PART L CONSULTATION

[Joiner]

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/brconsultationsection2

 

[Penners]

Thank you for pointing us towards that, Joiner. I think it may be of interest to a number of people on this forum.

I hope you don't mind if I also add the following link to the proposals for changes to Part P - Electrical Installations - which I think may also interest some:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/brconsultationsection3

 

[Flyfisher]

I found a couple of interesting things (to me anyway) in the Part P proposals.

(b) allowing DIYers and other unregistered installers (firms not registered with a Part P Competent Person Self-Certification Scheme) to employ a third party qualified electrician to inspect and test their work as an alternative to using a building control body (see paragraph 36).

Very sensible I think, but what's the practical difference between the current situation whereby a qualified electrician may be prepared to certify DIY work? If the electrician is the certifying person then surely they are taking the responsibility for the installation regardless of whether they did the work or whether the home owner did the work?


We therefore propose to amend Approved Document P to explain more clearly that Part P does not apply to the non-domestic parts of electrical installations that do not share a source with the dwelling parts; that Part P does not apply to non-domestic buildings that are exempt buildings (for example agricultural buildings) under the Building Regulations even where the source is shared; and that by source we mean the supply on the consumer side of the electricity meter.

Our meter is located in an outbuilding and has switched, 'sub-main' cables to the consumer units inside the house. There is a separate CU near the meter serving only the outbuildings. My interpretation is that this means our "non-domestic" outbuildings "do not share a source with the dwelling parts" and, therefore part P does not apply to them. In which case I could presumably have legitimately used brown/blue cabling for all the lighting I installed instead of using up my old stock of red/black cable. :x

 

[biffvernon]

Hmmm...there's a lot to think about in there. The whole Green Deal thing is just so complicated.

(There were ice flowers on my window this morning.)

 

[oxalto]

(There were ice flowers on my window this morning.)

Spooky, Biff! There were indeed the most beautiful ice flowers on your windows. But they were in my house - how did you know? Uncanny....

 

[biffvernon]

Ha. That's what you pay extra for when you buy single glazed windows.

 

[Penners]

(b) allowing DIYers and other unregistered installers.... to employ a third party qualified electrician to inspect and test their work as an alternative to using a building control body (see paragraph 36).

Very sensible I think, but what's the practical difference between the current situation whereby a qualified electrician may be prepared to certify DIY work?

I must say, I thought that situation already existed.

I could presumably have legitimately used brown/blue cabling for all the lighting I installed instead of using up my old stock of red/black cable.

There is no regulation requiring you to use red/black cable to extend a system that already includes red/black cable. All you have to do is place the following sticker on the consumer unit:

 

[Feltwell]

I suspect that FF's use of red/black cable is more to do with proving that his work was done before the recent regs, which of course it all was :wink: I can't think of anyone else who does that kind of thing, or why there is a roaring trade in red/black cable on Ebay, or why I've got a big reel of the stuff in the garage........ 8)

But if said regs don't apply then the new cable could have been used, saving the precious commodity of old cable for a future as yet unknown use.

I've got to do it all to the new regs for my garage, as the BCO is coming round and knows full well it didn't exist before the regs changed.

 

[Penners]

I suspect that FF's use of red/black cable is more to do with proving that his work was done before the recent regs

Well, that thought did occur to me, but I dismissed it immediately as completely beyond the bounds of possibility.

 

[Flyfisher]

Well, I couldn't possibly comment, save to admire the astuteness of Feltwell's conjecture.