Electrical Testing

Age Concern Causeway is one of very few charitable resellers of electrical items in the UK & Ireland that carries out full functional and safety (PAT) testing on all items.

Before offering any electrical item for sale, we:

  • perform a visual check, ensuring there are no loose parts, cracks or damaged cabling,
  • clean if necessary,
  • perform a functional test so far as possible. For example, for a sandwich toaster, we would check that the device heats up, but would not actually make a toasted sandwich. Some lamps use obscure light bulbs. Where we do not have such a light bulb, we will not purchase one. Similarly, a portable radio might use mains or C size batteries. We would test on mains but might not have C size batteries and would not purchase any simply for this test.
  • For mains-powered items: perform a full Portable Appliance Test (PAT), check fuse rating (replacing where necessary) and label as having passed.