IS YOUR ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION CONDITION REPORT UP TO DATE?

Why do I need to carry it out?
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 places a “duty of care” on employers and landlords to maintain electrical systems to prevent danger where otherwise it may exist. The only way of ensuring your duties are performed and adequate records are kept is by carrying out a Electrical Installation Condition Report in accordance with BS 7671 (The IEE Wiring Regulations).
By following this practice, you can be sure that your obligations have been met under the Health and Safety at Work Act so far as electrical safety is concerned and more importantly that your staff, visitors, patients, buildings and possessions are safe and that your insurance company will pay out in the event of a claim arising from an electrical fault or fire (check your small print!).

What does it involve?
The Electrical Installation Condition Report requires a series of visual inspections and electronic tests to be performed to establish the safety and suitability of your electrical system. If performed correctly, you can expect that each electrical circuit within your workplace will have to be de-energised for a period of 15 minutes whilst the Engineer injects test voltages and currents into the cables and protective devices to ensure their integrity and carries out a thorough visual inspection of the Installation. This type of work will require the main supply to be isolated and with careful planning can be done with little disruption to your business. Alternatively, this work can be carried out whilst your workplace is empty, such as nights or weekends.

Who should do the work?
It is vital that this type of work is carried out by qualified and experienced Approved Test Engineers. Such Engineers are generally fully qualified electricians who have been trained and qualified to City & Guilds 2391 in Electrical Inspection work specifically. All Robert Swain Electrical Services engineers meet these requirements.

Will it impact on my workplace?
There will be some impact such as short periods of downtime on circuits; however, with careful planning and strong liaison between us, this can be conducted at a time that best suits your business. Be wary of contractors that tell you this work can be carried out without isolating circuits – it is impossible.

What will I receive?
Upon completion of the Electrical Installation Condition Report, you will receive a bound BS7671 report and CD that details the following:
• Installation details and characteristics
• Circuit information and test results
• Schedule of items tested and inspected
• A list of defects or deviations from BS 7671 (these may require attention)
If you are not a technical person, then we will be pleased to talk through your report with you and advise you of any further action required.
Any necessary remedial works can be carried out by ourselves or a 3rd party contractor of your choice. On completion, a ‘satisfactory’ assessment can be issued.

How much will it cost?
There are many factors that can affect the cost of Electrical Inspection work such as location, type of installation, size of building(s), access and availability of previous records. As a rule of thumb, we will attend site (free of charge) prior to quoting to survey the building(s) in order to establish all of the necessary details, you should be wary of accepting a quotation unless a full survey has been conducted or you are sure you have provided enough information.

What could happen if I don’t do it?
Reasons such as cost, inconvenience, or lack of knowledge will not be accepted as a defence in the event that an accident or fire occurs. Aside
from the threat of prosecution in the event of injury or death, many insurance companies will not pay out if documented evidence of maintenance and inspections is not available.

Why use Robert Swain Electrical Services?
• We only ever use fully qualified, experienced 2391 inspectors.
• We do not insist on carrying out remedial works.
• We provide hard and digital copies of reports.
• We can provide testimonials and references from satisfied clients across all sectors and regions.
• We can carry out Portable Appliance Testing (additional package).
• We can carry out Thermal Imaging Testing which is often an insurance company requirement (additional package).
• We are an NICEIC Domestic Installer assessed company.

BS7671 intervals between Electrical Installation Condition Report
Type of installation Maximum period between inspections

• Domestic premises 10 years or change of occupier
• Commercial premises 5 years or change of occupier
• Educational establishments 5 years
• Hospitals 5 years
• Industrial premises 3 years
• Cinemas 1 year
• Churches 5 years
• Leisure complexes 1 year
• Places of public entertainment 1 year
• Theatres, etc. 1 year
• Agricultural and horticultural 3 years
• Caravans 3 years
• Caravan sites 1 year
• Emergency lighting 3 years
• Fire alarm systems 1 year
• Launderettes 1 year
• Petrol filling stations 1 year
• Public Houses 5 years
• Marinas 1 Year
• Highway power supplies 6 years

Tags: bournemouth, commercial electrical inspection, commercial electrical testing, domestic electrical testing, dorset, dorset newforest electrician highcliffe, electrical inspection, electrical testing, electrician in bournmouth, electrician in lymington, electricians in lymington, lymington, new forest, Ringwood electrical testing

Outdoor Lighting

If you’ve been wondering what types of outdoor lighting fixtures are out there today, then you’ve come to the right place.

Your knowledge of the available choices for outdoor lighting is the second most critical part of choosing the right fixture.

Of course its pointless to know of every type of fixture available on the market today if you don’t know how to use them. Let’s look at what options you have when shopping for outdoor lighting and we’ll separate them into easy to understand categories.

Uplighting & Downlighting, Your Two Main Choices

 

Although it may sound pretty simplistic there are two main categories of outdoor lighting.

Uplighting, where the fixture is positioned down below while shining it’s beam spread upward. Downlighting, where the fixture is positioned up above and shining it’s beam spread downward.

Either way, these types of outdoor lighting fixtures are each unique in their lighting ability and can give you an abundance of choices to choose from.

 

Uplighting

 

Stake Lights

Let’s look at what uplighting options you have and how to use them from the ground up. The flexibility you have in choosing a mounting location for these fixtures makes them a great choice when selecting from outdoor landscape lighting options.

Stake lights allow you to stick them into the ground and you’re good to go. Its always a good idea to give the wires leading up to each stake light some extra slack in case you need to move your fixtures as your landscape changes.

 

Recessed ground lighting

Installing uplighting in a high traffic area requires more thought since you’ll need to think about human behavior, traffic movement, lighting glare, and fixture placement.

A good option is outdoor recessed lighting. These can be positioned just about anywhere and they’ll never become a tripping hazard.

Drainage for is very important to maximize the life span of these types of outdoor lighting fixtures. Proper drainage will prevent these recessed lights from shorting out.

The lamp housed inside these fixtures should be tilted away from people’s eyes since it’s light output could cause major glare for people walking by.

 

Ground Mounted HID Lamps

HID lamps or lights used for commercial outdoor lighting applications requires that special care be taken to ensure you get the most out of them.

Often these lights are housed in a relatively large fixture used to control the lamps light output. Since the housing is pretty large in comparison to low voltage lighting, keeping them out of the way in a very busy area may become a challenge.

It’s also important to consider how bright these lights can be therefore potentially causing major glare. Planning ahead of time is critical to getting the best results from your ground mounted HID lamps.

Downlighting

 

Outdoor Wall Mounted Lighting

Outdoor Wall Mounted Lighting is a convenient method of downlighting that can be mounted on just about any wall type. Wall mounted lighting styles vary based on the architectural style you want to compliment.

Some of these wall mounted lights provide a secondary benefit. For example, up and down wall sconces wash your walls with light spreading and exposing the ceiling above and ground below them.

 

Outdoor Flood Lighting

Outdoor flood lighting helps you spread light over a relatively large space without the need for planning an intricate outdoor lighting design.

While flood lighting is excellent at spreading light over a large area, its weakness lies in providing very concentrated or precise outdoor lighting.

For example, flood lighting wouldn’t do well for outdoor kitchen lighting because its broad beam spread casts annoying shadows making it hard to perform detailed tasks outdoors.

It also spreads light onto everything around it, eliminating the option for you to focus people’s attention to specific details of your landscape’s design through strategically placed lighting fixtures.

 

Outdoor Path Lighting

Focusing attention to outdoor path lighting lets people know exactly where you want them to go. Path lighting gives people a feeling of confidence when walking.

People like the idea that they can actually see the surface below their feet and don’t have to worry about a tripping hazard.

Subconsciously people tend to feel more comfortable approaching an outdoor space when they feel like they’re guided.

 

Outdoor Tree Lighting

Displaying your landscape can be much more interesting with moon lighting. Moon lighting imitates the moon’s lumination on your landscape and is often achieved through outdoor tree lighting.

These types of outdoor lighting fixtures are positioned within your tree’s canopy, spreading light down below.

What makes this method of outdoor lighting unique is that the tree’s branches and canopy will interfere with your lights beam spread, resulting in a very natural shadow effect that mimic’s the moons subtle glow.

 

Tags: bournemouth, commercial electrical testing, dorset, dorset newforest electrician highcliffe, electrician in bournmouth, electrician in lymington, electricians in lymington, lymington, outdoor lighting, Ringwood electrical testing

Information on The Electrical Installation Condition Report

Tags: bournemouth, commercial electrical inspection, commercial electrical testing, domestic electrical testing, dorset, electrical inspection, electrical testing, electrician in bournmouth, lymington, new forest, Ringwood electrical testing

How it Works



By lowering and regulating the voltage in your home, typically to 220V, VPhase reduces the overall energy consumption of your home – reducing waste and saving you money. Most electrical appliances will even work more efficiently with less electricity and will cost less to run too!

The UK electricity distribution network operates at a nominal 230V, although in practice average voltages are more likely to range between 240V and 245V. The VPhase unit manages voltage to a stable level, normally 220V in the UK, regardless of the incoming supply voltage.

The amount of energy saved is device specific, for example: testing by VPhase on fridges and freezers shows 17%, 15% on normal light bulbs and 10% on energy saving light bulbs. One digital cordless phone showed an extraordinary saving of 44%. Savings will vary dependent incoming voltage and individual devices.

Further savings can be made on washing machines, tumble driers, dishwashers, televisions and numerous other electrical appliances across the whole house.

Typically, whole house savings are in the region of 10% – which means, household electricity bills will be around 10% less each year.

Unlike Smart Meters, which require a change in lifestyle, or solar and wind power that are focused on renewable energy production as opposed to preventing energy waste, VPhase Voltage Optimisation is a fit and forget solution that once installed will operate silently and unobtrusively, lowering and stabilising household voltage, saving money, reducing CO2 emissions and preventing energy waste.

http://www.vphase.co.uk/

Tags: dorset newforest electrician highcliffe

We supply and install all types of smoke detectors! 

Give us a call for a quotation!

Don’t forget to test your smoke detectors weekly! They save lives! ****Get all your friends and family pushing the button too! ****

Tags: dorset