Go On Then, What Would You Charge.

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Well most of my work in schools is around them being not full of kids and when it is unlocked which is usually when I'm on the way home between 4-6, so it may well be a on the way home job. Although as you say there maybe specific requirements although they are not known I was generalising.

 
Most of the school work I do is either after 4pm during term time or anytime from 07:00- 23:00 during half term breaks.

As for the price I'd be in for £150........

 
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No, if the original designer allowed for the control to be via an active RCD socket then they were incompetent.

That is by the way a full stop at the end of the sentence above, as there is no more to say!
Im not saying this was how it was designed to CONTROL the motor, or anything else for that matter,

soldering iron, heater etc etc,

but surely it would be advantageous for it to be active in that sort of scenario, and would/may have been a part of the original spec,?

just trying to work out why it would need to be changed.

 
Active RCD sockets are useless TBH, I used to use them, I now use passive on all my medical jobs!

I can't see a reason for using them TBH.

They are not reliable enough to be considered for use as a SRPCS, so just use passive & implement your own safety system.

 
Im just thinking aloud, so to speak,

kids, soldering irons, power cut, lets go home, soldering iron left lying on the wooden desk, etc ,

just a train of thought ,

maybe Im being too worried about something thats not my problem, just do as we are told kinda thing.

 
Just to answer a few things.

The school is not PFI its just a medium sized primary in-charge of their own budget.

The socket is to feed a tropical fish tank (a problem if the power goes off/on and the pump heater dont restart), no motors

Whenever i do do work at the school its after the kids have gone or in the holidays. The only time i have worked when the kids are there is when there`s an emergency job needs doing, and then the kids are shifted to another room. Regarding price of a decent rcd socket, you can get a Timeguard one for around £23.

Its just staggering to me that some firms see schools as a cash cow.

My wifes a teacher at a special needs school and they recently had some led lighting installed in their hall. Now i dabble in stage / effect lighting and i know how much the kit costs. The installers (2 guys) were there less than a day, all surface mount conduit and in my mind poorly installed. I worked it out that even if they paid near retail prices for the kit they would have walked away with £3k. Disgraceful

 
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Im just thinking aloud, so to speak,

kids, soldering irons, power cut, lets go home, soldering iron left lying on the wooden desk, etc ,

just a train of thought ,

maybe Im being too worried about something thats not my problem, just do as we are told kinda thing.
IF there were soldering irons involved the the classroom must be wired in accordance with BS4163, if they are not, then active RCD sockets are NOT the answer, the answer is get the contractor who wired them in court for absolute incompetence, I get them top pay out for any issues because of they have not met this standard then they are not competent to work in this environment, and they have put OUR children's lives at risk so they deserve no mercy  lock them up & throw away the key as they are absolutely incompetent, and are at risk of killing children through their lack of competence.

Again a full stop above.

 
ok, ok,

like I said, was just trying to think of maybe a reason that an active RCD had been installed originally.

as we now know its now being used for a fish tank, so I can understand why the passive,

Im still unclear as to the responsibility if it has been originally spec'd as being active and now someone changes it to passive,

does the responsibility fall onto the person ordering the work?

that is, I suppose, the point I was meaning to get at.

 
I can't see a reason for specifying active to be honest.

OK forget the fish tank for a minute.

You are talking about these active RCD SO being part of the safety system to ensure that say for example, soldering irons are not left energised in contact with a wooden bench after a power cut.

So, you must ask yourself, now, does this form part of a safety related part of a control system.

After all, if it fails or the soldering iron sets fire to the wooden bench then this is not a safe condition, so therefore they do form part of a safety system, however, the standard to which these devices meet does not meet the minimum required for a safety system.

There is no more to say.

 
sidey,

I cant see a reason for most of the things that designers specify most of the time,

but what they want they get, after all, its their name goes on that part of the cert,

oh,

apart from the one guy we had spec'd a load of stuff then shat himself when he realised that he had to put his name to it,

frickin plonker,

that was the one and only time he ever told us stuff had to be a certain brand/make/etc

 
Its just staggering to me that some firms see schools as a cash cow.

My wifes a teacher at a special needs school and they recently had some led lighting installed in their hall. Now i dabble in stage / effect lighting and i know how much the kit costs. The installers (2 guys) were there less than a day, all surface mount conduit and in my mind poorly installed. I worked it out that even if they paid near retail prices for the kit they would have walked away with £3k. Disgraceful
'let the buyer beware' - the school was no doubt sold a package, and many people think LED is v expensive still! But there is a whole host of stuff that schools have to comply with, like CRB checks, suitable insurance etc etc that limits thier choice of contractors. Still surprised they didn't ask you seeing as you are in the building, but that would involve the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing.   It is becuase of such non-sense I went AC, have CHAS etc etc, not to rip of the state, but to get a chance of quoting for these jobs, and hopefully making a bit more money.

 
I think schools that have opted out have a duty agreement to get 3 quotes before accepting any quotes.

I have found most classrooms where activities take place have the power through a contactor and a lock off stop button adjacent to the door, labelled accordingly about isolation before leaving, I assume someone is then given that responsibility.

 
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