Why Do Electricians Do Testing on Everything?
To Test or not to test, that would be a good question.
The amount of testing you do when working as an electrician is crazy!
But to be fair — it’s needed. Electricity can kill and we don’t want to use our 5 million insurance cover even though we have it.
Working as an electrician there’s not a day that goes by without some form of testing.
Do you ever skip that part?
Think it will be ok, I’m good at my job, I haven’t had a fire yet?
I will tell you the repercussions of skipping the testing, along with the explanation of why electricians do it so much!
But best of all how testing can make you as much money as it saves you.
Testing for many electricians is the boring?part.
Installing 20 downlights in a kitchen and completely transforming the look of the room is a lot more satisfying than getting a low Ohm reading on your metre.
That’s the functional test itself, making sure it all works.
However just because something works, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe and will work for long.
So when installing a circuit anywhere, the testing is what confirms it’s done to a high standard.
Firstly with any job you do, make sure you take a loop reading, known as an earth fault loop impedance test.
This will give you a reading in ohms, testing the circuit to make sure the whole loop of the circuit is in working order before you start work.
The last thing you want is to be testing at the end of the job and find that you can’t get a good loop reading to pass your tests, and the fault was there long before you arrived.
Its happened before to me where the earth was in the fuse board, but not connected. I don’t know why — maybe the previous electrician had left it out for testing, but it must have been like it for a while and the reason the previous electrician didn’t get called back.
Assuming you have a good Ze reading (that’s the term used for earth fault loop impedance tests) that when you get cracking and start your work.
If the reading is too high I would spend 5 mins checking the common mistakes, like no earth at the board — or let the customer know the fault will need to be fixed which may add extra costs.
If the current circuit is protected by an RCD, flip your tester onto the RCD test and give that a test too.
One to make sure the RCD isn’t faulty before you start and two, you need that circuit off to work on it.
Go to the fuse board and lock it?off.
So you have installed your new circuit, let’s say 20 new downlights in a kitchen.
The first test I do is insulation resistance, also known as megger the circuit. If the normal voltage is 240v, then test it at 500v.
At this point you don’t want to have any of the lights connected, you’re only testing the wiring. Plus testing at 500v could damage the new lights you’re putting in.
Insulation resistance will just make sure that the wiring you have put in isn’t damaged, or any other trades haven’t gone through cable — not naming any plasterers here!
After installing all the lights and completing all the terminations, that’s time for the continuity test.
Testing L+N L+E and N+E, this will all be tested without the circuit connected back at the fuse board.
Find your end of line and connect the cables together, wagos are perfect for this.
Then test the ohms reading, it will give you a reading. The onsite guide has a table that tells you the acceptable ohms reading on cable sizes and lengths.
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Over time you will get to know what’s acceptable and what’s not.
Brilliant, your wiring is spot on, of course it is, you’re an electrician — we don’t make mistakes.
It’s time for the best test of all, turning it all?on.
Selecting the correct fuse for the cable and getting to see all your hard work in action, the functional test.
Now if you were a cowboy, you would pack your tools away and get the out of there, who would ever know you didn’t finish the testing?
If you have gone that far, complete a couple more tests for your certificate.
Earth fault loop test it all again, with also testing the RCD works, you will need those readings for your paperwork anyway.
Let’s say you’re one of these guys who doesn’t bother testing.
I don’t care how good you are at your job, it only takes one mistake for everything to all go wrong.
Just the other day I 2nd fixed a house with over 20 sockets. All results tested out spot on.
Then I plugged my tester into each socket, The one where I got a phone call.
The live and neutral were wired the wrong way round.
Not a big deal for many appliances, but if the customer had plugged their hover into it, it would blow, rather than suck!
That’s a problem for me.
Simple mistakes can leave the customer thinking you’re a rubbish electrician, that will stop them calling you in the future, also recommending you.
Don’t be one of these electricians who dreads the customer calling after the job is completed.
Leave the job with full confidence that the work you have done was completed to a very high standard.
All the testing electricians do is make sure the install is correct. How many times have you been to a customer’s house where another electrician has done some work?
Only to find it’s a simple fix, a loose cable. Something that 10 minutes of testing would have picked up.
The only reason I want to return to a customer’s house is to do more?work.
So carrying out these tests are going to save you time and money in the long run.
I have been to jobs before and discovered faults on other circuits that I wasn’t even working on, reported to the customer and asked if they would like a quote to fix it.
More work more money.
Customers have watched me test before and they appreciate that you are so thorough in your work, it gets them talking to their friends and they recommend your business.
More work more money
You don’t get called up saying the lights a flickering, only to find you have loose connections in a switch, a continuity test shows that up.
More time more money
So it goes to show that although testing is a boring job. It’s worth taking that little bit of extra time to do it.
For more ways to get more work and more money, check out the podcast How These Simple Easy Steps Will Fill Your Diary With High-Paying Customers All Year Round.
It will help your business grow even better.