Shower isolation

[Deleted member 26818]

Went to a friends house today.
Apparently they recently had a PIR at the request of their Landlord (Council house).
Haven't seen the report, but from what I was told, the inspector apparently had to by law, disconnect their electric shower, as there is no local isolation. The only isolation being the 50A MCB on the RCD side of their CU.
So this obviously experienced and knowledgable inspector removed the 13A fuse from the gas boiler FCU.

Oh yes, whilst carrying out the inspection, the inspector managed to break off one of the wings on the plasterboard back box for the cooker isolator.
Isolator is now loosely held on by just one screw, and the back box is now hanging out the wall.

 

[Hawk81]

Well the world of electrics really is safer with a genius like that.

 

[MarkieSparkie]

Please tell them to complain and request a copy of the PIR (if you haven't done already). This clowns incompetence needs to be reported to landlord and his registration body.

 

[telectrix]

why disconnect shower anyway. i would have thought just to advise on fitting local isolator, code 4.
what " law" says it's got to be dissed,?

 

[nickblake]

I agree with you on that tel what a mupet if you break a lug or damage an accessory which can be done you replace it , i bet any money he's put it down on the report

 

[Paul.M]

Wait a minute gents, spin says its a council house and probably maintained by sub contract sparky. He has just made himself some more work out of this! Do a PIR, should have coded it and not disconnected the shower, now the tenant hasn't got a shower goes and complains, sparky company gets sent back out to reconnect, install shower pull cord and test. Also get paid more for a cooker switch than a db skt, strange how the cooker switch broke?

 

[telectrix]

since when was it deemed necessary to undo a cooker switch on a PIR ( unless of course there was a faulf showed up on testing )

 

[Paul.M]

I think he was fishing for work. Let's face it he has just made two major faults in the two most important and highest loads in the house. I bet he gets called back by Wednesday to "repair" them.

 

[tony mc]

But the 13A fuse from the boiler FCU WHY or did he think this is what controls the shower from the boiler. ???

Or in his wisdom does he think (obviously not) it is harder to replace a fuse than to flick the mcb back on in the CU!!!!

 

[telectrix]

if the situation called for isolation of the shower, e.g. burnt terminations. i would remove the feed from the MCB,Neutral bar and Earth bar. that's what i call "safe" isolation, seal the CU so that if customer tampered afterwards, no blame attached to me.

 

[domestic spark]

Or do you think he thought that was where to test and not at the furthest point ie load from switch on cooker circiluit. It seems to me there are alot of deemed silly questiOns asked on here by electricians who are already with scheme providers and part p ect. Are niceic etc assessments a walk I'n the park? To an extent? And no I certainly am not distespecting good true experienced members with alot of knowledge

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Unfortunately, I have received this information third hand, over dinner. I haven't inspected the property, spoken to the inspector or seen the report.
I have a feeling that the shower has been installed quite recently, and has not been notified. The shower is on the RCD side of the board, and the rest of the installation appears to be to the 16th.
The inspector told my friend's wife that they were lucky everyone in the household are still alive, and that they were all at risk of electrocution.
It might be that my friend's wife misunderstood the inspector, as I have difficulty understanding how a lack of local isolation would put people at risk from electrocution. Perhaps there is another fault, which caused the inspector concern, and he just wanted to know where the isolator was in order to make the situation safe?
However I am concerned as to why anyone would believe that a shower would be protected by a 13A fuse in an FCU?
I also can't believe that someone would disconnect something, and then not actually check that they have achieved disconnection.
I don't believe any testing took place, as surely the inspector would then have known that the FCU was for the boiler and not the shower?

 

[DurhamSparky]

make sure he installs the 45A isolator in clear view ideally next to shower just in case it catches fire....! dont hide it behind the towel rail or in a cupboard lol....

 

[oldtimer]

Did this "Inspector" get trained by a certain lets say tyre company who say we can do you an MOT for £$? because we make our money finding other jobs to do and then scaring the wits out of you.

MY My nothing changes in the world of commission work does it.