Liam
|
| posted on 3/12/09 at 10:46 PM |
|
|
LOL! I'd like to see you try and pass off a full DIY rewire as 'replacing existing' to building control/a solicitor! You can
replace damaged cabling for a single circuit only without notifying - ok I suppose you could find that every section of cable is damaged one after the
other, but already pushing it I think  . You certainly can't change the consumer unit, or any fittings in a kitchen or bathroom, to name a few
other stumbling blocks.
Liam
|
|
|
|
|
MikeRJ
|
| posted on 4/12/09 at 10:53 AM |
|
|
Part P Exclusions. This is what you can legaly do without notification,
rather than what you can get away with...
|
|
|
tegwin
|
| posted on 4/12/09 at 11:32 AM |
|
|
Another session last night with the multimeter and screwdrivers..
I disconnected both live wires for the lighting circuits from the consumer unit and measured the resistance between L and earth... I was expecting
infinite resistance.. instead I get about 8Mega ohms... Is that normal?
I then connected the two lighting circuits in one at a time... the ground floor circuit works fine, the upstairs circuit trips the RCD instantly... so
thats narrowed it down to one floor..
Doing a "live test" shows me that the doorbells and shaver sockets are also fed from the upstairs lighting radial.
I disconnected them all and it still blows.
I think the next stage is to remove all of the light switches and light fittings and do continuity and short circuit "logic" testing on
all of the runs to try and narrow down the location of the fault...
I have, for testings sake sepperated the two lighting circuits into two seperate slots on the consumer unit instead of just one...
Even after the above, I am still reluctant to let a spark anywhere near my house.. I have never had any tradesman do a job that I could
trust...charging as much as possible and taking as little care as possible...
I can understand why Part P was introduced... but its a crock of sh1t... some people with the qualifications and "experience" are worse
electricians than my little sister!
[Edited on 4/12/09 by tegwin]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Would the last person who leaves the country please switch off the lights and close the door!
www.verticalhorizonsmedia.tv
|
|
|
Liam
|
| posted on 4/12/09 at 01:15 PM |
|
|
A proper IR tester challenges the circuit with 250 or 500V to really show any insulation problems up, whereas your multimeter does not (probably uses
5V for resistance measurement). If you were reading 8Meg with a multimeter test, you might read much lower with a proper tester. You can get
incorrect readings if electronics are still connected - such as flourescent light fittings and extractor fans, so make sure these are disconnected.
Neutral to earth and live to neutral should also be tested, but as said you can't really do a proper test with a multimeter anyway.
But keep plugging away and you may eventually find the fault! Good luck.
Liam
|
|
|
JoelP
|
| posted on 4/12/09 at 08:23 PM |
|
|
measure neutral to earth too, as NE faults will trip an RCD.
8 megs is getting poor but isnt bad enough to trip the rcd.
If you are concerned about damaging equiptment on the circuit (which is only really a risk at 500v) then you can hold live and neutral on one probe
and the other on earth, which stops current flowing through circuits etc.
|
|
|
