For as long as anyone cares to remember the PAT engineer has tested electrical appliances fitted with a plug, and the electrician has tested the main wiring in the walls up to the appliance or light fitting; but has not tested the appliance.
The appliance hasn’t been tested because it’s not part of an EICR, but equally the PAT engineer hasn’t had to do it as it wasn’t in their scope.
But now, things are changing… new* guidance that will be launched in 2020 is going to say that fixed appliances do need regular checks (likely to be every 5 years); but proper checks, involving isolating the power, opening the spur, checking the wiring and “PAT” testing the appliance.
*this isn’t actually new; you have always been required to ensure fixed appliances are safe; it’s just the requirement has widely been ignored, but that can happen no more.
So you’re going to have to get it done.
Except most people who do PAT can’t test fixed appliances as they’re not trained to.
Not us though – recently I have completed a refresher Safe Isolation electrical training course and now can safely isolate the appropriate circuit to test the fixed appliance or sockets, and to if necessary replace defective sockets and spurs.
Fixed appliance testing is something that can be carried out along with the PAT Testing or as a separate service. It is charged for based on time, not a per item rate. Any necessary repairs would be carried out, you’d get a PAT certificate for the work, and replacement parts would be supplied (fees will be incurred for parts supplied). If we do your PAT testing too, the reports will be updated to include both appliance types.
This is not the type of job that can be done on a live circuit, and most spurs are on socket circuits, so the power will have to be off, which means there is going to be an element of disruption. If that is an issue, we can discuss doing the work outside your normal working hours.
Whilst we’re on the topic of appliances have you registered your appliances yet? Electrical appliances are being recalled all the time, many due to a risk of fire, so being on a register that notifies you should be a no brainier. Take 5 mins of your time to register at ….https://www.registermyappliance.org.uk
For testing fixed appliances we charge £45.00 per hour (pro-rata if done at same time as PAT); any replacement parts will be supplied and charged for.