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

[LewisM]

Also never let the customer measure the cable and say there is plenty to work with

 

[davesparks]

Wow, connector blocks are a rare sight these days, I can't remember the last time I used plastic ones!

 

[LewisM]

Wow, connector blocks are a rare sight these days, I can't remember the last time I used plastic ones!

Yeah I had 10mm butt crimps but no heatshrink

 

[westward10]

Connector blocks have holes in the middle of them for a reason.

 

[mainline]

Close, it was the man who came to fix the flat roof that was leaking

I wonder if he was the same man who did the roof to begin with.

 

[Dave OCD]

BG Of courseView attachment 105701View attachment 105702

Lovely work, both RCDs bypassed with the busbar also connected to the outgoing line and neutral on both. It takes a special way of thinking to produce work like that.

 

[mainline]

Lovely work, both RCDs bypassed with the busbar also connected to the outgoing line and neutral on both. It takes a special way of thinking to produce work like that.

Yes, but you must admit it sorted that tripping problem out.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Yes, but you must admit it sorted that tripping problem out.

Its certainly one way of doing it , its amazing the amount of different ways I come across that someone has used to bypass the RCD

 

[BenCos18]

Yes, but you must admit it sorted that tripping problem out.

Haha that's for sure lol
It always both amazes and annoys me how badly some people do the work tbh

 

[littlespark]

I wonder if he was the same man who did the roof to begin with.

No. That was the electrician.

Connector blocks have holes in the middle of them for a reason.

Easier to snap apart?

Never liked using them as a fixing hole, unless it’s a really thin screw.
The thread cutting into plastic could get too close to a live terminal.

 

[DPG]

No. That was the electrician.


Easier to snap apart?

Never liked using them as a fixing hole, unless it’s a really thin screw.
The thread cutting into plastic could get too close to a live terminal.

Agree. It really needs to be a machine screw and nut so that there is no risk of that happening

 

[Dustydazzler]

I have come across connectors completely split open when sparks have driven big wood screws into the hole in the connector to fix it to something. if you really feel the need to anchor the connector to the box then a dob of super glue would be better imo

 

[ipf]

Connector blocks have holes in the middle of them for a reason.

Drain holes?

 

[mainline]

Can you come and have a look, I think my consumer unit has got a bit warm.

 

[DPG]

Can you come and have a look, I think my consumer unit has got a bit warm.
View attachment 105729View attachment 105730View attachment 105731

Jeez that's a bad one. What's the verdict? Apart from that it's knackered obviously!

 

[Julie.]

Can you come and have a look, I think my consumer unit has got a bit warm.
View attachment 105729View attachment 105730View attachment 105731

Pretty obvious why that's gone wrong!

They have used the old wiring colours, and haven't put a notice of colours to one or more version of the regs!

Missing that notice, and there was bound to be a problem!!

 

[LewisM]

Looks like the fusehead had melted?

 

[littlespark]

Can we make consumer units out of the same material as that meter?
Its virtually unscathed

 

[123]

Can we make consumer units out of the same material as that meter?
Its virtually unscathed

In fairness the consumer unit main switch/rcd's/mcb's all look fine also...it looks like the supply cable is the issue, not sure why it's not just a set of metre tails or quite what's got wrong there

 

[Julie.]

Can we make consumer units out of the same material as that meter?
Its virtually unscathed

Err plastic?

Perhaps we should see the dangers of metal cu's and move over to plastic.

Seemed to work last time we did it.

Old plastic (bakelite) - dangerous let's move to metal.

Old metal - dangerous let's move to plastic

Old plastic - dangerous let's move to metal

So when's the next switch over planned for?

 

[Fazz711]

Err plastic?

Perhaps we should see the dangers of metal cu's and move over to plastic.

Seemed to work last time we did it.

Old plastic (bakelite) - dangerous let's move to metal.

Old metal - dangerous let's move to plastic

Old plastic - dangerous let's move to metal

So when's the next switch over planned for?

Make them out of asbestos lol

 

[mainline]

Jeez that's a bad one. What's the verdict? Apart from that it's knackered obviously!

Dno called out to renew the head and move it outside, they were very lucky that the place never burnt down.

 

[brianmoooore]

Last time I had that scenario (DNO head burst into flames and set fire to CUs directly above it), DNO sent an invoice to the customer for replacing the head, claiming that the source of the fire was one of the CUs.

 

[mainline]

Looks like the fusehead had melted?

The feed to the head looped down the side of the cu, when they overheated they melted the side of it.
Having an 8.5kw electric shower along with 9kw electric central heating didn't help.

 

[mainline]

Last time I had that scenario (DNO head burst into flames and set fire to CUs directly above it), DNO sent an invoice to the customer for replacing the head, claiming that the source of the fire was one of the CUs.

Basically the same scenario here, dno moved to an outside cabinet at no cost.

 

[brianmoooore]

Basically the same scenario here, dno moved to an outside cabinet at no cost.

At no cost would have been fine. Customer didn't want the agro, and just paid up (£800 or so, I think). Still had to pay me for replacing the CUs. I said she should send my bill to the DNO, but she never did.

 

[Raptor0014]

Amazing what you find hidden in ceiling roses.

 

[Raptor0014]

At no cost would have been fine. Customer didn't want the agro, and just paid up (£800 or so, I think). Still had to pay me for replacing the CUs. I said she should send my bill to the DNO, but she never did.

I’d have gone through the agro for £8. For £800 plus cost of CU etc, I’d have been camped outside head office pestering like that plank in Westminster with the megaphone!

 

[nicebutdim]

Amazing what you find hidden in ceiling roses.

View attachment 105741

Enclosed within the rose and accessible. While not the most elegant of solutions, were any regulations breached?

 

[brianmoooore]

I’d have gone through the agro for £8. For £800 plus cost of CU etc, I’d have been camped outside head office pestering like that plank in Westminster with the megaphone!

There's a bit more to the story that I've stated. This was a 40kVA single phase supply that was connected to a bigger than normal service head, rated either 200A or 300A max. This was connected to an old rotating disc meter, officially rated at 100A max.
Tails were 35mm, the fuse must have been at least 160A, and everything had worked happily for decades.
Enter someone to change the meter (expired calibration), who must have reduced the size of the DNO fuse to match the new meter, so 80A or 100A. This, of course, resulted in frequent power failures, where the fuse had popped, eventually culminating in the fire, when the well cooked head finally cried enough.
The eventual solution was to fit a polyphase head, with two fuses connected in parallel to the incomer, and connected to two channels of a three phase meter. The metered output tails then went to a large Henley, and on to the original wiring.
I turned up on site just as they were finishing this, to sort out the damaged CUs (which were actually Wylex 160s to two sub mains), and pointed out to WP's cowboys, that the four 16mm2 tails, with all their insulation burnt off, that were running horizontally just a few mm above their newly fitted meter board, had been live (from a 25kVA back up generator) all the time they'd been working.

 

[James]

Enclosed within the rose and accessible. While not the most elegant of solutions, were any regulations breached?

I don’t think anyone was suggesting it was in breach or even dangerous.
but you have to admit it was a sh!t job.

 

[nicebutdim]

I don’t think anyone was suggesting it was in breach or even dangerous.
but you have to admit it was a sh!t job.

It was a question, rather than a statement. Thought there may have been something I'd missed.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I don’t think anyone was suggesting it was in breach or even dangerous.
but you have to admit it was a sh!t job.

Don't think Wago's where available when the red and black T&E was installed, but obviously worked on since then, the drop to the light fitting is so short they could have used two blue cables instead of a bit of T&E, keeping the earth.

 

[Raptor0014]

Enclosed within the rose and accessible. While not the most elegant of solutions, were any regulations breached?

No, I was just amused at why they’d added in the additional cable and connector blocks. I’m guessing a different light was up there at one point given the cut in the plasterboard too.

 

[Mike Johnson]

No, I was just amused at why they’d added in the additional cable and connector blocks. I’m guessing a different light was up there at one point given the cut in the plasterboard too.

Perhaps insufficient terminals in the replacement light, unlike a rose.

 

[Dustydazzler]

You often see this where people have tried to fit an Ikea or John Lewis light that comes with a tiny crappy connector block just big enough to accept 1 x 1mm cable in each connector

 

[lozarus]

You often see this where people have tried to fit an Ikea or John Lewis light that comes with a tiny crappy connector block just big enough to accept 1 x 1mm cable in each connector

Did two of these recently. Amazing they're all stamped with thag "game changing" UK CA mark. The ones I did were the best part of £300, had those stupid connectors, were designed as Class 2 (somehow) and obviously had no way of connecting 3 plate wiring or even anywhere to park the earth.

 

[timhoward]

Top marks for effort....

 

[timhoward]

The label is correct

 

[Dave OCD]

Enclosed within the rose and accessible. While not the most elegant of solutions, were any regulations breached?

A bit pointless leaving the inch and a half of of outer sheath really.

 

[timhoward]

Enclosed within the rose and accessible. While not the most elegant of solutions, were any regulations breached?

If one were to be ultra-pedantic (not that any of us ever do that of course) then the bit arrowed should be sleeved with LED tape lights that alternate between brown and red.

 

[brianmoooore]

This would have looked a lot neater if the four pieces of connector strip had been left joined together, and the wire lengths trimmed to suit.

 

[littlespark]

Doo-doo-doo-doo..... The twilight zone!
Where messages just disappear!


One of those days when i wish i'd taken a photo.
Old fluorescent in a kitchen to take down.... Had a red into live, another red into neutral and 2 x normal sleeved cpc.

Up into the attic to see what was going on.... The 2 reds were from 2 x 3core & earth, the yellows connected together, the blues connected together... not in a box.

2 way switching.

Its getting rewired anyway, so will not be staying like this.

 

[Dave OCD]

Going by that method and the description one of the reds would have been permanent live and the other switched live so no neutral at the light fitting ??

 

[littlespark]

No, it was a neutral. Light worked fine.

L&N feed to one 2way switch. L to common, Y and B of the 3 core to L1 and L2.
Y and B linked through at light to other switch, Red coming back from second switch stops at light as switch wire, other red from first switch is neutral from light back to feed neutral.

 

[Dave OCD]

Ah ok got it, you'd think they'd have sleeved that red neutral black eh !

 

[Darkwood]

A bit of insulation tape and some connectors and we are back on, I get my ethics from Dave the Rave Pheonix Nights.

 

[ipf]

Thicko's don't know how to get to a fuse terminal in an old MEM Exel DB.
RFC needed isolating.
Three phase supply installed, by them, from right hand side fuses but had to do a bit of circuit shuffling. RFC moved to top left to accommodate. All red fuse guards broken off to get at the terms.
Obviously incapable of working out how to remove them.

No sign of any alterations to schedule.

PS. Not the first time I've come across this, by the way.

 

[mainline]

Manager says we had a pir on one of the cottages and Sparky man says that the sub main hasn't an isolator, can you sort one out.

It's fed from here, another cottage next door.

A pair of 16mm t&e feeds 2 cottages from the henleys.
urmmmm i think it needs a bit more than an isolator.

 

[LewisM]

Thicko's don't know how to get to a fuse terminal in an old MEM Exel DB.
RFC needed isolating.
Three phase supply installed, by them, from right hand side fuses but had to do a bit of circuit shuffling. RFC moved to top left to accommodate. All red fuse guards broken off to get at the terms.
Obviously incapable of working out how to remove them.

No sign of any alterations to schedule.

PS. Not the first time I've come across this, by the way.

View attachment 105882

Ho do ou remove those fuse guards? only ones I have seen like that pull straight out or they are held in by a clip and a ph1 screw