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[KillerWatt]

.....
 (and there are more than enough corpses to substantiate that).

Are there?  ............ Bo11ocks!

Are there 'dangle berries' what?

Remember the old style 240v xmas tree lights/fairy lights?
How many times did you hear of people dying because they had them plugged in while checking for a dodgy lamp and failed to notice bare conductors that had been caused while in storage?

See above!
And we're talking deaths in caravans not due to 'fixing' fairy lights.

Fairy lights was an example and you well know it.

[Andy B]

So do you think these test are warranted?

Where mains voltage is involved in public areas, yes I do think they are warranted.

Mains has to go through 2 RCD's before Joe Public gets to use it.

See above, an RCD is NOT the be all and end all....it is simply a secondary aid in much the same way an airbag is a secondary aid to a seatbelt.

RCD's can (and DO) fail, hence that is why they have a test procedure specifically written for them.

You'd have to be very, very unlucky for both the EHU RCD & your own RCD to fail at the same time. You appear to giive the impression that as a spark you're the only one that might know something about electrickery, & I know I don't know it all.
I'll not use site electrics if it means I've to pay for an annual PIR cert

[Andy B]

.....Fairy lights was an example and you well know it.

yes! an example of a set of lights used once a year for a week. Your original statement: (and there are more than enough corpses to substantiate that).  immplied that camp sites were littered with dead campers due to faulty electrics in their caravan.

[KillerWatt]

You'd have to be very, very unlucky for both the EHU RCD & your own RCD to fail at the same time. You appear to giive the impression that as a spark you're the only one that might know something about electrickery, & I know I don't know it all.
I'll not use site electrics if it means I've to pay for an annual PIR cert

Indeed, in fact that would be incredibly bad luck.
That doesn't mean however that it can't go wrong, it much the same way that one of us could quite easily win the lottery next week even though the odds are 14 million to 1 against.

There is ALWAYS a chance for something to happen (be it good or bad), but if it's going to be bad then surely common sense says let's make sure we minimise the risk?

[Entwood]

The inspection will be ... at its most rigid... annually.

My caravan will do around 5000 miles a year.

Just what good is a piece of paper 11 months and 4990 mile old when I come to plug in to an EHU the week before the re-inspection is due

As has been said many times... and SPECIFICALLY by KW .. an MOT is not worth the paper it is written on. There is NO difference between this inspection and an MOT in principle.... (other than cost)

[hotel21]

The inspection will be ... at its most rigid... annually.

My caravan will do around 5000 miles a year.

Just what good is a piece of paper 11 months and 4990 mile old when I come to plug in to an EHU the week before the re-inspection is due

As has been said many times... and SPECIFICALLY by KW .. an MOT is not worth the paper it is written on. There is NO difference between this inspection and an MOT in principle.... (other than cost)

yup..... 

[KillerWatt]

The inspection will be ... at its most rigid... annually.

An annual inspection would be taking the piss, especially as the worst that is realistically going to happen in real life use (unless extremely unlucky) is you will damage a plug top/socket outlet, etc (and common sense normally prevails in that situation).

A once yearly visual inspection/manual test of RCD should be enough, with (say) a 3 year interval for a full on test of anything related to mains voltage that is permanently installed.

[hotel21]

The inspection will be ... at its most rigid... annually.

An annual inspection would be taking the piss, especially as the worst that is realistically going to happen in real life use (unless extremely unlucky) is you will damage a plug top/socket outlet, etc (and common sense normally prevails in that situation).

A once yearly visual inspection/manual test of RCD should be enough, with (say) a 3 year interval for a full on test of anything related to mains voltage that is permanently installed.

Still flawed.....

Large fee for a year or two, larger fee every third year??

Certificate would still remain good for a 50/50 duration as per the MOT cert....  50 yards or 50 seconds, whichever passes first!      

[Entwood]

The inspection will be ... at its most rigid... annually.

An annual inspection would be taking the piss, especially as the worst that is realistically going to happen in real life use (unless extremely unlucky) is you will damage a plug top/socket outlet, etc (and common sense normally prevails in that situation).

A once yearly visual inspection/manual test of RCD should be enough, with (say) a 3 year interval for a full on test of anything related to mains voltage that is permanently installed.

http://www.osborneandcollins.co.uk/walton-surrey/Inspection-Testing-Electrical-Installations.htm


This is what is proposed.  Slightly more than you state. Please note the reference in table 3 to Caravans.

A little research can go a long way.

[KillerWatt]

http://www.osborneandcollins.co.uk/walton-surrey/Inspection-Testing-Electrical-Installations.htm


This is what is proposed.  Slightly more than you state. Please note the reference in table 3 to Caravans.

A little research can go a long way.

My original statement with regard to what I said should be needed was based simply on the word "caravan".

Now as I am sure you will be fully aware, a caravan can be anything from an 8' shed to a 40' static.

The weekend sheds aren't going to need much in the way of a test/inspect because they have bugger all to start with, however some of those 40' jobbies have an installation that would rival bricks & mortar.

I personally couldn't give a monkeys crotchpiece whether dodgy caravan electrics result in someone's death or not, and I also think (or rather, know) that the proposed fixed fee of £80 isn't going to entice many qualified sparks to get out of bed to do the check (it's £10 per breaker, with an extra £10 per appliance in the real world).

In order for any caravan centre/repair merchant to be able to start offering inspections/test on anything 240v related, the person carrying out the test is going to need 2391.
That qualification on it's own is going to cost them £1000's to get the people through, and you can rest assured that if they weren't sparkies before they took the test - they certainly won't be considered sparkies after they pass either.