For the first time that I'm aware, BAS finally admitted the tie between the law and the Regs in a post on this forum in the last couple of days.
"Admitted"?? I've not said anything here that I've not said in the past. The "tie" between the law and the Wiring Regulations is that following the latter is
a way to ensure that you follow the former. That relationship is not at odds with the Wiring Regulations not being mandated in law, nor is it at odds with the view that
if complying with them is the choice you make then what you should do does not depend on whether you're a DIYer or a professional.
One of BAS's thrusts is to take the point 'but where in the Regs does it say that?'
I'm sorry that you find asking questions about the regulations, or seeking clarification of them unacceptable.
and ream off endless points of pedantry to convince (and scare) people into believing if they don't do as he says, they will break the law or else they can do what he says because they won't break the law.
Don't be absurd.
He has openly dismissed, condemned and ridiculed such things as BS7671, the OSG, Guidance Notes and his particular favourite the Approved Documents.
I have done none of these things - only stated the reality of the status of those documents. I'm sorry that you find truth and accuracy unacceptable.
Unfortunately (for BAS), his arguments have been repeated across many forums over many years land they cycle and roll like the swell of the Drake Passage.
I guess another way of looking at that is that other people say the same as I.
Reg 131.8 is the starting point for people to look at. After reading the Reg in full, they should apply it to the folowing situation:
I have been asked by a client to upgrade their Consumer unit. I will book the work in and complete the work to the applicable technical, professional and highest personal standards that I can.
Indeed you should, but if there is no explicit technical standard that would be contravened by a particular approach then how far do you go in insisting that your personal standards take precedence over your professional duty to act in your client's best interest? If your client will not or cannot allow you to do what you consider the ideal, then what are the standards you will work to?
All I've been doing here is to ask what people believe those standards to be, and asking them why they believe it, given the lack of explicit direction and given that the "I'm taking full responsibility for everything that's already there" does sometimes seem to be more of a knee-jerk reaction than a genuinely thought-through position.
A consumer unit affects every protective device, every circuit, every cpc, every protective bonding conductor, the earthing conductor and the meter tails. It's rating and it's loading will affect the supply, the meter, the supply protective device and the supply cable.
Indeed, but looking beyond just CU replacement, there are all sorts of jobs where you're working with or adding to or changing what is there where saying "I have to update all that to the 17th standard" may be much less appropriate.
If the job was not to replace the CU, but to remedy defects picked up on a PIR, what would you do if one of the defects was a lighting circuit on a 15A or 30A rewirable? Would you change the fuse or move the cable to a 6A one without adding RCD protection to the circuit?