Retrospective Regulations

[Octopus]

Niceic domestic installer scheme inspector!!!

Well - I hope you told him he was 100% wrong?

 

[snowhead]

I was told that the other 4 lighting/other mcbs (not worked on) should have been replaced for rcbos to make them compliant even though they were never touched.

The answer to that is to get the NICEIC man to identify the reg that says all existing circuits must be updated even if they aren't worked on.

 

[Ben Keer]

Well - I hope you told him he was 100% wrong?

Faced with being failed and a revisit I decided it was not in my own interests to do so today but was looking for some king of backup from the regs to argue the case in the future.

 

[Ben Keer]

By my way of thinking that kind of standards he looking for would lead any electrician changing a socket front would have to replace a plastic consumer unit for a metal one because it's not up to current standards!!

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

I think the new lighting reg is daft too but it is there regardless so am i right in saying that in future if changing a light the circuit has no rcd you should be installing one to additionally protect the circuit? Some of my guys are saying clients wont agree to that! A cheap job has just become an expensive job. I dont buy that answer at all the regs are there to be followed of not then what is the point?

More expensive yes, but not necessarily hugely more expensive, you could put a rcd in an enclosure on top or next to the CU and route the light circuit through that. not a vastly difficult task. a cheap non high end branded RCD can be bought for under £20 and a suitable enclosure for not much more. similar for sockets, can use a rcd socket or spur where possible or put one at the CU.

 

[snowhead]

Faced with being failed and a revisit I decided it was not in my own interests to do so today but was looking for some king of backup from the regs to argue the case in the future.

Email the NICEIC directly and ask them to confirm that if any circuit in an installation is altered then all other circuits that don't comply with the 18th must be updated so that they do.

I'm no 18th regs expert but I'm absolutely certain that they will not agree with the above.

 

[Andy78]

Faced with being failed and a revisit I decided it was not in my own interests to do so today but was looking for some king of backup from the regs to argue the case in the future.

Introduction to BS7671. Second paragraph.

 

[westward10]

There has been two or three threads over the last few months with inspectors quoting so called facts which have little or no substance to them.

 

[Andy78]

Faced with being failed and a revisit I decided it was not in my own interests to do so today but was looking for some king of backup from the regs to argue the case in the future.

Get in touch stating exactly what you were told and ask for clarification that was not given to you at the time as to which regulations were not being complied with. Ask for this in writing.

 

[westward10]

We had our assessment a few weeks ago and the inspector who seemed a decent fella just seemed to want to push their wares on us, he only looked about 20 yrs old.

 

[Octopus]

There has been two or three threads over the last few months with inspectors quoting so called facts which have little or no substance to them.

2 or 3 - there's been far more than that ...........

 

[mossep]

I totally agree with both of the above points.

Some of the sparks i know would happily spur a new socket off a ring main which has rewireable fuses with no rcd protection and say the circuit complied with a previous edition wtf?

I think the new lighting reg is daft too but it is there regardless so am i right in saying that in future if changing a light the circuit has no rcd you should be installing one to additionally protect the circuit? Some of my guys are saying clients wont agree to that! A cheap job has just become an expensive job. I dont buy that answer at all the regs are there to be followed of not then what is the point?

I think it is lighting circuit that needs RCD protection, not the light fittings themselves. So changing a light fitting or switch would be fine, but if you added new lights then you would need to install an RCD

 

[captaincaveman]

One thing that stums me is when, like today, I do an EICR on a house that has a 50+ old installation and I'm meant to judge it on the regs of the time it was done - How am I meant to know the regs at the time it was done? It's older than me lol!

 

[Andy78]

One thing that stums me is when, like today, I do an EICR on a house that has a 50+ old installation and I'm meant to judge it on the regs of the time it was done - How am I meant to know the regs at the time it was done? It's older than me lol!

You're not meant to judge it like that, you use the current version of BS7671 for an inspection on any installation.