Kitchen fitters who change the CU and put in a split board

[martinxxxxxx]

I have now seen the second split board that is brand new fitted by a local kitchen fitter.

He removes the existing board and puts all of the existing house circuits on to a new split board on the non-rcd side and his new cooker circuit and Kitchen ring on the rcd side.

I simply don't know how he thinks that is on. I have both people to request an EIC from him (no he did not leave one/ nor did they receive a completion cert)

How widespread is this?

 

[sparkiedave]

seen this sort of thing a few times, might be worth pointing out to customers what the pitfalls are, and make sure they realise it's not on, as for the Part P arguments, I've got nothing against folks doin their own work, but what bugs me is when they pay good money for something to be done proffessionally, then it turns out some clown with a screwdriver and socket tester does it...............

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I simply don't know how he thinks that is on. I have both people to request an EIC from him (no he did not leave one/ nor did they receive a completion cert)

When you reported him to Building Control and Trading Standards, what did they say?

 

[sparkwright]

I have now seen the second split board that is brand new fitted by a local kitchen fitter.

He removes the existing board and puts all of the existing house circuits on to a new split board on the non-rcd side and his new cooker circuit and Kitchen ring on the rcd side.

I simply don't know how he thinks that is on. I have both people to request an EIC from him (no he did not leave one/ nor did they receive a completion cert)

How widespread is this?

So are some of the existing circuits protected by an RCD before he puts them on the non-protected side of his new board?

 

[martinxxxxxx]

Not that I know of, but it might be the case.

Sorry it's probably how I phrased it

 

[seasickstevie]

Not that I know of, but it might be the case...

So the assumption has to be (unless the client can tell you differently) that he's not made the situation any worse. But installed a new CU that doesn't comply.

 

[sparkwright]

If he's not removing any existing RCD protection on the old wiring, I suppose there is some logic.

Presumably he's altering the design of the installation and not testing the old stuff, and quite probably not the new either.

I suppose he doesn't want to fit RCDs on the old circuits in case of any undetected faults, and because of the cost of an extra RCD or RCBOs.

However, I suppose it's a better job to have one new board rather than an old board and a new board next to it.

RCBOs can easily be fitted to the old circuits.

But it sounds like he shouldn't be doing this work, and should either leave the old wiring well alone and fit a new board with RCD for the new stuff, or fit a new replacement board for the whole house with RCDs for everything that needs it. And do the proper tests.

 

[martinxxxxxx]

I am not a policeman, so I have no power to gather the evidence.

If the customers says, Oh I will ring him and ask for the certificate. That is about all I can do. If I ask them who it was and they say not sure whether the electrician was subbed by the kitchen firm - what do I say? I will wait here while you search for documents.

No

What I do say is that without the proper documentation you cannot be sure that the installation is
- Safe
- Guaranteed
- Insured
- Selllable (without hassle (when you don't need it (ie during the sales process)))
- Legal

I think all I am able to do is sow in their minds that it would be good to get back to the outfit and get redress.

After all I was not part of the contract so it is not down to me to start an argument with these people. (especially unpaid and possibly unthanked.

But it bloomin annoys me

M

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I am not a policeman, so I have no power to gather the evidence.

You don't have to be in order to report him to Building Control and Trading Standards.

If the customers says, Oh I will ring him and ask for the certificate. That is about all I can do.

No it isn't - you can report him to Building Control and Trading Standards.

If I ask them who it was and they say not sure whether the electrician was subbed by the kitchen firm - what do I say? I will wait here while you search for documents.

You know who the kitchen fitter was - you said so. So you report him to Building Control and Trading Standards.

I think all I am able to do is sow in their minds that it would be good to get back to the outfit and get redress.

No, that isn't all you are able to do. You are also able to report him to Building Control and Trading Standards.

After all I was not part of the contract so it is not down to me to start an argument with these people. (especially unpaid and possibly unthanked.

You don't have to start an argument - you just have to report him to Building Control and Trading Standards.

But it bloomin annoys me

And what annoys me is that for years I've been seeing people like you whinging about things like this, and not one of you will ever actually try and do a single ******* thing about it.

Except whinge futilely.

 

[martinxxxxxx]

If only you were correct

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Really?

And what am I wrong about you pathetic, boring, oh-its-not-my-job-nothing-to-do-with-me whiner?

 

[martinxxxxxx]

Well the premise of your argument seems to be that I know the name of the local kitchen fitter responsible for this work - when in fact I do not.

Nor Have I at any point said that I do.

Where have I said that I do?

If I did then I would accept that I should act although I believe that Trading standard might only accept a complaint from some one that you have had direct dealings with.

 

[martinxxxxxx]

I refrer to him as one person because of what cops call his MO

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I have now seen the second split board that is brand new fitted by a local kitchen fitter.

Do you, or do you not know who he is?

But even if you don't, you can still report the illegal work to Building Control.

Except of course you're like all the others - quite happy to moan on forums about the things you find, but not prepared to do a single thing that might get the perpetrators stopped.

 

[ericmark]

OK it was a few years back but I also found in my case a wet room which was started by a builder who employed an electrician and ran off in the middle of the job.

He was reported to LABC and all that did was give me a load of hassle and grief. They tried to stop me completing the work until the paper work arrived failed to do anything other than stop the builder trading which resulted in him having no money to be able to take him to court and get the money back.

Also they did not identify the problems with the orignal installation and issued a completion certificate without re-visiting the site.

It actually cost more to have the builders than it would have cost to DIY from scratch as first job was to rip out what they had done.

So to report non complaint work to the LABC is just a waist of time and money. I found out the hard way. Take them to a small claims court yes but once the LABC is involved you can kiss goodbye to any thoughts of getting money back.

The big problem is proving the people doing the work were contracted to notify the LABC. It is very plain it's up to the owner to ensure the work is notified and although most builders will do it for the owner it's still down to the owner to ensure it is done. Only when the electrician claims to be a member of a self cert scheme and is not can the owner shift the blame to the electrician. It is the owner who has to pay to get it put right.

I found out the hard way. Lucky since my parents were disabled there was no charge from LABC but it was up to us to correct since the builder stopped trading.

Believe me my name was muck for telling the LABC and I was told in no uncertain terms how much my big mouth cost them. Threaten to report them but don't actually do it.