PAT testing Fire Alarm control Panel?

[loz2754]

The term PAT testing has been a misleading misnomer from the start.
Apart from the obvious grammatical error - Portable Appliance Testing testing....

It has always been the case that certain types of electrical equipment fall between fixed wiring testing (which is often only done to the point of connection of equipment eg an FCU), and so-called PAT testing ("a hand drier is not a portable appliance") and so the equipment never actually gets tested at all.

Which is why the 5th edition of the Code of Practice for In Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment (ISITEE) has thankfully dropped all references to the term "PAT Testing".

In certain situations, mainly in workplaces, it is essential that all items of electrical equipment, fixed or portable, are subjected to a risk assessment, and if necessary, to regular inspection and/or testing.

Where an item of equipment is clearly subject to another set of regulations, for example fire alarm panels, then the risk assessment will show that to be the case, and it will state who is responsible for testing it and how often, and where the records are kept.

This risk assessment approach may take a while to catch on, but it is clearly the direction we are being instructed to follow.

 

[Strima]

as above, PAT went out with the Arc, in-service inspection and testing of electrical equipment has been in for several years.

If you look at the definitions in the COP you will see this:

Looking at ‘electrical equipment’, this is actually defined in the Code as an “Any item for such purposes as generation, conversion, transmission, distribution or utilization of electrical energy, such as machines, transformers, equipment, measuring instruments, protective devices, wiring systems, accessories, appliances and luminaires.”. Electrical equipment, therefore, includes appliances such as washing machines and vacuums.

So any current using equipment either portable or fixed falls under the code of practice. As @Lister1987 has pointed out as the alarm system falls under another standard it will not require the green sticker slapped on it...

 

[oracle]

If you are going to delve into Fire alarms, Intruder alarms, Sprinklers even electrically operated doors etc, you'd better make sure you're Liability insurance is up to date, covers for such equipment and covers for what could potentially be a massive claim for disruption to business and potentially injury to persons if systems fail to do thier intended function.

As (I believe) PAT testing includes fixed equipment connected to the electrical installation by an FCU (eg hand driers, built in ovens etc.) I have been trying to figure out if a Fire Alarm control Panel should be PAT tested and if so by who. Has this subject been addressed before? Does anyone have experience of this and can inform me of what they found/did? Thanks.

I was testing an installation that had alterations and additions and found one circuit at the board that I was unable to identify. Continuity showed a load was connected but none of the Installers could identify it either.
I linked out to the line and neutral and did an IR test at 240 v and noted results.
A bit later the Installers said I could turn the power on and when I did the fire alarm activated and wouldn't reset.
The Installers said I must have damaged it with my testing and the customer asked who was going to pay for the repair. I told them to call the alarm company and if they could prove to me that I had damaged it I would pay for the call out.
The guy came, changed the battery and it worked. They asked how the battery was damaged and he said it was ten years old. I got paid and left with my head high.