pat tester

[patlondon]

hello,
could anyone recommend pat tester seaward prime meter 100 pat tester? 300 quid. doing pat testing along with gas services . or pat tester around the 300 quid mark? ta

 

[ericmark]

Having used PAT testers provided by firms I have found the manual types are a lot faster to use.
Two firms had top of range Robin mainly as it stopped us cheating we could not test a PC then just pass the lead which one would normally do as it was used to test PC so must be OK.
Result was in 8 hours maximum units tested was around 50. With total manual unit one could double that figure.
The fact that every time it was moved from PC to PC it did a test on supply before it would allow one to start may have been a safety feature but it really did slow the process.

The so called safe record both with the Robin and AVO PAT testers was easy accessed with visual basic, Access etc and one could with AVO read other peoples passwords and with Robin you had no log out so if next person forgot to log in all items tested went down under your name.

The problems with correcting mistakes resulted in the auto records being considered as unsafe and my firm has all results printed and signed then archived as only safe way that records could be verified.

So really automatic recording PAT testers are only any good when only one person uses them except for flagging of next PAT test date.

Seaward PAT testers I used were very old and after having a Seaward ELI meter and considering the problems we had getting it repaired I would never buy a Seaward item again.

Only people who work in suppliers can really judge as to which are returned for repair as most of us only use half a dozen as we move around the firms and it is hard to compare with such a small sample.

However some of the specialist PAT testing firms manage to get 300 tests per guy per day so there must be some really fast machines! I could never do a test every 1.6 mins it would take me longer than that to write the results down. So unless their PAT testing consists of having a role of pre-printed labels and just sticking them one every item after quick glance there must be some really fast auto recording machines around.

I look forward to seeing what others say!

 

[plugwash]

Having used PAT testers provided by firms I have found the manual types are a lot faster to use.
Two firms had top of range Robin mainly as it stopped us cheating we could not test a PC then just pass the lead which one would normally do as it was used to test PC so must be OK.

Do you consider IEC leads with reversed polarity a problem?

 

[ericmark]

I do see your point on IEC leads but one does not have to go through whole of tests to confirm correct polarity. As to it being a problem in most cases no it's not as most equipment is designed to be used in Germany as well as UK. However I would still test polarity especially with non moulded construction.

Auto machines although they have option to skip tests still require you to say no for each test which takes nearly same time as saying yes. Also where a needle is used as soon as it is steady you can take reading but with auto there is a min time for test laid down.

Any items with filters in them can be a real pain as they will fail even though with manual tester you can see the earth leakage is well within limits once the capacitors and inductances have charged.

However with a manual tester you could just guess the readings and stick on labels which is why many firms insist on using automatic testers.

 

[Spark123]

I used to get hand cramp and a headache with the old manual tester.
I now only get a headache with the new type.
Btw, I'd recommend the Megger PAT4 DV or DVF type tester however unless you are looking to pick one up second hand I doubt you'd get one for £300.