Portable Appliance Testing

[synaesthesia]

Hi all,

 

Looking at bringing PAT in house after years of abuse by the usual sticker-jockeys. We have a very high end tester - 14 years old but apparently still supported and used. 

Want to look at options though, mostly cheaper, more portable setups that ideally will store & download results over wifi or USB to CSV or included 3rd party software. Seaward stuff looks half decent, and have my eye on the Primetest 250.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations please? Don't want to spend a fortune, but in an ideal world would like a kit that has a label printer. I know labels aren't mandatory and I'm considering options there (i.e. labelling only if failed and logging everything else against the asset tag as I'd upload to Civica/Parago) but a connected/compatible label printer would be good.

 

It seems to be finding the balance between the price and the labour involved - spend more and we can reduce the labour by doing labels as the test is done etc, spend less and we have to use another device to log & label.

[psynegy]

We're moving the opposite direction. Getting in an external company with more manpower so it can be done more quickly. Maybe if you're in a MAT with technicians floating around, then sure, but we will not be sorry to see the back of it.

[synaesthesia]

Makes sense for us as we can tie it in with asset auditing and general equipment checks. Don't really have time to spare, but as we'd be doing that anyway, there's not a massive extra load.

[Andrew_C]

In science - we do are own as a) it gets done right, and b) we'd have to get the stuff out and put it away again which takes a fir bit of the time.

[Fazza]

WE use a Megger PAT410 from these people: https://ptscalibrations.co.uk/pat-training/

 

We paid full RRP for the tester a few years ago and got 'free' onsite competence training for up to 10 people so those of us that were here at the time became competent in PAT testing using this particular PAT tester.

[psynegy]

On 19/03/2026 at 09:59, synaesthesia said:

Makes sense for us as we can tie it in with asset auditing and general equipment checks. Don't really have time to spare, but as we'd be doing that anyway, there's not a massive extra load.

You have time for asset auditing?! 🤯

[synaesthesia]

5 minutes ago, psynegy said:

You have time for asset auditing?! 🤯

Have it? No  

Joint effort of course but we make efforts to be proactive by knowing what we have, where it is and what condition it's in rather than wait for people to start moaning. Swings and roundabouts, if we didn't do it we'd probably end up spending as much time fixing the issues that don't get flagged until it's too late.

[Davit2005]

33 minutes ago, psynegy said:

You have time for asset auditing?! 🤯

Ref Devaluing IT jobs thread 🙄

 

But to be honest if you are not careful an external contractor will likely test every power cable they can find, including ones not been used and in storage, label it and charge for it, lol.

Edited March 20 by Davit2005

[synaesthesia]

7 minutes ago, Davit2005 said:

Ref Devaluing IT jobs thread 🙄

 

But to be honest if you are not careful an external contractor will likely test every power cable they can find, including ones not been used and in storage, label it and charge for it, lol.

Exactly! Literally had our local label-louts test "Y" kettle leads 3 times for some reason (but standard kettle leads only once). Several items passed that shouldn't have been, several items tested that weren't even electrical or mains powered, and the majority of these companies also test everything annual which absolutely is not necessary or even recommended. 

[DrBeaker]

On 19/03/2026 at 09:43, synaesthesia said:

Hi all,

 

Looking at bringing PAT in house after years of abuse by the usual sticker-jockeys. We have a very high end tester - 14 years old but apparently still supported and used. 

Want to look at options though, mostly cheaper, more portable setups that ideally will store & download results over wifi or USB to CSV or included 3rd party software. Seaward stuff looks half decent, and have my eye on the Primetest 250.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations please? Don't want to spend a fortune, but in an ideal world would like a kit that has a label printer. I know labels aren't mandatory and I'm considering options there (i.e. labelling only if failed and logging everything else against the asset tag as I'd upload to Civica/Parago) but a connected/compatible label printer would be good.

 

It seems to be finding the balance between the price and the labour involved - spend more and we can reduce the labour by doing labels as the test is done etc, spend less and we have to use another device to log & label.

 

For my 2 cents I would consider this further devaluing of the IT jobs and you're only going to p*ss off the IT staff on this.

 

 

 

 

[synaesthesia]

Can understand that, however it was our thought May annoy our replacements in years to come but that's no skin off my nose if helps us here and now.

[DrBeaker]

 

5 hours ago, synaesthesia said:

Can understand that, however it was our thought May annoy our replacements in years to come but that's no skin off my nose if helps us here and now.

 

Fair enough but depends on where you want to draw the line of responsibilities. I don't see this as something within IT's remit e.g. Do the electricians do IT?

IT is busy enough these days with enough work but appreciate YMMV.

 

[cw80]

We have caught out 2 of our previous unrelated pat testing companies faking tests.

Classrooms tend to have the computers left on. Rooms full of computers with pass labels on every plug but every computer uptime from before testing started.

Last one even turned the cctv camera in one room around so it wasn’t viewing where they testing then turned it back when they left the room. Even stuck a failed label on an extension that they took out the labelled weee bin.

 

Both times they tried to blame it on their apprentice.

 

They also manage to find every box of old cables and stick labels on everything.

[MatthewL]

Don't forget to get your equipment calibrated if you are doing it in house.

[Fazza]

On 21/03/2026 at 06:20, MatthewL said:

Don't forget to get your equipment calibrated if you are doing it in house.

 

Very important this ^^^

 

We've had a PAT tester for a number of years now and part of the calibration process normally includes some repair/fixing should it fail the calibration due to wear etc. it's basically an MOT for your PAT tester.

 

When we were first told about our Director wanting us to do (some) PAT testing I had one question and that was if it was to save money or for safety reasons and I got an instant reply saying it was for safety.  It turns out we had a few 'random' items with PAT test PASS stickers on that should never have been PAT tested, let alone being charged for!  Things like plastic monitor stands, foot rests and even a stool!  It was a way of our Director getting a better understanding of what PAT testers should be testing, how they test and the frequency of testing.

 

We went around our Secondary School PAT testing all the equipment we could find in situ so our Director could get an overview of exactly what should be tested and how it's tested.  We only ever did this once but as we repair most things in-house (I even do micro soldering under a microscope) we use the PAT tester to PAT test each others repaired items before handing them back to the customer - from powered speakers to MIDI keyboards along with the normal laptop repairs - some items need electrically testing (such as powered speakers) and others just a visual inspection (laptops etc.) but they all go on record on the PAT test machine. 

[synaesthesia]

A man after my own heart  Likewise, it scares my tech when I break out the soldering iron - although I usually take those things home to do as I have the kit there. Good idea testing each-others work too.

And indeed, calibration is part of the budgeting for it. As much as some people might find it an imposing task for IT, or indeed devaluing, I think it also offers a good opportunity to get hands on devices on a schedule as well as the compliance, asset management and general condition of everything. Of course that's everything electrical not just IT, but like yourself - if a MIDI keyboard comes our way (or as a result example, lighting desk/DMX controllers) I'm not going to turn it away and tell them to pay some expensive company to fix or replace, I'll do my best to help.

Possibly a generational thing; if I stuck to my job description, nothing would get done!