Maintenance is the part of the electrical scope that nobody asks about until something fails. A simple cadence — monthly checks the owner does, annual checks the contractor does, periodic full tests — heads off most of the failures.
Monthly — owner or facilities side
- Press the main RCD / RCCB TEST button — confirm the DB drops out
- Walk-around for visible discolouration on accessories or DB doors
- Check emergency lighting test buttons (commercial) — confirm fittings illuminate on test
- Confirm exit and emergency signage is intact and lit
- Log any nuisance trip in the maintenance log with timestamp and circuit
Annual — contractor side
- Thermographic scan of DBs and switch rooms — finds loose terminals before they fail
- Re-torque main terminations in DBs and at sub-DB connections
- Insulation resistance spot check on representative circuits
- Earth electrode resistance test (where applicable)
- Review the circuit schedule against actual loads — update if anything has changed
Five-year — full periodic inspection
A full periodic inspection and test — every circuit, every accessory, every termination — is the contractual baseline for many commercial leases and a strong recommendation for residential properties past the 10-year mark. The test record produced is the document insurance, resale and authority audits will look for. Carried out under EMA ELISE Licensed Electrical Worker directory supervision.
What the test record should contain
- Circuit-by-circuit insulation resistance, polarity, earth continuity readings
- RCD / RCBO trip-time readings against the rated trip current
- Main earth resistance and any equipotential bonding readings
- Thermographic scan images of DBs with any hotspots flagged
- Recommendations — what to do now, what to plan, what to monitor
Maintenance is cheap insurance
A thermographic scan that catches a loose terminal three months before it fails is cheaper than the after-hours emergency call that fixes it once it has.
