hi, i am currently doing my major for initial inspection for the nic, it is a consumer unit replacement for my father in law, who is 86 years old.i didn't do a pir and hence found a mountain of problems to put right within the house. i have a few questions in that the cabling is all now pvc but a few runs are stranded pvc type, provided they meet insulation res tests and zs tests can i ok the circuit. the old guy thought he was doing me a favour letting me do the consumer unit and i would hate to start ripping the house apart any more than neccessary. also a metal outside light (unearthed) needs replacing can i have a few inches of pvc cable exposed or must it be swa. By the way the consumer unit is a 17th edition split rcd , with all circuits now protected by rcd, the earthing arrangement is tt, which obviously bares upon zs requirementsall help (not kicks to the gooloes)appreciated
chrisgjudd
Hello M8
Welcome.
1) Panic not!!!
2) Bin there dont that got the T-shirt as they say..
The work you are submitting as example for NICEIC assement is
"The Consumer Unit Change".... Not a rewire... or replacment of any circuits..
3) There is NO obligation to have to do a PIR. and no obligation to recfify every single anomily you can find!
I used my parents house CU replacement as one of my first jobs to inspect.
I wasn't originally going to but one of my other customers told me access would be tricky with only a few days notice...
had to do a quick reschedule which can be difficult..
but new I could easily get access to my parents house!
That had loads of bad workmanship scattered around on various circuits..wot my dad had done.. {bless!!!
}.. such as wiring to some lights in garage with no sheathing over them:_|
I had no time to put anything write...
But I diddn't need to..
cuz as the very nice man from the NICEIC said..
"The work you did was the
Consumer Unit replacement!!!"
As long as the installation is safer now than before you did your changes,
and all your work is correct...
and you can show competence & knowledge of BS7671.
you should be fine!
The essental things to be done are:-
1) All earthing & bonding is correct. warning signs intact!
2) The box is all correctly labeled.
3) you have correctly filled out the relevent certificate.
4) make sure there are some easy accessible circuits for doing dead & live tests.
5) make sure you can talk through and perform safe issolation, when the NIC guy asks you to open up the CU.
Remember to prove the installtion is dead. then that your tester is still working after proving dead!!!!
6) Have all your paperwork ready.
7) Be able to answer and justify your answers when you do something... such as he'll ask you to do a test... then ask how do you know if that result is good/bad/accept/fail ???
{i.e. know where to find main tables or regs etc.. relating to max zs, max rcd trip times.. etc.}
8) organise a cup of tea & a buiscuit!
Remember: If this work was just any pensioner (not your dad) they may have limited finance to do work with
and could quite realisticaly be doing improvements phased over 2 or 3 years.. e.g. CU yr1, Sockets Yr2, Lights Yr3 etc..
NICEIC cannot force anyone to have everything done in one go!
I know it can be very stressfull and you end up where you cant se the wood for the trees..... but keep it back to basics...
The NICEIC want you as thier customer!!!
From my experience the inspectors are actually quite friendly and helpfull!
Other tips:
1) In the "comments on the exsiting installation" note down your observations about areas requiring further attention,
or if there are loads reference it to an additional sheet.
2) If you are very concerned about some circuits put a reduced next inspection date interval less than 10 years whatever you feel appropriate?
3) normally they do two inspections per day... they dont have loads of time for looking at work you havent done! it achieves nothing!
4) Double check your completed certificate, tick boxes, signatures, n/a areas etc..
hope this helps?
I probably missed somthin off:O
I will add it later if I think of anyhting? ; \
best of luck M8
SL
