Is this elecrician giving good advice?

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pavelmac

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#298916 27-Jul-2022 14:38

Hi,

I'm buying a new house (4 years old) and agreed with the vendors agent to include some electrical work as part of the conditions of offer. I suspect that looking closer at what they agreed to, they are trying to back out, which I'm sure they can't.

Anyway, I asked for:

- 3 new electrical circuits (conduit install ok)

- 15A external for spa

- 15A in the garage for 3 new double sockets

- 32A for 2 15A welder/compressor sockets

The vendors electrician has just been around and I didn't fully understand his responses, partly as my electrical knowledge is limited and partly that English wasn't his first language.

But what I believe he said was:

- 15A circuit for spa - He couldn't go through the wall of the garage to get the power to the Spa location as doing so would break the building paper and cause the house to leak.

- 32A circuit for a welder & compressor (possibly used together) - this could be achieved by 2 normal power circuits, one for each 15A socket.

I was also asked to get my own advice, hence my question here.

So my queries are that there must be a way to go though modern "weatherboard" wall to take power outside and still maintain the water tightness of the building, surely?

Can a normal 10A? power circuit handle a compressor that spikes to over 10A and a welder that could draw more than 10A continuous?

So what can the community advise?

Cheers

Pav

Jase2985

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#2946973 27-Jul-2022 15:28

why would you have the vendors agent organise this? why would you not do this after you had brought the place?

none of that seems like its essential to the habitability of the place

pavelmac

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#2946974 27-Jul-2022 15:37

The vendor is a property developer and the agent, who is a salaried employee of developer, knew they had friendly tradies and suggested if I offered what vendor wanted then they would organize some minor works. It's noted in the sales and purchase agreement, but I suspect now they are looking closer at the requirement they are wanting to avoid the extra costs.

sen8or

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#2946977 27-Jul-2022 15:42

Good electricians do external penetrations frequently (spas installed, outside sockets for heaters etc). I'd say if he isn't capable of doing the work, I'd be very concerned.

Query his load calculations on the 2 circuits thing. Socket will need to be changed in the very least (cheap enough to do) as 15a sockets have a larger earth pin, but so long as there is 2.5mm TPS to the sockets, this will support a 15a socket. He'd also need to be certain of circuit layout and what else is on the circuits. 32a breakers aren't expensive, but where it could get costly for the vendor is cabling. 4mm TPS may be more appropriate depending on length of circuit where you want the sockets to go for the machinery, this won't be easy or cheap to replace if necessary.

15a for an external spa seems lite, I thought 32 was more common??

Ultimately though, if its specified on the contract, they have to abide by it, and an electrician will have to sign of a COC including his registration number verifying that the work conforms to code. If you have doubts about their electrician, you can always ask for his reg number and search the registry (its public information).

pavelmac

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#2946990 27-Jul-2022 16:05

Thx sen8or, good advice.

I was sure that external penetrations were normal.

The 15A sockets would be no more than 10M from switchboard, so sounds like the 2.5mm TPS will be sufficient. But I'll double check that he is using sockets with the larger earth pins.

I'm not sure if issue is vendor doesn't want to do the works or if the electrician is not up to the job. But I will definitely be looking for the "COC" and if I have more doubts I'll check his registration.

Cheers

Pav

PS 15A Spa are the smaller/cheaper ones and probably more common now.

mattwnz

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#2948341 30-Jul-2022 15:06

You can get Tradeseals for external penetration's in conjunction with electrical conduit, and E2/AS1 also covers it. Then there can be an external flashing on the outside of teh weatherboards that laps underneath the bevelback weatherboards. Also there are many other ways they could do it, even if running a conduit up and then down the wall under the eaves, so it doesn't go directly out through the wall, if that is what they are worried about. Although without seeing it, it is difficult to judge.

If they don't do these things, can you pull out of the sale? As house prices are falling in parts of NZ, I would be surprised if they want to see the sale fall through because they can't do these things. Not unless they have another buyer or think they can get a better price.

tweake

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#2948352 30-Jul-2022 15:39

pavelmac:

Hi,

I'm buying a new house (4 years old) and agreed with the vendors agent to include some electrical work as part of the conditions of offer. I suspect that looking closer at what they agreed to, they are trying to back out, which I'm sure they can't.

Anyway, I asked for:

- 3 new electrical circuits (conduit install ok)

    - 15A external for spa

    - 15A in the garage for 3 new double sockets

    - 32A for 2 15A welder/compressor sockets

The vendors electrician has just been around and I didn't fully understand his responses, partly as my electrical knowledge is limited and partly that English wasn't his first language.

But what I believe he said was:

- 15A circuit for spa - He couldn't go through the wall of the garage to get the power to the Spa location as doing so would break the building paper and cause the house to leak.

- 32A circuit for a welder & compressor (possibly used together) - this could be achieved by 2 normal power circuits, one for each 15A socket.

I was also asked to get my own advice, hence my question here.

So my queries are that there must be a way to go though modern "weatherboard" wall to take power outside and still maintain the water tightness of the building, surely?

Can a normal 10A? power circuit handle a compressor that spikes to over 10A and a welder that could draw more than 10A continuous?

So what can the community advise?

Cheers

Pav

i think the big issue here will be what the connections are in the garage. if they only have a 32amp submain in the garage you may have issues trying to run multiple 32 amp or even 15 amp connections. a 32 amp socket in the garage will probably mean a run back to the main board $$$.

15 amp sockets in the garage are easy enough.

2.5hp home compressors will run off 10 amps, but it all depends on what you want to run off it. good 3hp compressors need 15 amp socket. after that its typically 3 phase compressors.

a plasma cutter can run off a 15 amp socket plus 10amp for the compressor.

welders, 10 amp connections your limited to 160 amps with a good welder, 140 amp for a typical welder. 15 amp connection gets you to around 200 amps. 250 amp is typically 32 amp connection. its going depend on what you want to weld and how thick it is.