maxchristian
DIY
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I had the first EICR done on my flat last week, which failed with some C2s for having an older (2001) plastic consumer unit with no RCDs, but otherwise passed:
A couple of days later I'm called to the property due to no hot water and find the electric boiler is dead. There's a connector block in an enclosure under the boiler so I removed the faceplate to have a look and saw continuous blue sparks from a very bad connection, to say the least:
At this stage I'm already feeling aggrieved as this had worked flawlessly for 6 years and suddenly just after the EICR there's this terrible connection that can't have been sparking like that for years, and the control board in the boiler is likely blown (later confirmed).
I'm wondering why there's three neutrals jammed into the same connection and notice one is from a loose cable going down behind the hot water cylinder. Wondering where it goes I reach down to wiggle it and... BANG!
Photo isn't very clear because I've immediately switched the main switch off so it's dark. The cable had bare ends and was just dangling behind the cylinder! It had come into contact with the it as soon as I reached down and thus the bang.
The electrician who did the EICR and the agency I paid deny any responsibility for not finding any of this, saying "checking wiring centers and cables from cylinders is not part of an EICR. Inspection and testing is carried out on the fixed wiring where accessible, as far as the isolator to the heating system, which was carried out."
(The cable isn't from the cylinder and in fact has nothing to do with it.)
Is it really the case that a professional test costing hundreds of pounds isn't even expected to find a live cable with bare ends dangling in an easily-accessible location right next to the consumer unit? Just another box ticking exercise with no real assurance of the safety of the installation at all? Please forgive the rant but this could easily have electrocuted me.
A couple of days later I'm called to the property due to no hot water and find the electric boiler is dead. There's a connector block in an enclosure under the boiler so I removed the faceplate to have a look and saw continuous blue sparks from a very bad connection, to say the least:
At this stage I'm already feeling aggrieved as this had worked flawlessly for 6 years and suddenly just after the EICR there's this terrible connection that can't have been sparking like that for years, and the control board in the boiler is likely blown (later confirmed).
I'm wondering why there's three neutrals jammed into the same connection and notice one is from a loose cable going down behind the hot water cylinder. Wondering where it goes I reach down to wiggle it and... BANG!
Photo isn't very clear because I've immediately switched the main switch off so it's dark. The cable had bare ends and was just dangling behind the cylinder! It had come into contact with the it as soon as I reached down and thus the bang.
The electrician who did the EICR and the agency I paid deny any responsibility for not finding any of this, saying "checking wiring centers and cables from cylinders is not part of an EICR. Inspection and testing is carried out on the fixed wiring where accessible, as far as the isolator to the heating system, which was carried out."
(The cable isn't from the cylinder and in fact has nothing to do with it.)
Is it really the case that a professional test costing hundreds of pounds isn't even expected to find a live cable with bare ends dangling in an easily-accessible location right next to the consumer unit? Just another box ticking exercise with no real assurance of the safety of the installation at all? Please forgive the rant but this could easily have electrocuted me.