Hi,

quick 'post and run' with apologies if this is covered in FAQ.

My Corgi registered plumber who is replacing our central heating
sub-contracts to an electrician to do the 'Part P' bits.

The electrician has quoted for 3 extra bits of work:

(1) Replace existing rewireable fuses with miniature circuit breakers
(2) Upgrade main earth cable
(3) Main equipotential bond cable to incoming gas.

(2) and (3) seem potentially reasonable (although the electricity meter
was replaced by the leccy board and the gas reinstated by another Corgi
plumber about a year ago when we moved in, without any mention of these).
There is an isolation switch between the meter and the distribution board.

However is it required by Part P that rewireable fuses are replaced by
plug in MCBs?

The quote is £198+VAT

As far as I can see I can replace the fuses with items from e.g. Screwfix
such as
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...71652&id=87979
at £7.25 a pop.
I was thinking of doing this anyway.
I presume I replace e.g. 30A with 32A etc.

This comes to around £60.

So is £180 including VAT a reasonable price for adding some earth bonding
and certifying to Part P or is the electrician making a lot of his money
on supplying and fitting the replacement fuses?

£200 for wiring in and certifying the boiler is included in the main
quote, so this is extra work to bring the whole installation up to Part P.

My obvious option is to ask for a price for just the earth bonding, but I
would welcome guidance on how much is reasonable (which is obviously a bit
difficult as you can't see the installation).
3 bedroom semi with the gas meter in the attached garage.

TIA
Dave R

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006 08:58:01 +0000, David WE Roberts wrote:

Hi,snip

(2) and (3) seem potentially reasonable (although the electricity meter
was replaced by the leccy board and the gas reinstated by another Corgi
plumber about a year ago when we moved in, without any mention of these).
There is an isolation switch between the meter and the distribution board.

However is it required by Part P that rewireable fuses are replaced by
plug in MCBs?
snip

Fool boy - the 'isolation switch' is a Wylex RCOCB 240v 80A load 100mA
trip.

So the whole installation is protected by a RCOCB - do I also need
individual RCBs to be Part P compliant?

Also, having just checked again, I can see a separate earth feed coming
into the consumer unit.
This may, however, be earthed to a part of the pipework which is being
replaced.
I can see earth bonding to the main stopcock in the kitchen.

The main consumer unit is Wylex - presumably I can just plug in the
replacement MCBs without having to replace the carrier it plugs into?

TIA

Dave R

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 23 Nov 2006 08:58:01 +0000, David WE Roberts wrote:

Hi,snip

(2) and (3) seem potentially reasonable (although the electricity meter
was replaced by the leccy board and the gas reinstated by another Corgi
plumber about a year ago when we moved in, without any mention of these).
There is an isolation switch between the meter and the distribution
board.

However is it required by Part P that rewireable fuses are replaced by
plug in MCBs?
snip

Fool boy - the 'isolation switch' is a Wylex RCOCB 240v 80A load 100mA
trip.

So the whole installation is protected by a RCOCB - do I also need
individual RCBs to be Part P compliant?

Also, having just checked again, I can see a separate earth feed coming
into the consumer unit.
This may, however, be earthed to a part of the pipework which is being
replaced.
I can see earth bonding to the main stopcock in the kitchen.

The main consumer unit is Wylex - presumably I can just plug in the
replacement MCBs without having to replace the carrier it plugs into?


No, you also replace the carriers. Not a difficult job. Just make sure
isolator is off, as removing the carriers exposes the live busbar.



TIA

Dave R

David WE Roberts wrote:

Hi,

quick 'post and run' with apologies if this is covered in FAQ.

My Corgi registered plumber who is replacing our central heating
sub-contracts to an electrician to do the 'Part P' bits.

The electrician has quoted for 3 extra bits of work:

(1) Replace existing rewireable fuses with miniature circuit breakers
(2) Upgrade main earth cable
(3) Main equipotential bond cable to incoming gas.

(2) and (3) seem potentially reasonable (although the electricity meter
was replaced by the leccy board and the gas reinstated by another Corgi
plumber about a year ago when we moved in, without any mention of these).
There is an isolation switch between the meter and the distribution board.

However is it required by Part P that rewireable fuses are replaced by
plug in MCBs?

The quote is £198+VAT

As far as I can see I can replace the fuses with items from e.g. Screwfix
such as
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...71652&id=87979
at £7.25 a pop.
I was thinking of doing this anyway.
I presume I replace e.g. 30A with 32A etc.

This comes to around £60.

So is £180 including VAT a reasonable price for adding some earth bonding
and certifying to Part P or is the electrician making a lot of his money
on supplying and fitting the replacement fuses?

£200 for wiring in and certifying the boiler is included in the main
quote, so this is extra work to bring the whole installation up to Part P.

My obvious option is to ask for a price for just the earth bonding, but I
would welcome guidance on how much is reasonable (which is obviously a bit
difficult as you can't see the installation).
3 bedroom semi with the gas meter in the attached garage.

TIA
Dave R

Wire fuses are compliant with the latest wiring regs, and their safety
is comparable to mcbs, for almost all of us. The exception is in the
case of the craziest sector of society, who might replace the fuse wire
with thick mains wire for reasons that make no sense to anyone.

Traders like to quote for work that doesnt need doing.


NT

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006 08:58:01 +0000, David WE Roberts wrote:
snip

The electrician has quoted for 3 extra bits of work:

(1) Replace existing rewireable fuses with miniature circuit breakers
(2) Upgrade main earth cable
(3) Main equipotential bond cable to incoming gas.

snip

Thanks for the info. so far.

From a bit of Googling today I think that (1) and (3) are not Part P
notifiable, although (3) is probably required by Corgi regs.

(2) is the only think likely to be connected with Part P.

if I have a main earth cable already, presumably it only needs upgrading
if it is of insufficient diameter?

Nobody yet has suggested costs for this kind of work.

What would you expect to pay to have your earth cable upgraded?

TIA

Dave R

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006 03:05:45 -0800, meow2222 wrote:

David WE Roberts wrote:



Traders like to quote for work that doesnt need doing.

.... but which is easy to do.




--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards