Introduction
All electrical installation work in a home, garden, conservatory or outbuilding must meet the Building Regulations.
Part P states that any electrician or anyone carrying out electrical installation work in a home must make sure that the work is designed and installed to protect people from fire and electric shocks.
Overview
Many portable electric items like lamps and radios are supplied with a relatively short length of cable. Ensuring your home has sufficient socket-outlets at convenient points will minimise the need for extension leads and adapters, but occasionally their use will be unavoidable.
The risk of an electric shock causing serious injury or death, is greater outdoors than indoors, due to possible wet conditions and physical contact with the ground.
Hazards and dangers of using extension leads
The use of extension leads can present the following dangers:
- Tripping or falling.
- Cable damage due to wear, particularly where leads are walked over, flexed at a single point or stored badly.
- A greater capacity for overloading circuits, which increases the risk of fire.
An extension lead should not be used whenever it is possible to reach a wall socket with the equipment cable.
When a cable drum extension lead is in use, the cable must be completely unwound from the drum to avoid the cable overheating. A fully unwound cable reduces the risk of it overheating, thereby minimising the risks of fire or electric shock.
If the cable has to cross a pathway, the risk of tripping and damage can be minimised by covering it with a rubber protector strip.
Multi-way adapters should not normally be used. There is also a danger of electrical overload as the combined loads may exceed the ratings of the socket-outlet.
Residual Current Devices
An RCD is a safety device that switches off the electricity automatically when it detects an earth fault. Any socket-outlet that may be used for plugging in portable electrical equipment that is to be used outdoors, should have RCD protection.
An RCD is a switching device that trips a circuit under certain conditions, and disconnects the electricity supply and should disconnect the supply within 0.4 of a second = 40ms.
The safest option is to get a registered installer to install permanent RCD protection to all socket-outlets that may be used for plugging in 230 V outdoor portable electrical equipment.
Your consumer unit
Circuit breakers are automatic protection devices fitted in the consumer unit which switch off a circuit if a fault is detected. Circuit breakers are similar in size to fuse holders but provide more precise protection than fuses.
Many fuse boards are out of date and simply don’t comply with modern health and safety requirements. Older fuse boards / fuse boxes also offer little protection from electric shock. We would recommend you have your fuse board upgraded for a new 18th Edition consumer unit.
Earthing
Most types of electrical installations are fitted with main equipotential bonding, which is the connection of the internal metallic water and gas pipes to the main earth terminal of the electrical installation. In particular, those installations with PME (protective multiple earthing) must, for safety reasons have this bonding fitted.
If you have had an electrician tell you that you need to upgrade your earthing or there is no earthing and it needs to be installed, this is what he is talking about.
Is it important who carries out electrical installation work in my home?
Yes.
Electrical installation work must be carried out only by people who have the knowledge, skill and experience needed to avoid danger to themselves and others. It’s easy to make an electrical circuit work, it’s far harder to make the circuit work safely.
If you use a registered electrician, you can expect to have safe electrical installation work done, as the work will meet the UK national standard, BS 7671 (Requirements for Electrical Installations). When the work is finished you will receive:
- An Electrical Installation Certificate or Minor Works Certificate that confirms that the work meets BS 7671.
- A Building Regulations Compliance Certificate that confirms that the work meets the Building Regulations.
Pricing
We like to start off on the right foot so if you have a project and would like a FREE quote please give us a call or send us an email via the contact page.
ProElec are happy to offer a free survey of your property. You would then be supplied with a free no-obligation quote for any work required.
Why use us?
All our electricians and staff are uniformed and carry company identification.
Each electrician is qualified to the 18th Edition IET Wiring Regulations and City & Guilds 2391 Inspection & Testing Certification of Electrical Installations.
We work efficiently and cleanly with minimal disruption, we will always ensure we leave your premises clean and tidy.
More information
For more information please contact us or telephone us directly on 01925 222197