Hi there. I read a thread regarding minimum requirements to obtain a Consuel. We are completely renovating our house. We’ve employed an electrician who has come highly recommended. We were advised a consuel coulD be issued after the first fix. But now that appears to have changed. As my husband is doing a lot of the plaster boarding himself we expected the electrician to complete his work and then we would finish plaster boarding afterwards. But now we are being told the house has to be complete before a consuel will be provided. This means months rather than weeks. With light switches etc all fitted. Any advice will be helpful.
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The consuel will only come once the installation is totally finished. Expect them to check each socket, phone and TV points, and the earth. I am guessing that you only have a temporary supply, you will need the consuel to sign the installation off so you can get the permanent supply. If you already have a permanent supply, then you don’t need a consuel inspection.
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The electrics need to be complete but not the house. That could take a lifetime.
The first thing that a CONSUEL inspector will do is measure the main earth resistence. If the installation has power they will be lazy & use a plug in earth loop impedence meter. If no power they will have to do the job properly & use the more accurate set up involving whacking stakes in the ground. Reading must be under 100Ω.
They will check earth continuity to every power outlet, which must under 2Ω to the main earth terminal.
Oddly CONSUEL do not carry out an insulation check. Any self repsecting installer will have done so already of course…… Regulations state that it needs to be under 0,5MΩ with no appliances connected. Electric underfloor heating can be lower, at 0,25MΩ
They will inspect random sockets, switches & junction boxes. If you have any recessed spots they will ask you to drop a random one out to check that all is well with that kind of thing. A common cause of failure for DIYers is lack of earth continuity in a downlight circuit.
An inspector will need to verify the IP ratings on any light fittings that are within volume 2 & lower. If the fitting doesn’t show a label itself (they should, but sometimes they are hidden once installed) they will need to see the original box &/or paperwork for that fitting. This applies to outside lights as well.
Importantly to you CONSUEL will happily inpsect a partial renovation. If you present them with a viable habitation (living room, one bedroom, one bathroom, one kitchen) they can’t refuse you. However, I’d make sure that it’s obvious that the rest of renovation is on long term hold – they don’t want to see a vast amounts of unconnected circuits arriving at the tableau (though the odd few is OK, as long as they are marked as “en attente”).
Until recently CONSUEL only attested for the number of circuits that are written in your application (though I never saw an inspector refer to the list when checking out a tableau). However, from 02/11/2016 the applications have no longer required you to list all the circuits i.e. it’s now a lot easier to fill the forms in.
That was a long winded way of saying that, no, CONSUEL cannot give you an attestation on a first fix only; there has to be a working installation to see & test.
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Although I am not the Poster, I have been following with interest.
Thank you for such a clear explanation… fascinating… will guard this nugget of information for future use.
Thankyou everyone for this valuable information. Very helpful to anyone embarking on a full renovation. Incidentally, we had a temporary power supply and managed to retain this for 18 months! Cut off by ERDF without notice. We’ve employed a professional and he knows his stuff. He won’t cut corners and it’s worth paying a professional to do the job properly.