Complying with new regs! Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[moatmeister]

Hi everyone, first posting here!!!

Currently got easy access to electrics under floorboards upstairs. Not ready to do it all yet but will be planning electical upgrades/partial rewiring as part of general renovations. I am competant but not qualified electrictian, and certainly not fully conversant with new regs.

Will be getting electician in to fit new consumer unit and test etc but would like to run in some basic cabling now whilst access is good, including feed for a new electric shower in the bathroom, tails for new ring mains etc for a planned full rewire. Also for a potential loft conversion again with second electic shower, and any supplimentary earth cross bonding cabling required to comly with new regs.

I am assuming the loft would need completely separate ring main and lighting circuits, would it be ok to run a "main feed" from a spare breaker on the main consumer unit, and then deal with it all separately later with a separate consumer unit feeding power, lights and shower locally and if so what rating cable?

Also, in basic terms, what items need separate earthing to main consumer unit and what size cable?

Thanks
Simon

[BLAKEY1963]

SIMON
THIS IS PART P NOTIFIABLE WORK , NOT DIY.
YOUR part p electrician will need to certify work , that he has
installed.
however if u r running cables then he could be consulted and
supervise this with u assisting.
ask your sparky ! i am sure he will be b helpful.

BLAKEY1963

[Evo2463]

[quote="BLAKEY1963"]SIMON
THIS IS PART P NOTIFIABLE WORK , NOT DIY.
YOUR part p electrician will need to certify work , that he has
installed.
however if u r running cables then he could be consulted and
supervise this with u assisting.
ask your sparky ! i am sure he will be b helpful.

BLAKEY1963[/quote]

I have been reading the local authority building regualations and it seems that as long as you follow their lead, notify them and follow the iee regualtions anyone can fit the electrics as long as the regualtions are adhered to, is this correct?

[sparx]

Evo2463, Partly right in that if you notify LABControl before starting any work & pay their inspection fee up front you can DIY, BUT they will only look at cable routes used, Earthing to services & tick a couple of boxes on a bit of paper. You will not get any test results or certs. which is what will be needed if you ever want to sell up
regards SPARX

[ericmark]

I think the law has changed and the council now are responsible for cost of testing but they do require full inspection and testing paper work to be submitted which means you need access to meters and ability to fill in the form correctly using standard format. A non electrical person is unlikely to make head nor tail of things like EEBADS or to understand what installation method 1 refers to. Or even where the forms may be got hold of in the first place. A non domestic electrician could do all this although not registered under part P but a DIY man is likely to fail and also will have no idea if the results do pass. With the 1/3 rule on drilling beams exceeding volt drop limits of 4% (9.2 volt) is very easy but one measures R1 and R2 even if you do understand what they mean working out if they pass is something else. I like I would expect many others bang the results into an excel program which identifies any errors before submitting. But two long of a ring main is not easy to rectify only down grading to 25 amp so as said before lay cables under instruction is OK carefully noting lengths but fitting cables without instruction is a little fool hardy. All best Eric