PAT testing in Southampton
Need commercial PAT testing in Southampton? MCI Electrical tests plug connected workplace equipment, records each result and identifies failed items for the responsible person.
“I have worked on commercial premises across Eastleigh and Southampton since 2009. I quote the job, do the work and sign it off myself, so you always deal with the person who knows your building.”
How much does PAT testing cost in Southampton
Appliance testing is priced from £95, which buys a visit to test the portable items on site with a written record of passes and failures. Larger dockside yards, multi floor offices and shops carrying a long list of display equipment take longer, so the final figure follows the count made on the walk round.
- That figure is a starting price rather than a fixed sum, and the price is written once the appliance count is known.
- Failed items taken out of service cost nothing extra; repair time, if you want it, is £65 an hour and out of hours attendance is £105 an hour.
- Fixed wire testing is priced on the number of boards and circuits, not by the hour.
- Emergency lighting is priced per light, and the three hour test is priced separately.
- Repairs are priced item by item off the report, so you choose what to do and when.
- Work outside your trading hours costs a different rate, and I tell you what it is before I set off.
- Quotes are free, rescheduling is free, and there is no callout fee.
PAT testing in Southampton and the docks
- We test portable appliances in Southampton offices, shops, warehouses and dockside units so you know which items are safe to keep in use.
- Port estate managers book once battery chargers, kettles and extension leads have piled up since the last round.
- Warehouse supervisors at Millbrook and First Avenue book when an incoming firm arrives with a van full of kit.
- Managers near Above Bar book before busy trading, when extra heaters and display lighting appear on the floor.
Portable appliances in Southampton workplaces
- Kit here lives next to salt air, dusty yards and old city fabric, and that changes what turns up inside a plug top.
- Cable grips corrode and flexes get nicked on pallet racking, so failures are usually a crushed plug or a missing earth.
- Outdoor leads get left in the wet and cold store probes and recorders come round on a shorter cycle than an office lamp.
- Welders, pressure washers and the transformers living in the back of a van drag their flexes across wet concrete.
What happens on the day
We arrive, work through the appliances actually in use, and leave you with a pass or a fail on every one of them.
- 01
Arrival and walk round
Whoever booked the visit meets us at the unit, shop or office, and the floors are walked together while every portable item in use is written down, including the ones in cupboards and vans. A path through the rooms is settled that keeps your staff working. The welfare cabin and the tea point are usually done first so they come back into use before the morning break rather than after it.
- 02
Inspection and tests
Each item gets its plug, fuse, flex and casing checked by eye and by hand, then the electrical tests are run for earth continuity, insulation and polarity as the class of appliance requires. Dockside grinders and washers get exactly the same method as an office kettle. Failures are tagged on the spot. Hired plant and staff owned heaters are not skipped, because they stand on your floor the same as company equipment.
- 03
Records and failed items
At the end you get the records and a short list of failures, and each failed item is shown to you before we go rather than left in a pile. Where the fix is electrical and you want it done, repair time is charged at £65 an hour; otherwise the item stays out of service for you to replace. The records are what was tested that day, in that building, room by room.
Other electrical work in Southampton
A round often turns up a socket or board problem, which leads on to a wiring inspection, fault tracing, escape lighting testing or a board replacement.
Why customers book us for PAT testing
MCI Electrical takes it from the first count of appliances to the last mark, and failed equipment is tagged before we leave so nobody plugs it back in.
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Recent work from MCI Electrical
These photographs show work completed across the wider service area covered by MCI Electrical; they are not all presented as PAT testing work in Southampton.
Towns we cover for PAT testing
Appliance testing runs through the city and the port, then out to Eastleigh and Chandler's Ford, across to Botley and Hedge End, and over to Whiteley and Segensworth.
PAT testing questions in Southampton
These are the questions dockside managers and city centre landlords ask before they book.
How much is PAT testing in Southampton?+
The starting figure is £95 for a visit to test the portable equipment on site. A large unit on the Western Docks or a multi floor office near Above Bar costs more once the count is known, and that number gets written down before any testing begins. The walk round comes first precisely so the price reflects what is actually on the floor rather than a guess made over the phone.
— David McInnes
How often should a dockside unit retest appliances?+
Equipment living in salty, dusty air belongs on a shorter cycle than a desk lamp in a dry office, and construction tools and outdoor leads shorter still. What gets recommended is based on the state of the kit found on the day and how it is used, not a single calendar handed to every building in the city. That recommendation is written with the records.
— David McInnes
Do you test hired plant and staff owned heaters?+
Yes. If it is on your floor and it plugs in, it goes on the list. A hired grinder at Millbrook and a personal heater in a Victorian office sit in the same schedule, because either one can hurt someone. Anything that fails comes off the floor the same day, tagged, so the next person through does not pick it up and carry on using it.
What if an appliance fails during the visit?+
It is tagged and written on the failure list before we leave, and shown to whoever booked the visit rather than left to be discovered. You can replace it or ask for it to be repaired, in which case electrical work is charged at £65 an hour. Nothing that failed is put back into service, and no failed item is left plugged in behind a desk or on a bench.
Is PAT testing the same as an EICR?+
No. This covers the portable equipment only. An inspection of the building's fixed wiring is a separate visit priced from £195, and a cold store lighting failure or a dockside distribution fault belongs there rather than here. Where the problem turns out to be in the wall, the socket or the board, you get told which visit you actually need instead of a tested kettle.
Can you test outside normal hours?+
The phone is answered at any time. Booked testing sits in working hours, because rooms need opening and people need to be asked what is theirs. Where the only window is a night shift on the port estate, out of hours attendance is charged at £105 an hour and the access arrangements are settled in advance so the gate is open when we arrive.
Do you cover shops and offices as well as the docks?+
Yes. Shops near Above Bar, offices at Ocean Village, Bitterne parades and mixed use blocks with retail below and offices above get the same method as a warehouse on First Avenue. The list of equipment looks completely different, but the inspection and the tests behind each item do not change from one building to the next.
How are the records laid out?+
Each item is listed against the room it was found in, with its result and the date, so a landlord of a mixed use block can tell one tenant which toaster failed without walking the building again. Passes carry a dated mark on the appliance itself. The whole record is handed over on the day rather than posted on later in the week.
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Give the Southampton address and roughly how many appliances sit on the floor, and a testing visit can be booked.