NICEIC Pre-assessment this morning!

[Welchyboy]

Absolute bag of nerves, pacing up and down the lounge carpet waiting for a knock at the door!

Just thought id jot down the morning so you know what happened for anyone else awaiting their assessment or considering upgrading

Im currently an nic DI, i have allways worked comm and industrial for other people but i started on my own around 5 years ago doing mainly domestic but am planning to branch out back into commercial works, so wanted to upgrade to A/C.......

Inspector arrived (in an 09' BMW!) at around 11 oclock, put the kettle on and had a chat about the state of the industry, Part P etc etc

Went through all the usual stuff, insurance, calibration, filled out the duty holder and QS forms etc

He asked why i have applied to upgrade and i explained to him, i mostly had only domestic work to show him, but he was fine with this but said if i do pass the full assessment he will expect to see some comm/ind work next time around.


then a bit of a grilling and question and answer

1. what are the min and max sizes required for bonding conductors for a tncs , a tt and a tns system

2. what are the max allowable disconnection times for old and new 30mA RCDs @ X1 and X5

3. what diiference would you expect to find in a ring final or radial circuit supplying IT equiptment in
an office and why?
4. What are the 2 ways of determining the size of CPC to use in a circuit

he looked over my certs and PIRs and asked what code i would give certain items and why, in different scinarios.

Then kettle on again

he pulled me on not having the BGB yet, i said its not legal till the 1st of jan but he said i will need it for my full day assesssment, he didnt mind about the green OSG yet.

Then after another chat he told me to arrange 3 major jobs for him and another just in case i get let down
he will be in touch soon to confim a date within the next 4 weeks

I feel alot better now i have met him, and look forward to my assessment now allthough still nervous, from the day they took my £580 it took around 6 weeks to get to today, but that aside i think he was a nice bloke and very supportive, i know alot of people moan about the nic but to be honest i have so far had quite a positive experience with them.

 

[rdelectrical]

i had my first di visit from niceic 2 weeks ago i ws like you but the guy who came called mick was a very nice man we chatted he grilled my knowledge was ok when i did the usual mind blankness when quizzed but overall put me at ease
so fAR IVE FOUND THE NICEIC OK

 

[aaelectric]

yea we had mick hes a nice bloke hope we get him next year.
so what was your answers 1-4

 

[rdelectrical]

hi im asumming q1 is 10mm and 4mm for cross bonding if im understanding question right
q2 200ms and 40 ms
q3 id like to know
q4 im thinking the aediabatic eq and poss determining cable length and size of load if im wrong please enlighten me thanks for reply

 

[Welchyboy]

1. TNcS min 10mm Max 50mm, tNs/tt 6mm min 25mm max Reg 544.1/tab 54.8
2. BS 4293/61008 RCDs min x1 <40ms, bs4293 rcds X5 <300ms, bs61008 Rcds
<200 ms
3. you would expect to find protective conductor current earthing in place,
ie, the cpcs at sockets and board are in separate terminals(ring) and if a
radial circuit is used a separate cpc is run from the last point of the circuit
back to the cu. 543.7.2.1
4. You could use either the adiabatic equation or by selection from table 54.7

nearly all about earthing/bonding

 

[rdelectrical]

many thanks