We’ve all enlisted the help of a friend at times – but think twice about appointing a ‘mate’ to help install your electrics.
We’ve recently electrically inspected a few properties where a ‘mate’ has installed some new sockets, switches & consumer units (fuse boxes) with the following dangerous problems:
No or inadequate earthling & bonding
Circuit overloading
Wrong conductor & circuit breaker selection
Broken ‘ring’ circuits
No circuit labelling or identification
Sockets which are supplied by two circuits (cross-connection)
No evidence of testing
No installation certificates
These installations break building regulations & the Electrical Safety Regulations. Should the electrical equipment not comply with the Regulations and an incident occurs the penalties are as follows:
3 months imprisonment and/or £5000 fine if there is risk of fire and/or an animal is injured.
6 months imprisonment and/or £5000 fine if a human is injured or killed.
Employing a fully qualified electrician costs less than you think – ensure your electrical safety by appointing a fully registered & competent electrician next time you require electrical improvements.
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Comments
3 comments postedLast 2 jobs I've looked at have had 2 ring circuits in one MCB. One had a spur in a ring for the immersion heater.
I've also seen a 30A rewireable fuse supplying two immersion heaters (half each I guess! - I wonder how they knew!).
Oh yeah and an alarm supplied on 1.5mm2 hard wired (no FCU) on a 16A MCB at the CU.
I have found the same as you and fully agree with all your comments.
People are not always aware
And often people do not care.
Some pay a little more than intended
Some pay when their lives are ended!
spaldingsparks
Could not agree more!!. To many people think they are competent to undertake electrical works because they have read a book, been told by a friend the “write way of doing it” or visited B&Q and watched the videos the used to show on how to change consumers unit, wire lights etc. They also don’t realise the difficulties involved in completing electrical work to the appropriate standards then testing to ensure its safe.
They also don’t realise that just because something works, doesn’t mean to say its either safe or installed properly.
Ian
www.johnstoneselectricalservices.co.uk