Professional inspection

[nobby]

Just wondering if any of you professional sparkies did inspections and issued certificates for rental properties. I am thinking of renting out my flat and a certificate for the electrics is strongly recommended.

What I was wondering is how picky is the the electrical inspection? Obviously nobody can say if my flat will pass without looking at it, but the wiring is 1960s so for example there isn't an earth on the lighting circuit - would that mean an instant fail - rewiring the lighting circuit would be a pretty big job becuase there is no access from above and the ceilings would probably have to come down. Otherwise the wiring looks in pretty good nick. I guess equipotential bonding would be essential as well?

It has also been suggested that all electrical equipment needs to be PAT tested?? You can see why so many landlords are just cowboys - unfortunately I have a conscience

Cheers,

Nobby.

 

[sterose]

Yeehaah! Cowboy...

My uncle is a landlord and he does all the electrical (and the rest of the-) work himself.

I would suggest you update the wiring before renting it out - but aside from that, there is no need really to have it certified, and certainly not PAT tested.

To tell a story, I worked in some schools once upon a time, and when they tested the electrical equipment in the school, they used to break the computer monitors by PAT tesing them... (you were supposed to use special equipment to test monitors, but the sparky who did it didnt know)

(By the way, I'm not implying that PAT testing breaks anything else)

 

[breezer]

pat testing is Portable Appliance Testing, way round that, do not leave anything that is portable.

I would fail it as it does not comply to the latest regulations, also suppose the tennent was killed by an electrical fault, the relataives could sue (right spelling?) because of no earth

the fact they were standing in the bath at the time is irelevant

 

[masona]

When they do "Portable Appliance Testing",do they take it apart or test the equipment on the outside or what do they do? And why do we have it done,is it employee protection act ??

We have it done all the time at work including our kettle!

Do they PAT testing once or regular ?

 

[sterose]

When they do "Portable Appliance Testing",do they take it apart or test the equipment on the outside or what do they do?

They have special equipment (its just a yellow box, from the one Ive seen), which they plug the appliance into.

They test once a year, I think.

But forget PAT testing, its not really essential, and like breezer says: "Dont leave anything portable". Simple.

 

[spark]

There may be no specific requirements to get a certificate issued, but as you said it's strongly recommended because if someone was to hurt themselves you may be liable.

I do a lot of inspections and the decision I make as to whether an installation is safe is dependant on many things. Some parts of your installation may not be according to current wiring regulations but that may not make it immediately dangerous. Other times the installation may not look immediately dangerous but the condition of the wiring is such that it does pose a risk. Sometimes when an installation is getting on, the inspector will recommend that it is inspected and tested more frequently rather than issuing a 5 or 10 year certificate. If it's being let I would reccommend it is tested annually anyway, especially given the age of it. Some examples of the things I would say would immediately fail an installation like yours (without seeing it) are as follows:

Accessible exposed live parts

Inadequate or absent parts of the earthing system including main earth conductor, main equipotential bonding conductors or local supplementary equipotential bonding.

Circuits supplying Class 1 (requiring an earth) must have a CPC (the earth within the circuit). You mentioned that your lighting didn't have an earth, but depending on what is connected to it, it may not pose an immediate risk. I would still record on the certificate that it does not comply with regulations, but may not record that it is a hazard.

Circuits with incorrect/inadequate protective devices (fuses).

Any circuits tested and found to have insufficient Insulation Resistance, incorrect polarity or high earth fault loop impedance values.

These are just examples and there are many more; it is all down to who you get to test your installation as to how they assess the condition of it.

 

[nobby]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I wonder how often certain famous landlords recently released from prison have their wiring inspected?