Garage earth

[Midwest]

Just as an aside Last plumber, I take it from your title, you will be employing the services of a competent electrician to complete this work?

 

[Pat H]

Its no longer competent. It's skilled and trained. The competent person definition has been deleted in the current regs.
Mind you its still the competent persons scheme rather than the akill and trained scheme.

 

[Last plumber]

Just as an aside Last plumber, I take it from your title, you will be employing the services of a competent electrician to complete this work?

Don't be deceived by the title and never judge a book by its cover.
I am more than competent with electrical work, qualified to do the work I am involved in day to day and fully insured to do it.

I do however, like to do things belt and braces and in such a way that any engineer looking over my work, has no comment to make other than the positive.

The cable was installed through to the garage by a commercial spark with over 30 years under the belt and he passed it off through building control during the extension work.

whoever finishes it has yet to be decided, my concern at this moment is
How it is done. As you can see, there are differences of opinion on this, therefore, I will make an educated decision as to which is the safest method before anything else is decided.

Thanks for the concern though.

And thanks to all of you for your responses so far.

 

[Midwest]

Don't be deceived by the title and never judge a book by its cover.
I am more than competent with electrical work, qualified to do the work I am involved in day to day and fully insured to do it.

I do however, like to do things belt and braces and in such a way that any engineer looking over my work, has no comment to make other than the positive.

The cable was installed through to the garage by a commercial spark with over 30 years under the belt and he passed it off through building control during the extension work.

whoever finishes it has yet to be decided, my concern at this moment is
How it is done. As you can see, there are differences of opinion on this, therefore, I will make an educated decision as to which is the safest method before anything else is decided.

Thanks for the concern though.

And thanks to all of you for your responses so far.

I never judge a book by it's cover, I normally look inside and have a butchers at the preface. Unfortunately in your case, there is no information about your qualifications in your profile, hence me asking.

And I was only asking, as often persons post here, seeking a step by step guide to carry out electrical work. As you state you are qualified, you will have the knowledge, experience and suitable tools and test equipment.

You have confused me about who installed the cable; you state it was installed by a 'commercial spark', but in #19, referring to the csa of the swa, you said ' it was four years ago I ran it'. Normally any notifications to LBC are done when the work is completed and fully tested, you don't have to notify to run a length of cable?

My concern is genuine though. Of late I have seen far too many poor and unsafe electrical installations, carried by persons who were not or should not be deemed to be competent.

 

[Midwest]

Its no longer competent. It's skilled and trained. The competent person definition has been deleted in the current regs.
Mind you its still the competent persons scheme rather than the akill and trained scheme.

Thanks Pat H for correcting me. You are indeed right that BS7671 3rd Amendment, revised the definitions for 'Instructed persons (electrically) & Skilled persons (electrically).

However, I was using the adjective 'competent' to assess whether someone (no offence Last plumber) of having the necessary ability, knowledge, or skill to do something successfully.

 

[Last plumber]

I never judge a book by it's cover, I normally look inside and have a butchers at the preface. Unfortunately in your case, there is no information about your qualifications in your profile, hence me asking.

And I was only asking, as often persons post here, seeking a step by step guide to carry out electrical work. As you state you are qualified, you will have the knowledge, experience and suitable tools and test equipment.

You have confused me about who installed the cable; you state it was installed by a 'commercial spark', but in #19, referring to the csa of the swa, you said ' it was four years ago I ran it'. Normally any notifications to LBC are done when the work is completed and fully tested, you don't have to notify to run a length of cable?

My concern is genuine though. Of late I have seen far too many poor and unsafe electrical installations, carried by persons who were not or should not be deemed to be competent.

Ah, understood.
I will sort that at some point. Novice with these things I'm afraid. It took me all my time to put a profile picture on and I can't get that to line up properly. I also can't work out how to post pictures or links.

Yes to knowledge, experience tools and test equipment. I'm an industrial, commercial and domestic heating engineer with 28 years experience, although my electrical work is only related to heating.

I leave electrical installation issues outside that to the sparks I know.
And as far as earth rod testing, that too will be done by a pro with the right equipment.


The ' four years ago when I ran it ' bit, was a figure of speech. I built a large extension around my house four years ago. The commercial spark wired everything in the house and notified building control. I think it was actually his apprentice who dug a trench up the garden to where the garage is now. ( the garage wasn't there then ). The spark supplied the cable and I dropped it in. The spark tested and connected it and put a submarine joint box on the end in the garage. Everything was signed off at the time. I know you wouldn't sign just a cable run off. It was all done together is what I was meaning. In #19 I was avoiding rambling on through all the explanation by simply saying ' I ran it '.

With regard to your concerns, I understand and agree with you. It's only last year I discovered that one of my customers had had a new consumer unit installed. The electrician had left the house with no earth. He had made a mistake in connecting the earth from the consumer unit to the supply. I asked to see the certificate and was presented with all the correct papers. The readings on those were text book readings but the wrong ones. Had he tested his installation correctly, he would have spotted his mistake.

That electrician was NIC registered !

Very scary.