Niceic

[gpz900jim]

I joined the niceic part p 2 moths ago, I didnt notify my work to the labc, 1 job at my own house and 1 at my brothers, No one asked anything about that side of it, not even the assessor that came, just tell them its been notified, they probably wont even check.

 

[ionutmimi]

thanx gpz900jim

 

[ionutmimi]

Gpz900jim can u give us some details of your NIC assessment,what kind of questions did he ask
Thax

 

[gpz900jim]

he asked me to do a ze reading, rcd test, an r1/r2 reading for the shower that i had fitted. and to talk through the work that i had done and the tests i had done. I fitted a shower, changed the consumer unit, and extended a ring main in my utility to include the garage. He said that the nic prefer people to obtain their earth loop impedance measurements by calculation rather than live measurement. They are very keen on correct earthing and bonding. My advice is to read and re read the onsite guide from front to back. He saw how worn out my OSG was and I think that impressed him!!. I must say that he was a very friendly bloke, and very knowledgeable.

 

[malcolmsanford]

Did he say why he prefered you to take the EFLI by calculation rather then by test ?

 

[gpz900jim]

yes, its safer as there is less live testing

 

[malcolmsanford]

AS said earlier the NICEIC interpet things as they want. So why do a Ze test, call the DNO and get their calcualtions on it or just work to the OSG for it.

There is nothing wrong with live testing, it's not live working which is completely different.

 

[andyb]

I think gpz900jim must be talking about Zs.
I joined the Nic in 2005 purely because I needed to for part p & in the 6 inspections that I've had every Ze has been measured.

 

[gpz900jim]

no, what i meant was that ze has to be measured. (live obviously) and he told me to take r1/r2 readings and add them to ze to get zs . doing it that way you spend less time doing live tests. But you are right, ze has to be measured directly. my tester will take a zs reading and calculate the ze from that, but he said that method was not acceptable

 

[IQ Electrical]

going back to my initial question,if anyone knows,does the NIC assessor actualy asks if the job that he is assessing me on,have been notified and tested by the LABC`s contractors(my LABC told me over the phone that i need to pay 2 hundred something and they will come to inspect during first fixing and then they will be back for testing)
Again my only concern is if the assessor wants to know of and see details of the LABC`s testing.
Thanx guys

I asked our NICEIC assessor this question on our annual assessment a few weeks back and he said that if you ring NICEIC and ask them then the official line is "you must notify".
He said the assessors on the other hand, are only interested in your technical abilities.

 

[rocker]

What a load of rubbish, as has been said the usual NIC making up their own rules.

The best and most thorough way is do a live Zs test, then also 'calculate' it (calculate? for God's sake it's adding one number to another, hardly programming a computer) and make sure they are more or less the same. They will never be the same. We aren't taking into account the tiny resistance in the board itself and most testers aren't that accurate.

'So why do it?'

Well, you've done your R1R2 right after hooking everything up, as well as other testing. You've since connected all your CPCs up to the earth bar, and you've done them all nice and tight. Then, you've put the cover on the CU, probably having to mess about with it a bit to get it to fit, and livened everything up.

So now we have a Shroedinger's cat scenaerio - how do you know the CPCs didn't snap or get pulled out when you fumbled putting the CPC cover on? I'll tell you how, you do a Zs test. It's the only test you do when everything is in place as it will be for the next 10 years which proves you have a reliable earth that is giving us the sort of low resistance you need.

Ask your NIC assessor about this next year....

 

[malcolmsanford]

Exactly rocker. I will always do my Zs test live with everything connected, that includes all those parallel paths as when a fault devlops on an installation that is the condition it is in.

 

[andyb]

What a load of rubbish, as has been said the usual NIC making up their own rules.

Once again this is not a case of the Nic making up there own rules, guidance notes 3 published by the IEE advocates calculating Zs.

The Nic are doing it by the book.

 

[IQ Electrical]

Once again this is not a case of the Nic making up there own rules, guidance notes 3 published by the IEE advocates calculating Zs.

The Nic are doing it by the book.

I agree, our 2391 practicals are subject to similar guidelines, with the exception of Ze and PFC, if you can't use the BS1363 socket lead, you 'calculate'.

It goes against all of my testing beliefs and I will always measure Zs exactly as I always have done for many years, all without incident!

It's fashionable to blame the NICEIC but it's not always their fault!

 

[andyb]

True IQ

I'm not keen defending the Nic, but in most cases they are only guilty of going by the letter, not making their own rules up.