Do you REALLY need a rewire?

[@PJB71]

Your absolutely spot on there.👍🏼

[@gingerelectrician]

Thanks Patrick :-)

[@ITSMEAGAIN1]

Thanks for this video. It helped a lot. I've just had a full test done & the Electrician is going to give me a quote for work which needs to be done. (The test cost me £180 and took him a few hours to complete.) I got five C2 points where it failed. That there's a break somewhere & needs to be located & fixed. Also something to do with bonding? I then needed to change a light switch cover so we did that & were shocked to see the wiring is the old black & red wiring. We thought we must need a full rewire. But maybe not now that I've seen this video. Any idea what price it should be for the work needed? Thanks.

[@gingerelectrician]

Hi Karen the rewire cost will vary a lot depending on your town/city and also how many points are being replaced. The best person to get that Quote from is the person who did the EICR as they know exactly what is involved, type of walls, how many points and so on.

[@David-gh3qc]

Thanks. How much does an Electrical condition report usually cost for a 2/3 bed semi?

[@gingerelectrician]

Thanks for the comment. This will vary depending where you are and also on the number of circuits that need to be tested. But expect to pay from £150-£200 to do it properly. Any less then do due diligence to ensure the quote is for a full, unlimited test. Also check the person out using this national register: www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk/

[@David-gh3qc]

Would you then have to pay a full rewire cost if required? Arnt you better off just getting the rewire done in the first place if the recommend it? As you could be paying an extra £150 to do the ECreport then the cost of the rewire anyway?

[@gingerelectrician]

@@David-gh3qc thanks again for the question :-) A full rewire will cost £1000s (depending on how many circuits and points need to be replaced). Often a full rewire might get "suggested" because it's old by someone who is not an Electrician (or even worse, by an unexperienced Electrician still finding their way). And so a full rewire gets done from that advice(!). So you'll find that a certain amount of full rewires that have been done might not have actually been needed (or at least they could have been partial rather than full). So if an EICR is carried out and discovered that you only need half of the circuits rewired and the other half are in absolutely perfect condition still, then you've spent £150 or so, but saved £1000s on not having to rewire everything. Yes, the Electrician makes less money, but they it's an honest evaluation that customers definately do appreciate. But then of course, there are those people that will get a full rewire by choice, as they. just want the peace of mind of never having to deal with it during the years they live in it (assuming it's done correctly by an experienced installed with at least 5 or 10 years of doing these installs and signed off properly by an accredited and registered Electrician). While sometimes if something is a totally DIY mess (let's say the builder, kitchen fitter or DIY. enthusiast did it!), then yes, maybe it's worth replacing just for that reason. But old circuits can last a LONG time when installed correctly, just as newer wiring can last only a short time if done wrong. So testing (which is a combination of Visual checks as well as many circuits tests using a calibrated multi function tester), is the ONLY real way (in addition to the visually bad DIY mentioned above) to confirm the REAL condition of something.

[@David-gh3qc]

@@gingerelectrician thanks for the info! Very informative 👏

[@gingerelectrician]

@@David-gh3qc You're welcome. Best of luck if this is something you are getting done for yourself.

[@supersparks9466]

So My clients got old lead wiring and ceramic fuses , don’t tell Me I can’t tell the client it needs a rewire just by looking at it.

[@gingerelectrician]

In that case it most likely wants 100% changing, especially with having lead plus asbestos fuse holders from what you describe. But with more recent wiring it'll need confirmation of each circuit individually. By more recent I mean since lead cables.

[@supersparks9466]

My point was that in plenty of scenarios a visual check is all that’s needed to establish a full rewire is needed, most of the time within 10 seconds of opening the front door. Obviously any wiring post 1970s would need testing first,but in my experience even if tested out ok most older wiring systems have plenty of horrors hidden away all over the place. One of the reasons I only undertake full rewires or I run my own new circuits back to the mains and install a small dB. Given up the dB changes and eicrs.

[@gingerelectrician]

@@supersparks9466 My angle is that a lot of Electricians in my area are replacing wiring that possibly needed a part rewire but not a full one. I've seen it a lot so I think a good starting point is an EICR (or verification of some kind) rather than just looking. I do agree though that some things appear to need an obvious replacement, but I've seen a mixed bag of older wiring still testing good and also fairly new wiring failing abysmally because it was installed as a DIY project or by Dave from the Pub. :-) We both have the same priority with keeping people safe though :-)

[@MagnetechSolidSolutions]

9 times out of 10 a visual can tell a lot, especially to us. Green plastiser leaching from cable?.... remove everything.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

He is right, there's nothing inherently wrong with that as long as nobody is messing with it or running too much current through it. My parents still have some of that left in their house, but most of it has been removed. You'd know by looking at it, that it's worth testing, but unless you're trying to push it hard, it may well be fine.

[@90dfender]

correct.

[@MagnetechSolidSolutions]

We somewhat disagree. Yes! By all means have the test performed but if two or more circuits fail the IR test get the lot out. If a mess is to be made, make it once. No-one wants there lovely decorated house Swiss cheesed several times over several years. The concept alone is outrageous.....

[@gingeracademy]

The main point is that there are a lot of people that suggest rewiring the whole lot when it isn't needed. Yes, I get that you can suggest all circuits get done. But if say 2 circuits test bad and all other circuits are good, then why rewire the whole lot? HOWEVER as you say, there may be a cosmetic decision to make if the wiring tests good but is ugly (or all the sockets are in the wrong places, for example). So yes, there are other considerations too in that case 🙂 Outrageous? Wow 😂

[@MagnetechSolidSolutions]

@@gingeracademy Its like taking the van in for a service..... Next service 90000miles or by a set date. Regardless of condition and readings there's no getting away from time or age. I get and fully appreciate your angle but wiring can fail from one day to the next. We just have a different view on these things. The upload was informative and we enjoyed it👍. Keep them coming.

[@robertsmith9836]

How many rewires have you done

[@gingerelectrician]

Quite a few over 33 years. Started with factory wiring and equipment installs (Car Industry) and semiconductors, then my own business 13 years ago when I did plenty of Domestic (but still some Commercial and Industrial).

[@robertsmith9836]

@@gingerelectrician nothing personal mate just that I only take people seriously when have done 100 plus

[@gingerelectrician]

@@robertsmith9836 makes sense :-)

[@gingerelectrician]

@@robertsmith9836 and I'm older than I look. Not sure if that's a Blessing or Curse lol