Periodic inspection

[Aok1]

I need some advice over a periodic inspection report that has been issued to one of my clients by her landlord.

A client of mine has just took over a 3 storey house, the property is going to used to house children on behalf of the local aurthority, we have been in there for about 6 weeks carrying out CCTV, decorating works etc.

When i first went to the property i noticed a good few sockets and light switches were broke and hanging from the wall and some very odd cable routes.

Anyway this landlord said i have had the building fully inspected both electrical and fire alarm and it passed no problems, i thought how can it pass with the state of the sockets etc?

I received the electrical cert at the weekend it says on the cert that the inspection covers hardwiring only. So i take it this means basically the wiring only?

There has been no codes issued and comes back satisfactory.

I had a hour spare yesterday so i went and took some measurements with my meter and compared it to the test results, some readings were around the same on the cert and others varied by .30-1 ohm on earth loop and my rcd times were slightly different to his but there was nothing that appeared dangerous.

The boards behind the doors could be neater and are missing labels etc.

The electrical arrangement is basically -

12 way board and 4 way board behind the door - 12 way feeds 3 sub main board, 1 on each landinh then a fuse board in each bedroom rooms.

RDD and MCB behind the door, the rest of the boards are re-wireable.

It puzzles me why the smashed sockets etc were not noted on the inspection.

I am not qualified to 2391 or have experience of inspection so some advice would be appreciated.

The landlord appears to be a bit of shark as i have had to rectify faults on the fire alarm so there is no way it has been tested.

What i really need to know is -

Does the inspection cover enough for my client and the local HMO?

Is it normal just to cover hard wiring in a periodic?

If the rcd is tripped it takes out the vast majority of circuits in the house apart from the kitchen, i thought some sort of seperation was needed?

Would it be worth me getting a second opinion on the periodic report?

Thanks

 

[telectrix]

Possible that the sockets were damaged after the pir was done, but for peace of mind, i would go for a 2nd opinion as you suggest.the pir does cover the hard wiring, not appliances. for them you need PAT testing. i don't think the local authority would be pleased to see damaged sockets, esp. where children are involved. it's perfectly OK for you to replace socket fronts yourself as you appear to be competent.

 

[Aok1]

The sockets were damaged while the pir was done that is a definite, i have already replaced them.

Thanks

 

[malcolmsanford]

The problem is a PIR is just like a car MOT as soon as you drive it away from the centre it's basically worthless. Highly unlikely as it is, whoever did the PIR can just say well the sockets were ok when I left. What it does tell though is most likely as this is a code 1 the dodgy landlord told him to ignore them , or promised him he will fix them, either way the inspector was wrong, but prooving it is a different thing.

The PIR would only cover the fixed installation. The fire alarm system would have been done on a seperate test. So basically you disconnect the panel and test you cable to it. If you don't want to disconnect the panel you have the options of either testing at 250v, Lives to earth only or putting it in as a limitation.

Non labelling of the DB's should have been coded.

Yes your quite right about the diversity of the installation. Unfortuantely the PIR can not comment on that. There maybe a very good reason the designer decided to do the install that way. It's not your remit to question that. I would personally have wrote a cover letter to the landlord advising him of this, but it would appear by your comments it would not have got you far.

Regarding your retesting the circuits. Again no 2 meters will ever give the same results and provided the PIR and yours are in the same ball park figure there's not a lot to be done. Again what is to say an hour after the PIR was done a circuit started to break down, or his sampling pulled a conductor loose and it now is giving a completely different reading, hard to proove he did wrong.

You have already given the report a second opinion and I can't see what a 3rd will do. You should be applauded for caring, but it's the landlord that is accepting this report and you can't stop him. You have a care of duty though of informing him that in your opinion the installation is not safe and advise him on what to do. If he refuses your opinion then all you can then do is refuse to work on it.

 

[IQ Electrical]

The extent and limitations of a PIR are agreed prior to starting the inspection/testing.

The value of a report is directly proportional to the amount of inspecting/testing that actually gets carried out.

I have never nor would ever want to see a report that covered wiring only and no accessories-damaged accessories often form the bulk of defects listed on a PIR along with failed RCBO's and open ring circuits.

For a buillding about to be used to house children for a local authority, I would be making a quick call to the authority in question and also to the scheme provider (NICEIC, NAPIT, ELECSA etc) of the company that carried out the report!