ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades WOF for your House?.

More rules, paperwork and shyte that we don't need.

Bit like a practicing license and the EWRB a waste of my time and money.

Paul,

I've seen a few cases where a car that has just passed the MoT failed the Irish NCT (National Car Test) which is a little more rigerous and also seems to get more o.t.t. every year.

The annual car inspection here in NSW did get out of control a few years ago when cars were knocked back for trivial things like a bit of surface rust in the corner of the door. Surprisingly they woke up to it and now it's far more reasonable with checking things that really do count from a safety perspective.
Have a look at my 1926 Model T Ford to give an idea of what I'm talking about http://www.users.bigpond.com/cool386/geelong3.jpg
Looks like a wreck doesn't it? But it's safe to drive, so it passed rego check.
Now, as to the thought police inspecting the electrical system of my house and what I run off it, no thanks! Just as well as I've hoarded away a lifetime supply of incandescent bulbs...including some big 300 and 500W ones I use in my garage and roof.
And if I wish to use antiquated fittings I should be able to...it doesn't affect anyone outside of MY house. Funny how political correctness would be happy for me to have a split system air con, provided it met such and such energy star rating. Yet, if I don't have the air con but there's a few incadescent bulbs turned on (which add up to way less than 2.4KW) then I'm being bad to the environment! Apparently you can have as many appliances as you like running, provided they are politically correct...despite the fact that a lesser amount of older appliances and incandescent bulbs would use less.
I'm still wondering how the thought police are going to see that all homes have now been fitted with smoke alarms.

If a house W.O.F. can rectify problems such as rewireable fuses rewired with copper wire, 12V halogen light transformers covered in flammable insulation and all other sorts of dodgy practices that we see every day in houses, then I'm all for it.

This W.O.F. can only mean more work for Joe Sparky, and give him an incentive to do compliant work. That's all good isn't it ?

The extra cost to the home-owner should be subsidised by our Government who allowed the dodgy work to happen in the first place.

That probably won't happen though.

Typicaly here in the UK the goverment brings out new regulations then lets the industry police its self. We can not even get certification right for new building how on earth are they going to manage certificating old buildings.

Time is running out for uk buildings MoT

Some friends are selling their old 18C farm-house and building a new one on an adjacent plot. They requested the mandatory Energy Report for the sale, and duly the suave 'Monsieur X' arrived to do it, with Joe Muggins roped in as traducteur. He simply asked:-
Q. "Do you 'ave central heating?"
A. "Yes."
Then he measured all the room areas with a laser doohickey, noting window sizes, double glazing or not, and without checking or asking what insulation was fitted, he pronounced the house, and I quote "It is Grade E, as good as it gets in France". It took him less than 30 minutes and cost them 150 Euros = US $200. They never even saw the report, it went straight to the Notaire.
He also pontificated that a 'Grade A' house would be found, typically, in Scandinavia, Germany or Austria, where such a dwelling would be 32 degrees C warmer than the outside temperature with the heating turned off,[!], which of course, with all due respects to our undoubtedly technically advanced and civilised neighbors, is a load of old bolleaux.
IMHO, another E150 wasted on bloody parasites!

Alan

Yes an electrical W.O.F. for existing houses would have to be properly policed. I do share everyone elses opinion that this would never happen. Kenbo is right in saying that if we can't even get a system right for new buildings then we've got no chance of organising a decent system for existing buildings.

As usual our government & local councils will turn a good idea into an inefficient, corrupt, revenue grabber that achieves nothing.

I suppose its a big ask expecting government bodies to employ enough people qualified & experienced enough to judge wether a building is electrically safe or not.

The NCT seems to have one or two things which are silly.

From the manual, section 49, electrical: http://www.ncts.ie/nctmanual.pdf


If I want to wire a radio so that it works without the ignition switch being in either the run or accessory positions, how is that in any way a safety issue?

It's funny how from having absolutely no vehicle inspections at all just a few years ago Ireland has now adopted such a comprehensive test.

Mind you, the British MoT has plenty of quirks, e.g. despite the trivial items which can now constitute a failure, would you believe that the speedometer is not tested here, and in fact you can pass the test with it not working?

Can anyone remember motoring before the MOT? I can and the Test came none too soon. In 1953 I went by train to stay with an aunt in Lancashire for the summer. My cousins, George and Norman, ran a typical British 'banger' of the period, a two-tone [ that is, two colors of rust! ] pre-war Ford E93A. You could buy one just like it for a fiver. All 5 tyres were totally bald, [ which was legal ], but three of them were down to the cords flapping through the casings, and were not. Never mind! They did a DIY re-mold and painted them with tar my uncle borrowed from Preston gasworks. The transverse rear spring had snapped in two. George came up with the 'engineering solution' and they roped a scaffold plank across the rear axle instead! I know, because I bloody sat on it with the road going past in a blur under my bottom! "Just keep tha' feet up our Alan, thee'll be reet!" Off we went one Saturday to Morecombe Bay to do a bit of plaice fishing. The old side-valve bravely labored on, blowing oily smoke into the car through the rotten and ventilated floor and bulkhead, from a thousand holes in the exhaust and what remained of the muffler. Not to worry! We kept the windows open, and it all blew out again! The gearbox was full of sawdust, of course, and the diff. stuffed with a pair of nylon stockings. George did the driving - he worked for t' Ribble Bus Corporation and it took real skill to manoever a car with no brakes and 8" of play in the steering. At one point we were attempting a curve when we came upon a queue of cars and bikes halted at a ford, [ the tide was coming in]. George had no option; he couldn't stop anyway, so we roared into the foot deep water and out the other side, our giant bow-wave saturating half a dozen plebs by the wayside, our gesticulating fingers insultingly waving a cheery farewell. We caught a couple of galvanised buckets full of plaice then motored home that evening singing "Roll out the Barrel" and "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen", to the accompanyment of the big-ends as they attempted to saw the crank in half. There were no freezers or fridges in Kingfisher Street then, so my Aunty Lil kept the fattest fish for us and gave the rest to the neighbors.

Alan

Paul,

The NCT in Ireland was implemented to rapidly bring things up to standard. There was no point in bringing in a half-baked test.

It's carried out in independent test centres, not by your garage. You have to make an appointment and report to your nearest NCT centre to have your car put through its paces. It seems fair enough and works quite well.

Don't understand that quirk with the electrical fitting either though! very odd..