselves on rougue traders

A good idea may be to print out the replies in this thread and forward that to your mis led customer, so that future contacts or work will not be put at risk by their incompetance

 

[oldtimer]

I hear what you say Des but sadly BG have the time and resources to do as they wish and in this current climate the new tories (Labour) are not going to rock the boat.

Just like the banks BG are sales driven and their service guys are on a commission for any new work brought in as for using scare tactics the standard reply will be no we only recomended that it would be a good idea to replace the CU it is not in our remit to scare the customer.

Mind if the law was changed so that the service techs had to declare a financial interest when they advise that work gets done well that would be a level playing field I only found out about the churners from a guy who came to service my boiler a few years ago. He explained that although he had BG on his shirt he was infact working for a contractor for BG. He also explained that if the service tech makes a big deal of something then you know he works for BG as they get commission.

 

[Tosh]

I agree with M4tty as I have just quoted for a CU replacement due to the customer having a totalmaintenance package with BG Basically he was in to check the electrics / alarm / plumbing/ CH and he sucked air through his teeth and mentioned that the board needed changing but he had no time to do it so he would pass it on to the office.

I had a look and was honest with the customer stating that he was under no obligation to upgrade his CU. Anyway removed the CU cover and found that the BG intruder alarm supply of 1.5mm cable was wired directly into the live side (yes I know) of the main switch.

First of all BG fitted the alarm did they not realise that a 1.5mm cable cannot be protected with a 100A main fuse also why was this not picked up during the total maintenance package. Me thinks BG should stick to boilers instead of getting their service (churners) engineers to frighten the life out of the poor customer just to get a commission on a sale

bye the way if bg have fitted a f.c.u it is completly fine to hard wire directly in to the main sw ,as the cable can only carry the maximum of 13amp. its not ideal but is fine,n also stops the alarm system power being disrupted

 

[Des 56]

bye the way if bg have fitted a f.c.u it is completly fine to hard wire directly in to the main sw ,as the cable can only carry the maximum of 13amp. its not ideal but is fine,n also stops the alarm system power being disrupted

Oldtimer said in his post the alarm was wired off the live side of the main switch,for a number of reasons I take it you refer to the load side of that main switch ?

 

[oldtimer]

Tosh Tosh Tosh

I hate to say this Tosh but what you say is Tosh I have been working with intruder alarm systems for 27 years and it looks like you have fallen into the same trap as the non electrically trained alarmed engineers who come out with the same rectrick such as yes no problem you wire the FCU for the alarm system straight into the main switch cos that means that no one can tamper with it.

So let me give a bit of advice for anyone who thinks it’s ok to do the same.

First of all when you throw the main switch for a CU then this should in the case of a domestic installation kill all the power to the whole house.

British Standards for intruder alarm systems states that the battery backup must power the alarm panel for a total of 8 hours and when the battery gets to 80% efficiency (5 years old) then it must be replaced. Also during a power loss the alarm should not activate. So I hear you say how that is when there is a power cut a number of alarms go off. Well that’s easy it means that the alarm is either more than 5 years old or has no battery fitted.

I was called out to a house where the owner reported that he had the CU switched off but the alarm panel still had the main light on it and yep when checked out there was a 1.0mm T&E wired from the live side of the CU to the alarm panel with NO FCU fitted in other words 100 amp fuse protecting a 1.0mm cable.

So if anyone reading this has actually done this then you better get back to the job and move the cable to a 6 amp CB or fuse because here is the rub your public liability insurance does not cover you for this and if anyone get hurt or worse killed then just like monopoly you go straight to jail because as a electrician you are recognised in the eyes of the law as a legally technical competent person and in your case unlike Joe public you cannot plead ignorance on this.

Sorry to rattle on but this thinking needs to be stamped out or someone will get hurt

 

[Tosh]

Oldtimer said in his post the alarm was wired off the live side of the main switch,for a number of reasons I take it you refer to the load side of that main switch ?

no as it doesnt matter what side it is wired from as it can still only carry the load that is connected to it, it just means that if any work was to be carried out on the alarm the mains would have to be killed to work on the circuit. it stops the power supply being interupted

Tosh Tosh Tosh

I hate to say this Tosh but what you say is Tosh I have been working with intruder alarm systems for 27 years and it looks like you have fallen into the same trap as the non electrically trained alarmed engineers who come out with the same rectrick such as yes no problem you wire the FCU for the alarm system straight into the main switch cos that means that no one can tamper with it.

So let me give a bit of advice for anyone who thinks it’s ok to do the same.

First of all when you throw the main switch for a CU then this should in the case of a domestic installation kill all the power to the whole house.

British Standards for intruder alarm systems states that the battery backup must power the alarm panel for a total of 8 hours and when the battery gets to 80% efficiency (5 years old) then it must be replaced. Also during a power loss the alarm should not activate. So I hear you say how that is when there is a power cut a number of alarms go off. Well that’s easy it means that the alarm is either more than 5 years old or has no battery fitted.

I was called out to a house where the owner reported that he had the CU switched off but the alarm panel still had the main light on it and yep when checked out there was a 1.0mm T&E wired from the live side of the CU to the alarm panel with NO FCU fitted in other words 100 amp fuse protecting a 1.0mm cable.

So if anyone reading this has actually done this then you better get back to the job and move the cable to a 6 amp CB or fuse because here is the rub your public liability insurance does not cover you for this and if anyone get hurt or worse killed then just like monopoly you go straight to jail because as a electrician you are recognised in the eyes of the law as a legally technical competent person and in your case unlike Joe public you cannot plead ignorance on this.

Sorry to rattle on but this thinking needs to be stamped out or someone will get hurt

going into the mains side or load side of the c.u is just the same as going straight into the henley blocks,and it doesnt have to be for a security alarm it can be for anything, as long as it is local to the cable head.ie u could wire a 2 way d.b in 2.5mm straight from the mains as long as it has a main sw of 20 amp,so it is just the same for a f.c.u ... this was told to me bye an n.i.c trainer on a course i was on.. yes there are idiots out there not fuseing it down which is wrong but

 

[oldtimer]

Tosh
I am not trying to rock your boat but for me connecting a 1.0-1.5mm cable straight onto the mainswitch of a consumer unit is just plain wrong and should not be confused with fitting a sub-board.

When Joe public throws the main switch you can bet he or she expects that the electrical supply to all points in a domestic installation to be isolated this for me a a basic safety principle and if your NIC trainer says its ok to do this then get that in writting from him !!!

As I have stated there is no logical reason for connecting an intruder alarm mains supply straight into the main switch most panels will flag up a mains failure but at the same time because the CU in with the secured area (ie you would have to get past the alarm to switch it off) also alarm systems are designed for this very situation as the control panel doubles up as a battery charger and also the outside sounder has a battery fitted to it as well so if the mains goes off and if the panel battery runs down the the external sounder wil activate independantly of Mains voltage or Panel battery.

If a intruder alarm is wired as per the BS then it is pretty well protecteced from being tampered with either when it is set or not.

Let me finish by recalling a customer who years ago tried to defeat an alarm system he crawled accross the livingroom floor proudly saying look I have beaten the system and touched the TV/Video so I said fine wel done now do me a favour pick up the TV/Video and take it out the room without setting it off or you can dust yourself down and think about it.

Have a look at BBC news push the red button and look at business stories re BG and that about sums it up

 

[andyb]

Seem to getting away from the op and starting a new thread.

The client was told by a British Gas engineer

the gas board had been down and checked the impedence when checking the gas meter and noted <100 ohms? and classed this as an issue?

This is gobledegook, it means nothing in electrical terms and is a non issue.

I wouldn't even give it the time of day, if your client wants to believe a gas fitter over a fully qualified electrician thats their lookout.

 

[DurhamSparky]

agreed!!! cant understand why he would do a test at meter apart from Continuity!