Discuss Electrical competence in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

Reaction score
52
Evening folks,

I'm in the process of starting a plumbing and heating business, for some fairly long winded and boring reasons I want to employ a couple of guys from the outset. Plumbers don't seem to bother with any sort of electrical competence, I'd quite like to stay out of jail so was wondering if anyone could advise a basic electrical short course for the very limited electrical work they are likely to do. Essentially it will be connecting a flex to a FCU, possibly swapping a shower or basic fault finding. A fair bit of it is ELV these days which is reassuring.

Cheers
Dave
 
Get yourself pally with a small one man band electrician.
They might be thankful for a few small jobs like that.

Its not really a practical option to have them beholden to another trade. Heating and ventilation is 80% solenoid valves and controllers.

I'm electrical/instruments by trade and happy to teach them I'm just looking for a formal tick box which doesn't involve them spending 4 years completing an electrical apprenticeship
 
Domesticated installer scheme

Choose your poison

Niceic

napit

Elecsa

Storma

So your telling me every plumber is registered under a domestic installer scheme? I might believe some plumbers are ignoring the rules but I know guys working for British Gas etc aren't so there must be a more appropriate route.
 
Perhaps turn it on it’s head - take on a qualified electrician who can notify via a CPS and send him/her on a 4 week course to quickly learn the wet pants stuff. Essentially it’s just bending and joining bits of copper and plastic pipe, isn’t it?
 
Perhaps turn it on it’s head - take on a qualified electrician who can notify via a CPS and send him/her on a 4 week course to quickly learn the wet pants stuff. Essentially it’s just bending and joining bits of copper and plastic pipe, isn’t it?
What they doing for the other 3 weeks Tony....:tearsofjoy:
 
Perhaps turn it on it’s head - take on a qualified electrician who can notify via a CPS and send him/her on a 4 week course to quickly learn the wet pants stuff. Essentially it’s just bending and joining bits of copper and plastic pipe, isn’t it?

I'm a fairly experienced industrial instrument/electrical technician with plenty of experience in E&I in lots of situations. It's obviously a rather different set of rules in the domestic world.

I'm just looking for a simple scheme where the guys can be shwon to be able to safely fit or test a solenoid valve, or poke about on a PCB with a fluke.
 
I'm a fairly experienced industrial instrument/electrical technician with plenty of experience in E&I in lots of situations. It's obviously a rather different set of rules in the domestic world.

I'm just looking for a simple scheme where the guys can be shwon to be able to safely fit or test a solenoid valve, or poke about on a PCB with a fluke.
If it’s domestic you’ll need to notify some works, that’s the whole point, why don’t you contact the schemes and ask them what you need and from there are what the short course providers can do for you?
 
Essentially it will be connecting a flex to a FCU, possibly swapping a shower or basic fault finding. A fair bit of it is ELV these days which is reassuring.

Cheers
Dave

I daresay that if you are experienced that you could teach your guys safe isolation procedure and basic connection skills.
When it comes to fault finding then a basic knowledge of electrical systems associated with plumbing would be needed, which would be something that could be assessed at interview stage. Many experienced heating installers will possess these skills.
If box ticking is your aim then which are those boxes ? Do you have any specific requirements from insurance firms ?
 
If it’s domestic you’ll need to notify some works, that’s the whole point, why don’t you contact the schemes and ask them what you need and from there are what the short course providers can do for you?

I've spoken with NICEIC who basically said you needed to serve a 27 year apprenticeship and Gas Safe who basically said it'll be alright mate electics are a piece of ----.

I'm not wanting them to complete notifiable work, happy to pay a spark for that but they need to be ale to fault find and install trade specific components.

If Dorris rings me and asks to have her zone valve changed would you really expect they to require an spark and a plumber?
 
If they gonna fault find they need 2391-94/95 which ain’t easy and would qualify em to join a scheme and notify.....trust me fault finding is not a piece of p!ss....
 
I think the box ticking yo might


I daresay that if you are experienced that you could teach your guys safe isolation procedure and basic connection skills.
When it comes to fault finding then a basic knowledge of electrical systems associated with plumbing would be needed, which would be something that could be assessed at interview stage. Many experienced heating installers will possess these skills.
If box ticking is your aim then which are those boxes ? Do you have any specific requirements from insurance firms ?

I've got a CV full of electrical/instrument qualifications for stuff like ATEX, AC Drives, protection relays etc. I've been designing/commissioning oil/gas, power and chemical plants for the past 15 years.

I'm very aware of the risks and will be very certain to ensure everone is safe before letting them loose. But what I'm needing is some bit of paper to say they are competent.

I'm just strugling to find out what made up convoluted sheme the trade bodies offer that helps with this.
 
Last edited:
If they gonna fault find they need 2391-94/95 which ain’t easy and would qualify em to join a scheme and notify.....trust me fault finding is not a piece of p!ss....

Its not exactly rocket surgery is it, lets be honest. It's a very limited scope.
 
I've got a CV full of dialectical/instrument qualifications for stuff like ATEX, AC Drives, protection relays etc. I've been designing/commissioning oil/gas, power and chemical plants for the past 15 years.

I'm very aware of the risks and will be very certain to ensure everone is safe before letting them loose. But what I'm needing is some bit of paper to say they are competent.

I'm just strugling to find out what made up convoluted sheme the trade bodies offer that helps with this.

I suppose that's what i'm asking. Why do you need a bit of paper ? is it for your own peace of mind ? Insurance requirements etc ?
I think this area is, as you say, very limited scope and that in house training to your own requirements may be able to cover what you require. If in house training cannot cover that for liability reasons, then why not ?
 
I suppose that's what i'm asking. Why do you need a bit of paper ? is it for your own peace of mind ? Insurance requirements etc ?
I think this area is, as you say, very limited scope and that in house training to your own requirements may be able to cover what you require. If in house training cannot cover that for liability reasons, then why not ?

I may end up going down the in house route.

Its largely from a legal standpoint. I don't want to give an insurer grounds not to pay out on a claim and I don't want to be in front of a judge.

Even the most experienced guys make mistakes and do daft things at times.
 

Reply to Electrical competence in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc

Electrical Forum

Welcome to the Electrical Forum at ElectriciansForums.net. The friendliest electrical forum online. General electrical questions and answers can be found in the electrical forum.
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock