A problem I have with COCs is that no two electricians seem to have the same idea of what is compliant and what isn’t. I had my house rewired last year.
Story: I had some work done - a new plug to go outside for a water pump. I said to the electrician “please take a look in the roof, I’m a bit wary of that wiring up there.” He took photos and showed me specific areas of concern and explained why they weren’t compliant. He then inspected the out buildings and didn’t like what he saw in there.
Specific example. There was flush fit plug point with surfix cable coming from under the screw on cover to feed a second plug point. He said no, that has to be a surface mount point with a proper gland on it for the exiting cable.
OK… this all sounds fine. But another electrician had worked in the same outbuildings, had seen that plug point, did change some of the wiring because the rating of the cable was lower than that of the circuit breakers, but didn’t express concerns about that particular plug point. He’d also been up in the ceiling and said it was a mess with chocolate box all over the place, but it was OK because it was code compliant when it was done. I asked how he knew when it was done he said well, it’s a 60s house and that’s how they did things then.
IDK.
Possibly the first guy didn’t want to do the job but didn’t want to say it in so many words. Possibly the second guy saw me coming (but I believe him because he gave detailed explanations for everything he didn’t like).
The first guy had also been asked to redo the COC after I had solar installed. He told me that that entire PV system (panels, batteries, inverter) counted as an “appliance”. Again I don’t know but I did raise an eyebrow whilst he wasn’t looking.
I don’t mean any disrespect to any electricians reading this, but it is an issue. One man’s fire hazard doesn’t bother another.
Where does this leave the poor home owner? We have to get in an electrician and hope they are being straight with us. Understanding, of course, that advice we’d rather not hear can still be sound advice.
I don’t mind that the COC has an expiry date. Who knows what will get changed by another party. The guy who did the rewiring took lots of photos, including the inside of the DB. Tells me that if there’s a complaint the first thing he does is go to the site and check what’s there against his photos (date stamped and geotagged). Tells me that many a time he makes this visit and asks the complaining owner to explain how those two new breakers in the DB got there.