Econometer fitting and RCD tripping or not.

[Boatelec]

Two things.
A man from British Gas came to fit an economiser to my house yesterday. Surprised to see that he used a plug tester to "prove" isolation when pulling the sealed fuse and that he, although presumably not an electrician (he did the gas as well) was authorised to re-seal. If he is ok to do it why isn't an approved electrician? Is there any movement on this?
Put my hand under the boards this week and got a shock, it didn't do any lasting harm but really shook me up. Old taped joint, rubber cable, insulation falling off. My own stupidity I know. Point is I had just changed the board and the circuit was protected by a 30ma RCD which was working correctly. It didn't trip. I assume that because I was on wooden floor, upstairs etc the resistance of all this limited the current to about 29ma by the feel of it! If this had been up a ladder it could have had serious consequences. It woke me up and shows that if there is any tendency to think it doesn't really matter if it's live, think again. You can still get a nasty shock without the RCD tripping.

 

[snowhead]

and that he, although presumably not an electrician (he did the gas as well) was authorised to re-seal. If he is ok to do it why isn't an approved electrician? Is there any movement on this?

Did he tell you he wasn't a qualified electrician?
I work on both Gas and electricity and am qualified to do so on both.

He works for an energy supplier, they pull fuses to maintain their own metering equipment.

If a plug in tester is the BG approved way he's done nothing wrong, but I doubt it is.

 

[snowhead]

Double post oops.

 

[Amp David]

The people who come out to do jobs like aren't always qualified.

Your rcd hasn't tripped as there probably wasn't an earth fault created when you touched the joint.

 

[Boatelec]

Sorry Snowhead didn't realise double posts were a no no. The forum can be an unwelcoming place for those who don't use it a lot.

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There was definitely an earth fault created as the neutral was not exposed.