Following on from the university PAT check thread, something that has
crossed my mind recently is whether it's worth getting (domestic) house
electrical wiring and appliances check.

Moved into house 20 years ago, and never really checked for anything
unless/until there's a problem. Wonder if it's worth checking as
pre-emptive move, like a mouse beginning to chew into a hidden cable or
water ingress that hasn't manifested itself (yet). Or how that sort of
thing would show up. Or what such a test would show anyway. Or what I
can do myself e.g. with one of the "socket testers" that is available on
the market (and would I understand the implications anyway as a lay person).

What would be worth checking: wiring? sockets? appliances? consumer unit?

House is 40 years old, I moved in 20 years ago and had some wiring done,
and got a new consumer unit in the garage.

We do electrical checking at our place of work etc (on a comulsory
basis), but should we do it at home (on a voluntary basis).

I had a new electric shower put in last year and the electrician checked
the consumer unit and picked up that one of the breakers needed
replacing, but nothing much else was checked. And I've had another
individual breaker on the consumer unit need replacing a couple of years
ago.

Any thoughts welcome.

TIA

Definitely the sockets, I've known them start to heat up just running a fan
heater. Not all are made equal, and some loose wires can cause heating as
well of course.

I'm assuming you are not the first person to occupy it, in which case you do
not know what has been done before do you?
I don't know if bodgit and run are still out there, but some of the things
my father found here in the 1939 house as supposedly safe wiring would make
your hair curl.
We had it all rewired in the 70s, and from the state of what was pulled out
its a wonder anything worked at all, cracked rubber chaffed fabric, and
twisted and taped joins.

Brian

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"Allan" wrote in message
...
Following on from the university PAT check thread, something that has
crossed my mind recently is whether it's worth getting (domestic) house
electrical wiring and appliances check.

Moved into house 20 years ago, and never really checked for anything
unless/until there's a problem. Wonder if it's worth checking as
pre-emptive move, like a mouse beginning to chew into a hidden cable or
water ingress that hasn't manifested itself (yet). Or how that sort of
thing would show up. Or what such a test would show anyway. Or what I can
do myself e.g. with one of the "socket testers" that is available on the
market (and would I understand the implications anyway as a lay person).

What would be worth checking: wiring? sockets? appliances? consumer unit?

House is 40 years old, I moved in 20 years ago and had some wiring done,
and got a new consumer unit in the garage.

We do electrical checking at our place of work etc (on a comulsory basis),
but should we do it at home (on a voluntary basis).

I had a new electric shower put in last year and the electrician checked
the consumer unit and picked up that one of the breakers needed replacing,
but nothing much else was checked. And I've had another individual
breaker on the consumer unit need replacing a couple of years ago.

Any thoughts welcome.

TIA

On 15/08/2019 10:03, Allan wrote:
Following on from the university PAT check thread, something that has
crossed my mind recently is whether it's worth getting (domestic) house
electrical wiring and appliances check.

Moved into house 20 years ago, and never really checked for anything
unless/until there's a problem.Â* Wonder if it's worth checking as
pre-emptive move, like a mouse beginning to chew into a hidden cable or
water ingress that hasn't manifested itself (yet).Â* Or how that sort of
thing would show up. Or what such a test would show anyway.Â* Or what I
can do myself e.g. with one of the "socket testers" that is available on
the market (and would I understand the implications anyway as a lay
person).


The official check is known as an "Electrical Installation Condition
Report" (EICR) and for rented property should be carried out every 10
years unless you have a pool then every year. Have a google ..


What would be worth checking: wiring? sockets? appliances? consumer unit?


Well I would be testing general condition, ring main loop resistance,
earth resistance, RCD trip time,

House is 40 years old, I moved in 20 years ago and had some wiring done,
and got a new consumer unit in the garage.


So 40 years ago the wiring would be PVC so should still be OK. Did you
get a consumer unit with an RCD? If its only a single RCD I would be
looking to replace it with a split box, or even RCBOs.

We do electrical checking at our place of work etc (on a comulsory
basis), but should we do it at home (onÂ* a voluntary basis).


I would say so...

I had a new electric shower put in last year and the electrician checked
the consumer unit and picked up that one of the breakers needed
replacing, but nothing much else was checked.Â* And I've had another
individual breaker on the consumer unit need replacing a couple of years
ago.

Any thoughts welcome.


Well after having some checks for a new kitchen, I would say regular
checks are a good thing, and I would say five years would be better....


TIA

Dave

On 15/08/2019 11:28, David Wade wrote:
On 15/08/2019 10:03, Allan wrote:
Following on from the university PAT check thread, something that has
crossed my mind recently is whether it's worth getting (domestic)
house electrical wiring and appliances check.

Moved into house 20 years ago, and never really checked for anything
unless/until there's a problem.Â* Wonder if it's worth checking as
pre-emptive move, like a mouse beginning to chew into a hidden cable
or water ingress that hasn't manifested itself (yet).Â* Or how that
sort of thing would show up. Or what such a test would show anyway.
Or what I can do myself e.g. with one of the "socket testers" that is
available on the market (and would I understand the implications
anyway as a lay person).


The official check is known as an "Electrical Installation Condition
Report" (EICR) and for rented property should be carried out every 10
years unless you have a pool then every year. Have a google ..

AFAIK there is no /requirement/ on landlords generally in England to
have EICRs. The main exception is HMOs where it's every 5 years. The
government consulted on extending that to all privately rented
properties and announced last year they would do so by regulations. But
I've yet to see any sign of them. Nice little earner i.d.c. for firms
with apprentices to spare?


--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On 15/08/2019 10:03, Allan wrote:

Following on from the university PAT check thread, something that has
crossed my mind recently is whether it's worth getting (domestic) house
electrical wiring and appliances check.

Some, probably.

Moved into house 20 years ago, and never really checked for anything
unless/until there's a problem.Â* Wonder if it's worth checking as
pre-emptive move, like a mouse beginning to chew into a hidden cable or
water ingress that hasn't manifested itself (yet).Â* Or how that sort of
thing would show up. Or what such a test would show anyway.Â* Or what I
can do myself e.g. with one of the "socket testers" that is available on
the market (and would I understand the implications anyway as a lay
person).

The stuff you could expect to show up would be things like degraded
circuit continuity due to poor or loose connections. Wear on sockets and
accessories. Possibly insulation damage to cables etc.

What would be worth checking: wiring? sockets? appliances? consumer unit?

Possibly, yes, some and yes :-)

Wiring tests like round trip resistance on ring circuits, and earth loop
impedance tests, plus insulation resistance checks will tell you lots
about the state of those. A visual inspection will let you spot sockets
where the contacts are worn etc, and possible also any signs of local
overheating.

Appliances, are probably only worth doing the "visual inspection" part
of a full blown PAT.

CU itself is probably fine, but checking the tightness of all the
screwed connections would be good, as would be testing any RCDs (ideally
with a proper RCD tester, but as a minimum with the test button).

You might also want to look at if all the sockets have RCD protection
with a 30mA trip.

House is 40 years old, I moved in 20 years ago and had some wiring done,
and got a new consumer unit in the garage.

We do electrical checking at our place of work etc (on a comulsory
basis), but should we do it at home (onÂ* a voluntary basis).

I had a new electric shower put in last year and the electrician checked
the consumer unit and picked up that one of the breakers needed
replacing, but nothing much else was checked.Â* And I've had another
individual breaker on the consumer unit need replacing a couple of years
ago.

Any thoughts welcome.

All the stuff that you want to do is eminently DIYable with the right
kit and a bit of planning / learning to make sure you keep safe while
doing the work and can make sense of the results.

Articles like:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/...Circuit_Faults

Cover how to find visible and non visible circuit faults using basic
equipment.

More extensive equipment can be hired or bought cheaply second hand on
ebay (and re-sold when done if you want).

Some more info he

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/...tion#Test_gear




--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 15/08/2019 10:03, Allan wrote:
Following on from the university PAT check thread, something that has
crossed my mind recently is whether it's worth getting (domestic) house
electrical wiring and appliances check.

I don't think PAT testing is worth it.
However you aren't going to find a fault on a ring without testing it
other than waiting for it to catch fire.

On Thursday, 15 August 2019 10:04:00 UTC+1, Allan wrote:
Following on from the university PAT check thread, something that has
crossed my mind recently is whether it's worth getting (domestic) house
electrical wiring and appliances check.

Moved into house 20 years ago, and never really checked for anything
unless/until there's a problem. Wonder if it's worth checking as
pre-emptive move, like a mouse beginning to chew into a hidden cable or
water ingress that hasn't manifested itself (yet). Or how that sort of
thing would show up. Or what such a test would show anyway. Or what I
can do myself e.g. with one of the "socket testers" that is available on
the market (and would I understand the implications anyway as a lay person).

What would be worth checking: wiring? sockets? appliances? consumer unit?

House is 40 years old, I moved in 20 years ago and had some wiring done,
and got a new consumer unit in the garage.

We do electrical checking at our place of work etc (on a comulsory
basis), but should we do it at home (on a voluntary basis).

I had a new electric shower put in last year and the electrician checked
the consumer unit and picked up that one of the breakers needed
replacing, but nothing much else was checked. And I've had another
individual breaker on the consumer unit need replacing a couple of years
ago.

Any thoughts welcome.

TIA

Hard question to answer. A clear photo of the fusebox/CU should give us some idea.


NT

On 15/08/2019 11:45, Robin wrote:
On 15/08/2019 11:28, David Wade wrote:
On 15/08/2019 10:03, Allan wrote:
Following on from the university PAT check thread, something that has
crossed my mind recently is whether it's worth getting (domestic)
house electrical wiring and appliances check.

Moved into house 20 years ago, and never really checked for anything
unless/until there's a problem.Â* Wonder if it's worth checking as
pre-emptive move, like a mouse beginning to chew into a hidden cable
or water ingress that hasn't manifested itself (yet).Â* Or how that
sort of thing would show up. Or what such a test would show anyway.
Or what I can do myself e.g. with one of the "socket testers" that is
available on the market (and would I understand the implications
anyway as a lay person).


The official check is known as an "Electrical Installation Condition
Report" (EICR) and for rented property should be carried out every 10
years unless you have a pool then every year. Have a google ..

AFAIK there is no /requirement/ on landlords generally in England to
have EICRs. The main exception is HMOs where it's every 5 years. The
government consulted on extending that to all privately rented
properties and announced last year they would do so by regulations.Â* But
I've yet to see any sign of them.Â* Nice little earner i.d.c. for firms
with apprentices to spare?


An apprentice do an EICR? We have a 3rd year that could but he is the
only one.

--
Adam

On Friday, 16 August 2019 18:12:56 UTC+1, ARW wrote:
An apprentice do an EICR? We have a 3rd year that could but he is the
only one.

It's not that hard to check the postcode is correct on the Royal Mail website.

Owain

On 16/08/2019 18:12, ARW wrote:
On 15/08/2019 11:45, Robin wrote:
On 15/08/2019 11:28, David Wade wrote:
On 15/08/2019 10:03, Allan wrote:
Following on from the university PAT check thread, something that
has crossed my mind recently is whether it's worth getting
(domestic) house electrical wiring and appliances check.

Moved into house 20 years ago, and never really checked for anything
unless/until there's a problem.Â* Wonder if it's worth checking as
pre-emptive move, like a mouse beginning to chew into a hidden cable
or water ingress that hasn't manifested itself (yet).Â* Or how that
sort of thing would show up. Or what such a test would show anyway.
Or what I can do myself e.g. with one of the "socket testers" that
is available on the market (and would I understand the implications
anyway as a lay person).


The official check is known as an "Electrical Installation Condition
Report" (EICR) and for rented property should be carried out every 10
years unless you have a pool then every year. Have a google ..

AFAIK there is no /requirement/ on landlords generally in England to
have EICRs. The main exception is HMOs where it's every 5 years. The
government consulted on extending that to all privately rented
properties and announced last year they would do so by regulations.
But I've yet to see any sign of them.Â* Nice little earner i.d.c. for
firms with apprentices to spare?


An apprentice do an EICR? We have a 3rd year that could but he is the
only one.


O tempora! O mores!

I'd thought smart phones would have made it a doddle: if the apprentices
see anything they are not sure about they phone their masters for advice
- and send a photo if necessary. Or just wait until the master comes by
to sign the form and collect the money.


--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On 16/08/2019 20:08, wrote:
On Friday, 16 August 2019 18:12:56 UTC+1, ARW wrote:
An apprentice do an EICR? We have a 3rd year that could but he is the
only one.

It's not that hard to check the postcode is correct on the Royal Mail website.


A* in cynicism?


--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On 15/08/2019 10:03, Allan wrote:
Following on from the university PAT check thread, something that has
crossed my mind recently is whether it's worth getting (domestic) house
electrical wiring and appliances check.

[snip]

Many thanks for all the useful thoughts: think I might investigate
further, and am now better informed!