The visual inspection is the most important bit, however one does also need to electrically test and know what you are doing. I remember doing a mag mount drill, clearly marked with double square on drill to show class II, but the base was clearly class I and it seems it had been tested many times with the earth wire not connected, and passed.
Also size of a portable appliance, did a batching plant clearly portable is was moved around site to site with around 10 articulated units, but took around 3 days to test, OK extreme case, but items of equipment may not have 13 amp plugs, and can as a result take longer to test, the hand drier in the toilet springs to mind, which really needed two people.
So how to price, or limit what is tested? Freezers I would hope single pole relay for the defrost heater, but with inverter drives today really these items need to be tested by some one who can repair them, and understands how to test without causing damage and also test all parts. Same with washing machines, how can one test a part which only runs at the end of the cycle without sitting there waiting for it to complete a wash?
So the contract needs careful wording, items with thermostats or timers need to be tested by personal would normally repair the equipment. Where I worked the cool drinks machine, etc were on maintenance contracts and the service engineer was responsible for testing and inspecting.
And some items would be tested with the installation rather than the rest of PAT testing as could not use the PAT testing machine. I had to do PAT testing but it was a boring job in the main which I hated doing, and caused all sorts of arguments. For example can one put a label on a hand tool saying tested and passed if a guard is missing? It is electrical sound, but mechanically dangerous.
The 370 watt rule was the other point, many hand tools can be latched on, and the motors are over 370 watt, so rotating machines rules kick in, can you pass the item when it does not comply with 552.1.2 when it was designed that way by the manufacturer? Same applies to grinding wheels, I use to use active RCD's to stop restart should power be lost and then return.
But it is not cut and dried, even the desk lamp without the double square sticker, you know it was designed as class II, but no sticker to say class II, likely made in China, and you have to decide if to pass or not. Unlike the EICR where you can write out an advisory note, you only have two options, pass or fail, use common sense and pass it, and next inspector may fail it, and you have to explain why you passed it.
As to central heating, with pumps, thermostats, and control boxes which are all in service electrical equipment, where do you draw the line? So a thermostat fed with flex where the green/yellow has been used for line, is that part of the installation or part of the equipment as the flex is not fixed?
From the first time I did inspection and testing there has always been that argument, what is part of the installation and what is considered as equipment.
In house easy, you are told what to test, there are no grey areas, but as a contractor what do you include? I have seen contracts which state must be fitted with a 13 amp plug and not include timers or thermostats. The question is who is the manager? The tester and manager do not need to be same person.
Also can you earn enough? With a Robin at that time top of range PAT tester I tried timing myself, on average including walking item to item it took around 6 minutes per item. Specially when the tester did it's self check. So at £10 per hour, that's £1 per item, clearly not enough, even in 1995 my time was charged out at £25 per hour, so £2.50 per item, and the market was flooded with people charging a £1 an item.
Yes you can have a roll of labels pre printed and just give each item a quick look, and no obvious faults stick on a label, and the modern battery powered testers are a little faster, but in the main PAT testing is a loss leader, a way to get ones foot in the door, can you afford the time?
