19 Jan What does an EICR test involve?
An EICR test – or Electrical Installation Condition Report – is an official document produced following an in-depth assessment of the electrical systems within any domestic, commercial or industrial premises.
Tests are carried out by qualified electricians and how often you need an EICR test depends upon the nature of the premises.
What does an EICR Test Cost
An EICR Test should cost between £100 – £6000 Plus Vat depending on whether it is for a house a school or any other large building. Obviously, there is no real upper limit to the cost.
Why do I need an EICR?
The purpose of an EICR is to make sure the electrical systems and installations within a building are safe, correctly installed, and well maintained. They provide an invaluable condition check on properties of all sizes, from the home to a large-scale manufacturing facility.
What does an EICR test look for?
An EICR test will assess the condition of your electrical systems and evaluate how efficiently they are working, paying particular attention to any deterioration or defects.
As part of the testing, engineers will check the condition of the electrics against the UK standard for the safety of electrical installations – BS7671 Requirements for Electrical Installations (IET Wiring Regulations).
Specific issues that can be revealed through an EICR test include:
- Any issue with circuits or equipment that might overload or overheat the system
- Areas of electric shock risks and fire hazards
- Safety issues with bonding or earthing of installations and equipment
- Potential faulty electrical work that could lead to faults or injury
How is an EICR test performed?
To perform an EICR test, our specially-trained City & Guilds 2395 Inspection and Testing level engineers will need to disconnect the electrics from the mains power supply.
The test will then involve elements of visual inspections to identify any obvious faults with broken equipment or incorrect wiring, dead testing for continuity, insulation resistance and polarity, and live testing to check the system can react effectively in the event of a fault or electric shock injury.
EICR results
Any faults found within the system will be listed in the report, including the reason for the failure, and graded in terms of their severity in accordance with EICR fault codes.
Once your electrical system has passed the inspection fully and any urgent remedial work has been completed, you will be provided with an EICR Certificate of safety, giving you peace of mind that your electrics are safe.
How long does an EICR take?
Depending on the size of the property, an EICR test can take anything from a couple of hours to several days, or even weeks for the largest and most complicated installations. At EICR Testing, we appreciate that time is money and strive to work around you to ensure that any downtime is kept to a minimum. This often involves testing in stages during evenings, weekends and holidays.
How do I get an EICR Test?
Contact EICR Testing today for an EICR quote or to request more information about your electrical safety obligations.
Mandy Lloyd
Posted at 12:11h, 17 AugustHi
I’ve had an EICR on my 1964 3 bed house which took 3hrs. How can i be sure this report has been done fully and correctly ?
I’ve used it to get quotes and one electrician believes the report isn’t in depth enough for him to carry out work, i’m now worried
and feel i need to pay out for another report which i wasn’t planning on doing.
Can you advise me on what to do and if i can have my EICR checked?
Regards
Mandy Lloyd
Jeff Longley
Posted at 11:42h, 26 AugustWe are happy to have a quick look over it if you email to me jlongley.mrelectric@gmail.com. In my experience I would be more weary of the electrician who can not work from the report. A decent electrician might notice a couple of things missing and sort it. A bad electrician is always looking for faults in other peoples work as to put it right is a big deal to him. I would ignore the moaning electrician unless others are saying the report is rubbish.