PAT

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

I thought you had to have other electrical engineering certifications to do PAT these days ????

Andi

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

...so you're basically agree? ..or are we arguing?? ...the 'lot of appliances' bit meant a lot of appliances BUT from within a small company which, if anything like mine is not that much (well enough for the company to pay a fair bill to get stuff tested..but not so much that it causes the 'in-house' tester a headache)

 

..which is why It won't be on my CV, rather that 'list' and I can choose whether or not to let any future employers know about it (according to how many appliances there would be)

 

Think that's more for if you are selling your services to another company? Really don't know....but, the course I went on was aimed at non-electricians who were doing the testing in-house...

 

:hhhmmm ...er, you know when you wish you hadn't bothered suggesting something?

 

I've never heard of PAT.

 

It's a UK thing

 

Nope you dont need any Electrical knowledge to do PAT. You just have to be a "Competent" person, which is what the cert shows. I know of one comapny that all tehy do is PAt, and a guy working for them has no electrical knowledge short or wiring a plug (badly as well in my view). He worked as a shop assisntant from school for 5 years and they then took him on.

Mike,

PAT stands for PORTABLE APPLIANCE TESTING and it is international as far as i know not just UK, just happens to be a more common legal requirement in the UK.

Lee,

While Jons right, in that testing 1000 items can get boring, especially if its not what your employed to do, It is another skill / Competence to add to your bow. Its a great excuse to pull rank and shout "Health and Saftey" at people, just never try to take away a failed kettle from a canteen, they'll chase you outta town! Now faila drill so they cant work and they be right behind you saying thats ok.

 

Te hee, sounds like you speak from experience! Would rather fail a kettle though then someone suffer from a nasty shock

 

I do speak from experience. I had to fail more than one kettle while working on site at felixstow docks. I found the best way was to cut the plug off the kettle and then run!

Of course sometimes it makes you fell bad. Like the time i failed a womans till in teh shop she hd just opened. She had bought most of the equipment from shop auctions, and had very little money left to stock her shop. It was hard to tell her that her till was electrically unsafe and that she would have to get another one, as i could see the effort she had put into the opening of the shop.
Other times it just brings out the mean me, liek failing kettles and microwaves for council tax offices!

 

Ewww. Unless "appliance" means something different in the UK, I'd have to pass on acquiring that skill... doesn't sound like a direction I'd want to take my career, even as a notch in my bow.

 

It basically means electrical saftey testing anything with a mains plug on it. So while your vibrators wont be covered (battery powered) your Sybian might be (plugs into wall socket!)

Normally though it means kettles, drills, photocopiers, even PCs (which is why sometimes it falls under IT). It does also include crawling under desks sometimes.

 

I ask a electrician a while back.... unless he didn't want the competition .

If you can use it great its a bonus to the CV.

However, in the UK i am sure its now regulated, even if you install a new socket in a room or light yourself your meant to get a electrician to check it by law.

The good old days of DIY electrics and blowing yourself up have gone :-(

Andi

 

Interesting way of putting it.

 

PAT testing can still be carried out by anyone deemed competent enough, all your doing is checking the electrical appliances which is what teh PAT cert gives you. You can still install your own circuits at home, but if they are additional circuits or major modifications you require a certified inspection normally by the council. A new light or socket does not have to be inspected, but a new ring main (ie new circuit) does.

 

Yeah i thought so too

 

oh I thought it was anything that involved laying new mains grade cable because people use the wrong grade (wattage) and cause firers etc.

 

http://www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:part_p:diy_electrical_work_and_the_law

So a new socket or spur of the ring is ok, but a whole new ring main isnt. (i think)

 

Nearly all these are tested at point of manufacture and given a CE mark. I think PAT testing is just an extra check to find the odd dodgy bit of kit either because its old, fuse replaced with a wrong fuse, overloaded extension socket, or from a dodgy manufacturer. It probably helps cut their employers liability and fire insurance too but yeah, its like becoming fire and safty officer or first aid, nice but not gonna make a big difference...

 

While most manufacturers test the equipment during manufacture, i dont know of many that will come to site and test thier equipment every 3, 6, 12 or 24months through teh life of teh equipment. And thats what PAT is for, to saftey test equipment during its working life. To be honest it has more benefit for industrial sites than domestic ones. A power drill used ona building site needs to be regularly checked for electrical saftey as you wouldn't want poor insulation, falling a pool of water, causing the user to get a shock or killed. After all it would be the building site contractor company who would then be liable.

Its a bit like teh MOT ona car though, in that it only verifies that the equipment is safe to use on teh day of testing. If something goes wrong teh next day, tough. At least you can prove it was ok the on teh day of test so something must of happened since, and that the equipment hasnt been used in teh past ina faulty state.