Practical Guide to Inspection, Testing and Certification of Electrical Installations

Christopher Kitcher

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780429869242
• Edition: 5
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Covers all your testing and inspection needs to help you pass your exams on City & Guilds 2391 and EAL 600/4338/6 and 600/4340/4 and Part P courses.

• Entirely up to date with the 18th Edition IET Wiring Regulations
• Step-by-step descriptions and photographs of the tests show exactly how to carry them out
• Completion of inspection and test certification and periodic reporting
• Fault finding techniques
• Testing 3 phase and single phase motors
• Supporting video footage of the tests contained in this book are available on the companion website

This book covers everything you need to learn about inspection and testing, with clear reference to the latest updates to the legal requirements and wiring regulations. It answers all of your questions on the basics of inspection and testing, using clear and easy to remember language, along with sample questions and scenarios as they will be encountered in the exams. Christopher Kitcher tells you what tests are needed and describes them in a step-by-step manner with the help of colour photographs and the accompanying website.

All of the theory required for passing the inspecting and testing element of all electrical installation qualifications along with the AM2, City & Guilds 2391 certificate and the EAL 600/4338/6 and 600/4340/4 qualifications is contained within this easy-to-follow guide – along with some top tips to help you pass the exam itself.

With a strong focus on the practical element of inspection and testing for NVQs or apprenticeships, this is also an ideal reference tool for experienced electricians and those working in allied industries on domestic and industrial installations.

www.routledge.com/cw/kitcher provides a large bank of helpful video demonstrations, multiple choice questions to test your learning, and further supporting materials.

CHAPTER 1

The legal requirements

Apart from the obvious safety reasons, we also have to concern ourselves with the legal requirements for electrical installations.

The main statutory documents which we need to comply with are:

• The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASWA)
• The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (EAWR)
• The Electrical Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 (ESQCR).

The HASWA 1974 is in place to cover all aspects of safety at work and can be viewed as the statutory document under which the other statutory documents which involve health and safety sit. The EAWR 1989 are specific to electrical installations used in the work place, although it is sensible for us to refer to them for all installations as this will ensure an electrically safe environment.

The HASWA and EAWR both have the word work in them and of course that reflects that they are intended for use in the work place. However, electricity is, or can be, a dangerous commodity wherever it is used. It should be remembered that a domestic installation is a place of work while any electrical work is being carried out; this means that the HASWA and EAWR are still relevant in most cases.

Non-compliance with statutory regulations is seen as a criminal offence, and for that reason non-compliance could result in a very large fine or even in some serious cases imprisonment, particularly where the non-compliance has resulted in an accident.

The ESQCR are intended more for electrical supplies but do have some effect on the daily activities of electricians, particularly with regards to the positioning of consumer units and areas where TNC systems are used. As an example, where an area is known to be susceptible to flooding all of the supply equipment and consumer units need to be sited above the expected flood level.

These statutory regulations not only apply to new installations, they also apply to existing installations which have been in use for a very long time. There is no age limit on electrical installations; the requirement is that they are maintained in a safe condition and that they remain fit for use.

BS 7671 (non-statutory)

The most satisfactory way of ensuring conformance with statutory regulations is to follow the requirements of the relevant British Standard (BS). The BS relating to an electrical installation is known as BS 7671 and at the present time the industry is working to the 18th edition BS 7671 2018, which was published on 1 July 2018.

Within this set of standards Regulation 641.1 states ‘every installation shall, during erection and on completion before being put into service be inspected and tested to verify, so far as reasonably practicable, that the requirements of the regulations have been met’. This regulation of course applies not only to new installations, it also applies to additions and alterations to existing installations.

The inspection and testing of new work is known as initial verification. As the regulation suggests, this initial verification commences at the same time as the installation work and continues throughout the duration of the job. The end result will be the issue of an electrical installation certificate, along with the required schedule of test results and a schedule of inspections, providing of course the work carried out fully meets the requirement of BS 7671.

As we have seen previously the EAWR 1989 are not only for new installations; if anything they are more relevant to existing installations.

BS 7671 Regulation 651.1 states that ‘where required, periodic inspection and testing of every installation shall be carried out in accordance with Regulations 651.2 to 651.5 in order to determine, so far as is reasonably practicable, whether the installation is in a satisfactory condition for continued service’.

Although BS 7671 is a non-statutory document it has been referred to extensively in the Health and Safety Executive over a long period of time. Regulation 114 also clearly states that although BS 7671 is non-statutory it may be used in a court of law to claim compliance with a statutory requirement.

It has been my policy over the years to explain as clearly as possible to my students that although it is non-statutory, we can all do ourselves a big favour by pretending that it is statutory; this will ensure that we do the best job possible and that all safety requirements are met.

Building regulations

Part P of the building regulations is specific to electrical work carried out in domestic premises; however it is important to remember that whilst carrying out electrical work, all parts of the applicable building regulations must be complied with for all types of electrical installations.

Generally the other regulations which affect electrical installations are:

• Part A (Structure): this could be notches or holes in floor or roof joists, or the depth chases in walls.
• Part B (Fire safety): this would cover a range of things such as fire detection systems, fire and smoke alarms, fire resistance of floors, walls and ceilings.
• Part C (Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and water): any service penetrations must be resistant to rainwater and other contaminants such as radon. (Radon is a colourless and odourless radioactive gas which is formed by the radioactive decay of the small amounts of uranium which occur naturally in all soils and rock. It is thought that exposure to radon is the cause of around 1,000 cancer deaths a year.)
• Part E (Resistance to the passage of sound): where services pass through parts of the structure which are used to restrict the passage of sound, precautions must be taken to ensure that the structure is not compromised.
• Part F (Ventilation): where mechanical ventilation is installed, the ventilation rates must meet the current ventilation standards.
• Part L (Conservation of fuel and power): lighting must meet the requirements for energy efficiency.
• Part M (Access to and the use of buildings): this concerns the height of socket outlets and switches.

This is not a concise list and other building regulations may apply to special types of installations.

Domestic installations have been the subject of much discussion over the years, mainly due to the upsurge in DIY. We all know that it is reasonably easy to get something working; making sure it is safe is often far more difficult. To try and get some kind of control over this, the Building Regulation Part P was introduced and came into effect on 1 January 2005; it was then amended on 5 April 2006, and again on 6 April 2013. The purpose of this document is to ensure electrical safety in domestic electrical installations.

P1 sets out the requirements for the design and installation. It states that:

Reasonable provision shall be made in the design and installation of electrical installations in order to protect persons operating, maintaining or altering the installation from fire or injury.

The requirements apply only to parts of the electrical installation which are intended to at low or extra low and are:

• in or attached to a dwelling.
• in the common parts of a building serving one or more dwellings. This does not include the power supplies to lifts as they are governed by their own set of regulations.
• in a building which receives its supply of electricity from a source located within or shared with a dwelling.
• in a garden or in or on land associated with a building where the electricity is from a source located within or shared with a dwelling.

The requirements with Part P will be met where the installation:

• affords appropriate protection against mechanical and thermal damage.
• does not present electric shock and fire hazards to people.

Scope

The scope of Part P applies to electrical installations which are in a dwelling house or flat and to parts of the installation which are:

• outside the dwelling; this could include outside lights or socket outlets, photovoltaic systems, pond pumps or air conditioning units.
• supplies to outbuildings such as sheds, detached garages and domestic greenhouses. Only the electrical supply to the buildings are under the scope of Part P. Work carried out within this type of outbuilding is outside of the scope of Part P.
• common access areas in blocks of flats such as corridors and staircases.
• in shared amenities of blocks of flats such as kitchens, laundries and gymnasiums.
• in business premises which are connected to the same meter as a domestic dwelling; this could be a shop below a flat which shares a common meter.

Part P does not apply to business premises which have their own meters or lifts in blocks of flats. Part P does apply to a lift within a single dwelling.

Notifiable work

Part P requires that certain types of electrical work which is carried out in a domestic installation is notified to building control. Notifiable work includes:

• the installation of a single circuit or multiple circuits; this of course would include the rewiring of existing installations and completely new installations.
• the replacement of a consumer unit.
• any major change to a circuit; this could be changing the type or rating of a protective device or the installation of an RCD/RCBO.
• any addition or alteration to existing circuits in a special location.
• a room containing a swimming pool or sauna heater.

A special location would be a room containing a bath or a shower; however the special location would only vertically be to a height of 2.25m above the bath or shower tray and horizontally 600mm from the edge of a bath or shower tray.

In a wet room or a shower room which does not have a tray, the horizontal distance extends 1.2m from the centre of the shower head.

Inspecting and testing of notifiable work

There are three procedures which may be used to certify that notifiable work complies with the requirements set out in the building regulations.

The easiest method of notification is self-certification by a registered competent person. However, if the work has been carried out by a person who is not registered, it is acceptable for the installer to employ a third party registered person to certificate the work on their behalf. The other method is for the installation to be certified by a local building control body.

Self-certification by registered competent person

To become a registered installer, it is necessary to become a member of one of the recognised certification bodies which operate a domestic installer’s scheme. This would require the person carrying out the work to prove competence in the type of work which is being carried out, and the ability to inspect, test and certificate the work which he/she has carried out. Competence is usually assessed by a site visit from an inspector employed by the chosen scheme provider.

Where the installer is registered as a domestic installer, he or she must complete an electrical installation certificate, along with a schedule of test results and a schedule of inspections. This can be one of the model forms from BS7671, or a certificate which has been developed specifically for Part P installations. The installer must then notify their scheme provider of the work which has been carried out.

This must be done within 30 days. The scheme provider will notify both the local authority and the customer that the correct certification has been provided. An annual fee is usually required by the scheme provider, while a small fee is also payable for each job registered; usually the fee includes insurance for the work carried out.

Certification by a registered third party

Where notifiable work has been carried out by a non-registered person, it is permissible for the installer to employ the services of a registered installer to carry out the certification for them. Of course the installation must still meet the requirements of BS 7671 and the installation must be inspected and tested within five days of completion.

Where a third party certifier has been employed to carry out the inspecting and testing, the documents which must be completed are an electrical installation condition report, a condition report inspection schedule and a schedule of test results. The third party certifier must then notify their registration body who in turn will notify the customer and the building control body.

The building regulations state that when building work is complete the building should be no more unsatisfactory than it was before the building work was started. Therefore when altering or extending an electrical installation all new work must meet the current standards.

As a general rule, where an electrical installation requires an electrical installation certif...