Electrical Certification question

ampleforth

A friend of mine just bought a house this month that has been rewired about 5 years ago, but there is unfortunately no documentation or even a bill. From the quality of the house, however, it can be seen that installations are new and, after some basic inspection by a surveyor, it can be confirmed that this is recent and (obviously judged superficial) decent at face value. The house has wired smoke detectors in every room and the light switches are lowered for better accessibility, which indicates that this may indeed be recent.

She asked me if it would be possible and/or necessary to have this installation certified in retrospect and I honestly do not quite know what its benefit would be other than a heightened feeling of security.

She does not plan to rent anything out and there is no plan to resell in the next 10 years.

Would you call in an electrician to check the installation to give you certification in retrospect? What would be your reasons other than personal safety (e.g. would home insurance be affected?) and what would this roughly cost (small house with ~60 sqm, 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom)?

Many thanks.

Risteard81

It is not possible for it to be certified retrospectively by someone else.

The best you could achieve is a Periodic Inspection Report. This is, however, a report and not a certificate. The installation could only have been certified by the contractor who wired it. There is every chance that it was certified but the certificate is missing. Should ESB involvement have been required then a Completion Certificate would have been required at the time to facilitate this. Even if DSO involvement was not required there is a requirement for the installation to have been verified and certified.

Steer55

Hi

I got my house completely rewired over a year or so ago. ESB networks had to be contacted to wire the tails into the fuse box, they needed a certificate from electrician before they came out. They got one cert, I got a cert and the electrician kept the last cert.. contact ESB networks they should confirm whether that house is on their system. Also ask neighbours, they might know electrician who wired the house.

ampleforth

Risteard81 wrote: »

It is not possible for it to be certified retrospectively by someone else.

The best you could achieve is a Periodic Inspection Report. This is, however, a report and not a certificate.

Fair enough.

What are the disadvantages of now getting a completion certificate other then not knowing what was done as exactly expressed by the original electrician who know what he put in the walls?

I checked at SafeElectric.ie (https://safeelectric.ie/help-advice/periodic-inspection-reports) that states:

"A PIR is intended to identify the condition of an electrical installation, be it good or bad."

It further states:

"The REC must provide a copy of their PIR accompanied with the completed Test Record Sheet to their customer and explain the next steps required of the customer to bring the installation in line with the relevant standards. [...]
Following the periodic inspection and testing of an installation, a schedule of the following shall be compiled:
* All defects, damage, deterioration of equipment or wiring, and the potential hazards from any non-compliance with the National Rules for Electrical Installations.
* Recommendations for necessary consequential remedial works."

This sounds to me that this report checks all that there is to care about an installation. If a Periodic Inspection Report says that the installation is working within spec and points out all aspects that are defect, damaged, deteriorated etc (incl. wiring) while pointing out potential hazards and non-compliance plus points out what needs to be done, then this seems to be quite sufficient (to my uneducated view at least) what there is to know about the wiring.

Comments are welcome.

2011

The PIR if carried out properly is a worthwhile document for the reasons stated above. However the checks are not intrusive enough to capture every possible deviation from the regulations and what would be considered best practice. Realistically that level of inspection can only be carried out during installation.

For example, the electrician generating the PIR could not reasonably be expected to find a taped up cable joint buried within a wall installed by the original electrical contractor.

stiofan85

OP, I got my house rewired a couple of years ago and due to lack of knowledge/experience in dealing with tradesmen I paid up front and he vanished & never certified. I tried to chase him through REC to no avail. Caused quite a bit of stress... Then we decided to sell the house and that stress went up quite a bit. I got a PIR done and had a few things fixed. The buyer's solicitor accepted it, as have insurance company. The sparks gave me a good sense that everything is in order and put my mind at rest that I'm handing over a safe house to the next owner. A very good use of money IMO

As a non expert this stuff can be very stressful and you're a bit alone in it. The internet can also scare you with doomsday scenarios, so having someone who knows their stuff give it a good check really is good peace of mind.

listermint

Don't bother unless your selling it.