Retired electrician

A question about : Retired electrician

My FIL lives by himself and is 83. His shower no longer works but to get a new one would require new electrical wiring. He is determined to do the wiring himself, which DH and I have major concerns about. He was an electrician to trade, but obviously that was many years ago. Have there been changes that he wouldn't know about since he was working? Would the work be legally covered (I mean, if there was an electrical fire, could it invalidate insurance if FIL did work himself?) He is fit and pretty sharp mentally - are we worrying about nothing? Thanks!

Best answers:

• Lots has probably changed, depending on when he retired. Have a read of this: https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org...tions/england/
  I believe re-wiring a shower is notifiable.
• Thanks for the prompt reply. He's actually in Scotland but I'll check to see if there are similar restrictions. (I hope so!)
• Here's the page for Scotland: https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org...ions/scotland/
• Yes, there have been changes in the wiring regs but as long as your FIL thinks he's still competant and he knows the latest standards why not let him crack on with it.
  Regarding the insurance aspects I think thats a bit of a red herring designed to scare people. I have yet to see a clause in any home insurance policy that excludes cover because electrical work has not been done properly. In fact I've never seen anything about invalidating cover for fires caused by any sort of negligence at all. It would be interesting to see confirmation of a real case where this has happened.
• Hmm, not sure he would know the latest regs, that's the problem. His argument is that electricity hasn't changed in the last 50 years, so why should his methods? The house still has the original wiring from 50 years ago...does that make a difference to anything? Really don't want him electrocuting himself!
• I think the regs thing is the biggest issue. Old people do tend to be set in their ways and the new installation does absolutely need to be compliant with the latest standards. It's easy enough to get hold of the required information though and the job isn't that hard in reality. Perhaps if you feel that strongly you could pay for the electrician yourselves.
• Believe me, we've offered! There's no way he'll accept "another" electrician working in his house. It's a matter of pride regarding the electrics, which we can understand but it doesn't stop us worrying.
• Truth be told, you can't stop him.
• Safety regs have tightened up or changed considerably since 50 years ago. The law in Scotland requires electrical work (whether notifiable or not) to be carried out in accordance with BS 7671 Wiring Regulations or equivalent, and those Regulations require calibrated test equipment for not just insulation resistance and earth continuity but also earth fault loop impedance and an RCD time/current trip tester. He may still have an old wind-up Megger but it'll be out of calibration and he won't have a proving unit for it, an approved test unit for proving dead before working, or the other test equipment required.
  In terms of Regulations, cable sizing has changed with derating for rewireable fuses, main equipotential bonding sizes have changed (increased) particularly for PME supplies, supplementary bonding in bathrooms has changed (in the 17th Edition), requirements for RCDs, bathroom zones, and permitted zones in bathrooms, have all changed in the 17th Edition.
  Perhaps not having calibrated test equipment might be a tactful way of pointing out that it would be cheaper to get a sparky in than get his test equipment up to date for this one job.
• And we wonder why the DIY past time is dying out .
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• Is he worth a bob or two?
  Are you in his will?
  If yes to the above, then let him carry on.
• Just because the work might not comply with current regulations doesn't make it unsafe. Most houses will not comply as they were done before the latest regs. If he knows what he's doing, let him get on with it.
• Hi Skibunny, I trained as a sparky some years ago and this bothers me in a few ways:
  1. Original wiring in the house would not be the harmonised colour code we use now, should this cause a fire or fault then it would be pretty obvious what has been changed. I don't know about insurance but it seems like an easy get out for them.
  2. It takes nothing but a pinched cable or lousy bonding job to be a major health hazard. Maybe it will be fine for years but a concern to everyone else who may live in that property in years to come.
  3. You FIL may have been the best of the best, but a 'good enough' attitude it pretty typical in a lot of DIY'ers (and sorry but older sorts) especially when we know that noone will find out.
  I have seen several old installation that are just shocking (no pun intended) sure they work, but are not as good as they should be and would fail far sooner than if they had been done properly.
  (Oh course ask the guy who fitted it, and he will tell you it's fine and he has been doing it for years that way.)
  A shower is an easy job and he could probably do it without issue, but eventually you will have to sell the house, and I personally would not want to sell a property you knew not to be up to spec.
• The OP said the guy was an electrician, so sorry if I personally dismiss most of your worries.
  Some of us older DIY'ers have played !! with electriity for years, my first house hasn't combusted in the last 40 years.
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