Help please!!

[flameport]

Does anyone know if spds are a requirement of solar installation and if so is there any legislation I can quote from the regs?

SPDs are required for almost all installations, including solar.

BS7671 is a British Standard, and while it's the accepted one for electrical installations, it is not mandatory and is not legislation.

 

[mansea]

Thanks in a nutshell whats happened is they've installed new solar pv, replacement night storage heaters and new mechanical ventilation fans. I have 2 cu's, that appear to get their power supply independent of each other from the supply meter. They've left my old 1970s era main cu with old wire type fuses. As their argument is they haven’t added any circuits, although they have modified the existing cu lighting circuit to add into it the new fans, isolators and transformer. After much pressing on the safety aspect and the fact the fans are in wet areas, within reach of the shower and their unsupervised trainee electrician blew the fuse they did eventually come back to replace 1 mcb in the old cu with an rcd for the modified circuit. Does the additions or rewiring of a replacement/modified mcb make a case for a replacement cu in the regs?

They have replaced my old econ 7 cu which previously had the same wire type fuses, with a new smaller metal cu with rcbos. They then used this new cu to supply the solar pv and night storage heaters. But there is no spd protection in the new cu. Should there be? But theres now no more space in the new cu to add any spds! In fact I even have a circuit that was previously connected in my larger old econ 7 cu and is still left unconnected and loose in the cabinet. Is this all considered acceptable with regs?

Sorry, I don’t know how to sort this mess out because im guessing even if a new cu was installed with spds it wouldn't protect the circuits and inverter etc in the other cu which they installed? Lastly I'm about to take this to small claims as the company are ignoring me, so it's important really I can quote actual regs that haven’t been adhered to and also the approx cost to resolve their works, am I looking now at 2 new cu's and spds in each, plus an additional small cu and din rail spd next to the inverter to make the whole installation compliant? Or is what they've done defendable in the eyes of the law and/or considered within regs?

Thanks for your help

 

[Taylortwocities]

A replacement consumer unit is notifiable work. They should be registered with a competent person scheme.
If so they should be listed here

Home

Go to the “check” option and see if they are registered.
Find their CPS and contact their scheme and report your issues.

 

[winston1]

SPDs are not a requirement the moment. This may change soon.

The regs are not statuary.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Thanks both, I like to think I'm a nice person, but yes possibly a bit too nice we even provided ice creams and beers in the garden to them all on hot days thinking it's nice to reward them for their work and keep them motivated. So you think even though I have a contract with the solar company, I should forget them for now and I should complain directly to the authority of the electrician? It says niceic on the cert?

Excuse my ignorance but what power do they have, will they be able to put the issue right? Are they likely to make the electrician come out again to fix or do they have other electricians that will be able to finish the work?

Also what about the damage to felt and carpets etc im assuming this is seperate and I would need to put a claim for damages via their liability insurance? And again would this be the solar company whom i have the contract with or the electrician?

An electrical governing body will only be interested in the quality or otherwise of the installation and adherence to the Regulations. They will have no interest in the damage to your floor coverings or anything else - that will need to be sorted out between you and the contractor whom you employed, or possibly Trading Standards, or the court. If you win your case, the court case costs will be awarded against that contractor. I would suggest a first step would be to check with the governing body that the companies registration is actually genuine and explain to them the problems you are having with one of their supposed members.