Pat testing ??

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H

Ham Salad

Active Member
Posts
600
Location
Wales
I have been told I have to have the shop electrics pat tested,never had to do it before its a council building,and they did it,within my rental agreement,but now, under the guise of austerity, we have to get it done and foot the bill.
I was wondering if anyone knows what it is,how its done, how they cost it,apparently its checking the plugs on portable items,what do you class as portable, a kettle, or a 165 kilo computerised engraver.
Is it a plug in a meter and they are all checked, or do they undo the plugs and check the wires, do you pay per plug or a one off cost, any ideas how much ??
Any thoughts or advice welcome.
Thanks Steve.....
 
Usually it's just plug into a test meter and it tells you if it passes or fails. along with a visual examination of plug and flex.

Charging isa usually per item. but if you have a lot of gear you can take out a service/test contract that works out cheaper.

usually only items tested are those not Hardwired to a switch box..
 
Thanks for the swift reply, could you tell me also please can a ''normal'' sparky do this or have I got to find a specialist, with some sort of license or pat testing approval.
Thank you
 
Ham Salad said:
Thanks for the swift reply, could you tell me also please can a ''normal'' sparky do this or have I got to find a specialist, with some sort of license or pat testing approval.
Thank you
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AFAIK any PART p SPARKY CAN DO IT.but there's loads of companies offering PAt testinfg as a stand alone business. have a look on yell.com or ask the other tenants (if there are any) who they use. As it makes sense to use same one.
 
Im surprised the council paid for it to start with, Its a great get out clause for insurance company's if stuffs not done, Effectively as said if its got a flex and or plug then its pat test. Nowt to worry about,

Also I would ask your insurance / Council ( Im guessing the council has the building insurance) and ask them what there renew policy is some places do it yearly others go buy usage others get it done every couple of years.
 
Where abouts in Wales are you?

You can buy the pat test pass stickers from rs / cpc / farnell... ;)
 
I've just had it done in the offices where I work.Just found a few companies on Google and got them to quote.Worked out about 90p per plug top.
They find things with plugs on, put them on a meter thing and then put a sticker on it. The servers were just 'physically' inspected.
 
Be very careful :(.
there was a spate of peeps PAT testing things like PC's etc and blowing them up. Get references and as suggested , try combining with otherr premises to get a better rate.
 
The Mad Hat Man said:
Be very careful :(.
there was a spate of peeps PAT testing things like PC's etc and blowing them up. Get references and as suggested , try combining with otherr premises to get a better rate.
Click to expand...

Computers have to be pat tested as well, So I can not see how some where blowing them up unless they did not know what they were doing. Every Offshore Platform I go on I have to have my laptop tested every time and some times thats 3 per month and the laptop is now over 5yrs old ;)
 
I'm PAT test certififed. Most PAT testing can be done by a COMPETENT person (someone how knows how electricery works, even if they are not qualified in anyway)

Most PAT testers come with instructions booklets, that will tell you how test each appliance.

Appliance you don't need to test are ones permanently connected to walls (like a cooker). if it has 13amp wall plug, it needs to be tested

You have to visaully check that your appliance is in good nick. No wire's hanging out or anything like that. Here's some things to lookout for, if they look like this, fail them:
PAT Testing Horror Finds - B&H Electrical

Make sure your fuses are rated for the device. Anything with big motors in: 10Amps, heating elements: 13amps. You can work it out the fuse rating by dividing the devices power by its input voltage, and rounding up to the nearset standard value. Make sure your plugs wired correctly.

If you can't see a rating plate (voltage, power etc), its failed straight away.

Then you have to find out what class it is to apply the correct tests (or push the right button). the Class type will be shown on the rating plate.

if your test a computer or IT equipment, MAKE SURE your test current is 100mA, some testers have this option, don't test if it doesn't

If you see a box in a box symbol, thats Class 2 (double insulated). If you see an earth symbol, thats class 1. Plug the appliance into the tester, turn it on, clip on the earth bond, press the right button and follow the instructions. if it passes, stick a pass sticker on it and record your results somehow. If it fails, fail it and put it to one side.

If you not too sure about anything, its best to get a sparky to do it.
 
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Thanks all, just rang one guy off yell.com just to see whats involved,how long, etc,he quoted me 2.50 plus vat per plug so gona get a few quotes before diving in.
 
as tronicus sez, a competent person can do it. (i'll leave the definition of "competent" for a future discussion!)

ideally you should get a test certificate covering all items tested (inc failures), along with a sticker on the appliance.
appliance serial numbers should match on the cert.
some will even give an asset register too.
strangely, an appliance does not have to perform its intended function to electrically pass the test!
2.50 sounds about right pricewise, .90 sounds very cheap! (may have a clause where you need to get all items in one place ready. good chunk of testing time is taken untangling cables from behind desks, then putting them back again!)

edit- my pricing for pat is £4 / item for first 5 tests, £3 / item for next 5 tests, £1.50 / item after 11.
this was done to make it worthwhile being asked to test a small number of appliances. when your testing hundreds of items commercially the price can be adjusted accordingly.
and no, i cant travel to wales!
hope this helps.

edit again - this included basic fixes to pass the test, like re securing flexes, correct size fuse replacents.
 
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oxides said:
You might find this document from the HSE interesting. And just how do you PAT a double insulated laptop psu?

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg236.pdf
Click to expand...
if it has an iec lead, then two tests. (iec visual, fuse, polarity on machine. no serial number usually. sticker with id on round flex and match id on tester)
psu, using either tested iec or hardwired lead, visual for defects, fuse, machine test.
machine tests insulation to earth pin (not needed) earth continuity to exposed conductive parts (not needed) flash test to extraneous conductive parts (usually dont have any), load test (useful to know, usually next to nowt) and leakage test (again useful to know, specially if theres an appliance causing nuisance tripping on rcd's).
test passed as far as machine concerned.

phone chargers are the same.

pain in the arse equipment to pass are fridges (specially if they have been left turned off) and occasionally stuff that has heating elements that are cold and damp. they always fail machine test for insulation.

guess its where the competancy comes in, knowing what is a failure and what requires warming up to pass a test.
 
Tronicus Maximus said:
I'm PAT test certififed. Most PAT testing

Appliance you don't need to test are ones permanently connected to walls (like a cooker). if it has 13amp wall plug, it needs to be tested
Click to expand...

So is it only things that have 13amp plugs on that need testing? Do things with 15 amp plugs on not need testing? or what about gear with 400amp plugs on? And when did the IET remove the requirement to test appliances connected to the fixed wiring?

To the OP, You are required to maintain all of your electrical equipment in safe working order by the 'electricity at work regulations 1989'. The normally accepted method of achieving this is to comply with the 'Code of Practice for In-Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment' published by the IET.
This will tell you what needs testing and how and also how often it should be tested. It's not necessarily once a year, appliances used in garages/workshops/building sites need to be tested more regularly (possibly 6monthly) than a computer that sits on an office desk for all of its life and never moves (every 3 years or so would be fine) A competent tester should be able to explain all of this.

It is important to remember that PAT testing is only valid for the time it is carried out, much the same as an MOT. So having an 'in date' pat test certificate doesn't in any way guarantee the safety of the appliance or that you have fulfilled your legal responsibilities regarding electrical safety.
 
davethsparky said:
So is it only things that have 13amp plugs on that need testing? Do things with 15 amp plugs on not need testing? or what about gear with 400amp plugs on? And when did the IET remove the requirement to test appliances connected to the fixed wiring?
Click to expand...

Well appliances permanently connected should be fitted and comissioned by a certified engineer/electricain. So they'd carry out all the test though the comsumer unit to verify that if a fault occurs the RCD and/or the MCB would trip. So that would be out of a "competent" technicains boundries to test that.

I think you can test the 16amp blue commando plugs, but to perform a run test, you'd need a PAT tester that can handle an MAX of 16amp. For office/commercial and domestic supplies, there aren't that many 16Amp plugged devices kicking about. I'd enquire about getting those devices tested.

As far as 400amp plugs are concerned, I think thats the realm of 3-phase, I've never used a 3-phase PAT tester. Some PAT testers can measure phase difference on 3-phase supplies, to see if you're drawing current equally from each phase, but never had to do it.
 
nrgserv said:
if it has an iec lead, then two tests. (iec visual, fuse, polarity on machine. no serial number usually. sticker with id on round flex and match id on tester)
psu, using either tested iec or hardwired lead, visual for defects, fuse, machine test.
machine tests insulation to earth pin (not needed) earth continuity to exposed conductive parts (not needed) flash test to extraneous conductive parts (usually dont have any), load test (useful to know, usually next to nowt) and leakage test (again useful to know, specially if theres an appliance causing nuisance tripping on rcd's).
test passed as far as machine concerned.

phone chargers are the same.

pain in the arse equipment to pass are fridges (specially if they have been left turned off) and occasionally stuff that has heating elements that are cold and damp. they always fail machine test for insulation.

guess its where the competancy comes in, knowing what is a failure and what requires warming up to pass a test.
Click to expand...

Well, the HSE guide reckons double insulated equipment only needs examination. Leakage tests on double insulated kit are meaningless as the earth pin isn't connected to anything and flash testing is only relevant if you happen to find a fault in the casing with the probe - which would probably be visually obvious anyway. If you're testing an IEC lead it's a separate piece of kit and needs testing and labelling separately.
I would argue that most environments can be sorted by visual inspection and (possibly) a PAC machine by a suitably trained employee. With lots of earthed kit, stuff with a variety of plugs, bay installed kit or kit used in rough conditions a more experienced eye might be needed. It never was supposed to be an expensive or time consuming process which is why the HSE published the simple guidelines for low risk environments.
 
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