Cost of connection

[iandandav]

I have recently purchased an old terraced house. Its had electric in the past but has been unoccupied for many years. At some point during that time the electric meter had been removed and also the line to the house. I have contacted Western Power who are asking £850 to have the line put back. Is this right? My thinking is that presumably they took it away so in my understanding they should put is back at their expense?

I am also imbarking on the wiring of the property myself and the the council has quoted a price of just over £300 for ' INSPECTION TEST AND SUPERVISION' of a DIY installation. Does this sound right? Does supervision mean coming around and giving advivce on a regular basis? anyone else have experience of this?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I fear that they are right and you are wrong.

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I am also imbarking on the wiring of the property myself

1. For a circuit to supply a given load (doesn't matter what), how would you go about deciding what cable and protective device to use?
   
   
2. How do you calculate maximum demand and how can diversity be used?
   
   
3. What are the 3 different types of domestic single-phase supplies provided in this country, how would you recognise them, and what differences do each make to the requirements for the rest of the installation, particularly any outdoor supplies?
   
   
4. Can you correctly identify all components and connections of a circuit by method of testing or otherwise? In doing so can you identify or recognise anything wrong or dangerous with the circuit?
   
   
5. Do you understand how the way in which you install cables affects how much current they can carry?
   
   
6. What are the rules concerning cables concealed in walls, partitions and under floors?
   
   
7. What are the rules for cables run outdoors, buried in the ground or overhead?
   
   
8. Where cables need to be joined, how should this be done / not be done and in what circumstances are different methods acceptable?
   
   
9. Can you identify extraneous conductive parts, and do you know the requirements for main and supplementary bonding of them?
   
   
10. Which circuits should be RCD protected?
    
    
11. How do you propose to isolate your supply so that you can connect up your new CU?
    
    
12. Can you explain what tests you would carry out on the installation - what sequence you'd do them in and at what point you would energise the installation, and for each test do you know what is being measured, why it is important, how you would carry out the test, and with what equipment, and what sort of results you would expect to get if everything was OK?

 

[iandandav]

Thanks for that. Most of these questions I wouldnt have been able to answer a while back.

But after a few weeks of research and reading up on the regs I can now answer most of these. The testing will need more work on my part but I know how to find the information.

This promps me to ask another question. If I am paying for the council to test or to get someone else to test my installation. How much of the testing procedure would I have to be familiar with.

 

[Steve]

If I am paying for the council to test or to get someone else to test my installation. How much of the testing procedure would I have to be familiar with.

None of it. Though it would be handy for you to test things like ring continuity and polarity before the official testing.

That list is Ban's dirty dozen that he regurgitates every now and then to belittle a DIYer and make them feel incompetent enough to call an electrician

 

[iandandav]

it would have worked a few weeks ago.

But I am now looking forward to getting on with it, at least the actual installation bit.

 

[flameport]

Western Power who are asking £850 to have the line put back.

Sounds like a bargain, especially if the work involves new cabling to the property. Get them in to do the work before the price goes up.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

That list is Ban's dirty dozen that he regurgitates every now and then to belittle a DIYer and make them feel incompetent enough to call an electrician

Steve it is unacceptable to compromise other peoples safety, and I am not going to sit idly by and let you make this forum useless because you think that behaving like some kid who's just wet his pants in the playground is the way to behave here.

I am DEMANDING that you take my list of 12 questions, and for each one provide a logical and rational reason why someone embarking on the rewire of a property which has been derelict for several years doesn't need to know, or be able to answer, it.

I did not ask them to belittle the OP, I asked them because they are valid and important questions, and when you have failed to show why they are not valid I would like to know why you think that because of your personal problems you can dismiss valid and important questions when there is absolutely no logical or rational reason for doing so.

You are an utter disgrace - to think that you would stoop so low as to be happy to see someone kill himself and others just so that you can criticise something I have written is shameful beyond belief.

 

[LoveRocket]

Oh dear. My irony meter has just exploded. (and before you ask Banal, yes it was in cal).

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Well clearly the moderators think that the OP needs this argument, and that it's in his and the forum's interest for him to be told that advice that he's given by me is unsound, not because of what I wrote but purely because it was I that wrote it.

For some time now a bunch of fools, including you, have been deciding every now and then to criticise me, and each and every time when I say "OK then, if you believe that's a valid criticism please explain why, to you, it is logical and reasonable" these people fail to do so.

In other words, they are making critical posts that they cannot even justify to themselves. They are making them with absolutely no basis, even in their own minds, on what I've written.

Why these people think that what the forum needs are personal attacks, often triggered by their own febrile imaginations, rather than proper discussions of topics raised I have no idea, but over and over again they demonstrate irrational behaviour so maybe they aren't thinking at all. Usually I'm happy enough to make it clear that they're behaving like tw@s and move on, but in this case Steve has gone too far.

The OP is planning to rewire a house which has been derelict for years, and Steve sought to dismiss what I wrote just because he's decided to invent an ulterior for my writing it, not because he can provide any cogent arguments challenging the validity of any of it. This property, more likely than not, will require major gutting and renewal work with a from-scratch completely new electrical installation.

Does Steve really believe that someone doing that doesn't have to know how to design circuits?

Does he really believe that the OP doesn't have to know what type of supply he'll have and what the implications of that type might be?

Does he really believe that the OP doesn't have to know what's safe and what isn't?

Does he really believe that the OP doesn't have to understand how the way in which cables are installed affects how much current they can carry?

Does he really believe that the OP doesn't have to know about the rules concerning cables concealed in walls, partitions and under floors or run outside?

Does he really believe that the OP doesn't have to know how to join cables properly?

Does he really believe that the OP doesn't have to know about extraneous conductive parts and bonding?

Does he really believe that the OP doesn't have to know which circuits should be RCD protected?

Does he really believe that the OP doesn't have to know anything about testing?


If he does then I'd be interested to see him produce a point by point explanation of why someone embarking on a complete rewire doesn't need to know those things.

And if he doesn't believe that the OP doesn't have to know any of those things I'd be interested to see him explain why he thought it was a good idea to raise doubts in the OP's mind about the validity of what I wrote.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Thanks for that. Most of these questions I wouldnt have been able to answer a while back.

Looking back to that time, were there any that you didn't even know needed to be answerable?

But after a few weeks of research and reading up on the regs I can now answer most of these.

Excellent.

Again, looking back, do you think that before you did that research etc you could have just dived in and done the rewire?

This promps me to ask another question. If I am paying for the council to test or to get someone else to test my installation. How much of the testing procedure would I have to be familiar with.

All of it, I'd say, for 2 reasons.

1) You want to be sure it will pass muster when the council come out, because these days they charge per visit.

2) The council won't give you a BS 7671 EIC, and without one you may find it tricky to get your new supply connected.

 

[doorBell]

I'm pretty sure he's paying the COUNCIL 300 quid for inspection and testing, not you..... I can imagine the rigorous interview process people have to go through when you employ a tradesperson for a job.

So, tell me....no wait, I DEMAND you answer the following questions:

- Which way round do you hold the paintbrush?
- Do you perform strokes up, down or another direction?
- What schedule do you clean your paint buckets too?



Good luck OP, just crack on with it....

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Please try and keep up.

If you read AD P you'll see that when the council do I&T they won't be expected to provide an EIC.

And my "demand" was directed at Steve, who seems to have taken it on himself to criticise a post in which he can't actually find anything wrong until he invents a false motive for it, it wasn't a suggested method of interviewing tradesmen. Does your main difficulty lie in reading, or in comprehension?

Good luck OP, just crack on with it....

Do you always have such a cavalier attitude to safety?

 

[Steve]

And my "demand" was directed at Steve,

I shall respond to your demand later, Ban, when I've had a few cans during the match.