O
overskilled
Need some advice guys.....
Been offered a job but the alarm bells are ringing.......
Background
So finishing up a job today, get a call to look at a shower, client took the cover off for whatever reason and noticed burnt live wiring, terminal block on the live terminal on both sides melted, but especially on the incomer, (looks like a bad connection, possibly caused by overtightening and expansion and contraction over time.)
Went out tonight after I got home at 6, ancient heatstore shower (client reckons 15-22 years old), asks about options, only option is replacement, he then whips out a Which? guide to showers...(alarm bells start here....)
Quoted a reasonable price to supply and fit a new basic shower, on the basis that a fusebox visual check was alright...
And it wasn't - 4 or 6mm2 cable (dark little cupboard it was hidden in) on a 50amp MCB, with the adjacent 15amp showing signs of heat damage.
Original plan 10mm2 T+E to Wylex RCD shower CU with 32Amp Type B MCB and then the shower cable to a new 8 / 8.5 Kw shower.
However then he says "oh theres another shower on the top floor", also connected to a 50amp MCB with 6mm2 T+E (surprised he didn't blow the main cut out (60/80A) -2 showers, several ring finals, electric cooker.....)
Dorman Smith Series 15 board (seen them commercially but never in a residential building locally - usually Wylex or MEM boards) so no hope of getting any parts for it.
Told me wiring hasn't been checked since he bought the place 20 to 30 years ago (its a guesthouse, which he claims isn't the case as "he only takes guests occassionally now"....Tourism plate on the door etc...its a guesthouse...)
Advised a CU replacement (cost of 2 shower CUs is getting close to the cost to change out the entire board in parts and there isn't the space for 2 shower CUs), and fully test the wiring post CU install, as well as getting someone who specialises in PIRs in (I don't have time and the place is 3 floors and 6 or 8 bedrooms and dates back to turn of the century so a fair few gremlins are lurking within that building) Also told him that the price quoted will be for the swap, any remedial / rectification works are extra and I can't give a figure for them until I do the tests, could be no faults, could be faults on every circuit.
"Never had a problem until now"....and I explained that RCDs work differently to MCBs and will react to faults that MCBs will not.
"Is all that really necessary, can't you just stick another shower in?" - ....no as there isn't any fault protection, your running a guest house that members of the public have access to and one of your current showers just tried to set itself alight...said far more politely than that.
How much? he asks - I quote a figure based on checking parts prices etc and getting testing kit checked / hired (I was stalling for time as alarm bells were already ringing)
"I'm taking you on your word here that this is all necessary" "Thats going into cheque rather than cash job territory" (I don't do off the books work anyway...HMRC are a big enough pain in the rear without giving them reason to give me hassle)
So I politely advised him to get 2 more quotes and tell the other 2 sparks what he told me and see what they advise. Still badgering about when I could do it etc.
Said I would get back to him.....
Any thoughts?
Not a bad job, 2 days in total I'd reckon - day to do the initial pre CU swap tests and to swap the CU out and start testing the new CU, second day to finish and swap the shower out. But there is this little voice in my head saying "run a mile" and this is going to be an utter backside pain.......
Been offered a job but the alarm bells are ringing.......
Background
So finishing up a job today, get a call to look at a shower, client took the cover off for whatever reason and noticed burnt live wiring, terminal block on the live terminal on both sides melted, but especially on the incomer, (looks like a bad connection, possibly caused by overtightening and expansion and contraction over time.)
Went out tonight after I got home at 6, ancient heatstore shower (client reckons 15-22 years old), asks about options, only option is replacement, he then whips out a Which? guide to showers...(alarm bells start here....)
Quoted a reasonable price to supply and fit a new basic shower, on the basis that a fusebox visual check was alright...
And it wasn't - 4 or 6mm2 cable (dark little cupboard it was hidden in) on a 50amp MCB, with the adjacent 15amp showing signs of heat damage.
Original plan 10mm2 T+E to Wylex RCD shower CU with 32Amp Type B MCB and then the shower cable to a new 8 / 8.5 Kw shower.
However then he says "oh theres another shower on the top floor", also connected to a 50amp MCB with 6mm2 T+E (surprised he didn't blow the main cut out (60/80A) -2 showers, several ring finals, electric cooker.....)
Dorman Smith Series 15 board (seen them commercially but never in a residential building locally - usually Wylex or MEM boards) so no hope of getting any parts for it.
Told me wiring hasn't been checked since he bought the place 20 to 30 years ago (its a guesthouse, which he claims isn't the case as "he only takes guests occassionally now"....Tourism plate on the door etc...its a guesthouse...)
Advised a CU replacement (cost of 2 shower CUs is getting close to the cost to change out the entire board in parts and there isn't the space for 2 shower CUs), and fully test the wiring post CU install, as well as getting someone who specialises in PIRs in (I don't have time and the place is 3 floors and 6 or 8 bedrooms and dates back to turn of the century so a fair few gremlins are lurking within that building) Also told him that the price quoted will be for the swap, any remedial / rectification works are extra and I can't give a figure for them until I do the tests, could be no faults, could be faults on every circuit.
"Never had a problem until now"....and I explained that RCDs work differently to MCBs and will react to faults that MCBs will not.
"Is all that really necessary, can't you just stick another shower in?" - ....no as there isn't any fault protection, your running a guest house that members of the public have access to and one of your current showers just tried to set itself alight...said far more politely than that.
How much? he asks - I quote a figure based on checking parts prices etc and getting testing kit checked / hired (I was stalling for time as alarm bells were already ringing)
"I'm taking you on your word here that this is all necessary" "Thats going into cheque rather than cash job territory" (I don't do off the books work anyway...HMRC are a big enough pain in the rear without giving them reason to give me hassle)
So I politely advised him to get 2 more quotes and tell the other 2 sparks what he told me and see what they advise. Still badgering about when I could do it etc.
Said I would get back to him.....
Any thoughts?
Not a bad job, 2 days in total I'd reckon - day to do the initial pre CU swap tests and to swap the CU out and start testing the new CU, second day to finish and swap the shower out. But there is this little voice in my head saying "run a mile" and this is going to be an utter backside pain.......
