Electrical Work in the Garden

[pigletwillie]

On January 1st part P of the building regulations came into force. These affect electrical instalation in a domestic property.

The basics are as follows

Any instalation in a bathroom, kitchen or garden MUST
be undertaken only by somebody registered as a part P electrician. Any major electrical work in any other part of the home must be undertaken by the same or building control notified before work starts.

This act basically limits DIY`ers to replacing fixtures and fittings and adding the odd socket to existing circuits NOT in the kitchen bathroom or garden.

Be very aware that buildings and contents insurers are well clued up on this and if you suffer a fire or other damage caused by wiring they are increasingly insistent upon seeing certificates before entertaining your claim to ensure compliance.

Think very carefully before you lash up an electrical supply to your greenhouse or polytunnel.

For more info go to

http://www.odpm.gov.uk/pub/908/Newrules ... 130908.pdf

or

http://www.odpm.gov.uk/electricalsafety

[Guest]

You can still undertake the work yourself, but have to get it inspected.

[David]

I did a 5 year apprenticeship and got all my tickets but that was 30 years ago - do you know if these are still valid so I am ok to do my own work?

Thanks

David

[richard p]

the sneaky beggars have also changed the twin and earth wiring colours to match the blue and brown in flex so they know that if the fixed wiring is in the new colours it should be certificated.

i suppose its an improvement on the old system , the instalation had to be certificated before the supply was installed. so u could install a fusebox one socket and a light get it tested , get the supply installed and turned on , then wire the rest on the house and grounds later with no further inspections.

but the situation is now that competant diy installation of safe fixed wiring to and arround the garden shed is illegal, but we can still dangle a "temporary" extension lead out the window accross the wet lawn to the shed, with adapters and trailing leads in the shed. o well thats progress i suppose

[Cider Boys]

Anyone can still do the work, but it can only be inspected by someone who has registered with part P.
There are many electricians who do not have the Part P. To be registered you have to complete the training and then pay an annual registration fee (not cheap).
Therefore you have to consider letting a registered Part P electrician/firm carry out the work so he can then inspect his work and issue the paperwork, or do the work yourself and then pay for an inspection.

Therefore you are in my view competent to carry out the work to the latest Part P building regulations but would need to have it inspected by a registered electrician or local council.

Barney

[pigletwillie]

I am a part P registered electrician and unfortunatley, like most of the same, I will only certificate my own work. I am not prepared to put my name to a legal document if I havent installed it as it is against the regulations (Part P page 12 section 1 28 )

As a diyer you are not classed as competent to undertake the work. You have to be a qualified person.

If you do, do the work yourself, yes you can get the council in but the cost will probably be more than the cost of getting a small job done by a certificated person anyway as they will still require certification. Notifying the council is an option for qualified electricians who are not Part P registered or diyers.

Read the regs, there is no way around them, unless you dont tell anybody, but them you run the risk of being found out.

[Cider Boys]

Please correct me if I am wrong since I was involved before the regulations came into operation.

My understanding was the new regulations do not discriminate between an electrician who is not Part P registered and a DIY person.

Both can undertake the work and both have to notify the appropriate building control body.

I understood that electrical DIY work will still be permitted under Part P. Those doing notifiable DIY work have to submit a building notice to their local authority and have to pay a building control fee to have the work inspected.

In other words, anyone can still carry out the work subject to satifying the rules.

Barney

[pigletwillie]

You are right that there is no descrimination between the two. You will find however that that very few Part P electricians will certificate work which they have not undertaken themselves if any.

The point is that people can no longer fit supplies to greenhouses etc without either a Part P installer being involved or your local councils building control officer.

What makes a mockery of it is that a non Part P electrician is ok to work in industrial or commercial premises with impunity. All that will happen in theory is the cowboys will win because the regs will drive prices up and people into their hands or they will still do it themselves and not tell anybody, and who is going to know. More regs, more paperwork, more cost.

[richard p]

how many councils have a building control officer competent to certify eletrics?
probably a similar number that have competant gas ones to comply with the new gas regs.

[arthur e]

I have run armoured cable from an out house to my tunnel, its buried under the grass 4ins deep along a 30yd fence line. It plugs into a 13 amp socket along with the deep freeze then it terminates in the tunnel in a twin socket,in effect just an extension lead, is that OK.
I use an RCD and wear my rubber nickers as a precaution when I'm spraying water around.
Arthur

[Allan]

If you have a working RCD in the circuit you are completely safe, more protection than any certificates.
Allan

[pigletwillie]

Allan that is a very reckless statement.

An Rcd will only protect against earth leakage which is the most common way of getting an electric shock. However, it will not protect against overloading which can potentially cause a fire, neither will it protect against voltage drop from undersized cable run to sheds etc which again can cause overheating. An Rcd is unable to see if polarity is correct or indeed if an earth is present at all (Rcd`s will sit there just fine without an earth but wont actually activate).

Just because it works doesnt mean that its safe.

[richard p]

ive got a wee gizmo, its like a 13 amp plug with 3 lights on it , it tells whether all the wires in the socket are connected properly, takes seconds to check a socket.

[Compo]

I think Pigletwillie is right, however, electricians do not come cheap and a recent quote to put in armoured cable to an outbuilding was £600, the sparky was not prepared to split my , supply and argued that he then would have to put in a separate new twelve way fuse box, thus causing my whole supply in the house to be rewired, he then said that if he did that he would have to check the whole house thus possibly incurring more costs if he found faulty lighting or socket faults. With all the kit available in DIY stores you cant blame folk for having a go, the trade professinals in UK needs to be reasonable whilst staying safe.

[Cider Boys]

You are certainly not completely safe by relying on a RCD.

Simply a RCD compares the current flow in (PHASE) to the current flow out (NEUTRAL). If they are the same it will not trip, however if you cause some current to flow through your body to earth, it detects the imbalance and trips.

An RCD will reduce the chance of receiving a shock but does not protect you from all possible instances.
If you should come in contact with both the phase and neutral and receive an electric shock through your body the RCD will not trip unless sufficient current also flows to earth.

Barney