Question - British Gas engineer says there is a fault ?

[Sch123]

Firstly I don't know if I'm allowed here as I am not an electrician

I have a question though....
Just had british gas out here to service my boiler

He refused to carry out service because voltage stick glowed when he touched the casing on speaking with another gas engineer he tells me that as 240 volts go through the boiler then the voltage stick may just light anyway.

You can touch the casing without any ill effects

On speaking with British Gas engineer, he then put a meter into one of my upstairs sockets and said it read 100 oms and that this would be classed as dangerous, quickly followed by he isn't an electrical engineer.

Obviously this has made me worry as reading was in my sons bedroom.

my questions are...

1. The volt stick is it a true indicator of fault?
2. Is 100 oms too much for a plug socket and if so how dangerous?
3. As plug sockets and boiler on 2 separate rings then how can there be a fault on both?

 

[SparkyChick]

Hi Sarah,

Welcome to the forums.

Voltsticks are not a reliable method of establishing whether there is a dangerous voltage present. I suspect most of us have them, but as stated, they should not be considered reliable. I typically use mine for locating cables and for general 'is it dead' when trying to find which fuse supplies an unidentified cable (where I don't yet know where that cable goes exactly) but I would not stake my life on one as such my voltstick is rarely used.

To test whether the boiler casing was live, I would use a different piece of equipment like an approved voltage indicator which actually makes contact with the metal and a series of tests between the case and the various conductors of the supply cable (or nearby metalwork such as the sink or other piece of electrical equipment). Waving a voltstick around the metalwork could yield all sorts of spurious results. It is quite common for ghost voltages to be found on cables and equipment, these are usually induced in the cable by induction or capacitive coupling where cables run next to each other (as they often do) but these will quickly disappear when the right test equipment is used.

The 100 ohms... without knowing exactly what he said and what 'meter' he used, it's hard to be certain. But if he is referring to what is called the earth fault loop impedance, then you may have a problem that will require intervention from an electrician. But this is only a 'may'.

As for why there could be a fault on both... the 100 ohms may not actually be a fault. Certain types of earthing can result in high earth fault loop impedances and can be mitigated by good design of the installation. And as stated, the voltstick lighting up just inidcates it picked up an electric field of sufficient strength to turn it on. It may not be a fault at all.

The best advice is find a local electrician and have them come and check it out. You should get some recommendations from family, friends and colleagues for a local electrician (that they have used and been pleased with) and have them come and check these two issues out.

 

[Pete999]

BG now there is a name to conjure with, volt sticks are a waste of space and should never be used for testing purposes, sent you a PM. Anyone nearby able to help?

 

[RWJ]

Been to five jobs BG stated were unsafe four were perfectly acceptable. To be fair the other was perished 90 year old IVR in conduit... I agreed on that one!

 

[Sch123]

RWJ after 90 years I would expect a fault I would expect a fault would be expected

 

[The Ghost]

BGs' standard socketnsee tester gives a rough guide to values. As to whether it is unsafe would require an electrician to determine. A couple of tests and visual should not take more than an hour. The remedy if there is a fault is not known, as to cost or whatever. But if you get it checked you could always tell us on here what was said/recommended and we could probably tell you if that is valid or fair. Maybe a pic or two would be a great help.
P.S. And yes you are allowed on here and welcome

 

[Sch123]

Well there is nothing to see really without me taking face plate off its a new socket I had then changed as none of the existing sockets had switches on them - spoke to BG to complain was told that the call centre operative was qualified to make a judgement call on whether this was correct or not because he used to be a carpenter on a building site for 3 years and continued to tell me BG would not come out to the boiler again until they had an electricians report and he would not escalated my complaint .... I have no words... finally got through to a woman who was a lateral thinker and within a couple of minutes she offered me a good will gesture of £30 not to take complaint further. However I declined the offer any BG say its now in the system and will be addressed within 8 weeks.

I just realised this man must have been into the boiler anyway despite his nonsense about whether or not the volt stick was red or not because he had asked me to run the hot water and the pressure gauge is inside my boiler you have to open the flap to see.

 

[Wilko]

Hi Sarah ! Everyone is welcome here and hopefully you can find information and any help you might need.

 

[Octopus]

Sarah, if, and I say if the BG engineer thinks the zs for a socket circuit is around 100 ohms, this could be an acceptable reading if your property is a TT supply (this means you should have a rod in your property somewhere acting as the earth).

It may be prudent to find a local spark to come and do some very basic tests on the incoming supply and the socket circuit. This could be done in an hour and a small price to pay for piece of mind.

Ask around your friends and neighbours to see if they can recommend somebody

 

[Strima]

IF you can post your rough location there might be a forum member close by that can take a look.

 

[Sch123]

What would a rod look like
I'm in HA2 I know every type of contractor but not an electrician how totally inconsiderate of my friends for one of them not to be a sparky

 

[Dave OCD]

If your meter and distribution board is for example in your hall Sarah have a look outside the door and see if you can see some round green and yellow cable which would go to a copper rod buried in the ground. If this is the case your 100 ohms is perfectly acceptable - providing you have RCD protection on all circuits in your house.

 

[Pete999]

What would a rod look like
I'm in HA2 I know every type of contractor but not an electrician how totally inconsiderate of my friends for one of them not to be a sparky

A copper rod would be quite long but it will hammered into the ground, should be about 3/8" in diameter with a green and Yellow cable attached to it, by the look of your location it would unlikely your house would have one, but have a look in any case, check close to the area outside near where you Fuse board is on the inside. Better still a picture of the electric meter area should tell us something.

 

[Spoon]

Do you have the report in writing?
How about contacting BG and tell them that you believe their engineer was scare mongering. Tell them that you will get an qualified electrician in to test what their engineer has told you. Ask them that if the tests contradict what their engineer has said are they willing to pay for the test?

 

[Pete999]

Do you have the report in writing?
How about contacting BG and tell them that you believe their engineer was scare mongering. Tell them that you will get an qualified electrician in to test what their engineer has told you. Ask them that if the tests contradict what their engineer has said are they willing to pay for the test?

Good idea Spoon, trouble is bg wouldn't know what an EIC oR EICR is cus their "engineers" are never wrong, at least not in their eyes, I can't believe the Muppet's actually entered "volt stick fail" in writing, mind boggling incompetence on this Blokes part. I wish I had some clout in this industry, I would tear them an extra one.