Coc Electrical, Plumbing, Gas & Beetle Inspections in Cape Town

Your Electrical Certificate of Compliance guarantees:

• The primary distribution board as well as any other boards
• Wiring – is it in a risk-free state and does it work with the circuit breakers within the distribution board
• Socket outlets and light switches
• Earthing – all metal parts of the set up have to be earthed.
• Isolators – have the isolators been correctly installed for appliances like hot water cylinders (geysers), stoves, door and gate motors, ceiling fans etc.
• Bonding – Geyser pipes, satellite dishes and TV antennae, etc.

Electrical Certificate of Compliance will not include fixed appliances like:

• Fans & Motors
• Pool motors
• Geysers & Stoves
• Under floor heating

Please note: The electrical wiring to fixed home equipment are included with the Certificate of Compliance.

The Electrical Compliance Certificate

The Electrical Certificate of Compliance is an in-depth electrical inspection of a property, concerning not merely a complete book of laws, SANS10142-1, but additionally consists of the work-related safety and health act, and naturally these laws do get changed throughout the years.

What is the duration of Validity For The Electrical Certificate?

For many years, the legislation on validity was very obscure, it appeared that the electrical compliance certificate was permanently valid, provided that the electrical installation wasn’t changed or modified by any means.
Two problems within this judgment were instantly apparent:

1. Deterioration, anything at some point fails or breaks, such as electrically powered tools. There’s essentially no way a certificate of electrical compliance may be legitimate permanently.
2. The new homeowner had been presumed to trust that the seller had had not changed the electrical installation at all in the period he’d resided on the property. It’s very possible he might just have overlooked that in that time he set up a pool, automatic garage doors, set up 3 aircons, swapped out 80% of the lighting and 4 plug sockets and added a couple of ceiling fans in some places.

The property market realized that the buyer, and all other people concerned, needed much better protection and responded by making it a contractual necessity that a brand new certification is released every time a residence is sold. It’s vital that you be aware that it’s not just a sheet of paper that’s being moved, it’s an electric installation that’s being transferred and also you have to be certain the current electric installation is safe.

The regulators ultimately agreed to a regulation proclaiming that the certificate could only be legitimate for two years, subject to no modifications or work being carried out in that time period, occasionally an affidavit has to be authorized to this result.

What A Electrical Compliance Certificate Covers

An important thing to understand is this fact electrical compliance certificates addresses the installation of electricity from the place in which the mains supply cable makes its way into the property, usually the top of the Mains Power Switch to the place of usage, typically referred to as a socket or the place that the electrical wires hook up to a fixed home appliance.

• Everything in the main distribution board and any sub boards, circuit breakers, earth leakage etc.
• All the wiring from the electrical panels to plugs and switches, such as the light switches and wall plugs, right through to the light connections.
• It additionally consists of all wiring and circuits to any mounted home appliances, even when they’re connected to a plug socket in the wall.
• The connectivity and earthing system through the entire installation and also the placement of electric powered devices, e.g. plugs and light switches may not be inside of 1m distance from showers, taps, baths etc.
• The primary power switch should be readily available and inside a specific height from your floor in the event of crisis situations. It must not surpass a level of 2,2 m above flooring level. Yet, the panel might be installed higher when it may be shut off from your power supply using a switch disconnector that’s under 2,2 m above flooring level. Except if a household electrical panel is kept within an housing and access can’t be obtained by a child or infant, absolutely no part of an inside distribution panel may be under 1,2 m over the floor level, with no section of a backyard electrical board may be under 0.2 m above ground level.
• All electrically powered devices in the installment has to be authorized, SABS- or any other related approvals, and be of the proper kind and rating for the usage as well as the electrically powered devices have to be set up in an authorized way, has to be safely connected in place and appropriately protected against youngsters obtaining access.
• Every aspect of the electrical installation has to be in good operating order, such as safety characteristics and also the electrical installer may also take numerous readings ensuring that power, earthing, insulation along with other figures are inside of specifications.

The standard things that your qualified electrician will need to check

The mains board, proper cable connections, proper labelling and circuit breakers, proper cable sizes. Earth leakage operation. That every item and cover are correctly secured. Electricity, much like gas and water, can “leak”. This is a possible dangerous situation as you may get electrocuted whenever you may touch the “leaking” device or appliance.

The earth leakage relay is made to keep track of for electrical leakage moving directly or indirectly into earth and when it surpasses a particular level it’ll cause the mains to trip.

For this reason, it’s so crucial that the circuits in your property are correctly earthed.

• Make sure that all switches and plugs work effectively without any damaged contacts, are connected properly, secure and safe, and if the exposed metals are properly earthed.
• Make certain that all fixed home appliances have been linked to the installation by authorized ways, which may differ with respect to the kind of appliance and also the power it needs.
• All mounted home appliances, such as lighting which has exposed metal have to be earthed properly.
• Do an insulation examination and get readings on earth spikes.
• Examine all cabling to make sure it’s properly graded and also check that the correct type of wires are used.
• Every room should have a minimum of one operating light, and also the appropriate type for the area it’s in, encased lighting in bathrooms.
• Verify that no electrical plugs, switches or lighting is are in unlawful positions, e.g. they should not be very close to baths, showers, pools etc.
• Ensure that all appliances within the electrical installation are properly graded, set up in addition to authorized types.
• Actually, short-term instalments, that have been set up in a way that will indicate they’re permanent, will need to conform with laws. For example, one can’t lengthen the cable on a mounted appliance to the closest plug socket you have to extend the plug circuit towards the device.

What A Electrical Compliance Certificate Does Not Cover

• As with every Certificate, we’re required to follow along with the legislation, we only do what is needed we can’t force the owner to do anything that isn’t necessary.
• An electrical certificate is extremely like the roadworthy examination on a vehicle, we’re not upgrading the electrical installation. We are making certain that the current setup matches laws and is regarded as safe.
• We don’t merely substitute electrical items simply because we don’t like the way it appears, or we believe it may break 8 weeks from today, if it’s operational and compliant during the time of the assessment it passes the inspection.
• We don’t update the electrical setup, old houses usually have less socket outlets and lighting due to the fact there wasn’t any need for more in those days, they just did not have the amount of devices we all disregard these days.

The laws declare that each and every room only needs a minimum of one functional light.

There aren’t any laws proclaiming that a house should have a particular bare minimum quantity of plug outlets for each room or perhaps a number of plug circuits, we come across numerous older properties without any sockets in some bedrooms and just a single circuit board for the entire residence. In some instances even the old fuse boards continue to be completely legitimate.

Several properties are purchased with fixed home appliances, we don’t look at these appliances, however, we do make sure that they’re linked to the setup via authorized means.

For example products like stoves, ovens, aircon units, hobs, pool pumps, pool lights, borehole pumps, pond pumps, gate motors, hvac system,  wall heaters, alarms as well as any additional mounted appliance you can imagine.

Short-term installations aren’t incorporated, understood to be something which can easily be disconnected and taken away by yourself which was obviously meant for momentary use only.

e.g. you’ve run an extension cord from a plug socket in your room through the window to a outdoor light that you need while having a barbeque outdoors, when you are done you simply disconnect it roll-up the lead and hang up it up, if however you’ve carried out the installation in a way as to signify that it’s meant for long term use then it will have to be carried out based on legislation.

The electrical legislation is mainly focused on the proper setup and safe practices of one’s electrical Installation knowing that all that forms part of the instalment is within ideal working order.

Electrical Certification Procedure.

You, or your transferring attorney or even your agent can ask that we carry out the electrical inspection for you. Simply contact us or use our online form to make a booking.

After we get the request we’ll get in touch with the seller, who’s typically accountable for the expenses concerned, to obtain their authorization making the required arrangements to execute the inspection.

Regrettably, we do not receive government support thus the seller carries the cost of the inspections.

The electrical inspection costs really are an assessment fee and therefore are owing and due to no matter what results of the inspection. As an option, we can send the bill to the transferring attorney who’ll pay the invoice on transfer.

The electrical inspection may have two likely outcomes, all things are within legislation and if this is the situation we’ll issue the certifications at no extra charge over the inspection rates.

In case the installation is not within regulation we’ll send a report, with a quotation on the required modifications. You now may choose to accept our quote then we’ll make the necessary changes and release the certification.

Or else you might wish to prefer not to accept our quote and utilize another electrician to make the repairs AND provide you with your certificate (We can’t issue electrical certificates for the work of other companies because it is additionally a guarantee of material and workmanship).

Should you choose to employ another electrical company make sure they’re certified and able of providing you with an electrical compliance certificate, they might additionally charge a fee for the inspection, causing you to be responsible for two inspection bills.

What options will the Purchaser or Seller have where they’re unhappy with the quotation or the work done?

The WCAEIA (Western Cape Approved Electrical Inspection Authority) serve as a law enforcer and examine grievances at a cost. When needed they’ll ensure justice is carried out. Call them at 021 987 3010

Inspecting and dealing with beetle invasion when residences are sold, combined with the intensive utilization of pre-treated wood in more modern properties, is a practice that has gone a long way to lowering the occurrence of beetle infestation.

Wood destroying insects cannot be fully eradicated. Extreme care from property owners and the regular exercise of checking properties which have been sold will make sure the issue is handled so they won’t come back to the outbreak proportions of the sixties.

The seller shall organise at his/her cost to have the accessible fixed wooden structures on the property examined by a certified wood borer inspector who’s a member with the S.A.P.C.A (South African Pest Control Association), for infestation by wood damaging insects as well as the treatment of and/or replacement of any timbers discovered to be infested, in accordance with the suggestions specified by the inspector.