Rank: Forum user
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Just checking - I thought warehouses were classed as industrial and therefore had to undergo tests every 3 years, but I'm now being told it's 5 years - is this right?
Does anyone know if the frequency of fixed wire tests has changed with the move to the 18th Edition Guidance?
Regards
Lucy
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Rank: Super forum user
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I work for a distribution and fabrication company
We used to have ours done every 5 (20% pa)years as recommended by the testing company, but our insurance has insisted on 3 years (33%, 33%. 34%). here is a list of intervals http://www.fixedtesting.com/testing-intervals/
Regards Edited by user 12 July 2018 14:27:17(UTC)
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Rank: Super forum user
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Most insurance companies insist on testing every three years - check the terms of your insurance, it will be under warrantees or conditions - they may refuse cover unless you do it!!
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Rank: Super forum user
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Commercial premises (shops etc) every 5 years, Industrial premises (factories, warehouses etc) every 3 years.
However, the test frequencies may differ according to your insurers as others have indicated...
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Rank: Forum user
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Thank you all for your feedback - it explains my confusion with different people working with different criteria!
Lucy
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Rank: Super forum user
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OK first things first, the 18th has been published on the 1st July, it has a 6 month transition period, until the 31st December 2018 BS 7671:2008+A3:2015 can still be used.
As of 1st January 2019 all designs started from that point forward should be done to BS 7671:2018. Remember also that BS 7671 is just that a British Standard, not law, nor an ACoP, just effectively an Industry Code of Practice. It's not even written by the IET (what was the IEE before the merger with the IIE) any longer. As far as times between inspections, as per the advice already provided it will a lot be down to your insurer. However, the person who is undertaking the inspection and test must be competent and able to exercise engineering judgement during the inspection and reporting, and is allowed to recommend a shorter interval, or a longer one, but, the insurer can kind of overrule that. Next, the information in the table in the link in the thread is a copy of that from IET Guidance Note 3, however it has been misquoted. The heading of that table is "Recommended initial frequencies of inspection of electrical installations", the footnotes go on to state "The person carrying out subsequent inspections may recommend that the interval between future inspections be increased or decreased as a result of the findings of their inspection.". So, not withstanding insurance company requirements, if the competent inspector says that they are unwilling to allow more than a certain time between inspections and that is less than that your insurance company requires, then they have the experience of the installation to state this and they must be competent to use their engineering judgement to make this decision. This is why it is essential to retain these records and as requried by BS 7671 & its associated guidance to make this information available to those undertaking the inspection & test. It's also why it's a bad idea to pay as little as possible for the test and to swap and change testing companies based on price alone.
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