Domestic design help?

[craig1000]

Hi All,

Being much newer to the domestic market I want to make sure we get things spot on.

When doing works in a domestic property such as a new circuit or in the biggest case a rewire how far to you go with regards to design and paperwork of it?

Should each circuit be designed and paperwork records kept, a full schematic etc

I want to do it all right but also not be doing more than nessasary or more than what others do.

In all due respect and with out seeming careless we all know a basic household design from experience and knowing what will go in etc, do we full sets of paperwork for this all?

;-)

 

[Plonker 3]

Well seeing as BS 7671 applies to all installations then yes you should.

 

[trev]

When designing a circuit how far should we go down the design route because we all know what goes into a house?!
Really? Seriously? Is that like the builder who said to someone the other day that everyone knows showers are wired in 6mm?
To answer the question properly-You should properly design ALL circuits no matter what their situation and keep your records. If something were to ever go terribly wrong it is these, and your test records, that will stop you being convicted of manslaughter.
Yes, it's an extreme example but it could happen

 

[craig1000]

Sorry if the question has been taken out of context. Maybe I have asked it in the wrong way. I will be doing exactly what needs to be done. My point I am getting at is I don't seem to see everyone in my experiences having been doing this. This is where they are cutting corners I guess and could end up in the boat you have described. It seems frustrating is my point that others will save time for not a proper job and our price needs to drop to that level to compete as customers don't see what the others are not doing for them. Our time & effort if done properly is more than others who will just chuck it in!
Quoting your comment "When designing a circuit how far should we go down the design route because we all know what goes into a house?! " is not what I put. My point being is we do all know what is most likely going to go in from experience, when it comes to domestic work it is pretty generic, still needs to be confirmed but how often in a standard 3 bed does your design change too much in terms of design current, max demand, device selection,cable selection, install methods etc. I am not saying identical, but most in MY EXPERIENCES are very similar.
As i say maybe a bit of a naive question and way it was asked, my bad. It is maybe a whinge more at the amount of paperwork to do a proper job against those that get away with not doing it!

Read more: http://www.electriciansforums.net/e...73400-domestic-design-help.html#ixzz2Mtrer7Qp
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[thekingiam]

if you are meaning do i check every calculation as in if i know 2.5 twin is not going to exceed distance or power rating do i still calculate volt drop etc then no i do not.
anything larger i will generally check to make sure

 

[craig1000]

Cheers 'Thekingiam' in part that is a bit of what I was getting at in the OP.

 

[thekingiam]

if i was going to spend hours trying to draw cable routes for each house as well it would drive me crazy.

 

[craig1000]

This is my point, I am new to this sid eof things having come away from being an install only spark since coming out of my time. We have set up as a company but in the first 18 months of trading most of our work has come from subbed and already designed packages. So in all honesty other than what I covered in my apprenticeship the design element and exact requirements is basically new to me, it is not something i have had to do previous to now in terms of the paperwork element of it.It is like anthing if you are doing it all the time then it isn't easy just to pick up. I wish to do it all right but want to make sure I am not going over and beyond what is needed.

 

[thekingiam]

craig i am new to this myself,but my elecsa assesor didn't expect to see calculations written down as you can do most in your head.
although thinking about it i may in future remark on what size cooker was installed at the time or shower,that way my eic paperwork would be correct if they increased the load in the future.

 

[FAA Greenie]

If I am fitting a standard circuit IAW Appendix 15, then i do no additional design paperwork. However i do cover myself on cooker and shower circuits etc by writing the power rating of the currently installed equipment in the notes on the EIC just in case someone decides to uprate in the future. It's all about covering your backside at the end of the day.

If you install a shed CU, write down in the notes what you based your calc's on according to the customers requirements so that when the customer decides to put a 50a breaker in so he can instantly charge his 15KW light sabre in the shed, your original design specs are noted on the cert.

 

[Guitarist]

No, you don't need to do loads of drawings of cable routes, with calculations shown for every circuit when you rewire a house. I think this is what you were asking.
As already said though, a bit of common sense may need to be applied if something is slightly out of the ordinary, so that any future electricians have something to work from.