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Darkwood

Right ... Just been nudged to set this up by Paul.M and sounds a good idea following recent threads I've done in the Arms..

Rules....No Offensive material... edit if required before posting as this is the public arena.
Anything to do with the trade or in and around it ...H&S pic's welcome.

Beware plumbers!!!.jpg

I've posted this a few times and this is at a mates house following a kitchen refirb several yrs ago. :omg_smile:

Beware plumbers!!!.jpg
 
We still learn about that at work during human factors training pretty sure every screw was either the wrong length and/or diameter
I bet it's part of the standard syllabus of "how not to do it" British Airways Flight 5390 - Wikipedia
Wikipedia also has a list of explosive decompression events - not just limited to aircraft. The 1983 diving bell/decompression suite accident is not one to read when about to sit down for a meal - or if squeamish.

In my line of work, we have similar sessions. Decompression is rarely a topic, the reverse is sometimes. There was some discussion around the office in June ... There have been others, USS Thresher being one that caused a rethink around design/safety standards.
 
And the HMS Thetis accident caused all HMS subs to be fitted with a Thetis clip on the torpedo tubes, as did the (I think) the HMS Truculent colliding with an oil tanker making it mandatory to have a Truculent light on the bow when surfaced.
 
Just a small job, replacing a 3 gang switch that was basically worn out...brushed steel, no fly-lead to backbox, and a mix of t&e and a flex...nice switch with the coms all at the top and L1 and L2 at the bottom, rather than the staggered pattern of the new switch...it all went swimmingly (DIF!)...here is a nice touch though, the original electrician typed out a nice key to what was what...
1694724376968.jpeg


All very neat and self-explanatory, one 15A and the rest 5A...
and a very neat board too
1694724474956.jpeg
 
You know that time when you take a pic of the wiring, replicate it, even though the new switch is configured differently, connect it all up...and each switch does what it's supposed to do...then you realise it's upside down, so on is up and off is down, so you rotate the switch...all is good til she says "Oh, the left one is supposed to operate the lights on the right, and the right one is supposed to do the left ones..." and i said, "the middle one does the middle string, so that's good!" She wanted it back the way it was...so I undid the outer two and swapped them over, checked they were working, and all was well. I added a fly-lead from the chrome switch to the back-box, screwed it all back and...BANG! Yup, nipped a cable with the fixing screw...a couple of seconds of sparks and glows and the fuse blew...that's the fuse number 5, lighting, 5Amp...no, it's not, all the 5A fuses, which are in 15A carriers, are fitted with 15A fusewire...still, I'm glad the faceplate was earthed. Another 5 minute job, satisfactorily completed! Spot the nice curly tails from the bottom of the box!
Never mind...
"Oh, while you are here..."
FEK, what now?
This under-cupboard light isn't working...
never seen one before, but hey...finally worked out how to take out the lamp from the holder, and it's a GX53. Oddly enough, I don't have a spare in my bag...research shows that the 2.5W 6500k version she has is impossible to source...
I';ve ordered a 4 pack of 6W warm white...she'll never notice if i replace them all at once!
 
This under-cupboard light isn't working...
never seen one before, but hey...finally worked out how to take out the lamp from the holder, and it's a GX53. Oddly enough, I don't have a spare in my bag...research shows that the 2.5W 6500k version she has is impossible to source...
I';ve ordered a 4 pack of 6W warm white...she'll never notice if i replace them all at once!

Think I'd have aimed to replace the lot with slim link lights and amazed her with instant full illumination.
 
I did that for my neighbour and she was delighted! Robus spear lamps, really nice. The old brown and beige fluorescent ones had melted end caps and had charred the underside of the cabinets...
12 of them replaced by 3 new ones...what a transformation!
 
I did that for my neighbour and she was delighted! Robus spear lamps, really nice. The old brown and beige fluorescent ones had melted end caps and had charred the underside of the cabinets...
12 of them replaced by 3 new ones...what a transformation!

Even the cheap LAP ones from Screwfix seem fairly reliable. I've put a few sets in on occassions where price was a big issue for someone elderly. Not heard of a single failure to date and everyone has been pleased with the difference between old and new.

LAP certainly wouldn't be a 'go to' or recommendation, but they do seem to be okay.
 
and of no connection to any of this, I'm off to Stranraer tomorrow, via Portpatrick, for a couple of days at the Stranraer Oyster Festival...
Have a nice weekend!

Never been to Portpatrick by road. Quickest route from here is over water.

Come to think of it, the same applies to Stranraer.
 
You know that time when you take a pic of the wiring, replicate it, even though the new switch is configured differently, connect it all up...and each switch does what it's supposed to do...then you realise it's upside down, so on is up and off is down, so you rotate the switch...all is good til she says "Oh, the left one is supposed to operate the lights on the right, and the right one is supposed to do the left ones..." and i said, "the middle one does the middle string, so that's good!" She wanted it back the way it was...so I undid the outer two and swapped them over, checked they were working, and all was well. I added a fly-lead from the chrome switch to the back-box, screwed it all back and...BANG! Yup, nipped a cable with the fixing screw...a couple of seconds of sparks and glows and the fuse blew...that's the fuse number 5, lighting, 5Amp...no, it's not, all the 5A fuses, which are in 15A carriers, are fitted with 15A fusewire...still, I'm glad the faceplate was earthed. Another 5 minute job, satisfactorily completed! Spot the nice curly tails from the bottom of the box!
Never mind...
"Oh, while you are here..."
FEK, what now?
This under-cupboard light isn't working...
never seen one before, but hey...finally worked out how to take out the lamp from the holder, and it's a GX53. Oddly enough, I don't have a spare in my bag...research shows that the 2.5W 6500k version she has is impossible to source...
I';ve ordered a 4 pack of 6W warm white...she'll never notice if i replace them all at once!
Was going to say that fuse box is nothing like the schedule draw up
 
Quick update on Stranraer:
Don't bother! The only good thing is that drinks in the pub are amazingly cheap, and I had brilliant, inexpensive pub grub, but otherwise not worth the drive, imho.
 
lol He said his apprentice measured it! He must have realised something was wrong by the depth surely! he actually asked me if i could move it all so he could still put his overflow pipe there, cheek!
I was drilling through the other day and measured extremely carefully to avoid a gate post and a gas pipe. The pilot hole went fine and it came out exactly where I wanted. Then I went up a size and felt the two skins, but then a bit of air and then something 'strange'. I stopped when it was clear this wasn't brick and and went to look.
The builders lad had opened the gate! But the brick I'd put there to keep it closed was now blocking the frame so the gate couldn't close and the drill was in the process of taking a nice little gouge out of the gate. Luckily this wasn't very noticeable as the gate was rotten beyond hope anyway.
 
there's a picture somewhere on the internet of a drill coming through a wall, through the back of a wardrobe, through a guitar case withing the wardrobe and into the actual guitar which was in the case at the time.

or was that a dream?
 
Had to take over a job from someone else the other day, didn't want to but the client gives us tonnes of work and this was his own house. The other spark is no longer on the scene and I've already been to one of his jobs that had an earth fault so he just disconnected the cpc's out of the circuit to get over it.

So my first port of call was the consumer unit - BG dual RCD, 2 circuits connected down ring and up ring, sockets 2nd fixed and live and some lights 2nd fixed but not powered yet. First test was see if they were rings, neither were. After a bit of investigating, found this in the utility.

IMG_20230921_131646_659.jpg


Thats why that circuits not a ring then, live ends. Onto the upstairs sockets and quickly found this.

IMG_20230921_113639_900.jpg


That was after my temp fix, was the same as the utility before I touched it. 3rd cable was a spur to a socket on the floor below that wasn't working.

I also found this that was live. Not touched anything, that's how I came across it.

IMG_20230921_113444_145.jpg


So apart from the various death traps the place also looked like this.

IMG_20230921_113738_367.jpg

IMG_20230921_113711_488.jpg


IMG_20230921_113706_772.jpg


not unique to this job but why do so many sparks have to cut and patch so much plaster work after its all been done, apparently he forgot to fit loads of stuff that the client had asked for.
 
Could be double insulated cable inside, if so, do you think there is a requirement for the pipe to be bonded?
It would be single isolated inside the switch.
Back box/switch would be classed as an exposed conductive part.

I wouldn't have thought it is a requirement if the cable is double insulated and the run has no sharp edges.
 
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It would be single isolated inside the switch.
Back box/switch would be classed as an exposed conductive part.
But i was assuming the box was attached to the cpc.
do you think there is a need to bond the pipe, assuming the cable comes into the box double insulated?

Personally i was thinking if the flex was secured inside the back box with a cable clamp then the tube need not be bonded, if it is free to move then i think the tube should be bonded.
but I am open to peoples suggestions.
 
But i was assuming the box was attached to the cpc.
do you think there is a need to bond the pipe, assuming the cable comes into the box double insulated?

Personally i was thinking if the flex was secured inside the back box with a cable clamp then the tube need not be bonded, if it is free to move then i think the tube should be bonded.
but I am open to peoples suggestions.
I say yes no difference from a class l light fitting
 
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Very different from a class 1 light fitting.

It looks like there is an insulated and sheathed cable inside the pipe so there would be no need to earth it, it would be no different to a cable tray or basket in that respect.
And that sheathed cable is connected to a metal clad FCU which is connected to the copper pipe so makes it an accessory point. 411.3.1.1 states this very clearly
 

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