Since I've been living in my current house for coming to 16 years and very likely that I'm going to continue staying here for another 10 years, so a friend advised me to do electrical rewiring for my whole house. After discussing with hubby, we took up the friend's advice and have been hunting around for an electrician to do the work, which of course, we have found someone to do the job at a reasonable price of 3+k.
I've been lurking around in Renotalk forum searching for aircon deals, advice on where to buy kitchen sink, hob, etc, so I pondered upon a thread discussing about electrical stuff. I saw some people asking if the price quoted by the electrician is reasonable, whether PUB testing is required, etc. Hence, I replied to one of the postings saying that it is not necessary to do PUB testing based on my discussion with several electricians. Well, I was countered by another forum member saying that it's a must by the Act. Therefore, I decided to explore further on this PUB testing topic, especially I could not find much or any sharing on this on the Internet.
Based on what I gathered from various sources, it's NOT a must!
- Hubby's cousin, who was our ID 16 years ago but is now handling only commercial renovation, told us that it's good to do the testing if doing rewiring for the whole house to safeguard yourself but there's certain requirements to follow in order to pass the testing. If you do not have testing done, you may face problem when you want to sell your HDB flat as they may ask or your insurance may not compensate you if a fire broke out. Do note that it's just MAY!
- Our electrician told us that if you need PUB testing to be done, he told us that he needs to install an additional "black" thing for every lighting point and that would add $5 for every point. For points in carpentry works, cannot conceal it until you cannot see the casing/wiring, rationale is that one may accidentally drill into a wiring if you cannot see the casing/wiring. The DB box need to shift down to eye level (1.8m if I remembered it correctly), which means we can no longer have it installed at the current location and if the wire from our DB box to the main board outside is not long enough to connect to the new location, we would have to engage HDB to do a new wiring that would easily cost us about $400. Note that we only asked him based on our needs, so there may be more requirements to meet than what I mentioned here, such as those in the false ceiling, which we did not pursue further as we have decided to remove our existing false ceiling.
- Since installing electrical in a carpentry works pose an issue, we asked our ID. He jokingly told us that during his 9 years working experience as an ID, none of his customers staying in HDB flat had done any PUB testing, mostly those staying in private asked for it. He said guidelines are just guidelines, HDB is more concerned with works such as hacking of wall, concealing, etc.
What does HDB state on their website then? From what I read, testing of new wiring is required for "Additional lighting points/ fan points/ 13amps power points or extension of wiring/ rewiring". Strictly speaking, it means even if you just add a new electrical point, testing is required too, isn't it? It's not just rewiring that requires testing. Hence, any flat owner, be it you buy a new or resale flat, you would probably need to do the testing as most people would have installed at least a new point to cater to your needs.
If you scroll down HDB website further, you would see a section on "Television Points". If strictly follow the guidelines, only a licensed StarHub Cable Vision (SCV) installer can alter or extend the original TV points, no electrician, not even a LEW can touch the TV points but why are there so many IDs/contractors/electricians can quote you for installation of TV points?
Singapore is a country governed by many laws, rules and regulations, and mechanisms/systems are put in placed to ensure that citizens follow them, especially if it's a die die must do. I would believe that if it's indeed a must by an ACT, probably HDB would have provisioned for this under some kind of "permit", at least that's what hubby and I think.
Well, the intention of bloging this topic is to share with people what I've found out based on my conversation with several people and read from the Internet. This is not to say that you can skip PUB testing; I don't have the authority to say that. You would have to assess for yourself, afterall it's your house that you and your family live in, not mine! Importantly, you need to find out the details from your electrician/ID/contractor on what PUB testing means to you, as in how would it affect your renovation, especially if you are going to conceal the wiring, install false ceiling, installing lighting in your carpentry, etc. Do not just sign on a contract with PUB testing listed as an item just because you are told that you need to do so and end up facing issue with your renovation when you cannot do certain things due to the requirements to pass PUB testing. It is better to clarify any doubt with the electrician/ID/contractor before signing on the dotted line to avoid any unhappy dispute later on.
In part 2, I'm going to share about what I've gathered on Gain City (GC). To get similar specifications as what I asked from AD for MXY-4A28VA / MSY-GE10VA X3 + MSY-GE24VA, I would have to pay around $4,584. The price includes upgrading to 1/2 inch insulation (class 1 Armaflex) at $160, G22 copper pipe at $80 and $85 for additional trip.
