Fixtures and electrical COC's

[Tradie]

Lets create an example:

I have a 1 socket outlet per room, and need at least another 3 per room.

I go to the local building supplier and buy a box of 4x4 extension boxes, a box of 10 double socket outlets a roll of 1.5 mm cabtyre, a box of no 9 poly clips and 10 plug tops.

I clip the 1.5 mm cabtyre to the wooden skirting, fit a 15 amp plug top to the cabtyre, mount the 4x4 ext boxes and connect the double socket outlets, plug in the plug top and bingo I now have an additional 10 socket outlets.

It is time to get the house ready to sell, but I need to add a few more light fittings for the show house, so it off to the building supplier again, buy a roll of twin flex and a couple of light fittings, a box of clips and more plug tops.

I clip the twin flex along the skirting, drill the holes to mount the light fittings against the wall, fit the plug top and bingo we have lights.

The house goes on show, an interested buyer is happy with the amount of socket outlets and all the lights on the walls.

The estate agent, offers to get a registered electrical contractor in to carry out a test report and issue a COC. they issue a COC and everyone is happy.

The new owners moves in and gets his electrician in to do a few alterations and upgrades, that where the fight started.

[Tradie]

The buyers electrician, arrives on site to quote to do a bunch of alterations and upgrades, however they walk around and do a visual inspection with a copy of the COC and find that the amount of plug and light points dont add up.

The new owner contacts the person who issued the COC and asked why the electrical points on the COC are not the same as the amount of points installed in the building. They also ask about the cabling in the garden, loose surfix just cut and left exposed, wires thrown across the floor, the new owner is told that surfix has mechanical protection so there is no need for it it be installed in conduit or some form of mechanical protection.

The person responsible for the COC, informs the new owner that all the additional plugs and lights are not part of the electrical installation, but also not excluded in the COC, because they have plug tops and therefore not included in the COC.

The question: Can you install a socket outlet in a building and wire up all the plugs and lights, which are fixed to the building, with cabtyre and twin flex and plug them into the socket outlet and just not mention them when you issue a COC for the DB and the 1 socket outlet ?

This is one of the most common challenges you are going to face when issuing COC's.

It gets a bit tricky, because the buyer bought the house with the plugs and lights installed as fixtures, the sparkie who issued the COC is only responsible for the electrical installation and not all the "fixtures" that are plugged into the socket outlet, that is the sellers responsibility.

To complicate it even more, the person who issued the COC should have noted and excluded all the socket outlets and lights that they felt was not part of the electrical installation.

[Tradie]

How do you deal with this challenge, ignore it as, not part of the electrical installation?

You cant remove the fixtures, because it was part of the sale agreement, but when you walk into a room and there are 5 plug points mounted to the wall and only 1 listed in the COC, now what ?

6 x metal light fittings mounted to the wall with twin flex and a plug top, but no light fittings mentioned in the COC.

Who is responsible for the fixtures, should the fixtures be wired correctly or do we exclude the fixtures from the COC ?

I am sure many of you have experienced this challenge.

I had this exact challenge a while back, another dodgy electrical contractor in our area was renting a property, with all his dodgy wiring, plugged into socket outlets, I had to issue a COC for the sale of the property, he told me that all the twin flex wiring around the building was his property and he would unplug and remove it with all the lights. He didn't, a couple months later I got a call from an attorney, informing me that the fixtures, that were not included in the COC, were non compliant and they were going to open a civil case against me. I went back and rewired everything and made in compliant at my cost.

I should have laughed it off, I doubt it would ever have gone to court, and dont see how it becomes my problem, if it is not included in my COC and plugged into a socket outlet. However, I was told it was a fixture and therefore regarded as part of the sale agreement and could not go and remove the non compliant items.

Fixtures become part of the sale agreement, which means it is not your responsibility as the person issuing the COC, but the sellers responsibility.

What do we learn from this: dont ignore fixtures, add them to the section 4 as excluded under "comments on parts of the installation not covered by this report", and make sure the seller sign the COC's.

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[GCE]

What do we learn from this: dont ignore fixtures, add them to the section 4 as excluded under "comments on parts of the installation not covered by this report", and make sure the seller sign the COC's.

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You cannot exclude

The wiring is part of the electrical installation - If you used the logic that you could exclude then why not put a 63Amp socket and feed the DB board and call the house a fixed appliance


SANS 10142-1 Ed 3.2
6.16.1.1 Fixed appliances do not form part of the electrical installation other
than their positioning in relation to the supply and the wiring carried out
between different parts of the appliances

6.16.1.4 The disconnecting device shall be positioned
a) within 1,5 m from the appliance, or
b) in a distribution board (if the switch-disconnector is capable of being locked
in the open position).
Even where a disconnecting device is on the appliance, a separate
disconnecting device shall be provided in the fixed installation to allow for the
total removal of the appliance.
NOTE A standard switch is not a switch-disconnector.
6.16.1.5 A socket-outlet shall supply only one fixed appliance. The use of
flexible cords of length exceeding 3 m is not recommended. The reason for
this recommendation is an endeavour to ensure operation of the overcurrent
protective device. (See also 6.14.1.4 for luminaires)

[Tradie]

First we have to determine, what is a fixed appliance?

Google search:

In electrical installations, a fixed appliance is an electrical device that is permanently connected to the building's wiring, typically through a fused connection or hardwiring, rather than being plugged into a standard socket. These appliances are secured to a support or in a specific location. Examples include ovens, cookers, storage heaters, and some hand dryers.

SANS search:

3.3
appliance
machine, tool, device or instrument that is operated by electricity for the
purpose of doing work, or for providing heat, light or motion, or in which
electrical energy is modified into another form of energy

3.3.3
fixed appliance
appliance that is fastened or otherwise secured at a specific location, and
that would require the use of tools to be moved to another location

Looking at these definitions, I would say the light would be regarded as an appliance, plugging in a wall mounted metal light fitting and running a twin flex wire speaker wire, breaks a lot more rules than the appliance and issuing a COC and not including or excluding the appliance, shows your lack of understanding of the regulations and people should be questioning your qualification and skill level. When you are doing this as a full time job for an estate agent...eeeeish. This is why random checks and complaints about certain people should be investigated and random checks on other COC's this person has issued. Generally you find that when you find silly things like this, it is best to do a full investigation on the property.

The socket outlets, maybe not. The question is, when does an extension cord become part of the electrical installation, as soon as you secure the 4x4 extension box with an SANS 164 double socket outlet to the wall, or as soon as you use a socket outlet which is included in the SANS regs.

Does clipping an extension cord along the skirting make the extension cord an appliance or fixture or part of the electrical installation, this would really complicate the regs. If you modify the extension cord and replace the extension cord socket with a SANS 164 socket outlet and secure it to the wall, it becomes a fixture, does it then also get included or excluded in the test report?

The important thing to note here, is that the lights and the socket outlets become a fixture, which means that if the fixtures are secured to the building and viewed by the buyer on the day of the open house, and not excluded in the sale agreement, they must be wired in accordance with SANS regs.

I am going say it again and again and again,,, we dont have these kind of silly challenges when the buyers gets the property checked before they sign the sale agreement, because we discuss these "silly" issues which prevents a whole lot of back and forward time wasted.


It becomes the person who signed the COC's responsibility to make the property compliant at your cost, the is seller is not interested in your issues, the way they see it, the person who signed the COC, should be competent enough to understand the regulations, and as the person who signed the COC you become responsible for any additional costs to make the property compliant, once the sale has gone through.

[Tradie]

As expected, the company owner visited the site and was "shocked" at what he found on site, imagine that, they will be returning to site to "fix" everything.

Now the question you have to be asking yourself, was the person who visited the site to do the test report, qualified, but even more concerning, how many other properties has this person issued COC's for estate agents?

If you have purchased a house in the past 2 years, and not needed the services of an electrician is your house compliant.

We back to asking the same question are you being given a false sense of security, thinking your house is compliant and safe for your family to live.

Do you think these COC's being issued for property sales is money making scam?

[Tradie]

I believe we should start a register for non compliant COC's , if you mess up more than 3 times, your license should be suspended and you should have to reapply for your card, the company owner should be fined at least R50 000. This would make people think twice before putting pen to paper, it would also create more awareness and encourage people to make sure that they are suitably skilled to fill out the document and issue the COC.

Yearly audits should be done on all registered SF/IE and MIE at which time they should have to complete a test, with a pass rate of at least 50%. If you are an MIE, each test should be suitable for the skill level. Like they do in the UK.