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PilotT

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Hi All,

Hope someone can help with a sanity check. In mid 2014 we had our house fully re-wired and it received an EIC at that moment in time. As our property has just been rented out, it has had an EICR conducted and the C2 failings were 'IP RATING OF CONSUMER UNIT COMPROMISED' and 'NO RING CONTINUITY ACROSS ALL 3 CONDUCTORS ON KITCHEN SOCKETS'. There were also a couple of FI reports, which as non electricians didn't understand!

Attached is the EIC and we've been quoted £690+VAT to repair, which feels punchy. Appreciate rather limited info to go off, but is there anything that stands out as possibly unreasonable? We're surprised that a 2014 consumer unit would not meet standards.

Thanks for your guidance.

PT
 

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It looks like a couple of circuits have been added since 2014, possibly someone knocked out a hole in the cover somewhat bigger than needed?
Do you have a photo of the consumer unit showing e.g. top & bottom or any added holes?

The unknown circuit 5 appears to be the loft, guess that wasn't checked for the EICR.
The unknown circuit 7 was one of the later additions, someone didn't bother to label it.

The Sockets Up broken ring CPC is likely a wire fallen out of a socket terminal or broken off.
The Kitchen ring broken could be someone did some mods with out a clue as to what they were doing - had any work done there?

It is difficult to give a fixed price for fault finding, unless you make it HIGH to cover all possibilities.
Unless of course you already know where the faults are but aren't letting on.
Did you get some breakdown of what the £690+VAT would cover.
It is not unknown for these charges to be just the investigation, and there is more to pay to correct things.
 
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We did have one later addition made post 2014 and that was to put an outside socket to the front of the house, so yes I'd guess circuit 7.

Electrician for the EICR had full access to the loft if he wanted, we're not sure why he didn't go up there (the property's managing agent arranged).

Frustratingly I don't have a good picture of the CCU - just the following from 2015 and probably doesn't reveal much if anything?!
Failed EICR - for a relatively newly re-wired house IMG_1443.JPG - EletriciansForums.net
 
Apart from the socket outlet circuits all there are no other Zs readings they are all LIM. Looks they they didn't make too much effort but to be fair those faults on the power circuits need addressing.
 
An EICR would normally include a loft wiring check, sometimes brief/limited e.g. if difficult access, but I'd expect at least to check any circuit like Loft Power.

The photo doesn't really help, need to see top/bottom where cables enter; the fix could be as simple as a grommet or gland, or even sealant.
 
There are a few things on the new EICR which appear to not quite make sense.

Having said that, it does have more of the look of a genuine EICR and not a grab for cash type that you often see..

The fact they've given the fire rating C3 (likely correct), would suggest that there must be a reasonably large hole in the consumer unit to attract a C2. That in itself shouldn't be that expensive to fix though.

The other issues are most likely to be a loose or dropped connection at a socket and hopefully easy to find and rectify.

Even if not, I would normally quote to do the investigation and fix if at a socket, but warn that additional costs may be necessary if the fault ends up being between points...

It's hard to see how that could all come to £690+vat, unless they are quoting for a change of consumer unit?

It's certainly reasonable to ask for a breakdown of the costs and see what they are expecting to do in terms of remedial work.

Did they have access to the previous EIC when doing the inspecting? I always ask, but it's not always possible - it does help a lot, particularly with unknown circuits...

There is certainly an anomaly between the original EIC, the photo, and the EICR...

Circuit 5 is 16A in the photo and original EIC, but appears to be a 20A now? That's possible if some of the additional work was done on that circuit..

The original EIC has a circuit 7 as spare, but that doesn't appear in the picture taken a year later? - come to that, it doesn't show a spare at 14 either.

(Edited due to eyes!) The original EIC has nothing at circuit 1, but in the photo there is a 16A circuit, which is down as decking lights in the EICR it's not clear how the decking lights were added... From the picture they appear to not be on the RCD, but in the EICR they have the same operating time as the first RCD?

The second UNKNOWN seems to have a fairly clear marking of Lighting on the picture, but that may no longer be present...

Certainly a few oddities - but again it doesn't smell of a 'fake' report to me - just one with perhaps a few issues (Like the fact that all the Insulation resistance readings are >2 rather than what I expect should be >200 or >299

Is there a certificate for the work done for the outside socket by any chance?
 
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deleted - was photo angle playing up my eyes
 
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The fault on circuit one certainly needs looking at.
As others have said it's all a bit confused - on the photo the kitchen sockets seems to be a B16, which could mean it was never intended to be a ring or could have been the 'fix' for someone previously discovering the problem.
I think that's picture perspective - threw me at first too because I couldn't see the first MCB before the RCB. There are 3 x 32A and then the 16 (in the picture) which is down as B20 on the EICR...

If there are only 4 points on the kitchen sockets (Appliance ring separate), then downing it to a 20A would resolve the continuity issue - and also reduce the load on RCD1, which is a bit too high for my liking (though probably OK since it's apparently an 80A).

The original EIC has 8 points for the kitchen sockets though, so presumably some under cabinet (or in cabinet) sockets lurking and might make 20A a bit of an issue....
 

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