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ExArmy

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got a kitchen/diner knock through to do, all they want is the 2 old room lights joined and the switches made 2 way, circuit has no RCD protection at the minute it's on the non RCD side of a 16th board. all other circuits i need to work on are on the RCD side of the board

reason i'm asking is elecsa said it needs an RCD whatever last time I asked, but a few electricians I know are ok with doing minor works on non socket circuits with no rcd?
 
Also, Elecsa are your scheme providers not OTHER electricians. Your job, your name on the cert, your responsibility :thumbsup
 
The regs are what they are, these other electricians are typical of a cowboy attitude and practices your choice if you want to have peace of mind that it complies and is safe or whether you want to become the next candidate for a Dom Littlewood supprise visit.
 
It's the same old story though ,they spend a fortune on alterations and skimp on a few quid for life saving devices and expect the poor sparky to be a magician.
 
It's the same old story though ,they spend a fortune on alterations and skimp on a few quid for life saving devices and expect the poor sparky to be a magician.

it's not always a few quid, it all adds up. recently was on a job where a few sockets required a board change & bonding, and then to top it off 2 seperate N-E faults on both rings, took 3 days to sort the fault including new boards(wyroc) and plastering. i'd estimate a £1000 was spent on that job, hard to explain why it costs so much to the customer!
so for this job i'm going to have to move the lighting circuit over to the RCD protected side of the board, hopefully that will be a 1 hour job max, but since when does everything go to plan!
 
it's not always a few quid, it all adds up. recently was on a job where a few sockets required a board change & bonding, and then to top it off 2 seperate N-E faults on both rings, took 3 days to sort the fault including new boards(wyroc) and plastering. i'd estimate a £1000 was spent on that job, hard to explain why it costs so much to the customer!
so for this job i'm going to have to move the lighting circuit over to the RCD protected side of the board, hopefully that will be a 1 hour job max, but since when does everything go to plan!

No I know it's not , and thats how the jobs get lost , but don't you find on big jobs it's always the unseen work that they are not interested in and want it done for nothing. They never bring their mates in to see the new wiring lol.
 
It takes as long as it takes and costs what it costs.

You present your client with all of the available options that will allow you to complete to the required standards. If they do not want it done then what option do you have? Walk! If you don't and you go against your scheme providers advice then why bother with all the aggro of being a registered competent contractor?
 
Unless you can make the alteration without any switch drops, you will have to provide some method of additional protection for the new switch drops.
The additional protection, doesn't necessarily have to be by means of an RCD.
 
it's not always a few quid, it all adds up. recently was on a job where a few sockets required a board change & bonding, and then to top it off 2 seperate N-E faults on both rings, took 3 days to sort the fault including new boards(wyroc) and plastering. i'd estimate a £1000 was spent on that job, hard to explain why it costs so much to the customer!
so for this job i'm going to have to move the lighting circuit over to the RCD protected side of the board, hopefully that will be a 1 hour job max, but since when does everything go to plan!


I think rustons on about the job you're on at the minute. A full knock through must be costing a bit, yet 20 -30 on an RCBO shouldn't really be mush of a cost increase
 
phoned elecsa today for some more clarification, I can do minor works on a circuit with no rcd protection providing that it is surface mounted, in steel conduit or buried 50mm deep.
so if the cable running in the joists are at least 50mm deep, and the drops are in steel conduit then i don't have to touch the board. this may be an option, the house is wired in steel conduit anyway but I can't tell for sure untill the job starts if the drops are in conduit. i not then i'll just get a couple of new busbards and reconfigure the board, shift the lighting circuit over to the RCD side if it tests out ok which it should as it was done in 2008(to the 16th)
 
You could always dig out all the plaster on the wall and check that the switch drops are buried beyond 50mm if there isn't steel conduit lol

;)

:thumbsup
 
No surprise on the extra clarification really is it. Its basic 17th edition stuff.

It'll probably cost more in steel tube,both time and materials.

Don't think floors/ceilings have minimum depths either that affect RCD and all that
 
well it's getting dot n dabbed over the existing , so if i use the chaser and set it to 30mm then it will be 50mm deep once finished!
 

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