EICR QUESTION?

That seems fair enough.
Could he try and say that I still owe him £250?
Probably.
It's up to you of course, but the time taken is not sufficient for a £250 EICR.
There are reports of "drive-by EICRs" for unscrupulous landlords but they only cost a fraction of that.

Don't think they have to belong to a scheme to do a EICR do they?
No, they don't.
 
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No membership required to do EICRs and no specific qualifications either. Just competence.

How many circuits in the CU and how big is the property?
 
I ask what did they discover and they just said to contact the owner and it will be on the report once I pay?
If I was to walk into a newish two up two down house, and see what is clearly a new install, then really I don't need to do a very large sample, one can reasonably assume all wired by same man, so if 4 random sockets are OK likely the rest are, same with down lighters etc. So yes in a few hours one could be satisfied all is OK.

The removing of any socket which shows a fault however means the reverse is true, and one could need to remove them all.

It has been a debatable point for as long as I have been testing, if you find a load of faults should one continue, or simply say lights need a rewire, or consumer unit needs changing, but if that is the case it should state on the paper work inspection aborted as so many faults found clear it needs a rewire etc. However one would need to tell the owner at earliest opportunity.

So since nothing reported on a face to face, it must be a pass. If any potentially dangerous faults were found, it would be potentially dangerous not to report them at the earliest opportunity.
 
So since nothing reported on a face to face, it must be a pass. If any potentially dangerous faults were found, it would be potentially dangerous not to report them at the earliest opportunity.

In this case, those doing the EICR will almost certainly report it needs an urgent rewire, but not based on any genuine inspection.. It was far too brief a visit..
 
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If I was to walk into a newish two up two down house, and see what is clearly a new install, then really I don't need to do a very large sample, one can reasonably assume all wired by same man, so if 4 random sockets are OK likely the rest are, same with down lighters etc. So yes in a few hours one could be satisfied all is OK.

The removing of any socket which shows a fault however means the reverse is true, and one could need to remove them all.

It has been a debatable point for as long as I have been testing, if you find a load of faults should one continue, or simply say lights need a rewire, or consumer unit needs changing, but if that is the case it should state on the paper work inspection aborted as so many faults found clear it needs a rewire etc. However one would need to tell the owner at earliest opportunity.

So since nothing reported on a face to face, it must be a pass. If any potentially dangerous faults were found, it would be potentially dangerous not to report them at the earliest opportunity.
Quite

I did an inspection a couple of years back. A nicely presented 1 bed flat.

As in inspections it’s best to use your eyes before your tester and a good look around found that a few of the sockets were a different make to others. A quick look at 1 found 1.0 mm cable (on a 32 A ring) . At all the other new sockets it was the same. Next on testing I found a lack of continuity too.

When the LL appeared she seemed surprised I had found so many faults. Then she disclosed her partner had done the work. So EICR with a plethora of C2’s was issued. A few weeks later a 2nd inspection found that it was all corrected, replastered and repainted.

Eyes before tester and never rush

The problem these days is there are far too many people doing inspections for peanuts in a rushed and haphazard way - I’m not interested in the rush to the bottom now and never will be.
 
one can reasonably assume all wired by same man
Hmm, that might or might not be a reasonable assumption. I know that on the rare occasion I would do one and I always think about how things look like different persons standards because sometimes you could spot such things a mile off (one example being different makes of sockets etc) so I can appreciate what you`re saying, however I know it`s not always the case either, opening up and taking a peek inside the box can often be a bit more revealing in that instance too.
Sometimes talking to the occupier can reveal more clues but then again they might not know and then again they might actually be quite economical with the truth.
 
(one example being different makes of sockets etc)
Yes fair point, I remember a job where sockets were changed half way through and one type line on left, and other line on right, and clearly the person wiring had not looked and had not realised the change.

But one needs to remember BS 7671 and doing an EICR is not restricted to domestic, and in industry where we know all work has been done by an electrician it is common to only inspect 20% unless faults found, then if one fault found 40% and if more found then 100% but this was the normal method with a PIR and has been done that way for years.

Theory there should be no workmanship faults, what we are looking for is degrading of the wiring, however with a metal frame structure this all changes again not only inspection but also test each terminal for tightness, and this always 100% items like batching plants vibration can cause terminals to work loose, so the EICR depends on what the client asks for, and also type of structure.

One is suppose to be given the previous reports so one can compare results, and in industry that happened, but the forms were rather lacking, with often no record of earth leakage for example.

I am sure there have been changes in how the inspection is done, removing each neutral to test for borrowed neutrals is not really required now we have clamp on meters and RCBO's I did my training a long time ago.
 
Yes indeed Eric, in fact in industry, it can be that as the same team has done it under the same supervisor(s) you would also tend to get similar consistency too, we hope. Not as much as in domestics I suspect.

Of course, all these hopes and hints, although not foolproof, they can lead us towards our first guestimates of likelihood . Obviously nothing is 100% certain but we do look for high probabilities tied to a lot of experience and hope for minimums of errors and a decent timescale if possible.
 
One guy spent his time only at the CU and the other walked about turning off water and not doing much. He didn't have a machine to test anything. Just walked about.
Did the guy at the Consumer unit have any kind of tester? How many circuits? Regardless of the time taken this wasn't done correctly if the guy walking about didn't have any Test equipment, he'd need to check socket measurements/polarity at the very least and RCD trip times if you have any? Why they had a need to turn the water of is very odd.

Do Not Pay them
 
Yes the guy at the Consumer Unit had a tester with him.
But just everything else and the short time taken clearly was a scam.

I asked the guy why are you turning off the water? He said we will get in trouble with the boss if we don't.
 
Test equipment, he'd need to check socket measurements/polarity at the very least and RCD trip times if you have any?

There do not appear to be any RCD's..

Why they had a need to turn the water of is very odd.

Extremely odd, and I cannot imagine any valid reason to do that - perhaps they were part-time trainee plumbers?
 
There was a similar thread on another forum where we got a picture of the consumer unit 1712564145864.png which seems to be the old Dorman Smith LoadMaster type. I have seen them listed on the internet as C curve and type 3 but the problem is they need removing to read the type 1712564537856.png as written on the side. I know it was 1 to 4 before we went to B to D but I can't remember off hand what a type 3 curve was? and clearly we have no idea what the type is. I remember using them in the early 90's but even then they were old. As to young lads knowing the old system!
Yes the guy at the Consumer Unit had a tester with him.
But the guy at the cooker would have needed to test the loop impedance.

I would recommend a change of CU, as to if code 3 or code 2 not so sure, I know the regulations say what date they apply, but that's OK if one is given paperwork stating the design date, other wise one must consider it was designed yesterday.

Of course we have no idea if this is the CU fitted in your house, but "Two guys just came out, about 18 and 19." they seem too young, to be qualified normally one needs to be 21 years old +, it has always been the same, dad started apprenticeship at 14 of 5 years and 2 years journeyman, I started it was at 16 but only 5 years and day release, and latter school leaving age was increased and the apprenticeship was further shortened but with block release. But net result is 21 before qualified.

The Emma Shaw court case made it very clear that people not trained to do inspection and testing must not be used, even just to take the readings with a meter.
electrical-testing-safety.co.uk said:
Evidence at the inquest revealed that when the electrics were installed, a series of errors were made. These included an unqualified electrician's mate testing and approving the wiring in the flat. The inquest heard that four safety documents that the mate had filled out, and which were checked by the company's supervisor, also had a number of errors in them.
odd in the account on the IET forum it was the supervisor who was blamed not the guy doing the testing.

We sign forms J Blogs, and in the main there is nothing to say what training J Blogs has received. We only get letters behind our name at over level 3 and most electricians only train to level three, and even if signed J Blogs Fdeng one has not idea of what that was in, I know when I did mine there were three courses all sharing some subjects and all have the same letters one was motor vehicle.

And what I was taught doing my C&G 2391 was not included when I did my Fdeng, and it is the C&G 2391 which is the important one.
 

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