J
jonny110
OK so here i go about to bear my soul to a bunch of strangers - please be gentle!
So i was made redundant from my job as a maintenance spark at a factory in Burnley 18 months ago and since have really struggled finding work. Been helping mates out labouring on sites but this just dosen't make the moola and been struggling.
So I put an ad in my local rag for electrical work and been pretty well blown away with the response. Now i been keeping up with part p and the notification bit so it's mainly been changing light fittings (not in bathrooms) and small jobs like new sockets and the such like.
Got a call from a take away last week saying that they got problems with their 'lectrics tripping'.
So i go over and have a look. Well - horror. The CU was an old contactum unit with random MCBs installed and quite warm to the touch. I began by isolating the board and taking the cover off. The first thing that hit me was the smell of burning plastic. The breaker that was tripping had several curcuits wired into it (electric bain marie, shop sockets, fridge sockets and industrial ectrator fan) and was quite black at the top.
So i began by testing the installation (no labels on any of the breakers) to try and see if there was anything majorly wrong apart from the fuseboard. Found a major earth fault on the electric bain marie which turned out to be the result of water leaking into the bottom of it and getting into the simmerstat causing live to earth fault. Repaired bain marie with new simmerstat and fixed the leak. All good.
Advised customer to have new 17 way CU fitted and split the circuits up. So i fitted new 17 way CU and a new isolator for a supply they had used to another meter feeding a flat next door (supply had been just connected into the bottom side of the old CU main switch!).
When i took out the old CU it was obvious it had been overloaded with burn marks around where the MCBs had been getting warm.
Fitted new CU and everything hunky dory and working fine. Now get call that outside lights are tripping the outside lights breaker and they want me to go back and they are sounding a bit shirty.
Now before i removed the old CU i did test the circuits and found no earth fault apart from the bain marie supply.
So far they up to 786 quid with me, which they have paid but they want me to now fix the outside lights for free!
OK so do not flame me but not part p registered as i only so far had a few jobs in and cannot afford the cost to get registered, be tested etc.
Don't think this comes under part p as it's commercial. So i am thinking that the outside light may be an intermittent earth fault,due to rain getting in them (they got 4 5 ft flourescents under a wooden hood), which may explain why it didn't show when i tested.
They are a little aggressive and always are on my case to get finished for like 3:30pm so they can open up which is ok cos they got a business to run. Anyone in the lancs area got any advice? Would you charge them for a revisit? Or how i can get part p registered through a start up scheme or something similar? Am time served and have 16th edition and city and guilds 236, eitb level 3.
Please don't flame me as i am only trying to earn a living for me and my family, i fully understand why part p is there and it's there to protect the customer, but it seems so bloody expensive to get registered, and who is going to have me do ' a small job' and then have me tell them that they have to inform building control etc. which adds hundreds on to the cost of the job. Then again, who is going to have me to do a large job such as a rewire and pay LABC. Then again don't want LABC coming round and fining me 1,000's I cannot afford.
Sorry to go on, but am feeling fed up. Boo hoo.
So i was made redundant from my job as a maintenance spark at a factory in Burnley 18 months ago and since have really struggled finding work. Been helping mates out labouring on sites but this just dosen't make the moola and been struggling.
So I put an ad in my local rag for electrical work and been pretty well blown away with the response. Now i been keeping up with part p and the notification bit so it's mainly been changing light fittings (not in bathrooms) and small jobs like new sockets and the such like.
Got a call from a take away last week saying that they got problems with their 'lectrics tripping'.
So i go over and have a look. Well - horror. The CU was an old contactum unit with random MCBs installed and quite warm to the touch. I began by isolating the board and taking the cover off. The first thing that hit me was the smell of burning plastic. The breaker that was tripping had several curcuits wired into it (electric bain marie, shop sockets, fridge sockets and industrial ectrator fan) and was quite black at the top.
So i began by testing the installation (no labels on any of the breakers) to try and see if there was anything majorly wrong apart from the fuseboard. Found a major earth fault on the electric bain marie which turned out to be the result of water leaking into the bottom of it and getting into the simmerstat causing live to earth fault. Repaired bain marie with new simmerstat and fixed the leak. All good.
Advised customer to have new 17 way CU fitted and split the circuits up. So i fitted new 17 way CU and a new isolator for a supply they had used to another meter feeding a flat next door (supply had been just connected into the bottom side of the old CU main switch!).
When i took out the old CU it was obvious it had been overloaded with burn marks around where the MCBs had been getting warm.
Fitted new CU and everything hunky dory and working fine. Now get call that outside lights are tripping the outside lights breaker and they want me to go back and they are sounding a bit shirty.
Now before i removed the old CU i did test the circuits and found no earth fault apart from the bain marie supply.
So far they up to 786 quid with me, which they have paid but they want me to now fix the outside lights for free!
OK so do not flame me but not part p registered as i only so far had a few jobs in and cannot afford the cost to get registered, be tested etc.
Don't think this comes under part p as it's commercial. So i am thinking that the outside light may be an intermittent earth fault,due to rain getting in them (they got 4 5 ft flourescents under a wooden hood), which may explain why it didn't show when i tested.
They are a little aggressive and always are on my case to get finished for like 3:30pm so they can open up which is ok cos they got a business to run. Anyone in the lancs area got any advice? Would you charge them for a revisit? Or how i can get part p registered through a start up scheme or something similar? Am time served and have 16th edition and city and guilds 236, eitb level 3.
Please don't flame me as i am only trying to earn a living for me and my family, i fully understand why part p is there and it's there to protect the customer, but it seems so bloody expensive to get registered, and who is going to have me do ' a small job' and then have me tell them that they have to inform building control etc. which adds hundreds on to the cost of the job. Then again, who is going to have me to do a large job such as a rewire and pay LABC. Then again don't want LABC coming round and fining me 1,000's I cannot afford.
Sorry to go on, but am feeling fed up. Boo hoo.
