M
markyrp
Hi All,
I was hoping to get some advice on some building work which is currently ongoing at my home. I am having a single story extension added to my current kitchen/diner. I am also having my garage converted and some power ran to a new shed which has been recently built.
The builder has been great but electrical work has been subcontracted out to I believe an electrician he uses regularly. The electrician has extended the existing downstairs ring final cct to include an additional 4 double sockets in the extension and 3 double sockets in the garage conversion. The downstairs lighting cct has been extended to include a single light fitting in the extension and 4 downlighters in the garage. I had also requested power to the shed which he has done by running swa cable from one of the garage double sockets which then feeds 3 double sockets (wired as a ring cct) and a single light fitting, all from a single switched fcu. He also ran some coax and cat5e cable for me whilst the building work was going on.
I have numerous concerns over the work. I am an electrical engineer by trade but I am not an electrician and therefore don't want to tell an electrician how to do his job. The number and position of electrical fixtures and fittings were all discussed prior to the commencement of work and the guy has been very accommodating but I have not been impressed with the quality of his work and like I say, I have concerns over whether or not some of it even complies with current regs.
The house was built in 2005 and so has RCD protection for both up and downstairs ring final ccts but no RCD protection for the lighting ccts. From my observations, the relevant ccts where isolated at the CU (isolated as in main switch off) when the additional fixtures and fittings were connected and the testing only started after the ccts were made live. My confidence dipped immediately after he made the ccts live because I heard a sort of 'poof' sound and either an mcb or the rcd tripped. Not sure which but he immediately reset the breaker/rcd and no further problems. When I asked him what had happened he replied 'just the system clearing itself'. An answer that left me stunned.
I don't know what testing he did exactly but I have fixed appliances connected in my kitchen, i.e. cooker, fridge etc. and nothing was disconnected, no light bulbs were removed from the existing downstairs lighting cct and I don't know if he even took the front cover off the CU prior to testing. I did see him writing the results of his 'testing' in the relevant paperwork.
I also asked for my alarm system to be modified to include an additional PIR to protect the area of the extension. He kept blowing fuses in my alarm control panel after trying to daisy chain this additional PIR from the existing kitchen PIR. He drafted in his son to help which resulted in his son frying my alarm control panel which now has to replaced.
The electrician is a really nice guy and appeared to be very accommodating. I have cut him some slack because he is a nice guy and a bit 'oldschool' but not at the potential expense of the safety of my home and family.
Any comments on compliance with regs etc would be greatly appreciated. He is due to come back to replace my alarm control panel but I am unsure whether or not to allow him to continue. I had agreed to pay for any additional work (shed wiring and av cable runs) direct to the electrician and the builder says that the electrician hasn't billed him yet.
Mark
I was hoping to get some advice on some building work which is currently ongoing at my home. I am having a single story extension added to my current kitchen/diner. I am also having my garage converted and some power ran to a new shed which has been recently built.
The builder has been great but electrical work has been subcontracted out to I believe an electrician he uses regularly. The electrician has extended the existing downstairs ring final cct to include an additional 4 double sockets in the extension and 3 double sockets in the garage conversion. The downstairs lighting cct has been extended to include a single light fitting in the extension and 4 downlighters in the garage. I had also requested power to the shed which he has done by running swa cable from one of the garage double sockets which then feeds 3 double sockets (wired as a ring cct) and a single light fitting, all from a single switched fcu. He also ran some coax and cat5e cable for me whilst the building work was going on.
I have numerous concerns over the work. I am an electrical engineer by trade but I am not an electrician and therefore don't want to tell an electrician how to do his job. The number and position of electrical fixtures and fittings were all discussed prior to the commencement of work and the guy has been very accommodating but I have not been impressed with the quality of his work and like I say, I have concerns over whether or not some of it even complies with current regs.
The house was built in 2005 and so has RCD protection for both up and downstairs ring final ccts but no RCD protection for the lighting ccts. From my observations, the relevant ccts where isolated at the CU (isolated as in main switch off) when the additional fixtures and fittings were connected and the testing only started after the ccts were made live. My confidence dipped immediately after he made the ccts live because I heard a sort of 'poof' sound and either an mcb or the rcd tripped. Not sure which but he immediately reset the breaker/rcd and no further problems. When I asked him what had happened he replied 'just the system clearing itself'. An answer that left me stunned.
I don't know what testing he did exactly but I have fixed appliances connected in my kitchen, i.e. cooker, fridge etc. and nothing was disconnected, no light bulbs were removed from the existing downstairs lighting cct and I don't know if he even took the front cover off the CU prior to testing. I did see him writing the results of his 'testing' in the relevant paperwork.
I also asked for my alarm system to be modified to include an additional PIR to protect the area of the extension. He kept blowing fuses in my alarm control panel after trying to daisy chain this additional PIR from the existing kitchen PIR. He drafted in his son to help which resulted in his son frying my alarm control panel which now has to replaced.
The electrician is a really nice guy and appeared to be very accommodating. I have cut him some slack because he is a nice guy and a bit 'oldschool' but not at the potential expense of the safety of my home and family.
Any comments on compliance with regs etc would be greatly appreciated. He is due to come back to replace my alarm control panel but I am unsure whether or not to allow him to continue. I had agreed to pay for any additional work (shed wiring and av cable runs) direct to the electrician and the builder says that the electrician hasn't billed him yet.
Mark
