Think of "portable" as applying to the tester, i.e. the tester should
be carried around to where the appliance is used, and appliances should
not normally be moved out of their normal use situation for testing.

PAT is an acronym.
Portable Appliance Test.
And anything fitted with a plug is by definition portable. Even if it's
screwed down/heavy.
So Adam is right. It fails.

PAT testers were designed for idiots that didn't know how to test portable
equipment with ordinarily availble instruments.
And I suspect for job creation.



A "proper" PAT instrument will record the test details for logging in a
database and issuing certificates. Ideally each year's - or whatever
period - test should refer back to the logged data to check for
deterioration in the readings. These are aspects of the test I haven't
seen mentioned in the posts so far.

As far as testing new equipment goes it makes sense to do so. When I was
PATting at a Uni. we had a batch of OHP's delivered and not one had the
earth connected. I know the manufacturer was at fault but without the
test we wouldn't have known they were faulty.

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