Electrical and Plumbing Certification

yebocan

yebocan

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I am in the final stretch of offloading a flat, that was purchased 4 years ago. Needed to get electrical and plumbing certification. Estate agent arranged for this to be done. I received a lists of defects yesterday. When I bought the place in 2015, I received both clearance certificates ...no alterations or changes where done in the meanwhile..noted issues: balcony light is not earthed, - its just a normal light, since when do you have to have them earthed....? something about geyser not having the recommend length of copper piping.... any assistance would be appreciated.
 
Got my certificates a few weeks back, as well.

There is so many regulations that no matter what, you almost always have something that will need attention, as that is how they (certificate issuers) make their money.

All lighting fixtures and housings must be earthed (I had a few down-light housings that needed additional earthing).

If I recall correctly from my geyser install/upgrade way back, the regulation states that the first meter of piping (hot and cold) to your geyser must be copper, as well as the whole safety valve output, piped to the external of the building (this is not to be confused with the Pressure control Valve Runoff or the drip-tray outlet).

I also made no changes to the electrical in terms of glands in my roof and bus bars on my DB, but I had to add said components via the company, before I could be cleared. This is not a complaint about the company, on the contrary, their service was fast and efficient)

I also removed some obviously illegal additions to the electrical system (previously approved by the previous owners' inspectors), before I made my booking.

Unfortunately sometimes things are missed, everyone is human.
 
D4N_CPT said:
Got my certificates a few weeks back, as well.

There is so many regulations that no matter what, you almost always have something that will need attention, as that is how they (certificate issuers) make their money.

All lighting fixtures and housings must be earthed (I had a few down-light housings that needed additional earthing).

If I recall correctly from my geyser install/upgrade way back, the regulation states that the first meter of piping (hot and cold) to your geyser must be copper, as well as the whole safety valve output, piped to the external of the building (this is not to be confused with the Pressure control Valve Runoff or the drip-tray outlet).

I also made no changes to the electrical in terms of glands in my roof and bus bars on my DB, but I had to add said components via the company, before I could be cleared. This is not a complaint about the company, on the contrary, their service was fast and efficient)

I also removed some obviously illegal additions to the electrical system (previously approved by the previous owners' inspectors), before I made my booking.

Unfortunately sometimes things are missed, everyone is human.
Click to expand...


Thank you for your insights. So basically looks to me, certification guys in 2015 signed off on sub par work. I have popped a mail to the developer + the guys that did the certification....highlighting the deficiencies that have been noted....and how they will be remedying the situation.
 
Rules change along the way. I got that with building. Rules changed mid process and I had to make a bunch of changes including changing the insulation thickness from 100mm to 150mm. Its a headache.
 
Electrical certificates and I assume plumbing certificates (as they are done by the same type of scumbags) is a money making thing. And there is ZERO recourse to electricians who commit fraud on those certificates. I have tried to report an electricians who clearly filled in a fraudulent certificate. NOBODY is interested in pursuing the matter. NOBODY. I have the emails as proof.

That said, just buy the damn certificate.
 
Corelli said:
Rules change along the way. I got that with building. Rules changed mid process and I had to make a bunch of changes including changing the insulation thickness from 100mm to 150mm. Its a headache.
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Grrrrrr...I hear you...but thought if rules change, it does not apply retrospectively...only when you have to replace/repair it needs to be done to code.
 
ambroseg1 said:
Electrical certificates and I assume plumbing certificates (as they are done by the same type of scumbags) is a money making thing. And there is ZERO recourse to electricians who commit fraud on those certificates. I have tried to report an electricians who clearly filled in a fraudulent certificate. NOBODY is interested in pursuing the matter. NOBODY. I have the emails as proof.

That said, just buy the damn certificate.
Click to expand...

Thought as much...double ggrrrrrrr
 
yebocan said:
Thank you for your insights. So basically looks to me, certification guys in 2015 signed off on sub par work. I have popped a mail to the developer + the guys that did the certification....highlighting the deficiencies that have been noted....and how they will be remedying the situation.
Click to expand...
Also the certs are only valid for two years, if you didn't find the fault within that time period I think you are flat out of luck.
 
Lupus said:
Also the certs are only valid for two years, if you didn't find the fault within that time period I think you are flat out of luck.
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That is not true. If it were true, everybody would need new certificates every two years. The two years thing is just for purposes of selling.
 
ambroseg1 said:
That is not true. If it were true, everybody would need new certificates every two years. The two years thing is just for purposes of selling.
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Still think the OP isn't going to have any luck with the original electrician as it's over two years, but he can try.
 
yebocan said:
Grrrrrr...I hear you...but thought if rules change, it does not apply retrospectively...only when you have to replace/repair it needs to be done to code.
Click to expand...

You are selling now, so rule of now apply. Think of the electric fence for example, the moment you sell your property, you will require a clearance certificate, even though it might have been install prior to one becoming mandatory.

Also, the geyser thing is in effect for a hell of a long time, if I am not mistaken. You can try to fight it, but it will most likely be much easier and cheaper to just get the work done and in that way "buy" the certificate.

Apparently the earth thing happens when manufacturers fit 240V fittings in the 12V housing (remember I am talking about down-lights specifically here), to cut costs, as the 240V LED Bulbs became more readily available. 12V fittings do not require earthing on the housing, just up to the transformer, or so I am told.
 
Lupus said:
Still think the OP isn't going to have any luck with the original electrician as it's over two years, but he can try.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah. With that I agree 100%. But the 2 years part is irrelevant. The original electrician wouldn't have owned up even if it were 5 days later. When I sold my property I thought I was smart by having the same electrician who did the electrical certificate for the previous owner's come and just give me one as NOTHING was changed electrically in the house. Low and behold, R20k's worth of stuff "needed fixing". When I confronted the con-artist and showed him the original electrical certificate, he didn't know what to answer me. His excuse was that the previous owner's promised to fix that stuff. I sht you not.

We got into a war of words which I think I won, as I had the advantage of an education past the 3rd grade and he left. I approached both the department of labour and electrical board. None were interested.
 
ambroseg1 said:
Oh yeah. With that I agree 100%. But the 2 years part is irrelevant. The original electrician wouldn't have owned up even if it were 5 days later. When I sold my property I thought I was smart by having the same electrician who did the electrical certificate for the previous owner's come and just give me one as NOTHING was changed electrically in the house. Low and behold, R20k's worth of stuff "needed fixing". When I confronted the con-artist and showed him the original electrical certificate, he didn't know what to answer me. His excuse was that the previous owner's promised to fix that stuff. I sht you not.

We got into a war of words which I think I won, as I had the advantage of an education past the 3rd grade and he left. I approached both the department of labour and electrical board. None were interested.
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Sounds right, I had mine done last year and actually thankfully nothing was wrong. But our neighbour had 20k worth of things that needed to be fix and pretty much almost the same scenario as you. He eventually sued the lawyers who signed off on it and the wiring was sorted out.
 
Lupus said:
Sounds right, I had mine done last year and actually thankfully nothing was wrong. But our neighbour had 20k worth of things that needed to be fix and pretty much almost the same scenario as you. He eventually sued the lawyers who signed off on it and the wiring was sorted out.
Click to expand...

This is where they get you. How many people have the funds to piss away and making even worse scumbags (lawyers) even richer? Most like me, learn from it and find a electrician willing to cooperate.
 
ambroseg1 said:
This is where they get you. How many people have the funds to piss away and making even worse scumbags (lawyers) even richer? Most like me, learn from it and find a electrician willing to cooperate.
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There is that yes, it was a schlep and he ended up not selling as the process took forever.
 
Yeah had the same issue when we sold our townhouse complex. We bought it brand new from plan and when we sold it about 3 years later we had a list of findings and faults from the Electrician, one of the bigger ones were that the Geyser was not wired correctly. So how on earth did the actual builders get it clear through certification in the first place (as well as earthing and cabling on certain lights).

Moved into our new house and the first thing we find is that some of the external plug points are not working as well as one external light trips the power. Found out a couple of years later when we were doing repairs that in one section of the house the wrong size wire has actually been used in the walss. So obviously the person selling the house to us, must of bought their Certificate of Electrical compliance, now we sit with trying to get all the wiring up to scratch.
 
So basically these certifications are worthless/money making schemes....as there is no recourse. First thing, I am doing with new place is having electrical and plumbing checked out.
 
yebocan said:
So basically these certifications are worthless/money making schemes....as there is no recourse. First thing, I am doing with new place is having electrical and plumbing checked out.
Click to expand...
Spot on. Worthless. Cannot even be used for toilet paper as paper sucks at being toilet paper.
 
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