Dodgy trade pictures for your amusement! - 1 Million Views!

D

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
 
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This is an interesting discussion.
There's a whole estate near me with 60 amp PME cutout in cabinet outside, 'tails' are 10mm T+E through cavity to CU high up on other side of wall in garage. Main earth is not adequate for PME requirements and my first job at any of these houses is always running an extra independent earth.
But replacing the tails has proved to be very hard due to the amount of rubbish in the wall. It's almost as if all the trades used that cavity as skip!
Apart from the cost, and if I could get them through, is two lengths of Kopex, one per tail a possible solution?
I've never seen it done which makes me suspect there's a flaw....!
 
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brianmoooore said:
I would have expected the meter supplier to request that you provide the upgraded tails to the meter cabinet before they uprated the cutout. That's what I've always done - new tails to the meter cabinet, connected with Henleys to the old tails in the cabinet (along with a note not to walk off with my Henleys.)
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It was Octopus that did it. Can’t comment as to why as I was expecting to need to do it myself.
 
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timhoward said:
This is an interesting discussion.
There's a whole estate near me with 60 amp PME cutout in cabinet outside, 'tails' are 10mm T+E through cavity to CU high up on other side of wall in garage. Main earth is not adequate for PME requirements and my first job at any of these houses is always running an extra independent earth.
But replacing the tails has proved to be very hard due to the amount of rubbish in the wall. It's almost as if all the trades used that cavity as skip!
Apart from the cost, and if I could get them through, is two lengths of Kopex, one per tail a possible solution?
I've never seen it done which makes me suspect there's a flaw....!
Click to expand...
I’d never have gotten Kopex up the wall today. I had to pull one tail in at a time and use liberal amounts of cable lube.
 
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nicebutdim said:
I don't disagree, but these are common types of homes. I assume developers simply pay for use of plans drawn up by someone who knows little about acceptable cable routes. To be fair, the house styles I have in mind are well designed to make the most of a limited amount of space.

Still, there's nothing to stop developers installing a duct with draw string - they probably haven't thought to do so or simply don't care.
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The latter. All down to cost/time
 
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Purpose of a cavity iis t prevent water penetration from outside to inside. Whether or not complete fill cavity insulation compromises this is the subject of debate. I have a neighbour who is a fairly highly qualified building surveyor, and he makes his views well known to anyone who asks. He's not a fan.
 
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I know the point of cavity wall construction it was a moot comment, as I said filling the cavity with an open cell insulation defeats the point entirely, as does anything that bridges the gap between the two skins, intentionally or not.
 
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That's timely ... this went up yesterday
Insulation was supposed to save us money... but it ruined our homes

At our last house, there was a damp issue. The cause came up when the buyer has someone in to look at it - an air brick had been fitted upside down when it was built - back in the 60s I think. But that wouldn't have been a problem until CWI was installed - and after that it was slowly soaking the wall from within.
 
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James said:
apple.news

Wiring that's a 'threat to life' exposed at flat in Halesowen — Birmingham Live

Dudley council said there are "no immediate safety risks" to be found
apple.news apple.news
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Right mess by anybody's standards, but I can't see anything that I'd describe as "a threat to life".
Replacing the covers on the trunking, and a few cable ties and clips and it'd look a lot better.
The tails with the join is the worst bit, although I thought it was floating Henleys with a bit of tape around them.
 
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Tripping / entangling in the cables on the floor is quite an immediate threat to anyone going in to read the meters or do any work!

The photo is not good enough to check things though, might be floating Henley blocks, but looked like tape to me. Also not much sign of grommets on trunking, and to the right just below vertical conduit there are some wires that might be taped or bare, or maybe just a trick with the brown live crossing the blue and G/Y.

Also a suspicious lack of G/Y earths around the wall of meters, etc, but maybe part of trunking?
 
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Trying to open that news story, the web site wanted me to accept its cookies, which I now days refuse, do I miss out, I don't think so, since refusing to accept cookies on any web site my spam and nonsense e-mails have reduced considerably.
 
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Mike Johnson said:
Trying to open that news story, the web site wanted me to accept its cookies, which I now days refuse, do I miss out, I don't think so, since refusing to accept cookies on any web site my spam and nonsense e-mails have reduced considerably.
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Open such stuff in a private window then cookies are contained and, once closed, gone afterwards.

Also I clear all of the browser history most days for similar reasons of general privacy and stopping advert-tracking. Though the #1 thing to stop that is not to be logged in to Google or Facebook at the time or, if at all possible, ever.
 
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pc1966 said:
Tripping / entangling in the cables on the floor is quite an immediate threat to anyone going in to read the meters or do any work!

The photo is not good enough to check things though, might be floating Henley blocks, but looked like tape to me. Also not much sign of grommets on trunking, and to the right just below vertical conduit there are some wires that might be taped or bare, or maybe just a trick with the brown live crossing the blue and G/Y.

Also a suspicious lack of G/Y earths around the wall of meters, etc, but maybe part of trunking?
Click to expand...
In my experience it's not uncommon when you have an area that's not one person/organisation's responsibility - you should see some of the mess in phone distribution cabinets 🤪
I would lay the blame on meter "fitters" - or rather their employers. Clearly inadequately trained (particularly in the aesthetics of a good job), and not given the right amount of time & incentive to do it right. So one person comes along and c.b.a. to refit the trunking lid properly, the next guy comes along and c.b.a. to refit it at all - especially if after a few meter changes the cables no longer lay nicely. And so it goes - each time someone comes along, sees a mess, it's not his responsibility to fix it and he doesn't have time anyway, and you end up like this.

And of course, there's a problem with division of responsibility. I assume the DNO is responsible up to that metal fuse box on the right. Energy suppliers, either directly or delegated to a meter operator, are responsible only for the tails to their meter - but not for that shared trunking. It could be argued that the building's responsible person isn't responsible for that trunking either since they aren't allowed to "fiddle with the mains supplies".

But as for those joined tails, I'd point my finger at an electrician told to do something with the supply up to the flat. The meter looks like one of the originals (or at least an older one), and I suspect those tails originally went up the side of the meter like they do with the one next to it. I wonder if originally there weren't switch-fuses and these have been added over time - hence the mish-mash of stuff on the left and right walls ?
 
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From the way it seems to be leaking compound, it's PILC with a bodge seal made in a piece of conduit with red and black PVC singles spliced on. I.e. those are not the cores of the cable itself emerging from the bush. I'm curious as to the colour of the insulation underneath the blue tape that covers one of the unsheathed cores of what might be SWA disappearing into the floor.
 
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A little one but worth sharing. Report came in that the "heater switch" wasn't working and cracked. I went across with a new FCU assuming the obvious loose connection / poor quality FCU / over fruity heater causing an overheat. Transpired that the installer perhaps didn't double check the flex for the heater - it was inserted too far and screwed down onto the insulation, thus resulting in it only really making contact with a few strands, thus causing the HR joint.

As an aside this circuit is a weird one. I watched the conversion of this room from toilet to kitchenette being done by partitioners about 4 years ago (Management wasnted the whole job done by the one supplier without getting us on site guys involved). They were decent enough guys. Transpired there wasn't really a 'proper electrician' on the job though. That said the guy 'doing the electrics' was decent to talk to - and looking at the circuit this hangs off today he did actually make a generally good job - all terminations were tight and cables were dressed really well - but it shows how important training is. The RFC in here (which arguably may have already existed) was sitting on a C32 MCB with no RCD - by rights it really should have had one back then (massive serving hatch allowing the sockets to be used outside for a start)
 

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WOW,
the only time I have ever seen it done was a member of my family.
his theory was that it was ok because he knew what he was doing and nobody else would touch it.
it was difficult to educate him because he knew the danger but argued it was not a real risk because only he would touch it and he knew what he was doing.
 
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Dodgy trade pictures for your amusement! - 1 Million Views!
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