Rewire required because of reccommendation on Inst Cert?

[tilla tech]

Hi,
Can the building inspector insist that the old wiring of a house needs to be rewired because the Installation Cert. states 'needs upgrading' on the comments section. The Inst. Cert. was given after an additional CU and circuits were installed for extension work done on the house.

Thanks

 

[sparkyspike]

Do you have building control involved for just the extension? Has the new CU been put in exclusively to accomodate the new circuits?

 

[tilla tech]

Yes Building Control only for extension. And additional CU only for new circuits.

 

[GaryMo]

In that case, the existing house wiring has nothing at all to do with building control.

 

[sparkyspike]

Ta

 

[shotgun]

Ah sorry Garymo but I think your wrong there,
If the new installation is coming under building control then yes the original circuit wiring doesn't need sorting out as it won't be touched but main earth bonding etc might need upgrading to current standards to satisfy BS7671 and notification of part P for the extension to building control otherwise it would not be sensible to issue a cert for the works knowing that the earthing is undersized or missing

 

[GaryMo]

Im not wrong. Earthing and bonding should have been upgraded (if necessary) at the same time as the new extension circuits and consumer unit were installed to comply with BS7671.

 

[shotgun]

Im not wrong. Earthing and bonding should have been upgraded (if necessary) at the same time as the new extension circuits and consumer unit were installed to comply with BS7671.

Hands up.... fair play just read the post again and hadn't noticed that the EIC certs had already been issued.
I'll agree that the earthing should already have been done

 

[Pensdown]

'needs upgrading' may not mean a re-wire. Because the testing is done to the current regs the term needs upgrading means upgrading from the regs that were applicable when it was first wired to the current regs.

Because the regs have just changed pretty well every new certificate for alterations to existing will have needs upgrading.

As Gary has pointed out, as long as the new circuits meet the current regs and the earthing arrangements are in place then BC should be happy.

Can you post a copy of the EIC for the CU change?

 

[baldelectrician]

Went to a house last week to PIR the kitchen electrics.

This is classed as material information - something the insurance MAY need to know about.
As they say how do you know if they need to know? Tell them and they will let you know if you had to tell them.

The lady had been told by her insurance company that she would not be covered by them (Norwich Union) if there was an electrical issue unless she had a cert.

You have 2 choices.

1. Tell them (more cost as they would ask you to have he old electrics checked out and deemed satisfactory)

2. Don't tell them - and hope for the best.

Insurance companies will sell you a good deal and try and get out of paying if they can.

 

[ebee]

The term "needs upgrading" does not explain anything , the actuall defects should be commented on such as Bonding to gas & water undersize or no RCd for sockets etc.