Can I PAT Test My Own Equipment

[derekgough]

Recently I was searched about pat testing and number of result came on the screen. Some of them offered a training and get certified. Couple of them I mention here like https://www.onlinepattestingcourse.co.uk/ https://humanfocus.co.uk/e-learning/pat-testing-course/. Now I have few questions such as can I pat test my own equipment after getting this certificate? is this certification valuable?

 

[fisicx]

You don’t need to test anything. There is no legal requirement to do so.

PAT (Portable appliance testing) - HSE's answers to popular questions

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) answers; frequency of tests, legal requirements, record keeping, new equipment, who can test, hire tools

www.hse.gov.uk

 

[derekgough]

Thank you so much to help me in this.

 

[pentel]

You don’t need to test anything. There is no legal requirement to do so

Your insurance company may insist on pat testing to offer you cover.

It also a useful defence should anything untoward happen.

This link may be helpful

https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg107.pdf

 

[derekgough]

Your insurance company may insist on pat testing to offer you cover.

It also a useful defence should anything untoward happen.

Yes! It is

 

[fisicx]

https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg107.pdf

[/URL]

That document also states there is no legal requirement for PAT. I challenge my insurance company on this and they backed down. What they do require is that user inspection and required maintenance is completed by competent persons.

At one company we had the ludicrous situation where they were testing low voltage monitors but not the power supplies.

 

[derekgough]

Fabulous! I will share this link with insurance company.

 

[The Byre]

1. These PAT courses are rubbish - esp. the online courses. You cannot learn what is or is not a safe appliance online and/or in a couple of hours.

2. The law and/or insurance companies do require PAT'ing in some instances. In those cases, the wording is always 'a competent person' - just what makes a person competent remains a clouded mystery!

3. Common sense and a multimeter are all you really need - and a basic education in electrical engineering - and above all, experience! Dedicated PAT rigs help to speed-up testing in nearly all situations and should prevent a novice from missing key tests such as a residual current test.

4. The things missing is the build quality of the device and how it performs when used at full load. The fridge that started the Grenfell Tower disaster would probably have passed - after all, it was just a plastic box. But it was a cheap and nasty device built well below acceptable standards and therefore overheated when running and burst into flames.

5. These tests are just for the device and not their installation and use. The wiring in the building and proper earthing connected to Planet Earth and unified is probably more important!

 

[fisicx]

We had a hoover in the factory that passed PAT even though the switch sparked every time you turned it on.

 

[kulture]

I would never skimp on electrical safety. In the past I have always got a good qualified electrician to check the electrical safety of my property. That certificate is valuable and needed. At the same time I ask about PAT testing and they do it. In doing it they teach me what to look for, how to inspect electric cables and check fuse values etc.

In this way I am always aware of portable appliance safety and although formal testing is not repeated until the next property safety check, things like the sparking hoover would result it it being thrown out.

 

[derekgough]

The reviews are mix and match. Conclusion is confusion

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

As mentioned, there isn't a legal requirement, but that doesn't stop some organisations from insisting on it (I run events and some venues are anal about it!).

However, I am about to buy a PAT tester and get someone (competent!) trained to manage this, which will end up saving a pretty penny!

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

I actually did a City & Guilds PAT testing course around 12 years ago. Now I will put a disclaimer here that things may have changed since then - but at the time, there was no "official" qualification for PAT testing, nor was there any legal definition of what a PAT test actually is. The C&G course claimed to be the most "recognised" standard but by whom remains a mystery. We have had our equipment PAT tested annually since then for the function band I play in, I did it for a couple of years but then sold the tester as I couldn't be bothered, and after that we've had various people do it, all with different degrees of information provided on the certificate.

At the time, I seem to remember that even doing just visual inspections of equipment could class as a test, as long as it was done by somebody competent - again, who defines competent?? Because there was no recognised standard of what should be checked or what should be included on a testing certificate, then in theory you could inspect each item of equipment, check there is no physical damage, check it powers up OK, and create a certificate itemizing each piece and confirming it had been inspected and passed.

 

[fisicx]

I would never skimp on electrical safety. In the past I have always got a good qualified electrician to check the electrical safety of my property. That certificate is valuable and needed.

Totally agree. But this is about portable equipment and that’s a whole different ball game. A fridge isn’t portable but some insist it needs testing. A three phase generator is portable but doesn’t need testing. I’ve seen people testing movable lamps built into fixed equipment but ignoring the cables on a space heater because it was bolted to the floor.

If insurance needs PAT you can do it yourself and put a sticker on the kit. Records aren’t required so you would never be able to trace who did the test.

 

[kulture]

Exactly, Portable means that it can be moved, plugged in and unplugged. Wear and tear on the cable, plug and socket are the biggest dangers to look for. After that it is the actual safety of the equipment itself. Most modern appliances are safe, but if it arcs or sparks, its gone.

 

[DontAsk]

As mentioned, there isn't a legal requirement, but that doesn't stop some organisations from insisting on it (I run events and some venues are anal about it!).

My fathers retirement home insisted on PAT test for all equipment brought in, that wasn't brand new.

 

[SillyBill]

If you can't stretch to PAT testing in a business (surprising how often this comes up) then may be worth an assessment as to whether being in business is worth it at all IMO; if this type of small annual bill is a problem, it may be more lucrative to earn on someone elses' dime. I consider it an essential exercise to have someone check over appliances once annually. We have several hundred and every year one or two on average are condemned for issues we'd not have noticed but present a fire risk. It doesn't make much sense to be crawling under desks checking frayed cables to save a few pence as opposed to bringing business in to pay someone to do it rapid speed and professionally.

 

[paulears]

The PAT industry take some real liberties with the testing. Ranges from double testing - as in charging for the appliance, AND a separate charge for the detachable cable? If the device passes, then the cable and the appliance have been tested and both passed.

They also regularly test equipment that they don't even know what it is?

The idea of doing not yourself is perfectly valid - the only snag is your knowledge. Some tests you do produce a fail - when the fail is perfectly correct AND totally safe. Long cables are a good example. If you test a very long mains cable, then the tester should indicate a fault, because the resistance of the cable will be too high - but nothing is actually wrong, the high resistance is perfectly correct. You can do the course, but can you interpret the test results and decided a fail is actually a safe pass, or a pass that should really be a fail?

Plugging something in, pressing the test button and declaring it safe when the display says it is - could be dangerous.

Good testing firms do it properly and are a bit more expensive. Others simply quote low, but if they test the item, and a separate test for the cable, the cheap can become expensive. Some even test things you know should not pass, or things that would be difficult to test. I have lots of gear that lives in 19" racks, and getting to the rear of the rack is virtually impossible. So we cable it up with slack, then bolt it into the rack from the front, and use security screws to prevent people unscrewing the kit and nicking it. Coming in at 11am, when we finished at midnight to see an entire rack covered in test stickers means that in two hours, it was impossible to remove each item from the rack and test it in just a couple of hours - yet they managed to do twenty tests in that time, without being able to get to the plugs!

We use all sorts of weird cables, like power cons and variants, 16, 32, 63 and 125 Amp ceeforms and they all get test stickers, but I bet they don't even carry adaptors to some of them. Worst of all are those companies who cut the plugs off anything that fails. I've even had batches of stage lights with 15A round pin connectors all have the plugs cut off! I hate PAT testing companies. There are some good and ethical ones, but the majority are only good in an office.

 

[Gary.b]

I've recently done my "PAT" course and you'll be pleased to know that they're not referring to the test as Portable Appliances any more as it's now In-Service Electrical Testing.

This means that it now covers any equipment connected to the fixed wiring such as lighting or air curtains. The idea behind it is the fixed wire test will cover the supply to the fitting but the fitting itself isn't tested and then the PAT would miss it as it's not portable.

I can see the logic but I can also see the massive can of worms this opens. How many people will do the two day course and then realise it hasn't made them competent to take spurs/isolators apart in a safe manner to carry out the testing?

That's along with the issue that I'd imagine a large number of clients not being aware of this change which is bound to bring about a few heated discussions when the tester starts to take lights apart ?

But that's probably getting ahead of things, for just a few plug in appliances the main thing to understand is what you're testing for and what the readings mean which is covered in the course.

Edit: Just realised I didn't answer your original question. Once you have the qualification you have something that can be used to help prove your competence. The other element would be experience and there's only one way to get that...

The qualification can be valuable but you'd need to be doing it day in day out to make decent money from it. As mentioned above there's a lot of companies that do PAT work for peanuts per item which means it's all volume.

 

[paulears]

The snag will be about the competence of some testers to start taking equipment apart? I can think of a few things I have that for warranty reasons cannot be dismantled by non-approved people. Hmmmm

 

[Gary.b]

The snag will be about the competence of some testers to start taking equipment apart? I can think of a few things I have that for warranty reasons cannot be dismantled by non-approved people. Hmmmm

It won't be all equipment that needs taking apart. It'll most likely be the isolators or switches where the equipment connects onto the supply.

Lights would need taking apart so you can access the CPC terminal to test the earth path to the metal casing.

But this all highlights competency again in knowing where to test from/to.