EICR, fixed wiring, no earth, exclusions etc

[JohnW2]

So why does the light in post #7 not form part of the electrical installation yet my consumer unit in post #14 does? What’s the difference?

Is this not getting a little silly? I'm merely trying to introduce a bit of common sense!

In post #7, I said if the ceiling rose was in no way electrically connected to the premises' wiring (by screwed connections, plug/socket or anything else) at the time of an EICR, it's hard to see how it could be considered, at that point in time, to be part of the electrical system that was within the scope of an EICR or BS7671 (it might just be "Modern Art" ). Conversely, in #14 I said that if your CU were electrically connected to the premises' wiring (whether by screwed connections, plug/socket or whatever) at the time of an EICR, then it clearly would be part of the electrical installation and hence within scope of an EICR (and BS7671).

I suppose that you could 'unplug' your CU immediately before the EICR, such that it (and everything connected to it) was not really part of any 'electrical installation' at the time (just a collection of cables and accessories etc. which 'did nothing') but that would also be rather silly!

Kind Regards, John

 

[RF Lighting]

I suppose that you could 'unplug' your CU immediately before the EICR, such that it (and everything connected to it) was not really part of any 'electrical installation' at the time (just a collection of cables and accessories etc. which 'did nothing') but that would also be rather silly!

That’s exactly what I said.

If my house had a 125A plug and socket between the meter and consumer unit, and it was unplugged, do I not need an eicr?

I agree that it’s rather silly, and an extreme example, but I don’t see how an unplugged installation is different to an unplugged light.

 

[JohnW2]

That’s exactly what I said. .... I agree that it’s rather silly, and an extreme example, but I don’t see how an unplugged installation is different to an unplugged light.

I don't think they are different.

If something, whatever, is, at some point in time, not electrically connected to anything that could supply it with electricity, then I don't think it really qualifies as part of an electric installation at that point in time. Nor do I think that it makes any material difference whether, if it were connected, it would be by a plug or a 'hard-wired' connection - if there were an intervening isolator (or you were brave and/or foolish) it would not take you all that much more time/effort to disconnect the tails from your CU than it would to unplug a plug!

Particularly in relation to the light (my #7) .... I must have many dozens, if not hundreds, of things in my house/cellar/garage/wherever which consist of some sort of 'box' or object out of which comes a cable with a 13A plug on the end. Many of them could be 'fixed to my building' if I so wished (without being 'plugged into' anything), but I wouldn't then think that they had suddenly become part of my electrical installation!

Kind Regards, John

 

[ericmark]

I have actually wired up consumer units using a plug and socket, the idea is you can unplug the consumer unit from the DNO supply and instead plug it into a generator. However this brings us back to

“consumer’s installation” means the electric lines situated upon the consumer’s side of the supply terminals together with any equipment permanently connected or intended to be permanently connected thereto on that side;

this is what the government says should be inspected and tested in an EICR note the 'or intended to be permanently connected' that would likely cover a consumer unit which can be unplugged, and possibly also the boiler, and immersion heated. I know boilers are normally fitted onto a plate, so to remove a boiler and refit is not really that hard of a job, and all pipes are screw fit rather than soldered, and an immersion heater only screws into the cistern, and I know my father-in-laws house there was a blank where it should have been, it was removed when the solar panels were fitted.

However the home needs to be inhabitable, so if there are gas lights in every room the electric lights could be disconnected, if there are fire places then central heating could be disconnected, and I suppose in my mothers house to have removed the fuse in the FCU supplying the garage one could reasonably say no electrics to garage.

So the question is what electrical power is required to make the home inhabitable? what is the minimum that can be installed? When rewiring his house my son lived in his house with just two 13A sockets, everything was on extension leads until nearly completed, which took him around a year, while his wife and children were at his mother-in-laws that was not so bad, but when they moved into the caravan in the garden it was not really good enough, and we did have words about it.

And we have the requirements for a caravan in BS 7671 and that is always plugged in, one could hardly say the caravan passed the EICR as where tested in storage there was no power.