SANS 10142 October pre 1992

[murdock]

for the record i am more comfortable with older installations...whenever i do an inspection reports...8 out of 10 faults found are normally additions and alterations to older installations...i find the original installation still complies...its the joints done next original junction box...or fans installed and not earthed...cutting into exsisitng piping and not extending the earthing...fitting new breakers and not fitting the correct blanks...non weather proof boxes used outside...additional lighting and plugs to swimming pool dbs...bad gate motors and post top lighting installtions..etc...etc...etc.

so here is a question for you...do you pass the installation if the meter has a fuse box...and heres the joke mounted right on the front verandah with exposed wires?

[AndyD]

What's everyone got against fuses? You can get equal if not better toleranced overload protection using fuses rather than MCB's. Fuses don't suffer damage when they open a high short circuit fault current, MCB's do. Fuses aren't prone to mechanical failure with age, water or concrete/dust ingress and they're a damn sight faster(<1/5 of a cycle) at opening fault currents than MCB's. In short MCB's are for wussies

[NTS2011]

Hi Sparks,this is really a sad state of affairs,my opinion is that the responsibility be given back to the Municipality.At lease the Municipality can enforce By-Laws and this can be sorted out at Municipal courts.I remembered the days that their was at lease some order as far as compliance was concerned.
Maybe we should put a recommendation forward to the Chief Inspector.

[Sparks]

Spot on Murdock, the quality of materials and workmanship were much higher the older the installation, hence my hesitance to rewire on the grounds of age without inspecting & testing. Unfortunately I cannot agree with the municipality getting the responsibility neither. There is too much bribery and laziness nowadays. A totally independant onbudsman without a vested interest has proven to be the best option. With legal clout of course. As it used to be.

[Leecatt]

Hi Guys ,their is legal recourse thru the Approved Inspection Authority.If the customer feels that they got a raw deal,they can have a audit done on the installation.If it is found that there is any irregularities ,the accredited person needs to fix all defects at his cost in a certain period of time.Their is however a cost attached to the investigation.
The customer can also contact the local Municipal Inspector who can issue a ITR (instruction to repair notice) which needs to be repaired within 21 days.

The cost is R2500.00 for a validation inspection which includes notifying the errant electrician and the DOL and a report.
A comprehensive inspection is also available but they dont mention the cost here

[Leecatt]

please back these statements up with reference to the code.

Hi Murdock,
I dont understand what you are asking for.
The fuses are of the re wirable type, you cannot buy the wire anymore, once the fuse wire has blown they are useless.
I am not talking about fuses as found in Machinery panels

[murdock]

Hi Sparks,this is really a sad state of affairs,my opinion is that the responsibility be given back to the Municipality.At lease the Municipality can enforce By-Laws and this can be sorted out at Municipal courts.I remembered the days that their was at lease some order as far as compliance was concerned.
Maybe we should put a recommendation forward to the Chief Inspector.

yeah right...it was a lot cheaper giving them a couple bottles of whiskey to walk around and make it look like they were doing their job...bad bad idea.

[murdock]

Hi Murdock,
I dont understand what you are asking for.
The fuses are of the re wirable type, you cannot buy the wire anymore, once the fuse wire has blown they are useless.
I am not talking about fuses as found in Machinery panels

so are saying that if the fuse blows...you have to replace it with a circuit breaker?


i wanted to know where i could find this in the sabs code

[BlueArc]

Hi chaps I was at a house in Cape Town yesterday and was quite surprised when I opened the DB to find that there were no earth continuity conductors present except one 6mm "main" earth. The house is busy being renovated and a prepaid meter was installed. I could clearly see that the conductors had been lengthened and a new DB installed. I walked around the house and saw that the light switches and plugs were still really old but functional. I phoned the chap who did the COC and asked why there was no earthing. He said that since the installation was pre 91 (which is actually 92) the steel conduit served as the earth continuity conductor and that since the DB was now surface mounted he had bonded all the steel pipes together behind the DB and then taken one wire and terminated it in the consumers earth terminal. My big question is if he altered the installation i.e. the whole DB doesn't he have to comply with the new regs, which states that a wireway shall NOT act as a earth continuity conductor. Is his claim that he only re-did the DB valid? I had a look at the OHS act Electrical installations section 7-3 which sheds some light but not much. Any help would be great!

[murdock]

fact...you cannot install fuses in a new "domestic" installation...but there is no rules in the sans book that indicated that you cannot pass a domestic installation which had fuses installed orginally...however you can indicate to the owner that it would be advisable to replace the fuses and upgrade the fuse to a new DB with circuit breakers and earth leakage.

just like an installation which has no earth leakage...if there have been no alterations or addtions done since the date date the rule was enforced...we all know this is hard to apply because i have seen numerous installations where a plug has been installed and twin+e has been used...however i do advise the customer to install an earth leakage for their own safety and mine...while working in the building