Consumer unit change

[Emptyy]

Hi,
I'm a recently qualified electrician and my parents need their consumer unit replacing as they are having a new bathroom and they currently have an old rewirable fuse board so obviously no electrical work can be carried out to it.

The installation has no bonding present and 16mm tales (This would need rectifying)

I don't belong to any regulatory body such as the NIC and work as a maintenance engineer at a hospital, my question is upon replacing the consumer unit and testing what do I do in regards to certification? If I dont belong to the NIC etc then can I still issue a certificate and sign the work off somehow?

May be a daft question but I'm very recently qualified so not had to encounter this stuff yet.

Thanks.

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

16mm tails might be ok. It woukd need to be certified and Part Peed.

Alternately, replace the board, do the bonding, test it. Fudge the cert and part pee bit off as its ypur parents house and its had that board changed by someone else wink wink

 

[Deleted account]

Yes you can do it, but you would either have to get building control in to check at each stage of install or get a 3rd party sign off. Niceic electricians are not permitted to do this, but I think some napit spark are.

 

[Pete999]

Yes you can do it, but you would either have to get building control in to check at each stage of install or get a 3rd party sign off. Niceic electricians are not permitted to do this, but I think some napit spark are.

Makes a bit of a farce of the co-operation of CPS Schemes if that is the case doesn't it

 

[Snailspark]

Hi,
I'm a recently qualified electrician and my parents need their consumer unit replacing as they are having a new bathroom and they currently have an old rewirable fuse board so obviously no electrical work can be carried out to it.

The installation has no bonding present and 16mm tales (This would need rectifying)

I don't belong to any regulatory body such as the NIC and work as a maintenance engineer at a hospital, my question is upon replacing the consumer unit and testing what do I do in regards to certification? If I dont belong to the NIC etc then can I still issue a certificate and sign the work off somehow?

May be a daft question but I'm very recently qualified so not had to encounter this stuff yet.

Thanks.

You have to notify building control (for a fee - I think it’s around £140 a time) - they will sign it off but you would need to do all the certification yourself which they will check too.

 

[Deleted member 105166]

@ChrisElectrical88 doing this could well come back and bite if/when (a) something goes wrong or (b) when the house is next sold. Even though the OP has a PAYE job, if he is going to do this, he should have his own relevant liability insurance "just in case". I don't agree with stitching anyone up, and certainly not your own parents!

 

[Spoon]

As an alternative to changing the CU, you could always just add a small CU next to the original one and wire the new bathroom to this.
Yes, replacing the existing CU would be better.

 

[Emptyy]

Would you advise me to do the board change then (as well as installing the bonding) and get a friend of mine who is in the NIC to test and certify it?

 

[Deleted member 105166]

Would you advise me to do the board change then (as well as installing the bonding) and get a friend of mine who is in the NIC to test and certify it?

Why not do it together?

 

[Spoon]

Would you advise me to do the board change then (as well as installing the bonding) and get a friend of mine who is in the NIC to test and certify it?

@Paignton pete says the NIC are not allowed to do what you are asking.
As @TonyMitchell has said, why not do the job with your mate.

 

[richy3333]

Would you advise me to do the board change then (as well as installing the bonding) and get a friend of mine who is in the NIC to test and certify it?

Thats not permitted under NICEIC rules. If your mate is found out then he would probably be black balled by them ?

 

[Emptyy]

Well that's what would be happening, obviously ??

 

[Phil L]

Get your mate to give you a hand, treat it as a training exercise and chuck him some beer tokens to register it,

Job done

 

[Deleted member 105166]

You'll be grateful of your mate's input in doing the work together if he's an experienced spark, particularly as your OP suggests this will be your first CU replacement. It's pretty much guaranteed you'll run into issues and have to make decisions along the way, which is where his experience will be invaluable and you'll learn a lot from him. A replacement of something old with short tails, in a less than ideal working position, when you're up against time getting power back on, is very different to doing it in the controlled environment of a spacious, well lit practice booth with new cable.

 

[Deleted account]

Makes a bit of a farce of the co-operation of CPS Schemes if that is the case doesn't it

Yes it does.
[automerge]1568569370[/automerge]

Would you advise me to do the board change then (as well as installing the bonding) and get a friend of mine who is in the NIC to test and certify it?

Niceic are not permitted to do 3rd party certification. Only napit as far as I am aware have the appropriate certification for 3rd party.

 

[Pretty Mouth]

Only napit as far as I am aware have the appropriate certification for 3rd party.

STROMA too, if you can still count them as separate from NAPIT.

 

[Toneyz]

So when competent retired electrician Pete with all his experience wants to run a new lighting and ring final circuit to his shed extension that housed his tool collection has to call a Stroma/Napit electrician up to wire it or pay £--- to building control. I do commercial works now ( I did new houses for years before that) so I am not in a scheme and I don't think both of us have a mate in Stroma/Napit.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Screw Part Pee , big scam....

I’m following in our new prime ministers foot steps and am going to break the law and do what I ruddy want

 

[Deleted account]

At the end of the day if you want a domestic notifiable job done it needs to be signed off.

If you are compitant( electrically skilled) and not registered you cannot sign it off, so yes you will have to get 3rd party or building control involved.

That’s the way it is. Right or wrong.

 

[davesparks]

So when competent retired electrician Pete with all his experience wants to run a new lighting and ring final circuit to his shed extension that housed his tool collection has to call a Stroma/Napit electrician up to wire it or pay £--- to building control. I do commercial works now ( I did new houses for years before that) so I am not in a scheme and I don't think both of us have a mate in Stroma/Napit.

But he and you would probably find some friendly person on an online forum willing to assist.

 

[Fitzy]

Would you advise me to do the board change then (as well as installing the bonding) and get a friend of mine who is in the NIC to test and certify it?

You could always ask you mate to come over and just sit there watch you as you do the board change and subsequent testing, just ensure he is thoroughly fed and watered every few hours, as long as he sees what you’re doing at each stage, he should be able to sign it off for you.

 

[Dustydazzler]

You could always ask you mate to come over and just sit there watch you as you do the board change and subsequent testing, just ensure he is thoroughly fed and watered every few hours, as long as he sees what you’re doing at each stage, he should be able to sign it off for you.

Rather than make someone physically sit and observe for 4 or 5 hours which would be extremely weird imo...

Just record yourself , edit it to about a 10 minute video mainly showing the testing part etc and email it to the guy signing off the job

 

[Grant1987]

You could always ask you mate to come over and just sit there watch you as you do the board change and subsequent testing, just ensure he is thoroughly fed and watered every few hours, as long as he sees what you’re doing at each stage, he should be able to sign it off for you.

? I’m sure aslong as you’re competent and fellow sparks who do hold relevant qualifications to sign off work trust and know you then verify the testing and inspection results it should not be an issue it is all red tape and understandably due to dodgy cowboys of previous years. The regulations now are very strict and rightly so but common sense usually prevails without getting too political

 

[Gary latto]

I'm not qualified yet but use a third party guy and now at stage of I send him plenty of pics and all test results etc and he's happy cause he checked out several jobs at different stages

 

[peterhyper]

Rather than make someone physically sit and observe for 4 or 5 hours which would be extremely weird imo...

Just record yourself , edit it to about a 10 minute video mainly showing the testing part etc and email it to the guy signing off the job

Maybe he could add background music to the video?

 

[Dustydazzler]

Maybe he could add background music to the video?

That’s a neat idea , would make the dull job of watching someone wire up a fuse board a little less mundane

 

[Zerax]

Or what about randomly setting off a car horn that's embedded behind the CU ! See how far he jumps each time ??