UK Domestic Wiring Qualification?

Hi,

I understand that the UK law is to change soon so that normal householders are not allowed to install their own wiring. Can anyone tell me what qualification will be required in order to carry out domestic wiring? Is it something I can study for myself, and just take an exam?

Thanks in advance, John Mackay

Reply to
John Mackay
Loading thread data ...

The regulations are there to make sure that work is done by /tax-paying/ firms and are designed deliberately to exclude anyone else - no matter how qualified and experienced. If you are a firm, you can pay out the cash to become self-certifying - £540 initial and then £320 p.a. thereafter (plus VAT, possibly plus an extra £400 odd if they feel like it). Otherwise, you can't certify the job yourself, even if you have a PhD in domestic electrical installation.

The nonsense is that you either have to pay to have the job done by someone who could easily be far less competent than yourself - but whose company is self-certifying - or pay your local authority 100+ GBP to "inspect" it after you have done the work.

This is all about making it more difficult for the cash in hand boys to avoid paying tax - but put through under the good old favourite of "Health & Safety".

I very much doubt it will save a single live or prevent a single injury.

Dangerous house wiring is invariably the householders own efforts and not the newspaper classified ads guys - who are often trained commercial or industrial electricians earning a bit on the side. They will be put out of business - so more householders will have a go in the future, rather than less - and rather than pay outrageous prices charged by self-certifying firms.

So, forget the exams and the need for qualifications - get a job with a self certifying firm and you could be wiring houses tomorrow.

Reply to
Palindr☻me

In a word No. Enter a search for "Part P" of the link

formatting link
as a starter. The new regulations come into effect 1 January 2005.

Reply to
John McLean

Reply to
Gavin Parsons

Gavin , so am I apprentice C&G Electrical inspector ONC HNC Degree Electrical Engineer. switching and SAP up to 33Kv

but!!!!

Just wired my house and had to sign a certificate to say i was qualified!!!!!!

who is going to stop B&Q selling light fittings to Joe public I ask!!

John C....

Reply to
John C

I agree that colour changes are a major PITA, but part P has been a long time waiting for.

I have trouble shooted many times peoples own installations and what a mess.

I have seen four or five sockets spurred off a lighting circuit........that's on a 32A breaker.............

This would have gone unnoticed under the old system

I think Part P is all about people who know what they are doing finally getting paid what they deserve. The self certification fees are small when applied across 20/30 installations.

sQuick...

Reply to
sQuick

Your missing the point. Nobody is objecting to Part P in principal but in how it is to be applied. Many of us hold advanced electrical qualifications from our professional backgrounds but will have to pay through the nose to have a simple installation inspected by somebody who may be less qualified. Why should qualified people have to do this?

Reply to
bob watkinson

Thanks to all for the replies.

So, here's a few hypothetical questions. I have been renovating my own home for 3 years now - who's to say which of the rewiring I did before Jan 2005, and which after? Do I need to get the stuff I've already done certified?

I tend to be somwhat sporadic with my home improvements. Lets say I wired a new ring-main one month, then an outdoor lighting circuit three months later, would I have to get both certified individually, or can I get everything done in say, a year when I've completed everything?

What if the certifier doesn't like something I've done, do I have to correct any problems then pay again for re-certification?

Thanks, John Mackay

Reply to
John Mackay

AFAIK, you can do the work as and when you please - you send the plans in before starting and get one installation inspection before you put power on it. So you wouldn't need individual certificates unless you wanted to put power on them individually.

As to failing to pass inspection - it doesn't even bear thinking about. The wiring regs are hardly rocket science and nothing is going to be failed on a whim - the failure will be cross-referenced to the wiring code rule being violated. If you think about them as minimum standards then you aren't going to get a failure. Assuming, of course, that the local authority building code inspector actually is competent.

A few simple tests will show whether the rings are complete and what is on the rings and what is on spurs. If that all passes ok, I would expect just the odd box here and there to be opened and checked out - plus a pretty good look at the earth bonding at the board and in the kitchen and bathrooms. If you want to get something approved that isn't compliant with the code, you can seek approval for non-compliance before doing the work.

As to ongoing work -I suspect most people will claim that it was finished prior to 2005. After that, any work you get certified will specify the wiring that is being certified - so, if you add a shower heater, the certificate will cover the shower heater circuit back to the supply and not any other circuits in the house. If you add a spur to an existing ring, the ring will be tested as well as the spur - but only in so far as it affects the safety or compliance of the spur.

It will help if you have complete wiring plans for your house, identifying every component. There is an amazing number of people out there who have no idea of how many sockets/lights/ they have on each ring and have added spurs hither and there without even considering that their spurs now have more outlets than the ring....all unfused, of course..

Those are my readings of the tea leaves....

Reply to
Palindr☻me

The new regulations also assume that everyone lives in the city where there's a healthy choice and competition between electricians.

I live in a rural area. For years I did most of my electrical work myself, and as I've grown too old for that, my son - who has a small building business - has taken over. Over the years, my house has been rewired to a very high standard - and that was the opinion of an imported electrician I paid to check everything out.

The reason I did it myself was not just to save money. The situation here has changed very little in decades, other than in names - i.e. one local electrician, shockingly expensive, and of dubious care and competetance - the last one was ordered off my property after an hour because of his visibly shoddy working practices - he actually damaged my house. "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em" isn't too funny in real life.

But it's a case of take it or leave it - and at least so far I've been free to leave it.

If HM govt are now telling me that leaving it is no longer an option, I assume I'm going to be obliged to hire people I wouldn't trust to fit a 3-pin plug - and take out a 2nd mortgage for the privilege.

John

Reply to
John

Over the years we have all seen nightmares but if you are already qualified why do we have to pay again. I work for a very large (over 1200 people) company who are NICEIC registered but ........................................etc. Is this just money making or what ?

Also as a side note shall we run a pool asto what increase in injury/death will result from the new colours. At the moment it's aparently 70 people per year. I say upto 120. I hope i'm wrong but some how i doubt it. The new colours are to bring us in line with Europe. Has any one seen the wiring in France, Spain etc ?

Seasons Greetings

Reply to
Gavin Parsons

Reply to
m j adkins

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.