Breaking Down A Bad EICR 

New Zealand has that exact license system you talk about. When filling out paperwork workers need to supply their license number, which can then be used to trace work back to who did it. If you come across dodgy work you can report the license number and the worker will get a phone call. We even name and shame particularly awful/dangerous electrical work

David Savery issued a video recently about a little boy who was killed by electric shock in a pub garden. There are numerous fires caused by electrical faults every year. But you still see poor electrical work by some sparks and they're getting away with it. Landlords now have to have eicr's, but if they're not done properly...

Good to have you back doing weekly videos. Cheers Tom

Nice to see you out & about & Greetings from New Zealand

Lovely that you are coming back on track, regarding your youtube channel. I am still enjoying my new fluke testmeter.(still thx) Btw laminated your greetings and hanged it on my oilfurnace. Now I love having guests and making them believe that I know a vip... but of course... all sparkys are vip right;)

Been binge watching your videos all day. Love the content 👍

Finally a new video. Thanks for posting. Just a suggestion for the next one, could you give an update regarding your company/business?

Always a pleasure to watch and quite inspiring. Cheers Buddy.

Just about to begin my Domestic Installers course. Keep up the great work Tom 🙌🏻

Haha mini Nagy popping up on your shoulder gave me a good chuckle.

Thank you for the video and content, always very enjoyable

Good video Tom @8:40 great idea mate, really annoys me too Great to see you back Tom, my first Sparky RU-vid subscription, so much so that I started my own channel now.

Completely agree with the Electrician (/Driving) Points system you mention at 7:41. Amazing idea

Good to see your busy Tom

It's good you have standards. I live in rented accomodation and the guys who came to do the EICR and remedial work were excellent. Really thorough. Glad my landlord realises it's important to have a decent job done. My house is really simple. 4 circuits, 2 rings, 2 radials. Needed a fusebox change as it was old and no protection. Now have RCBO protected circuits and they let me look at the board when they'd done it before they put the cover on. Keep up the good work.

Great channel Thomas . Very thorough and neat 👍

Keep the videos coming! Love it mate

Totally with you on the license/card, sounds like a great idea. It wouldn't be all that hard to have an easy to understand system for what you're legally permitted to do as well, that the customer could understand - like the vehicles you're allowed to drive.

Have used them slim fittings in a flat that had concrete floors and only had a batten depth for the gap in the ceiling 👍

Good to see you back Tom.

The board with no blanks in and mounted sideways was for the voltage drop to escape 😂😂

Hello, I'm sure you have heard this before, but there are quite a few things in the us, electrical wise, that require a permit and subsequent inspection from the city, township, county, etc. By far not a perfect system either as the good old boys will overlook problems sometimes. Glad to see new videos, long time watcher from the US. Keep grinding!

I totally agree about the licensing topic that you raised. This is an industry that needs regulating and the inherent dangers of unregulated shoddy workmanship is just as serious as a non-licensed car driver joy-riding all over the roads. Both can result in serious injury or death to individuals other than the driver or the electrician. Bravo for raising this issue and I hope that somebody out there listens and, more importantly, acts on it.

Tom, you can get the thin led round flat 12.5mm lights that look great to fit in that kitchen

Omg spot on with the licence concept but not just with sparkies the whole construction industry.

For your phone, look at UAG cases, specifically the Monarch. Had one on my last 3 phones and have dropped them countless times and they are still fine.... They are one of the few cases tested to a defined standard.

Greetings from South Africa. Keep up the great work

In USA you have to have license in most states all work inspect by electrical inspector

On the observations page of the eicr is “ccu” not mean cooker control unit.

Loving the sideways consumer unit!

Good to see you enjoying EICR’s

Great vid Tom 👍

Those boards with mixed breakers and cutting corners is the epitome of our industry and everything that fucks me off with it!

1:54 As I am a US citizen, I have been in Reading a few times working there. Right off the M4 & A33. Great place, except everyone is crazy and drives on the wrong side of the road! 😲👍

Hi I'm using 5 X 25mm swa what type breaker and size would I use. I'm discriminating down from 400amp mccb feeding a sub distribution panel. And what size breaker will I use in sub distribution panel. Sorry.. I'm used to domestic.. Just starting out as a spark

that story about towing the van.i once jumpstarted a car with 16sq earth.two of us just held the cable against the battery terminals and it worked a treat.

Brilliant video mate 👍👍👍👍

What lights are you using at the start of this video?

Great vid as always 👌

Does the cooker panel with socket above cooker comply?

Points is daft for electricians license. However a card with all your qualifications on the back like GasSafe and a register of actually qualified engineers so if you work without being registered/qualified on systems you can be jailed I agree with. Also as long as those Hager breakers sit on the bus bar securely without causing undue strain on the main switch, same with the volex/wylex - most of these are default designed to the DIN standard and if they're from the same manufacturer group what's the harm in same standard different brand name slapped on the front.

Woo! Welcome back!

i totally agree with the licensing thing idea and instead of points maybe temporary suspensions

Is the bucket truck going to be driven by you mostly or have you got someone lined up to work from it.

Hi, isn't the cooker switch too close to the hob?

i have nothing constructive to add other than that ending shot was quite lovely.

Is it compliant to Mount a board sideways like that?

Good tips, thanks.

Does the fitment of that consumer unit on its side meet the regs? And if DIN rail can be universal for mounting MCB's, RCBO's etc., why can't all these be required to fit with, and play nicely with other items from any manufacturer?

I pulled a van out of mud when it got stuck once using 10mm earth, glad it wasn’t just me.

In from work doing this to watch someone else do it 😁

Nice top gear reference 1:40

Well an mcb is an mcb and it should not be vendor locked, it has a form factor for a reason, it should not matter if a board has all mcbs from a different vendor. Also I don't get UK and their fascination with the in board main disconnect, here we have an mcb before the power meter (with a seal), you turn off no power in the board, why put the first point of isolation in a place which can be accessed by everyone.

Really interesting point mate, could you talk about how to find a good sparkie for jobs? What should you look out for to avoid cowboys like that?

What's wrong with mixing manufacturers of MCBs and consumer units?

Maximum size hole in a fire rated plasterboard ceiling 90mm?

Serious question - what’s the issue with mixing brands within a CCU?

In the states. You must have a Journeyman for the state you work in. You can learn the trade as an apprentice/ electrical trainee tell you have the required 8000 hour of training to apply for the test.

Completely agree with you, I manage the electrical compliance for a housing association and see **** like this all too often. It's a struggle as our in house guys give a shit and actually test but you know contractors can do twice as many EICR's a day, trying to explain why to the bean counters is painful.

Don't you need any type of license/certification to work as a electrician in the UK? If you do need one, can't it be revoked if you repeatedly make unsafe installations?

Good vid as always

I agree what your saying about the sparky licence thing. I would rather pay that bit extra knowing my electrics where left safe even thow i may moan about how much it was but safety and lives must come 1st

Wait why didn't you fit fire rated fitting? My understanding was that they have to be fitted to maintain the fire barrier, please correct me as it will save me money lol

It amazes me how much...or in this case how little...accountability there is for such an important job...I mean people can DIE if it is not done correctly.

Here in Ireland you have to be a qualified spark in order to sign certs do periodic inspections/eicr tests. It takes 4 years to do the apprenticeship, testing is a lot more serious than it was during the boom of early 2000's. Still far from perfect as a lot of apprentices will tell you.

Always enjoy the video’s, but the sound volume killed me today when the ads came in versus nominal volume of the video.

When’s the office tour coming ;)

in austria for example you need to make some sort "master training" with a tuff exam at the end... without it you are not allowed to found a company... isn't there anything in the uk? because you said something about " electrians drivers license"

What's the issue with different brands of breakers to the board they go in? Same brand obviously looks a lot better but surely as long as it's to spec it's all good? Not being shirty, just genuinely interested in your answer!

Thought I was seeing things when I first seen the board mounted sideways

Bag pack looks good mate.

would you code the DB on its side ?

Here in Denmark You have to take another 2 year education to become a licensed "Master Electrician", after your 4 year education/Apprenticeship to start your own business, and your licens can be taken away, if you violate safety bad enough, or breaking too many laws/rules

No sign of Naomi take it she’s loved on to bigger and better things.

Ive added a breaker to a board which was a different make to the rest. Whats wrong with that?.. Is there something im missing?

I spend at least 3-4 hours on an eicr on a 1-2 bed flat.ill always allow half to a day depending on size and do it right,an generally get good remedial work. Some eicrs ive seen have not been there longer then 15 minutes(customer telling me that) Keep doing what you do.

A simpler way of dealing with the falsification of EICR work would be to make it a criminal offense to falsify any of the data and then put in a proper reporting system so you could report it when you find something like this. Penalties would start with hefty fines for minor offenses and end with a long prison term if there was a fire or if you had created a serious fire hazard. Anyone with such a conviction would be automatically banned from doing electrical work for a period from five years up to life. A license requirement means that the bureaucracy would start to see electricians as a source of income and before you knew it the license costs would be making life difficult for electricians for no good reason.

I have also a mate (when it's a medium or large job) with me when I do a eicr, as its quicker, a junior electrician also gets paid and also makes a good job, yeah I know, customers say they can get it done for less, well, that's the cost of quality, treat the eicr like your best friend's house, someone you want to be safe and well, a few bad apples....

We have that here in Germany. In some trades, you need a master's degree to open and run a company. German Wikipedia on the master craftsman requirement: Meisterzwang or Meisterpflicht is a legal regulation in Germany (§ 1 para. 1 in conjunction with § 7 Handwerksordnung (HwO)), Austria (until 1999[1]), Luxembourg and South Tyrol (German-speaking part of Italy, until 1987[2]) that only allows master craftsmen and their equals to run craft businesses. The acquisition of the master craftsman's certificate is subject to a fee and usually takes two to three years on a part-time basis, four months to two years on a full-time basis. In addition to the master craftsman's certificate, registration in the register of skilled crafts and thus the independent practice of a craft is also possible on the basis of an exemption permit (§§ 8 or 9 HwO) or a former journeyman's regulation (authorisation to practice according to § 7b HwO). Furthermore, industrial foremen, state-certified technicians and university graduates (of the corresponding disciplines) have the possibility to independently practice a craft in a standing trade. Non-essential activities (within the meaning of section 1(2) HwO) - in particular activities that can be learned in a period of up to three months - may be carried out without the restrictions of the master craftsman requirement. In itinerant trades and in insignificant ancillary craft enterprises, essential activities may also be carried out without registration in the register of skilled crafts, i.e. without a master craftsman's certificate. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Our buyer had a EICR and told them buyer needed £350 of working doing and said a wire was the wrong in our bed room but when I checked he never removed the light switch from the wall how would know? I know he never removed the light switch as I try to remove it but the paint was holding it on after I removed the screws. Buyer was happy to pay him £350 on top of the £150 for EICR. Everything in my house has been done by a fully qualified electrician?

We had similar certificates and licenses for network engineers until Microsoft got in a row with a bunch of companies over how to administer it, then everyone just did their own.

totally agree with you regards to accountability in the industry especially when it comes to EICR's can't believe how people get away with not conforming to the wiring Regs with regards the three consumer units you have shown with mixed manufacturers components, just seems some guys just have a box full of shite they bought off eBay they want to use up.

I live in Texas and here I em watching

What's the sin in mixing modules from different makers within a CU? Surely they're made to certain standards, same physical sizes? (Not an electrician, not got OCD either)

Is there no sort of inspecting authority? In Washington State every electrician needs a license to practice and each license has an endorsement for the type of work that can be done (Commercial, Residential, Low Volt etc). Permits must be pulled with the authority having jurisdiction and then an inspector (employee of the county/city) will come and review the work to either give it a passing or failing grade.

I think to realistically certify work, is a way for electricians to anonymously report shotty work while having audits. Like theoretically an inspector checks a new building / project rewiring but in the instances that cannot happen, a sometimes inspection should be conducted. Of course I'm all in favour of doing things by yourself, for yourself (say in the middle of no where) but when you live less than 5m away from someone, those reckless choices means they also can go up in flames.

in Scotland we are going through the process to protect the title of electrician but I think the same as you Tom we need a electrical contractors licence that we pay for and the money goes to a non profit organisation that is ran by the government and not by these so called approved contractor scheme that are really only in it for the money to stop things like this happening it will be more profound down south because you have the 5 week wonder courses that people go on then go do the 2391 and hey presto they can test houses, it's a bit harder to do that in Scotland but it also doesn't help that you have companies that are saying you need to do 8 flats a day for 45 quid a go.

You still need a fire hood for led discs...

Every other country does. I do agree actually

I agree with you after seeing what i see all the time with the great diyer.

In my country to become electrician you need to have apprenticeship certificate which you can get after two years of scholing or graduation from electrical school whit takes up to 4 to 5 years. whit first mention than you can be 21§ when at least two year you shold be working undre some body whit higer clas than after two yers you can become 22§ and two yers 23§ the are things you can do whit each class byt to becom 24§ you need nother two yers (whnw vorkong over 1000V +1 yer for each calss) and graduation and only when you 24§ you can do EICR on property you get your stamp whit information on sheet you ar giving customer and when something goes wrong you can end up in prision (and for each level every two yers when you want stay that class you need retraining normaly 1 or 2 day course and when you didnt go to it you will be restor basicli to 20§ which need to be every person operating any electrical machine in work which you can get after two hours course)

Regulations never change until the horse has bolted

You're right about the license and it should be law that you put your license number on all your Certs. Then there should be an actual independent governing body over seeing it all and if you find dangerous work or a customer thinks the work is that bad, you can contact that body with the license number and an inspector can come look at that work. If the inspector isn't happy they'll contact the license holder and the inspector picks 2/3 of their jobs from random certs and check the work. Depending how bad it is you get a fine and warning, re-training or banned. Also on the governing bodies site you should be able to put in someone license number and check they are who they say they are, show their qualifications and that they aren't banned. This would also help customers check they aren't hiring cowboys.

Love your reference to the French lol

Interesting you didn’t go for a 314 (inline socket outlet) for the down lights. I suppose it gives you a call out when the led’s die. You would need inspectors and enforcement to make your plan work. At least here in Aus if you fuck up earthing (leaving out a MEN typically) you get a suspended license, an enforcement action noted and you forced back to do more training before you can legally work in the trade again. Depending on the state, there is still independent inspections of electrical work, if you fail, the inspector will tell the client exactly why the work failed and if it was the sparks fault/incompetence.

Accountability is such a serious problem in this industry and you're 100% correct, it will take a serious (deadly) event for anything to actually change. There are a lot of people in positions making decisions on things they really shouldn't be and it's not restricted to the domestic market, I've had "electricians" installing wrong sized cable and actually getting shitty with me because changing it will take time and they're "finished". They're dangerous

Definitely agree with the licence system that will hopefully take care of some people in the profession. As for diyers and non trade, consumer units,wiring ect should be removed from all diy stores and sold only at electrical wholesalers and to purchase such items should require some form of id proving you are a fully qualified electrician and if you are not then no sale, this should ideally happen online as well such as Ebay but i imagine this will be very difficult and time consuming. The line needs to be drawn, electrical work is no joke and can be very unforgiving its needs to be done correctly and you can't do that then don't touch it!

9:38 What is the actual issue with the mix&match setup? Assuming the components are good, why would different vendors be a problem?

That's fine as long as the fire rating of that ceiling isn't required?...

7:43 CSCS cards?