I wonder if someone can help me. I stay in a very old house " fuses instead of c/breakers" A few years ago a electrician installed a new geyser and
on the wooden board a e/leakage and a sp&n. The e/leakage only switches off the sp&n. If i sell my house (1) Do i need to upgrade my d/b to c/breakers and (2) when the e/leakage was installed should my plug circuit not have been put on e/leakage.
the electrician only needed to make the geyser circuit compliant ( if thats what he was working on). a geyser doesnt have to be on e/leakage though.
if i do a coc i insist on getting rid of all fuses and install a new db. fuses arent allowed in domestic installations. however there was some clause about houses built before a certain date.
I dont understand the term sp&nOriginally Posted by mega
The certificate should have been issued when the work was completed
With the installation of a new geyser comes the requirement for a geyser isolator.
The installation of a geyser isolator is regarded as an alteration to the existing circuit.
The addition of an earth leakage would have also been regarded as an alteration to the circuit.
Now read the portion of the Regulations below, especially section (3) in whole
Certificate of compliance
7. (1) Subject to the provisions of subregulation (3), every user or lessor of an electrical installation, as the case may be, shall have a valid certificate of compliance for that installation in the form of Annexure 1, which shall be accompanied by a test report in the format approved by the chief inspector, in respect of every such electrical installation.
(2)
Subject to the provisions of subregulation (3), every user or lessor of an electrical installation, as the case may be, shall on request produce the certificate of compliance for that electrical installation to an inspector, a supplier or, subject to regulation 4(1), an approved inspection authority for electrical installations.
(3)
Subregulation (1) shall not apply to an electrical installation that existed prior to 23 October 1992, and where there was no change of ownership after 1 March 1994: Provided that, if any addition or alteration is effected to such an electrical installation, the user or lessor of the electrical installation, as the case may be, shall obtain a certificate of compliance for the whole electrical installation, whereafter the provisions of subregulation (1) shall be applicable to such electrical installation.
In order to issue the said certificate the db board must be brought into compliance with the latest regulations in force at the time of the alteration.
This requires that the fuses be removed and circuit breakers be installed
Yes your plugs must be fed from an earth leakage
Your electrical installation is now non-compliant and your insurance company have the right to repudiate any insurance claim resulting from an electrical fault, as set out in your contract with them.
To make a mistake is human, to learn from that mistake is knowledge and knowledge is strength.
SP&N MCB is a single pole and neutral minature circuit breaker. It's actually a 2-pole device that isolates the phase and neutral when tripped. They usually only monitor the phase conductor for overload and they incorporate thermal and magnetic tripping mechanisms. I think (but I might be wrong) that they're also staggered trip with live pole being first to break and last to make when reset. The CBI samite mount version has a lever that's half green and half white which denotes overload protection on the live pole and isolation only on the neutral side.
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Thanks Andy, I know it as an isolator circuit breaker.SP&N MCB is a single pole and neutral minature circuit breaker. It's actually a 2-pole device that isolates the phase and neutral when tripped. They usually only monitor the phase conductor for overload and they incorporate thermal and magnetic tripping mechanisms. I think (but I might be wrong) that they're also staggered trip with live pole being first to break and last to make when reset. The CBI samite mount version has a lever that's half green and half white which denotes overload protection on the live pole and isolation only on the neutral side.
To make a mistake is human, to learn from that mistake is knowledge and knowledge is strength.
I couldn't get a 50Amp SP&N. So I bought 2x 50amp single breakers. Can I use these 2 single 50amp breakers and just connect there 2 levers with a piece of wire or toothpick (and colour the one lever green) If the live tripit will take the neutral with via the "toothpick"SP&N MCB is a single pole and neutral minature circuit breaker. It's actually a 2-pole device that isolates the phase and neutral when tripped. They usually only monitor the phase conductor for overload and they incorporate thermal and magnetic tripping mechanisms. I think (but I might be wrong) that they're also staggered trip with live pole being first to break and last to make when reset. The CBI samite mount version has a lever that's half green and half white which denotes overload protection on the live pole and isolation only on the neutral side.
I'm living 90kms away from the suppliers, so it is not easy just to go down the road and pick one up. The question is, is this acceptable?
Thanks for a helpfull answer.
Now i'm going to get my a*se kicked!
I've led you all down the wrong path by mistake, but no-one picked it up, so in my defence perhaps were all bozo's.
The above quote (3) says that if the house existed prior to 23/10/1992 then it does not need a coc, UNTILL an addition or alteration takes place then the whole house needs to be certified. That makes sense, you cant make a coc just for the addition if you have no original coc to add it onto.
By inference, if the house existed after 23/10/1992, then it must already be covered by an existing, VALID certificate provided of course that regular maintenance was performed.
Thereafter, subsection (4) should take precedence (and in my wisdom I neglected to add it on before)
(4)
Where any addition or alteration has been effected to an electrical installation for which a certificate of compliance was previously issued, the user or lessor of such electrical installation shall obtain a certificate of compliance for at least the addition or alteration.
So,in my opinion, little has changed from before and I think i'm right this time.
To make a mistake is human, to learn from that mistake is knowledge and knowledge is strength.
Nope, you actually got us started down the right path (with a little tweak in post 8) - I suspect you've just caught up with the rest of us.
Or there's been a change of ownership, of course. But when it comes to purely a matter of additions and alterations, that is exactly the challenge with unanticipated consequences we've all identified in a nutshell.
Participation is voluntary.
Alcocks Electrical Services | Alcocks Pest Control & Entomological Services | Alcocks Hygiene Services
Not entirely correct, it says: "23 October 1992, and where there was no change of ownership after 1 March 1994:"Now i'm going to get my a*se kicked!
I've led you all down the wrong path by mistake, but no-one picked it up, so in my defence perhaps were all bozo's.
The above quote (3) says that if the house existed prior to 23/10/1992 then it does not need a coc, UNTILL an addition or alteration takes place then the whole house needs to be certified. That makes sense, you cant make a coc just for the addition if you have no original coc to add it onto.
By inference, if the house existed after 23/10/1992, then it must already be covered by an existing, VALID certificate provided of course that regular maintenance was performed.
Thereafter, subsection (4) should take precedence (and in my wisdom I neglected to add it on before)
(4)
Where any addition or alteration has been effected to an electrical installation for which a certificate of compliance was previously issued, the user or lessor of such electrical installation shall obtain a certificate of compliance for at least the addition or alteration.
So,in my opinion, little has changed from before and I think i'm right this time.
I too cannot see anywhere that it states fuses are not allowed. The only place it could be is that the DB must comply with SANS 1765 and SANS 1973-3. I don't have copies of these standards so I cannot check there.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Did you like this article? Share it with your favourite social network.