What comes under PAT testing...............?

[bazcrossman]

Since my father-in-law passed away recently we've been renting out his house and had Gas Safety and EICT testing done. There are no 'portable appliances' as such, but an oven and hob and extractor hood are provided in the kitchen plus an electric shower and fan in the ensuite plus an immersion heater coupled to the tank and of course the gas boiler.
Would these items come under the auspices of "PAT Testing" and if so how often should they need retesting (say every 5 years alongside the EICR, or more frequently)?
Many thanks for any hep you guys can provide to a novice here!! ?

 

[telectrix]

all the above are fixed appliances and it's a grey area as whether they come under PAT. generally appliances that plug in are subject to PAT. however, these hard wired appliances should be tested for safety periodically. usually a fault will trip a breaker/fuse in the CU as opposed to a fuse in a plug.

 

[Pete999]

Since my father-in-law passed away recently we've been renting out his house and had Gas Safety and EICT testing done. There are no 'portable appliances' as such, but an oven and hob and extractor hood are provided in the kitchen plus an electric shower and fan in the ensuite plus an immersion heater coupled to the tank and of course the gas boiler.
Would these items come under the auspices of "PAT Testing" and if so how often should they need retesting (say every 5 years alongside the EICR, or more frequently)?
Many thanks for any hep you guys can provide to a novice here!! ?

An easy answer would be anything that consumes power, the PAT old hat ,now called In Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment ISITEE, the CoP will explain all. The frequency of testing will be down to the person that manages the Equipment register, best get a company that is well versed in the ISITEE CoP to advise you, there are differing frequencies, change of ownership as an example.

 

[bazcrossman]

all the above are fixed appliances and it's a grey area as whether they come under PAT. generally appliances that plug in are subject to PAT. however, these hard wired appliances should be tested for safety periodically. usually a fault will trip a breaker/fuse in the CU as opposed to a fuse in a plug.

OK, thanks for that Telectrix! However, I have heard that non-plugged appliances may come under the heading of "portable appliances" for the sake of Landlord's responsibilities...........?

 

[bazcrossman]

An easy answer would be anything that consumes power, the PAT old hat ,now called In Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment ISITEE, the CoP will explain all. The frequency of testing will be down to the person that manages the Equipment register, best get a company that is well versed in the ISITEE CoP to advise you, there are differing frequencies, change of ownership as an example.

Understood; thanks for the feedback Pete999!

 

[DPG]

Definitely get hold of the latest (5th edition) of the ISITEE code of practice.

Then bear in mind that the term PAT is misleading and causes confusion. By all means call it PAT testing, but realise that it doesn't just relate to Portable items, and it doesn't just relate to Testing (the main part of the ISITEE process is actually inspection). Hence some people's confusion.

The type of appliances you mention need testing periodically, whether by 'PAT testing' or as part of the test of the electrical installation.

Hopefully this helps rather than confuses!

 

[bazcrossman]

Definitely get hold of the latest (5th edition) of the ISITEE code of practice.

Then bear in mind that the term PAT is misleading and causes confusion. By all means call it PAT testing, but realise that it doesn't just relate to Portable items, and it doesn't just relate to Testing (the main part of the ISITEE process is actually testing). Hence some people's confusion.

The type of appliances you mention need testing periodically, whether by 'PAT testing' or as part of the test of the electrical installation.

Hopefully this helps rather than confuses!

Slightly less confused than before, thanks DPG............!!?

 

[DPG]

Slightly less confused than before, thanks DPG............!!?

Apologies, I just edited it - I had typed 'testing' instead of 'inspection' !!

 

[Strima]

Anything that consumes power and is not part of the fixed wiring installation would come under ISITEE (PAT). So an oven, although permanently connected, falls into this category.

The following are covered in the ACOP:

(Saves me typing them all out)

The inspector uses the guide and experience to apply a timeframe for the next inspection depending on age, use, people using it etc so an arbitory five years between inspections is not advised. Some of the main causes of domestic fires are white goods so would I would advise more frequent inspections.

 

[pc1966]

It used to be Portable Appliance Testing = PAT and the focus we on stuff that gets moved and cabled get damaged. But that was not covering fixed items such as hand dryers, towel rails, etc., that were a possible risk, but were excluded from an EICR as they are not considered "fixed wiring" in the sense of the installation, so were not checked by either regime.

So now most folk still refer to "PAT" testing, but the new proper title (as @Pete999 had already said) is "In Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment" and basically it covers anything using mains power that is not part of the fixed installation (and so inspected & tested by the EICR).

What is rather weaselly-worded in the new standard is the time interval between tests, basically is tells you nothing specific but says it should be part of risk-assessment. SO F'N USEFUL!

The HSE has some help here:

PAT (Portable appliance testing) - HSE's answers to popular questions

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) answers; frequency of tests, legal requirements, record keeping, new equipment, who can test, hire tools

www.hse.gov.uk

They also have an older but very useful and informative guidance note here with some suggested time-scales for testing:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg107.pdf

Unless one has reason to suspect a given product is going to be misused, etc, then sticking to the HSE sort of guide lines makes sense. However, in a rental situation I would suggest a complete re-test on any change of tenant irrespective of the time since it was last checked.

 

[pc1966]

I guess you have to arrange access for the gas boiler service & inspection annually, so it might be a case of doing a visual inspection on all of the fixed stuff at those times and arranging a professional inspection and test every 2-3 years to coincide with that day so the tenants have the least disturbance.

 

[bazcrossman]

It used to be Portable Appliance Testing = PAT and the focus we on stuff that gets moved and cabled get damaged. But that was not covering fixed items such as hand dryers, towel rails, etc., that were a possible risk, but were excluded from an EICR as they are not considered "fixed wiring" in the sense of the installation, so were not checked by either regime.

So now most folk still refer to "PAT" testing, but the new proper title (as @Pete999 had already said) is "In Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment" and basically it covers anything using mains power that is not part of the fixed installation (and so inspected & tested by the EICR).

What is rather weaselly-worded in the new standard is the time interval between tests, basically is tells you nothing specific but says it should be part of risk-assessment. SO F'N USEFUL!

The HSE has some help here:

PAT (Portable appliance testing) - HSE's answers to popular questions

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) answers; frequency of tests, legal requirements, record keeping, new equipment, who can test, hire tools

www.hse.gov.uk

They also have an older but very useful and informative guidance note here with some suggested time-scales for testing:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg107.pdf

Unless one has reason to suspect a given product is going to be misused, etc, then sticking to the HSE sort of guide lines makes sense. However, in a rental situation I would suggest a complete re-test on any change of tenant irrespective of the time since it was last checked.

Many thanks for that useful info PC1966!

 

[bazcrossman]

Anything that consumes power and is not part of the fixed wiring installation would come under ISITEE (PAT). So an oven, although permanently connected, falls into this category.

The following are covered in the ACOP:

View attachment 65260

(Saves me typing them all out)

The inspector uses the guide and experience to apply a timeframe for the next inspection depending on age, use, people using it etc so an arbitory five years between inspections is not advised. Some of the main causes of domestic fires are white goods so would I would advise more frequent inspections.

Great - many thanks for that Strima!!

 

[bazcrossman]

Apologies, I just edited it - I had typed 'testing' instead of 'inspection' !!

No probs - thanks again!!