House wiring help - am completely in the dark (almost)

[fabdavrav]

.... :D

 

 

qualified technical Architect  here, but almost did electrical engineering instead, still a keen "hobby" & have the 16 & 17 ed regs.  Have to know all the in's & out's to tell the sparkies where to put stuff etc.

 

Worst case was on a small studio flat I designed & did the electrical install myself, I got the best "local" sparky to do the sign off/test etc...he got confused with the inbuilt speaker wiring outlets & was trying to "power" test them........... :swear:

 

Then he tried to do earth/rcd testing etc with my surge/spike block for the audio system in place!.......... :finger:....​

 

 

If you want a job doing properly do it yourself...

[Updown789]

And what exactly is a "power" test?

[fabdavrav]

And what exactly is a "power" test?

 

Sorry my fault, wiring test ie LNE & RCD /earth test you know the standard stuff...then when I pointed out that the sockets were not "power" & just signal (he had never seen anything other than standard stuff for signal eg coax etc) he undid the face plates on one & put clamp meters around the cables to measure any voltage etc..........to see if there was any voltage present....with the audio system off........

[Warrior193]

Sorry my fault, wiring test ie LNE & RCD /earth test you know the standard stuff...then when I pointed out that the sockets were not "power" & just signal (he had never seen anything other than standard stuff for signal eg coax etc) he undid the face plates on one & put clamp meters around the cables to measure any voltage etc..........to see if there was any voltage present....with the audio system off........

Hmmmmm. I'd hate to see what happens when he runs into something really unusual.

[GentleGiant]

Hmmmmm. I'd hate to see what happens when he runs into something really unusual.

 

I used to have an Electrical Foreman (and shift leader), who couldnt handle anything more complicated than a two way light switch. I didnt last long there, as I refused to do, or sign off on, dodgy installs (Kay&Co.Ltd).

[Jackie-Lancs]

More lighthearted but many, many years ago my partner rewired the cottage we were renovating. I asked if she was able and got the reply -"If I can wire up a Tornado JJet there will be no problem." Have never seen such care re routing, insulation, etc.

[KenONeill]

@Jackie-Lancs - What was your partner's tool control system like?

[JackieA]

She was an effective control person. Was very sad to lose her to the stresses of Chrones disease. After many operations she seems to be thriving.

[Guest FurryFriend]

We had a new electric hob unit fitted recently. 

2 guys from Currys turned up with it. Apparently they work in two's to deliver and fit appliances, so fair enough for American fridges and the like. 

Anyway Guy 1. Fitted the new unit in, gave it a final wipe over, and went to give me a quick demo. 

Nothing. Dead as a stiff! 

Checked the main fusebox. Scratched his head. 

Must be a defective unit he said. 

So Guy 2....pulls out the oven, and gets under the new hob to take it out again. 

There was a muffled conversation between them from the oven cavity, during which words like... no not on this model... wired it wrong... and not connected right, were heard. 

Guy 2....who was the qualified GAS fitter, then proceeded to show Guy 1 who was the electric fitter how to install it. 

 

Have to say, it didn't give us a lot of confidence. 

 

Years ago, I'd have put this in myself, but with insurance small print about qualified electricians we played safe. 

 

I think they call them the Know How guys...!!!

 

I have another description..... 

[SWBoy]

27 minutes ago, FurryFriend said:

I think they call them the Knob Hob guys...!!!

Corrected that for you

[fabdavrav]

1 hour ago, FurryFriend said:

 

Guy 2....who was the qualified GAS fitter, then proceeded to show Guy 1 who was the electric fitter how to install it. 

 

Have to say, it didn't give us a lot of confidence. 

 

Years ago, I'd have put this in myself, but with insurance small print about qualified electricians we played safe. 

 

 

 

This is the problem, too many insurance etc. state items have to be fitted by certified/qualified person....& too many of these people get the little bits off paper & promptly forget everything they have learned as they have a piece of paper that states they know it all.....

 

Thank god I'm NOT a "professional" as I would know feck all about anything....if I go by the amount of times I've had to tell people more qualified than me how to do their jobs....idiots...

[VWD]

Furry- most kitchens these days have an outlet lower down on wall, fed from the cooker switch, with a connection plate inside a plastic cover. We've just had a kitchen rewire and that's what's fitted. I've always thought that this was a demarcation point for householder to connect their own appliance. Problem with a lot of  these quick fit blokes is that to get round the lack of experience on correct tightening of screws holding the wire, a lot of firms insist on torque screwdrivers, where the best instrument is a calibrated (by years of experience) wrist to ensure screwdriver is at correct torque.

But then you can always tell the non professionals- they always seem to have some sort of animal with them.  Hob Knob had a monkey mate , and one national firm with blue vans have a Penguin.

[VWD]

On 1/5/2017 at 19:52, GentleGiant said:

 

I used to have an Electrical Foreman (and shift leader), who couldnt handle anything more complicated than a two way light switch. I didnt last long there, as I refused to do, or sign off on, dodgy installs (Kay&Co.Ltd).

Number of times, I've seen a firm try and cut corners by letting the sparkys do the cat 5 ,including terminating. I'd fit the telephone system, go to the CAT5 outlet with a dongle and a phone to find there was no connection. Remove face plate, and ask the spark if he had colour vision problems. Non of the pairs were termnated in the correct place, and the twists were open too far from the termination point. I had what he lacked- a tone kit and a breakout box for cat 5 for both ends. Tone on one pair- get it on wrong pair at socket.

Then I had fun abroad. UK COOKER, with UK T &E cable. Spark monkey decided that he'd replace the cable with singles of Red +black + earth cable of lower size. Next day he returned to replace cable, with I'd think a word of advice from his boss.

Similar problem in another place with a two way switch- I'd tested switch and found one faulty in one direction. Spark monkey couldn't work it out and gave me some story. Unfortunately for him, we got a trained sparks the next day. I had a quiet word. Spark arrived with new switch and fault fixed.