Electrical safety for home buyers
Posted on October 22, 2018 at 13:00 PM
According to government statistics around 4 people a day are injured or killed in fires related to electrical faults.
A high percentage of home buyers did not have the electrics inspected before they purchased the property, a third of these buyers went on to find electrical problems that they were not aware of before they purchased, this could of been easily avoided by getting an electrician to carry out an inspection.
One of the top tips for purchasing a property is to get the electrical installation checked (EICR) to ensure your new home is electrically safe and you are not holding the bill; a rewire could run into thousands of pounds.The EICR could give you ammunition to negotiate the price of the property. A survey will not inspect the state of the electrics!
Each year people are killed or seriously injured because of electrical faults.
If you would like an EICR carried out on your property , then contact us. Read on for more information about the EICR.
What is an electrical installation condition report (EICR)?
An EICR is a check of the fixed wiring of your electrical installation at the property. Its to establish whether its safe and compliant to regulations, to identify any possible safety issues that you can not see.
The electrician will visit the property and carry out a visual inspection of all your accessible electrical accessories and then will proceed to carry out a series of checks, starting at your fuse board.
During the visit the electrician will take note of all the circuit details and findings then compile a report, which you will receive a copy including a quote (if needed) to carry out any remedial repairs recommended to bring your installation up to current standards.
What is checked during an EICR?
- suppliers equipment and and secondary sources of supply
- Internal inspection of distribution units and fuse boards
- Distribution cables and final circuits
- Containment
- Sockets, switches isolators and accessories
- Earthing and bonding
- Labelling
- External earth loop impedance
- Prospective fault current
- Continuity of circuit protective conductors
- Polarity
- Ring final circuits
- Insulation resistance
- RCD Testing
- Functional testing
Can any body do an EICR?
In short....No
You will need an electrician, that is registered with an approved electrical regulatory body such as STROMA , NICEIC, NAPIT and ELECSA, these are regulatory bodies for the UK electrical industry that carry out competency checks on electricians
Estimate times for an electrician to be at the property:
- Up to three hours for a one bed property
- Up to four hours in a two bed
- And from three to five hours at a 3 bed property
HAve you just bought a home ? are you a landlord and require a electrical safety report? contact Burridge Electrical
Burridge Electrical on testing and inspection