My building inspector wants an electrical certificate...

[HomerSimpson]

My house extension is now ready for the electrics phase and to cut a long story short I want to have everything done properly to meet all the regs but at the same token I don't really want to be paying people for the basic labour jobs such as chasing in cables, installing sockets etc. I want to do the basic stuff myself and have an electrician colleague from work come in to check it thro and to do the final connections from the meter to the consumer unit when the electricity board are present.

My building inspector says that all domestic installations now need a certificate to prove they were installed to meet the regs. Can my colleague from work write me this certificate? He is a qualified electrician but doesn't normally deal with domestic stuff (mainly industrial / factory) so where would he get the certificates etc?

 

[dingbat]

Interesting. An extension, you say? Then there shouldn't be any need for chasing in because the cabling and boxes should have been installed (first fix) before the finishes (ceilings, plaster, etc). The second fix involves fitting your sockets, switches etc, connecting to your CU and testing. (Highly unlikely that the electricity board will give a stuff about it, by the way, let alone be present at the inaugural ceremony!)

Your installation does not need any electrical certification whatsoever by law. Your building inspector is ahead of his time - he has no power to insist on certification until after next January. However, issuing an electrical installation certificate is a necesary part of complying with BS 7671 (The Regs). If your mate hasn't got the certificates it's possible he hasn't got the equipment or expertise to test and certify, but you can buy certificates from the NICEIC. Try their website.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I doubt if NICEIC would sell certificates to non-NICEIC members, no matter how well qualified, but you can download certificates for free from the IEE website.

 

[dingbat]

I doubt if NICEIC would sell certificates to non-NICEIC members, no matter how well qualified, but you can download certificates for free from the IEE website.

NICEIC sell certificates which are expressly intended for non-members. They're green, as opposed to red, are carbonless and a damned sight easier to fill in and more attractive than the IEE forms. Just go to their website shop and download an order form.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You're right - I'd forgotten about the green ones. But as for ease of use, this is just a one-off by the electrician from where the guy works - I'm sure he can put up with the IEE freebies just this once.

Or if he can get hold of a copy of the full Acrobat s/w, not just the reader, he can do "interesting" things with the samples on the NICEIC website...

Not that he should, of course....

 

[dingbat]

Or if he can get hold of a copy of the full Acrobat s/w, not just the reader, he can do "interesting" things with the samples on the NICEIC website...

You're right, you can, but it's a right pain, stabbing around trying to select the object containing the word 'Specimen'... and you still have to get a sheet of carbon paper, or write it out twice, or (horror!) keep no record. And it's a non-starter trying to fill out a pdf document electronically, unless you have nothig better to do with an evening.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I must have been lucky with my "stabbing" - took me virtually no time to remove the offending object. And you only have to do it the once

But you're absolutely right about the usefulness of the forms - you can't fill them in electronically if they aren't designed as on-line forms, doing it twice is a hassle, carbon paper (can you still buy it??) is tacky, and not keeping a copy is unwise. The forms would be of little use to anybody who needed to fill them in all the time.

I do think though, that if I was a sparky and I didn't have test gear which was designed to download results for printing on purpose designed forms, I might seriously consider spending a few evenings making my own forms in Excel - dead easy then to complete electronically, and almost free....

 

[dingbat]

I do think though, that if I was a sparky and I didn't have test gear which was designed to download results for printing on purpose designed forms, I might seriously consider spending a few evenings making my own forms in Excel - dead easy then to complete electronically, and almlost free....

I know exactly where you're coming from and I seriously considered it, but with, say, the Minor Works Certificate you don't want to be going home, filling in a form on your PC, printing it off, mailing it, etc... for a job that might have only taken half-an-hour. The NICEIC one takes minutes to fill in by hand, while you're on the job and then it's done. Same with the other certs. As unpalatable as it may be for some, I've found the NIC certs to be by far the most user-friendly and professional-looking. (I use printed copies of the pdf versions as rough sheets, then transfer the figures neatly to clean forms)

I used the Robin forms for a while (with carbon paper!) but they were a pain. The IEE forms are unwieldy and actually look like you've made them yourself and ones I tried to make myself looked like, er... ones I'd made myself!

Without going to the expense of carrying a printer, or the trouble of printing the paperwork at home, for the quantities I use the pads of NICEIC forms are perfect... Plus, when I gain approved contractor status (I can hear the outcry from here!) I will already be used to the paperwork

 

[securespark]

Ban - you're a norty boy! Smack bottom! You can't condone copying official docs in order to decieve members of public.......tut tut.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Absolutely not - would never condone it. Totally unacceptable.

I only tried fiddling with the forms out of academic interest to see if it was possible.

 

[securespark]

Ah, I see. The boy done good.