coc inspection questions

[Thys LOW Elektries]

Good day. just when you think you have seen it all a bloke come and do his own wiring and surprise you!?
Went to a house today to do "a quick COC" I explained the inspection part and how a coc works and then stated with the visual inspection and stopped using load shedding as an excuse to continue the work....
The 16mm2 swa cable was terminated in the ceiling, No glands, no box just stripped and the three wires went into the db. From the mains 2pole the wires go to a second one pole mains in the same db and a second one pole mains in the second db. From the db's the wires go to the various parts of the house, they plan on subdividing the house sometime in the future.
Most of the wiring was done in 100x40 pvc trunking, even in the ceiling. From the trunking pvc pipes goes to the various light switches and plugs, also pvc flex pipe goes from the pipes, cause they either did not knew how to bend a pipe or had no money to buy bends The mains incoming and the mains going to the second db plus all the wires for the plugs and lighting system are in the same trunking.
My concern is with the pvc trunking and the safety of using it in a ceiling. The trunking is only supported by the roof trusses, plus minus 1.2 m apart.
SANS refer to mix circuits in a conduit but say nothing about trunkings. Using a galvanized trunking would be safer, would you COC a house with galvanized trunking? How can I separate the plug wiring, light wiring and mains in the trunking if I have to?

Will be posting updates tomorrow after testing and further inspections.

Greetings from a warm Orania

[Derlyn]

The problem is in your first sentence where you say the bloke did his own wiring. Sounds like a new installation.

The only new installation that I would issue a coc for is one done by myself.

Any other new installation, the coc must be supplied by the registered contractor who did the wiring.

Orania is a small place and you must protect yourself and make it known that only a registered contractor may do electrical work on an installation otherwise you gonna come short.

If you do it once, then everyone is gonna expect you to do it in future.

A bit of advice from a toppie.

[skatingsparks]

Only ever do CoC's on my own work.

SWA is obviously a problem.

I would have no problem with 100 x 40 trunking in the roof.
Flexible conduit - not pretty but acceptable.
Mixed circuits? Nothing wrong with that either. No need to seperate plugs and lighting circuits.
I think mixed circuit you are refering to is the one where you have lights and sockets on the same circuit which must be wired in 2.5mm, be on earth leakage and 16 amp breaker - also not ideal and generally not used on new rewires.
Or mixed catagories - ie comms/alarms/data with mains is not permited in the same containment (unless spereated by earthed metalic barrier)

Would I CoC it. No.

Its not my own work.

[Thys LOW Elektries]

I was asked to investigate the house and issue a coc I will investigate and gave the bill, but I won't do a COC. I'm not a bakkie electrician/ fly by night bloke. The way the wirng was done was interesting to say the least, for the rest, no thanks sir Get someone else to do the coc

[Isetech]

I have realised if cant beat them, join them. The money is in the repairs and material purchasing, not the test report.

Dont get suckered into working for people who offer to supply materials. I recently quoted R650 000.00 for a project, the material cost, almost R500 000.00, do the maths (even if your mark is only 25 %).

I also had that silly outlook(only doing inspection for my customers), I decided to start doing "test reports" for anyone a couple months ago, man there is some good money in the repairs. I am going to have to employ more staff just to keep up. I am also going to look into using sub contractors to carry out the test report, then my team will do the repairs, that way I am not responsible for the COC .

A tip: Make sure payment for the test report is in your bank account before you release any info about the test report. Watch out for customer who get you to do the test report, use your report and quote to get "others" to do the repairs ands sign off the property.

Dont believe for a minute that just because the inspector is ECA registered, the COC will be valid. I am busy with a project were the ECA registered contractor issued a COC document which is not valid. I sent a copy of the COC to the ECA, was told they would "take care of it". Weeks later, I have still not received a valid COC document and since visited the site to find the earth wire of the twin+e is being used as the return for the light circuits. I unplugged all the lights in the building and the circuit breaker still trips. I then contacted the contractor who sent out a team to rewire the light circuit, and still no valid COC. I have arranged a site meeting with the property owner and the tenant to resolve these issues and carry out a full test report on both the buildings. the registered person who signed the COC has still not been on site. Maybe its time to open this can of worms on a public forum and expose the ECA and the contractor. I need to find out the legal implications.

[Isetech]

I was asked to investigate the house and issue a coc I will investigate and gave the bill, but I won't do a COC. I'm not a bakkie electrician/ fly by night bloke. The way the wirng was done was interesting to say the least, for the rest, no thanks sir Get someone else to do the coc

Its not the one man bakkie brigade you need to be concerned about, you will generally find the little guy busting his butt off to make a living is doing his job right to keep going. The little guy has a reputation to live up to to stay in business, its pack of wolves you need to watch out for.

Some thing to take note of while out and about, how many little one man bakkie operators are still going after many many years and how many big contractors are still around after 5 years I know of a one man bakkie brigade operations still going 40 years(could even be 50 years, I think he is 86 and still going strong) later, others over 30 years. Before you point fingers and make comments about bakkie electricians/fly by nights, maybe open your eyes and look around. Be aware of the real wolves.

[Derlyn]

I have realised if cant beat them, join them. The money is in the repairs and material purchasing, not the test report.

It's a pity it has taken you so long to come to this realization.

I have mentioned before on this forum that I do NOT do any work where the client supplies the materials.
The client is denying you the markup. He buys retail. You buy wholesale. The difference belongs to you.

If you were to go to a pub with a bottle of brandy or whiskey under your arm, you will be shown the door. Period.

[Thys LOW Elektries]

When I mentioned the bakkie electrician I meant the guy that do a COC in 15 minutes for R500 an do all the paperwork in the bakkie or on the bonnet of the bakkie. I had seen the one man operator going the extra mile for a client more frequently then the big guys. The big guys, or rather most of them it's a case of quick-quick and get the money.

[Isetech]

I still run my business in my backyard , I still do my paper work in my bakkie, go the extra 20 km for my customers, but just cant seem to do a COC in 15 minutes for R500.