Revved Up Sparky
Senior Member
Whilst doing an EICR on a rented property this morning I was inspecting the cooker circuit and noticed that the live conductors had been connected to the centre terminal of the low level connection outlet. (The back box was a dry liner/ fast fix/ cavity box and was therefore plastic)
The centre terminal is, of course, the earth terminal. It is clearly marked with an "E" and is connected to the metal part of the outlet including the two cover plate screws which screw into the metal section.
So therefore the cooker was earthed and working fine BUT if anybody had touched those cover screws - or tried to undo them whilst the power was on, would have received an electric shock.
I'm sure you've heard a similar story before. The landlord has a handyman who is not a qualified spark and this was one of his jobs. :red card
It's possible that there are some sparks around who, under pressure to get their EICR's done quickly so their bosses can make more money, might be tempted to just take their test readings from the socket of the cooker switch and avoid pulling the cooker/ oven out to check the connection outlet !.
This was a good learning experience for my apprentice, I reminded him to always check the outlet plate and try and avoid the easy option of using the socket on the cooker switch and dismissing the outlet plate as a limitation due to lack of access etc ! I know limitations keep our backs covered but someone could still die.
The centre terminal is, of course, the earth terminal. It is clearly marked with an "E" and is connected to the metal part of the outlet including the two cover plate screws which screw into the metal section.
So therefore the cooker was earthed and working fine BUT if anybody had touched those cover screws - or tried to undo them whilst the power was on, would have received an electric shock.
I'm sure you've heard a similar story before. The landlord has a handyman who is not a qualified spark and this was one of his jobs. :red card
It's possible that there are some sparks around who, under pressure to get their EICR's done quickly so their bosses can make more money, might be tempted to just take their test readings from the socket of the cooker switch and avoid pulling the cooker/ oven out to check the connection outlet !.
This was a good learning experience for my apprentice, I reminded him to always check the outlet plate and try and avoid the easy option of using the socket on the cooker switch and dismissing the outlet plate as a limitation due to lack of access etc ! I know limitations keep our backs covered but someone could still die.
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social services etc.
