People say get a qualitied electrician! Whateva !

[HeliGav]

Thought id go wickes the other day buy a couple of six foot flourescent lights, as ive started batteneing the walls to make it more user friendly, and it seems a bit dull. About a 18 months or so ago id paid a qualified electrician to wire our double garage to the house this is a single wire to a consumer unit with 2 mcbs, one for lights and the other for sockets. When i added the two lights one of the power cables touched the metal casing as I was installing the cable. The fuse box tripped in the garage and the mains switch in the house and knocked Everything off inside the house, stupidly thought nothing checked the mcb off and reset the house so kids could carry on watchin tv, and happened again when i was messing with the cables. Checked the circuit myself and found two junction boxes above the consumer unit that had the circuits crossed, so basically running lights and sockets on the same circuit with 2 mcbs. After speakin to the guy in a local electric wholesalers and reading up on the internet ive managed to rewire the garage safely.

After browsing the internet, apparently you can become a electrical domestic installer in about 6 weeks, probably explains the chump who did mine, havent been able chase him down yet! (hammer)

 

[wallace]

I remember a few years ago I was getting central heating installed for the first time in my house and the plumber removed a tank and immersion heater. A few weeks past and my daughter aged 6 said daddy whats them blue flashing sparks in the cupboard. When I looked he had disconnected the immersion and left the live wires dangling next to copper pipes :shock: I very nearly knocked the plumbers head off.

 

[DTR]

After browsing the internet, apparently you can become a electrical domestic installer in about 6 weeks, probably explains the chump who did mine, havent been able chase him down yet! (hammer)

I'm not up to speed on the regs (especially since Part P came in) but I believe that after the Installer is finished, the installation has to be checked by the Tester (or whatever his/her official title is).

 

[DTR]

When I looked he had disconnected the immersion and left the live wires dangling next to copper pipes :shock:

Nice :shock:

 

[glynster]

IMHO there are so many in-built electrical safety mechanisms in todays homes, fittings and appliances that paying £45 an hour (plus VAT) and twice the actual cost of all fittings supplied is massive overkill for many smaller jobs. However, I think as far as tradesmen go, electricians and corgi plumbers are better trained and more monitored than any other trade - I believe they even have some jobs audited every year too. I bought a house (renovation project) many years ago where the previous owner had rewired it himself entirely in plastic surface mounted trunking - including surface mounted sockets and switches. The electrician I got in to remedy it all looked genuinely scared.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

In my last house I found a loop of 2.5mm with a strip connector in the middle on the floor of a cupboard. There was obviously meant to be a socket there at some stage, so I said to my wife I'd fit one and tidy the wiring up. She sat with the multi tester and I pulled the fuses. I put back the one I thought it was, and she shouted "it's live". I pulled the fuse and put the rest back. "It's live", she called. All the tails were muddled up. The upstairs lights and the immersion were on one fuse, the basement lights and kitchen ring on another etc.
I bought the house from an electrician. :shock:

 

[JustBen]

Scary stuff!
If any does need an electrician, I can highly recommend Steve (MMUK) but make sure you've got plenty of coffee in

 

[Dee J]

IMHO there are so many in-built electrical safety mechanisms in todays homes, fittings and appliances that paying £45 an hour (plus VAT) and twice the actual cost of all fittings supplied is massive overkill for many smaller jobs. However, I think as far as tradesmen go, electricians and corgi plumbers are better trained and more monitored than any other trade - I believe they even have some jobs audited every year too. I bought a house (renovation project) many years ago where the previous owner had rewired it himself entirely in plastic surface mounted trunking - including surface mounted sockets and switches. The electrician I got in to remedy it all looked genuinely scared.

Must be regional variations in electricians charges. I charge £25 per hour, I'm not vat registered and all fittings are supplied at cost.... maybe I should increase my rates?

Dee

 

[doorframe]

Must be regional variations in electricians charges. I charge £25 per hour, I'm not vat registered and all fittings are supplied at cost.... maybe I should increase my rates? Dee

I quit sparking 10 yrs ago, and back then I was charging much more than that. You're way too cheap.

 

[GLFaria]

In my last house I found a loop of 2.5mm with a strip connector in the middle on the floor of a cupboard. There was obviously meant to be a socket there at some stage, so I said to my wife I'd fit one and tidy the wiring up. She sat with the multi tester and I pulled the fuses. I put back the one I thought it was, and she shouted "it's live". I pulled the fuse and put the rest back. "It's live", she called. All the tails were muddled up. The upstairs lights and the immersion were on one fuse, the basement lights and kitchen ring on another etc.
I bought the house from an electrician. :shock:

My flat's electrical circuitry being a nightmare, one thing I found very useful was to make a plan of the flat mapping all electrical outlets, including lights and switches, referred to their respective fuses. The fuses (there are 14 of them) are numbered accordingly . The plan is affixed near to the electrical inlet board of the house. This way, whenever I need to work on any specific circuit I know immediatly what fuse to disconnect.

 

[nanscombe]

I remember when my dad wired the house he had fuses grouped by upstairs / downstairs / kitchen and separated into sockets / lighting. He even a dedicated fuse for outside use, i.e. shed and greenhouse. All nicely labelled.

If the lights ever went out it's nice to be able to still plug a portable lamp into a socket.