rewiring query Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[spudster]

Hi everyone,

Just bought an old house near brighton which needs rewiring my dad is an electrician in ireland and is willing to do the work for us is this allowed and what is the situation with certificates etc could he do the work and someone else check and certify it I realise this probably sounds a bit stupid but reading through the forums it all seems very complex and I am not sure of the legislation etc.

Thanks for reading :)

[jaffa19]

I would read the legislation as this:

Part-p is a building regulation and as long as all work is carried out according to the building regs, and you inform the local authority that work is being undertaken, and to what extent, they will be more than happy to oversee the work being done. This means basically that as long as your dad abides by the regs, and you tell the council, then, yeah.. crack on. 8)

[ericmark]

Your Dad can do the lot.
First you have to inform the local council building control and pay their fee.
Then your dad rewires your house and does all inspection and testing.
A copy of the certificates is given to the council. They can either accept these or they can opt to test themselves.
Assuming all is OK they then issue a completion certificate.
They may wish to see your dads qualification and they also may want to view at first fix stage.
There is a link to the Part P document on the projects section and you can get blank forms from the IET web site.
Eric

[spudster]

THank you Eric Thats very helpful :D [/quote]

[ericmark]

Since your dad is an Irish electrician he may not know our regulations which changed this year. There are two types of cable one can use in general. Twin & earth will need protecting in a wall with an RCD but the Ali-tube i.e. flexishield does not. Cables to lights in bathroom, and sockets need RCD anyway and most people tend to use twin & earth for everything and put RCD’s on everything. But you can wire cookers, smoke alarms, Fridges (As long as socket marked fridge only) immersion heaters, lights except for bathroom etc using Ali-tube cable without an RCD. Never used the stuff and no idea of price but you may wish to consider it for items which would cause problems if the RCD should trip i.e. fridge and freezer while on holiday.
If you go to IET web site there is a correction to the 17th Edition which includes a handy guide to ring mains and radials. Also in wiring matters instructions as to how to wire out building etc. There is also something on radial v ring main not sure if they use ring main in Ireland but because of the 1/3 rules in drilling beams many now consider radials are better than ring mains depends on house layout. Also as far as RCD’s go you can either use just twin RCD’s or RCBO’s the use of the latter reduces the problems with filtered appliances building up leakage to a trip level. But they cost more.
Maybe you need to talk to your dad about the options before you start.
Eric

[TOPSPARK]

Looking at the posts on this subject ericmark has given you some very good advice.My suggestion is to take this advice and decide which way you want to go when rewiring your house. I would also like to suggest as to flexishield cable check out the price first as sometimes when new equipment or materials come onto the market they can be very expensive and you might not want to pay if costs are too much where twin and earth is cheaper but best to check all options first then decide but before work is carried out local authority building control must be informed of impending works
regards
Topspark

[spudster]

Thanks Jaffa, and thank you Eric, Lots of good info. i will chat to him and look at the options. Thank for taking the time to reply i really appreciate it :)

[spudster]

[quote="TOPSPARK"]Looking at the posts on this subject ericmark has given you some very good advice.My suggestion is to take this advice and decide which way you want to go when rewiring your house. I would also like to suggest as to flexishield cable check out the price first as sometimes when new equipment or materials come onto the market they can be very expensive and you might not want to pay if costs are too much where twin and earth is cheaper but best to check all options first then decide but before work is carried out local authority building control must be informed of impending works
regards
Topspark[/quote]

Thanks topspark