Bad Workmanship

[Brian Boyd]

After numerous jobs having to go along and rectify very sub standard work its started to get me thinking. The more common things i come across is poor labelling at dist boards, Cables not sized right, inadequate protection jobs half finished. I recently came across a 13amp double socket wired in 1.5mm T&E protected by 63amp HRC fuse. I also came across an immersion heater with live and neutral both connected together missing the elements. I know some plumbers etc try there hand but its not in every case.

I`m just curious as to what the worst scenario anyone else has come across.

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Slightly off topic but on the subject of labelling dis boards can I make a plea regarding spare ways. Can we leave spare ways unlabelled?....the times I've added a new circuit to a board and then cant write in the new circuit details cos some pillock has written SPARE all across the label. If there's a blank shield in there i'ts bleeding obvious i'ts SPARE....you dont have to write it in !!!

 

[Spudnik]

You only need to write "spare" if there is an MCB installed with no circuit connected to it.

But yes, unused ways neednt be labelled.

 

[kung]

I always write spare in pencil unless as Jason said theres no mcb etc.

 

[Amp David]

Common sense isn't it?

 

[tigerpaul]

I tested a large supermarket, the BS88 80a fuses were missing from the isolator feeding an essential power board. In there place were 3 small pieces of 6mm singles with yellow lugs!!

I was specifically told "Do Not Switch it off!" so I was unable to fix it.

A year later, it was still there!!!!

 

[vango1980]

I was pricing a job a few months ago and who ever had done this job messed it up so much he left a extention lead plug in and the other end connected into the back of the switch plate, i did ask who had done it and was told it was one of our eastern friends.

 

[empress]

After numerous jobs having to go along and rectify very sub standard work its started to get me thinking. The more common things i come across is poor labelling at dist boards, Cables not sized right, inadequate protection jobs half finished. I recently came across a 13amp double socket wired in 1.5mm T&E protected by 63amp HRC fuse. I also came across an immersion heater with live and neutral both connected together missing the elements. I know some plumbers etc try there hand but its not in every case.

I`m just curious as to what the worst scenario anyone else has come across.

went to a new build extension last year the guy that wired it was "approved" apparently.
downstairs toilet light wasn't working and he wouldn't come back to sort it.
this was a massive extension with open plan kitchen and upstair master bedroom and ensuite bathroom.
nice people owned the place got totally stiffed on the price.
ask for test certs and got handed a home made sheet labeled "small works order" with no sign of any test results.
pulled down toilet light to find a link between earth and neutral ,on splitting link and quick test no neutral at the light ,tncs system in property scary.
was asked to test the whole extension this is what i found:
whole extension had been spliced into the exising building using JBs
fuse board old wylex on rewireables was feeding extension
all the light including about 20 halogens in the kitchen ,none fire rated, were on a 16amp wireable which also fed some downstairs sockets in the existing property.
extension ring main had been grafted onto a radial which was on a 32a rewirable.
no ip rated downlighters in shower cubicle
no earth bonding at all
nothing marked obviously.
finally no RCD's on anything
turned out to be the job from hell and it cost them a lot of money to put right.
in this area building regs are a joke no one from building control is checking up on finished work being up to spec or signed off,make's me wonder why we bother.
turns out a call to the local building inspectors revelled they have no one qualified to make such checks.
so much for Part "P"
quality

elfyn

 

[calv68]

ive been to a job where someone wired a 9kw shower from the back of a socket in 2.5mm flex

 

[empress]

ive been to a job where someone wired a 9kw shower from the back of a socket in 2.5mm flex

my job seemed safe compared to that .
elfyn

 

[Brian Boyd]

Its great to know i`m not the only one who comes across ropey work. I`ve seen cowboy builders etc but cant recall a show about dodgy electrics. Is there a gap in the market for reality tv show "The shocking Truth"

 

[Des 56]

Its great to know i`m not the only one who comes across ropey work. I`ve seen cowboy builders etc but cant recall a show about dodgy electrics. Is there a gap in the market for reality tv show "The shocking Truth"

Perhaps because all the people who complained are deceased

 

[terrence]

After numerous jobs having to go along and rectify very sub standard work its started to get me thinking. The more common things i come across is poor labelling at dist boards, Cables not sized right, inadequate protection jobs half finished. I recently came across a 13amp double socket wired in 1.5mm T&E protected by 63amp HRC fuse. I also came across an immersion heater with live and neutral both connected together missing the elements. I know some plumbers etc try there hand but its not in every case.

I`m just curious as to what the worst scenario anyone else has come across.

WOW thats a joke. That is just taken the piddle. Was probly a sussage roll who ain't got a danny who done it

ive been to a job where someone wired a 9kw shower from the back of a socket in 2.5mm flex

Thats a libberty, I'm in my first year and i know thats wrong,If im right it needs its own circuit right?

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Worst one I saw....(probably diy'd) was a call from someone recently moved ,they called to say they had only been in a week and both the upstairs lights and shower had ceased to work. You can probably guess the rest....8.5kw shower wired in 6.0mm and tapped into the upstairs lighting circuit with a block of connectors...at the furthest point on the circuit ! At the DB the 5a 3036 had a bit of 30a wire across it.
The 1.0mm lighting cables in the loft had almost completely melted, in places just the 3 wires blackened and charred were laying on the joists...and at the DB where the cables coming down the wall were chased in close together the heat from the lighting cable had severely damaged several of the other circuits as well....turned into a pretty big job.

 

[eskimo39]

Was called to a job yesterday where the customers oven wasn't working, when I removed the plate off the cooker isolator I found there was only an incomming feed????

Looked behind the cooker and found it was been fed by 1.5mm twin and earth, followed this and found it going behind 2 cupboards and 1 sink unit before been connected into the ring under a cupboard in a JB. The JB & wiring had all melted.

When I questioned the customer he told me a local electrician had wired it up for him for £120 cash 2 months ago.

I am unsure why he took this route with the wrong cable as the original cooker switch was approx 2 metres away from the cooker yet this incorrect wiring was over 4 metres long???

Asked what else he had fit in the past and was told an outside light under a porch, when I looked at this I found a standard bayonet fitting not waterproof wired with flex, drilled through the wall with a plug on the end. Everytime the customer went outside they had to plug the light in.

I told the customer I will be back in the morning (Sunday) but am just a little concerned where I stand on this issue. I understand that in terms of liability the last person to touch it is responsible, but I am also apprehensive about leaving an elderly couple with no outside light or cooker.

Have been out today and bought a PIR Floodlight and some 6mm T&E so am ready to fix. I am not going to charge for the work as I feel they have been ripped off enough recently (also looking at the house I understand funds may be low) and have managed to get the light and cable for £23 which is the only charge I will make. I will run an insulation test and Zs on the ring to check it's integrity.

So could anyone advise on what to do in this situation?

Many Thanks

 

[Brian Boyd]

Thats a sticky one. If i`m doing any work were i`m concerned i outline the extent of the installation i cover on the appropriate test certificate so as not to get caught with something i didn`t install or check over. We can`t go to every job and check absolutely everything its just not feasible or practical Sounds like handyman job as supposed to electrician job.

 

[Guest123]

Hi.

As Brian has said you need to outline exactly what you do in the extent covered box on the relevant test cert, together with any observations on the existing installation.

 

[Bobby B]

Hi i'm new,

On a re-wire at the moment and the shower has been fed from a 1way CU 40A breaker, been run outside then thru a bedroom in 10mm T&E to a pull switch inside zone 2 i think (2.1m from base of bath) on top of that its been joined in a 30A JB in the loft.

Does anyone ever alert the NIC to this as it is recent and quite dangerous?

 

[wattsup]

no one does dodgy wiring now, part p has stopped that, don't you guys listen to the news?

 

[Amp David]

I love part P

 

[wattsup]

me too, but wait while part q come in..all sparks have to go on deep sea diving courses, in case they have to change lamps in swimming pools (mp's swimming pools,moats etc)

 

[sparks72]

Went to a job last year, old 10mm shower cable had been used to supply the new underfloor heating,
still on a 50 amp mcb, new extractor fan had cover plate missing, JB's all over the place, earth had been disconnected from the bathroom lighting supply, etc, etc............building developer & his handyman!

 

[Bobby B]

no one does dodgy wiring now, part p has stopped that, don't you guys listen to the news?

Part Pointless

 

[sparks1234]

You only need to write "spare" if there is an MCB installed with no circuit connected to it.

But yes, unused ways neednt be labelled.

We did a job and we could not get any blanks for whatever reason so bunged a couple of breakers in. The sparks that normally works on that site reported us for leaving circuit breakers in a dis board that had no circuit connected!!

 

[Brian Boyd]

We did a job and we could not get any blanks for whatever reason so bunged a couple of breakers in. The sparks that normally works on that site reported us for leaving circuit breakers in a dis board that had no circuit connected!!

Can`t see anywhere this is against any regs???

Went to job there that NIE (Northern Ireland Electricity) were metering and they couldn`t get power on. Went down and found no blanks in board wall light cables not properly terminated in chalk box or equivalent and tails curled up in the c.u with temp supply still terminated. Didn`t know if all the dead tests were completed or what and if it was safe for energising. This was a new house build. It seems the ones who try to comply with the regs are punished for misdemeaners and the ones who don`t care are taken by the hand.

 

[SirKit Breaker]

My dad lives in Southern Spain. On a visit a couple of years ago we had a walk down to the local watering hole. Being the sad so and so that I am i was looking at all the Consumer units which were located outside in the gardens, this seems the norm there. However we went past what looked like a farmhouse, the CU was in a wooden mailbox with no front on it and it was nailed to a tree, there were a couple of car type jump leads connecting it to the overhead power lines, the cables came out of it and across the drive (dirt track) and went into the front door of the house, but it was OK because there were some stone slabs laid over the cables across the drive to stop cars damaging them.

God only knows what the install in the house was like.

I returned in September last year and out of curiosity i went to see if it was still the same, lo and behold there had been some inprovement done. The cables going across the drive were now in a bit of plastic pipe and further protected by some new stone slabs. He must have had a code 2 on his PIR

 

[welshmadness]

About 2 years ago, a friend asked me to hang a new curtain pole up for her (nothing to do with electric i hear you say)
Anyway, got to her house, showed me the window she wanted the curtain pole put up. No electric socket or light switch anywhere to be seen. So, i marked up the fixing holes started drilling. After 5seconds of drilling, a huge flash, bang and a face full of hot crap and all the electric off!
No doubt in my mind, a 5min job got a lot longer and i obviously hit a cable. Out with the hammer and bolster start chipping away at the wall.
Turns out i hit a lighting circuit which fed a ceiling rose in the next room which was outside of the zone and was run in the wall as it was a flat roof..........lesson learnt me thinks!

 

[djb_1983]

scary stuff, my house has a lighting cable going diagonally down a wall to a light switch with no capping, was done beore i moved in

 

[Steve1412]

me too, but wait while part q come in..all sparks have to go on deep sea diving courses, in case they have to change lamps in swimming pools (mp's swimming pools,moats etc)

You may laugh...I did one of these once in a pool full of water.....only 12v in a sealed headlight type fitting.....oooo to be an apprentice again

Changed a similar lamp in a vapour bath once too....the sparky said he would keep his coat on as it would insulate him and keep him cool.....I stripped off as far as was decent...after about five mins in there the sparky flaked out..........dont think I could get a risk sassessment, method statement or safe system of work to cover this type of work nowadays....

 

[uksel]

part p = unlimited access to all things electrical

are you part p? no...

then you're not a real electrician then are you


they've created a monster - if people are on a register for part p, i that register should also include the scope of work that person is allowed to carry out.

simples

 

[bugsy]

Padi do

 

[nervouselk]

I was connecting earth cable to block on incoming, and there was a lot of sparking coming from tails at supply, informed supply company who came out promptly. the guy who fittied the meter before had not screwed the tails up. It seem like they have there own rules and regs and get away with it.

Also i have had crossed tails, so a spark just crossed the tails over again in the cu to make the wrong a right. How do these people get away with this, i mean the so called sparkies and meter fitters.

 

[lewrssll]

hi guys, im new here. cant tell you where i work but we had a foreigner do some work for the company. I asked him to install an mechanical isolator and all was ok. The company then decided to upgrade aa bit of kit and was infact a heater 11.5kw 3 phase and when I went to disconnect the isolator, I found the guy had put the 3 phase into his 3 phase and actually bypassed the interlock not only was this good enough, he put the earth screen and neutral together...seemingly in NZ under AU:3001-NZ this is common practice.....thats the worst I have seen...

 

[uksel]

welcome lew

 

[lewrssll]

hi buddy, and thanks. I logged on to this site last night. had a little query regarding x5 test etc on rcd testing/inspection. and this site had popped up in a google search. was really helpful then spent the next hour reading over other topics!! good site BTW.

at the moment i have svq level 3+4 in electrical engineering, hnc electronics with 17th edition.

im a maintenance engineer so work frequently with 3 phase and not so much on normal 230v

 

[d_sparks]

I did a job recently which was a conversion into flats. All was going well, builder liked the price, we were out on time, no comebacks, all NIC certs in. When we asked the builder when we could start the last flat ( price already accepted), we were told the agent had got one of his mates to do it. When we looked it was nothing like the spec we were following, Panda replaced MK, cable zones anywhere you like( in with hot pipes ), littered with faults and comebacks, Ive never seen so many 6.0mm earth wires, all over the shop...... dont know what to bond?... Bond it all. The company that did it were suposedly NIC. When I asked around,suprise suprise! Our Eastern friends again. Still they managed to shave 25% off our price. But they re- spent that and more on comeback calls. Glad to see I'm not the only one who's p***** off with them and wishes they'd go home to burn down houses there not here. The NIC should have spot checks at first fix stage to see who's really ballsing thses jobs up and covering it with plaster.