electrical installation regulations etc - Help needed

[material.buyer]

A friend of mine has recently nearly blown himself up after installing a homebase (pah!) dimmer switch 8 months ago. Question is, under the electrical regs, is he allowed to install a new dimmer switch?

If anyone could answer that for me, I'd be very grateful

Thanks

Matt

 

[davy_owen_88]

He is allowed to fit a new dimmer but whether it was notifiable work or not depends on what room it is in and whether it is a replacement for a normal switch.

 

[material.buyer]

Ok.. to quote, this is what has been done :

the dimmer was replacing an older analogue dimmer. Potentiometer style.......
And it was fitted in my living room.....
It was only used on a 60watt single bulb

Is this notifiable work?

Thanks kind people

 

[Spark123]

Nope

 

[Dippy]

Even if the work is not notifiable, there are various health and safety regulations that apply. Your expression "nearly blown himself up" suggests that either he was working on a live circuit or maybe he wired it wrongly, both of which imply that he was not competent to do the work.

 

[material.buyer]

think it blew up about six months after he installed it though? I'd have thought that if it was installer error, it'd have gone bang straight away?

 

[wingcoax]

Depends if he tightened the terminals up properly,they can come loose after a period of time and short out.

 

[oharaf]

One of the obvious errors he made was

Untitled

• oharaf
• 24 Apr 2009
• 1

 

[securespark]

If it "blew up" after working for that length of time, it may have been damaged by an un-fused lamp going down.