Ban: Update From ODPM

[Big_Spark]

 

[ban-all-sheds]

BAS, after reading this forum for a while, i can see that the average DIYer doesnt even know what a switched live does at a ceiling rose.

No - what you can see are the postings from people who know so little that they don't even know what a switched live does at a ceiling rose.

What you don't see are the people who don't ask questions about ceiling roses because they know how they work.

And you expect them to know that when you put a wire in insulation it cant carry as much current? Most DIYers dont even know that cables get warm in use, how are they going to realise this for themselves?

How about by finding out? By taking the trouble to learn? I've never looked, but do the oft-recommended Which? or Collins books not talk about this?

But what I really meant was why do so many electricians assume that nobody but them could possibly understand all this? How about, if you're concerned about the lack of knowledge in the DIY community campaigining for better education rather than saying "Oh it's all too hard they couldn't possibly understand any of it"?

The Screwfix forum is populated by a large number of professional electricians, as is ATT, and the majority of them have trouble in stringing coherent sentences together or reading what's been plainly written down, so don't tell me that they've all got brains the size of rocket scientists'.

Warnings should be placed on cable reels stating that the quoted current is the absolute maximum and that insulation and method of fixing will affect it adversely.

Not a bad idea.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If you replace a Consumer Unit then it IS NOTIFIABLE, pure and simple, no matter how you attempt to re interpret what was written in the amendment.

Who has said otherwise?

The Consumer Unit contains an Isolator, THIS IS A CONTROL SWITCH FOR THE INSTALLATION (In 98% of cases the only one)

MCB's, RCD's, RCBO's are Individual circuit Control Switches.

Maybe you have. You've just said that the isolator in a CU is a control switch, and I think you've said that MCBs are also control switches.

And Schedule 2B quite clearly says that replacing control switches is not notifiable.

There is no way around the definitions, no matter how much we may want to.

It's not a question of wanting to find a way around them - please read what I wrote above concerning the "notifiability" of CU replacements, but there is no denying the fact that the Statutory Instrument says that you can replace control switches and you can replace enclosures. The definition is unclear, and the ODPM leaflet does say "You do not need to tell your local authority's Building Control Department about repairs, replacements and maintenance work"

I have said this before though, and will say it again, in my honest opinion, replacing a consumer unit is not a job for a DIYer anyway, before installing the new board you should test all circuits in the board and complete an appropriate PIR sheet for them, DIYer have neither the equipment nor the experience to do this.

It's not a job for a DIYer to do without assistance, or without the equipment and knowledge to do the necessary testing. It is worth remembering though that if someone did simply replace a CU - no rewiring, no extending of cables etc, and did a competent mechanical job, they would not have made their installation any less safe than it already was..