EICR : Should I Update My Consumer Unit first or have the EICR First ?

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Greetings, I would appreciate some insight regarding how to proceed on the EICR / consumer unit front.

My property is a 2-bedroom -- been vacant for the past 12 months and my consumer box is over 20 years old. I recently had an electrician over for something else, and he offered to undertake an EICR ( £140) as that would flag any faults with the electrics that would need addressing in compliance with the new legislation. I was going to proceed with the EICR, especially as it is a legal requirement . However, someone on a different forum advised me to get an electrician to initially advise me on whether my current consumer unit will pass the EICR before actually going ahead with it. The reasoning being that there's no sense in going ahead with the EICR if it will fail on the consumer unit front.

I contacted my electrician yesterday and he gave me a quote of £550 for a new consumer board. He asked me to send him a picture of my current consumer, which I did. I

I have been researching this mind field for the past few days and I do not hold myself up to be an expert by any stretch of the imagination. This is why I welcome insights regarding what is the best way to proceed:

1) Have the EICR done first to see what it flags?
2) Upgrade the consumer unit first as it would definitely fail the EICR test ?
3) Other course of action ?

I thank you in advance of your help.
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You argue that there is no point having the EICR done first, if the Consumer Unit needs replacing.

Imagine you have the CU done, then the EICR carried out and the electrician finds more stuff that needs correcting.

The best course of action is to have the EICR done before any remedial work.
 
Why is EICR a legal requirement? Are you letting it out?

The benefit of getting the EICR first is if there are faults that need rectifying you have a bit more leisure to sort them out, whereas if faults only become apparent once the new consumer unit has been installed the electrician has you over a barrel and you could rack up a lot of hourly labour as he investigates, and given that it's his installation he won't be signing it off till he's happy.

Also I'd guess that's more like 40 years old than 20.
 
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Securespark, thank you for your advice.
Oh no, I'm not arguing anything. I am simply not knowledgeable enough to argue on this subject. I was only alluding to the advice received so far on a different forum :).
 
Why is EICR a legal requirement? Are you letting it out?

The benefit of getting the EICR first is if there are faults that need rectifying you have a bit more leisure to sort them out, whereas if faults only become apparent once the new consumer unit has been installed the electrician has you over a barrel and you could rack up a lot of hourly labour as he investigates, and given that it's his installation he won't be signing it off till he's happy.

Also I'd guess that's more like 40 years old than 20.

Yes, I intend to put the property on the rental market, hence the need to comply with the existing legislation.
I thought depending on the severity of the faults ( C1, C2 etc) remedial work would need to be undertaken within 28 days.
On the other hand, one would only have a bit " more leisure" on the advisory findings. Am I correct ?
Further, given that my unit is a dinosaur :LOL: it would definitely need upgrading. Am I correct?
Lastly, do you think £550 for a new unit is a fair price?

I thank you kindly for your time.
 
EICR first, which will identify any problems with the installation. It won't be 'satisfactory' just because of that consumer unit, but there may be other problems elsewhere.
Then have any faults or defects repaired.
Then have the new consumer unit installed.
There is additional testing to be done after it's installed as well.

Lastly, do you think £550 for a new unit is a fair price?
If that's for the EICR and consumer unit, it's at the cheap end of pricing.

You need to find out what they intend to install as the new consumer unit. All RCBOs and surge protection would be the usual choice.
 
So you are going to let it out. If the property is the area served by London Fire Brigade then you will require the CU to be changed for a metal one. Therefore have the CU changed and EICR done at the same time.
If you are outside the area served by LFB then have the EICR done first.
 
Further, given that my unit is a dinosaur :LOL: it would definitely need upgrading. Am I correct?
Unfortunately there is no definitive standard for what codes any particular deficiency should be given. There is guidance, but it's ultimately down to the judgement of whoever is doing the inspection. I am giving codes here based on my interpretation of the electrical safety council guidance, but your electrician may or may not agree.

The following things stick out in your picture.

1. The consumer unit is not made of "non-combustible" material (C3).
2. There appears to be* no RCD protection for sockets (C2 if any of those sockets can reasonably be expected to supply equipment outside the equipotential zone as they can in a typical house, otherwise C3).
3. there appears to be no RCD protection for lights (C3)
4. there appears to be no RCD protection for concealed cables (C3)
5. The cover over the MCBs is cracked and held together with tape, I don't think this gets a code as said cover is not a safety-critical component, but it certainly won't create the right impression for future tenants.

It may be possible to spot-fix the lack of RCD protection for the sockets and thus scrape a pass with the existing CU but i don't think it makes sense, you are storing up problems if electrical work is needed in the future as many electricans work to the principle that new work should meet current regs.


* It is possible that RCD protection could be found at a location other than the CU.
 
So you are going to let it out. If the property is the area served by London Fire Brigade then you will require the CU to be changed for a metal one. Therefore have the CU changed and EICR done at the same time. If you are outside the area served by LFB then have the EICR done first.
As I understand it, thanks to the LFB, the (in my opinion, daft) requirement for metal CUs has appeared in BS7671, hence applies to installations anywhere in the country, not just 'LFB areas'. However, the presence of a plastic CU should not really result in 'fail' in a 'landlord EICR'.

Kind Regards, John
 
Unlike a car MOT where there are legal requirements as to what should be tested and the guide is written by the goverment the EICR is down to the guy doing the report.

We have "Dangerous" code C1 which is reasonably cut and dried, but the demarcation between "Protentially dangerous" and "Improvement recomended" code C2 an C3 is not well defined, and as long as an inspector has high lighted faults it would be near impossible to show he was wrong when issuing C2 or C3.

So to fit a consumer unit the electrician needs to inspect and test, to re-energise a dangerous circuit would clearly be wrong, and so the EICR and the EIC awarded when fitting a new CU are very similar so it would involve duplication of a lot of the work, so for a good electrician you should be asking for the CU change and EICR to be done together.

OK for a bad electrician it leaves one a little open, but an EICR is only as good as guy doing it anyway.

Personally I would want all RCBO and SPD, but there are no rules saying they must be fitted, so what you need to do is deside what you want, I lost a freezer full of food just before I moved here, did not want a repeat so went for all RCBO but what we are talking about is risk assessment, not write and wrong.
 

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