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Questions regarding becoming a BER assessor

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  • 20-07-2020 10:59pm
    #1
    taytobreath
    Registered Users Posts: 2,773 ✭✭✭


    I have just received my QQI award and I am waiting to do the SEAI exam.


    Regarding evidence, how much evidence is enough?

    do you assessors draw out a loose hand floor plan as evidence?


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  • Options
    #2
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 40,981 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    taytobreath wrote: »
    I have just received my QQI award and I am waiting to do the SEAI exam.


    Regarding evidence, how much evidence is enough?

    do you assessors draw out a loose hand floor plan as evidence?

    evidence of what?


  • Options
    #3
    taytobreath
    Registered Users Posts: 2,773 ✭✭✭taytobreath


    sydthebeat wrote: »
    evidence of what?

    pictures of everything, the final part in completing a ber is providing seai with evidence to back up the inputs you have put into deap.


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    #4
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 40,981 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    taytobreath wrote: »
    pictures of everything, the final part in completing a ber is providing seai with evidence to back up the inputs you have put into deap.

    the drawing of the floor plans isn't evidence, its required to do the assessment.

    photos of your floor plans is evidence of where you got the areas from, plus photos of your areas calculations

    personally i redraw my survey in autocad to work up areas, but i dont include the autocad drawing as evidence.

    as far as evidence to publish goes, as long as you have at least one pic of:

    building (can be pic of insulation, windows , etc)
    general (survey form, outside of building etc)
    ventilation (fans, vents, attic hatch etc)
    space heating (rads, boilers etc)
    water heating (cylinder, pumps etc)
    lighting (lels, incandescent etc)

    then it can be published validly

    i just did one this afternoon where i uploaded 39 photos with it, for a standard oil heated 3 bed semi d.....


  • Options
    #5
    taytobreath
    Registered Users Posts: 2,773 ✭✭✭taytobreath


    sydthebeat wrote: »
    the drawing of the floor plans isn't evidence, its required to do the assessment.

    photos of your floor plans is evidence of where you got the areas from, plus photos of your areas calculations

    personally i redraw my survey in autocad to work up areas, but i dont include the autocad drawing as evidence.

    as far as evidence to publish goes, as long as you have at least one pic of:

    building (can be pic of insulation, windows , etc)
    general (survey form, outside of building etc)
    ventilation (fans, vents, attic hatch etc)
    space heating (rads, boilers etc)
    water heating (cylinder, pumps etc)
    lighting (lels, incandescent etc)

    then it can be published validly

    i just did one this afternoon where i uploaded 39 photos with it, for a standard oil heated 3 bed semi d.....

    Thank you for your reply.

    Regarding the bolded part above. Most houses wont have available floor plans, so what do you do then?

    Do you mean the photo of the floor plan that I have drawn out as I did the survey?


  • Options
    #6
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 40,981 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    taytobreath wrote: »
    Thank you for your reply.

    Regarding the bolded part above. Most houses wont have available floor plans, so what do you do then?

    Do you mean the photo of the floor plan that I have drawn out as I did the survey?

    yes...... they actively request pics of survey form for the upload

    its my understanding that the whole point of uploading photos is that the auditors can do a kind of audit from remote ie if, lets say, an assessment comes in with a living area percentage of 60%.. which would be quite high and unusual.

    a quick look at the survey form can show how the percentage was arrived at ie a one bed apartment with a large open plan kitchen / diner .....


    edit:
    as an example.... attached here is a typical plan survey that i take


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  • Options
    #7
    taytobreath
    Registered Users Posts: 2,773 ✭✭✭taytobreath


    Thank you Syd, that's exactly the kind of information I was after.


  • Options
    #8
    taytobreath
    Registered Users Posts: 2,773 ✭✭✭taytobreath


    I am practicing doing these BER's from spec sheets off of various type dwellings. I've ran into a few small problems. If its ok can I get help on this?

    There are 2 floor types for the building. floor type 1 is pre 1900's=band A
    floor type 2 is 1980's band g

    when i calculated the u-values for both floor types I got a better u-value for the pre 1900 floor.

    how i calculated this.
    p/a......the perimeter on wall type 1 is small because its a mid terrace house p=4.075m and the area is 23.85m2

    that gives you a ratio of .17 and then when i go to table s8 on deap manual to get the default uvalue i round up the ratio .17 to .2 and get a uvalue of 0.46

    and similar to floor type 2 i got a ratio of 0.38 and in band g on table s8, i get a uvalue of 0.57

    ive done something wrong here i feel.


  • Options
    #9
    taytobreath
    Registered Users Posts: 2,773 ✭✭✭taytobreath


    i got my eligibility number today and rang to book my exam with seai.

    she said there is no dates this side of xmas for new assessors


  • Options
    #10
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 40,981 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    taytobreath wrote: »
    I am practicing doing these BER's from spec sheets off of various type dwellings. I've ran into a few small problems. If its ok can I get help on this?

    There are 2 floor types for the building. floor type 1 is pre 1900's=band A
    floor type 2 is 1980's band g

    when i calculated the u-values for both floor types I got a better u-value for the pre 1900 floor.

    how i calculated this.
    p/a......the perimeter on wall type 1 is small because its a mid terrace house p=4.075m and the area is 23.85m2

    that gives you a ratio of .17 and then when i go to table s8 on deap manual to get the default uvalue i round up the ratio .17 to .2 and get a uvalue of 0.46

    and similar to floor type 2 i got a ratio of 0.38 and in band g on table s8, i get a uvalue of 0.57

    ive done something wrong here i feel.

    its not unusual to have newer floors with worse u values when the exposed perimeter is greater... the ground itself is a kind of insulator

    when you input into the software :
    1 the age band
    2. the floor type (solid / suspended unsealed etc)
    3. area
    4. exposed perimeter

    the software itselfs calculates the u value.

    this document is useful to see where the u value conventions come from:
    https://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/pdf/rpts/BR_443_(2006_Edition).pdf


  • Options
    #11
    taytobreath
    Registered Users Posts: 2,773 ✭✭✭taytobreath


    I managed to snag an exam date next week, anyone any tips regarding study or anything related?

    Also did anyone get the new updated exam memo? It seems to just take account of the new DEAP 4.


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