consumer unit fires.

[Leesparkykent]

Just seen this on twitter posted by select. Reading some of the stuff Select post it's a shame they don't operate a CPS scheme in England...Their attitude/ethos seems to be one shared by most of us.

 

[Octopus]

Mind you, fuseboards and the components have all got flimsy over those years too.

 

[ipf]

Mind you, fuseboards and the components have all got flimsy over those years too.

Not much change in the last 10 years, though, M.
Go back 20 and may be a bit more.
It's the beggars doing them...worse standard of work?

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

i agree part p has lowered the overall standard of entry within the industry but at the same time most cowboys would still have been doing CU changes regardless pre post p and will carry on doing them now without being part of a scheme as they dont care about the law. they dont care and do a runner with no paperwork. so to say its part p causing the fires is to simplistic. your average home owner only cares about price and it working.
in some ways being part of a scheme even if a cowboy means at least minimal knowledge and some supervision from schemes even if its not much they have at least some testing know how and demonstrated it. i recognise its a bit of a hot topic on the forums but i do think the part p schemes have overall been good for the domestic sector, you will get cowboys out for quick money in any trade and they will ignore any laws and rules no matter what.

 

[stevethesparks]

The worst part of many CU's is the ridiculous main switch terminals.

 

[South Spark]

What's the actual figures for consumer units sold vs reported being fitted?

 

[Strima]

I still think a lot of fires have been started where smart meters have been recently fitted.

When the meter fitter moves the tails out of the way to get the meter in and moves them back how many actually check the tightness at the DB?

 

[Leesparkykent]

What's the actual figures for consumer units sold vs reported being fitted?

Hold on mate.....

 

[dmxtothemax]

The market is full of low quality and suspect quality electrical equipment, if people settle for lower quality,
then they must accept the consequences of that.

 

[The Ghost]

As a matter of interest how do you interpret those figures? Are they saying Part P has worsened the situation or what. That is a dramatic rise over those years especially latterly. What are we to make of them?

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

As a matter of interest how do you interpret those figures? Are they saying Part P has worsened the situation or what. That is a dramatic rise over those years especially latterly. What are we to make of them?

That was my thoughts too. It does seem like a spike in the last few years. An outlier if you will. I dont think you could say part p and schemes have caused that. As cowboys will operate and do jobs regardless and would have been doing them for years. If purely down to skills and experience you would see a more evem and balanced set of figures. That suggests its more likely other things such as quality of parts.. Poor cable selection cheap or fake parts etc... Ebay is flooded with them. So much so hager now print on numbers so you check each breaker on the hager website to see if its legit.

 

[The Ghost]

It may be that reporting or investigation has changed or recording methods. It may be that many consumer units have reached there end of life and more prone to fire danger. It may be the market is soaked with people who do not know how to terminate cables. I wonder what it actually is?

 

[Devonchris]

It may well be that the standard of fire investigation is not what it was. When you are under pressure not to put "cause unknown" it's too easy to put electric.

How many of them are then interpreted as consumer unit?

 

[DPG]

There is some evidence (albeit anecdotal) that a lot of fires where the cause is unknown are put down as suspected electrical fault.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Unfortunately when trying to determine a cause, the figures on their own are meaningless.

 

[telectrix]

it's all a case of treating the symptoms, not the cause.

the 2 probable causes are :

1. poor quality materials.
2.poor workmanship.

the latter being the most prevalent. entirely due to :
a. cowboys who don'tknoew any better and don't give a f*ck.

b. Electrical Trainee's who although keen, have insufficient training to do it right.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

That is two possibilities.
Others could be network problem, an increase in the load, external source, etc.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

2005/6 was also about the time we switched to harmonised colours.
I blame the EU.

 

[jackhammerJIM]

The market is full of low quality and suspect quality electrical equipment, if people settle for lower quality,
then they must accept the consequences of that.

CHINT

 

[ipf]

i agree part p has lowered the overall standard of entry within the industry but at the same time most cowboys would still have been doing CU changes regardless pre post p and will carry on doing them now without being part of a scheme as they dont care about the law. they dont care and do a runner with no paperwork. so to say its part p causing the fires is to simplistic. your average home owner only cares about price and it working.
in some ways being part of a scheme even if a cowboy means at least minimal knowledge and some supervision from schemes even if its not much they have at least some testing know how and demonstrated it. i recognise its a bit of a hot topic on the forums but i do think the part p schemes have overall been good for the domestic sector, you will get cowboys out for quick money in any trade and they will ignore any laws and rules no matter what.

In some situations, maybe, but, if you give someone the go ahead to do a task which they haven't got the experience or knowledge to carry out, it's just asking for trouble.
OK, there are still cowboys but some of those ''qualified'' can be little or no better.....trading with a right and CONFIDENCE to do so.