UK Domestic Wiring Qualification?

[John Mackay]

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

 

[Palindr☻me]

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?

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.

 

[John McLean]

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

In a word No. Enter a search for "Part P" of the link http://www.iee.org/ as
a starter. The new regulations come into effect 1 January 2005.

 

[John C]

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....

 

[sQuick]

It's bad enough with the wiring colour change let alone Part P as well.
I am an apprentice trained industrial electrician City and Guilds 236-1
and 2; 238-0; 239-1; 2400 and can switch upto 33kV but i can't fit a new
bath room light..........

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...

 

[bob watkinson]

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...

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?

 

[John Mackay]

In a word No. Enter a search for "Part P" of the link http://www.iee.org/ as
a starter. The new regulations come into effect 1 January 2005.

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

 

[Palindr☻me]

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?

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....

 

[Ted Rubbeford]

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....

 

[John]

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.
(SNIP)

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

 

[m j adkins]

what rubs me up the wrong way as an electrician for 40 odd years and self
employed for 30 and nic registered up to 3 years ago I resent some tin pot
money making concern registering me for instance the electrical wing of
fensa which cant even control the double glazing industry and the like of
the masters builders who would enlist donkeys if they had the money.but
first off all its about time that the electrical regulations side got it
sorted out the bathroom regs are a laugh also the bonding regs ,I still get
customers asking to bond metal window frames. etc and how do you bond a
conservatory ????i could go on