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

[Dustydazzler]

Apparently it was all done when the el cheapo kitchen cupboards were added about 4-5yrs ago. I can't understand why they didn't use the service void and some trunking if that was the case.

Yes in a perfect world you can screw some plastic trunking on the wall and run any cables in prior to the units being installed.
However on many an occasion I get a call at the last minute saying 'please can you pop round and put in some new sockets in our new kitchen' to find the kitchen is all but 99% installed and I am having to fish cables under the units and carefully chase up behind the brand new worktops that were just laid last week

 

[Raptor0014]

Yes in a perfect world you can screw some plastic trunking on the wall and run any cables in prior to the units being installed.
However on many an occasion I get a call at the last minute saying 'please can you pop round and put in some new sockets in our new kitchen' to find the kitchen is all but 99% installed and I am having to fish cables under the units and carefully chase up behind the brand new worktops that were just laid last week

That was a bit like one I had a while ago.

'Can we have some additional sockets and lights fitted?"

Walls were all tiled from worktop to ceiling and they had one pendant in the centre and wanted downlights and 3 separate pendants over the dining table.

I managed it with a lot of patience and the help of quinetic switching. But they were under no illusion I couldn't guarantee no breaks in the tiles or additional holes in the newly plastered and painted ceiling.

 

[brianmoooore]

I then found this in a socket in the lounge at the opposite end of the house to the kitchen.

View attachment 108155

That black and red looks like it might be polythene T&E, which was made for a short time between after rubber and before PVC.
Splits along the length of the wire are common with this stuff.

 

[littlespark]

I get that with kitchens as well. Doing one just now where the customer isn’t in a great hurry… the old cabinets are being taken out wall by wall, and I get in inbetween to do any electrical work.

Wago box behind the kickboard ends up being the only option sometimes. The joiner is coming unannounced in the evenings, so I get a text the day after, then have to reorganise planned work to get in before he comes back.

Last week I uncovered a floor hatch, thinking that’s going to make my life easier… just for the gas fitter to come before I got back. (The joiner couldn’t find it at first even though it has “hatch” written all over it!)

Still room, but I’ve got a dicky knee and they’re only 12” space down there.
I don’t bend like I used to.

 

[Switchdoctor]

That moment when you pull off the old distribution board and reveal past horrors.

Wires extended by twist&tape...
1 Socket ring end taped up.. single twisted connections had been running whole house
Cooker had been running on twisted earth cable as extension.

Needless to say i replaced everything...

 

[7029 dave]

Mate sent me this. Not his best job

8

 

[7029 dave]

This is so typical of builders wiring , roughly installed , stripped with an axe, cores all twisted up and bent and all mangled terminations.
We find this type of brand New install all of the time , literally all of the time.
I honestly think they just don't give a ---- , even in their own house

Pmsl

 

[James]

Mate sent me this. Not his best jobView attachment 1081888

WHATS THE PROBLEM?

It works therefore it must be ok!!??!!

 

[Dustydazzler]

WHATS THE PROBLEM?

It works therefore it must be ok!!??!!

I spotted the issue straight away , they forgot to connect the earth ?

 

[pc1966]

I spotted the issue straight away , they forgot to connect the earth ?

They could not work out how to get the CPC in and still have the shutters clamping the L&N.

 

[Raptor0014]

They could not work out how to get the CPC in and still have the shutters clamping the L&N.

Amateurs.

Use a fork to push the earth spring down. Put the conductors in and then you double over the CPC and put in the earth. Job done.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Opening the shutter is what screws are for.

 

[Dave OCD]

They could not work out how to get the CPC in and still have the shutters clamping the L&N.

They couldn't find a bit of g/y sleeving and didn't want to leave a bare cpc which would be non-compliant.

 

[7029 dave]

No cable clips shoddy, not a bad 90 considering gaffer tape.

 

[timhoward]

Using two different types of tape though - it's almost as if they don't care about presentation

 

[ipf]

I spotted the issue straight away , they forgot to connect the earth ?

Another fitted a rod cos they're worried about TN-C-S supply to an outside shed.

 

[mainline]

Billy bodgeit from the pub told him that he doesn't need an earth for the rcd to work.

 

[Raptor0014]

Not dodgy, but lack of understanding of the requirement for bonding. Plumber was impressed with his work though and even pointed out where he'd scraped off the paint on the pipework!

 

[Dustydazzler]

Im surprised he didn't put a clamp on the blue plastic pipe as well with a link between the 2

 

[littlespark]

Which came first, the green wire or the blue pipe?

 

[ipf]

Which came first, the green wire or the blue pipe?

Now...that IS the question.
Looks like be an existing bond. Whatever, it's causing no problem.

 

[timhoward]

Today's fun. I was only there to change a cracked socket front a quick end of day job, which I did.

As far as I can tell it's TT (found the rod and getting 2 ohms Zs from CPC bar) but can't verify what else is bonded at this point. There's only one earth wire that isn't a CPC coming into the board, so suspect there's a MET somewhere in Narnia.
I didn't want to try a high current test in case there's an upfront RCD in there too!

Also of note is the split load board, so potentially inadequate fault protection for right hand half if parallel paths are removed.
I had to say that I couldn't prove I'd left it in a safe condition and I'd have to return, take the panel off and see what is actually going on.
(The panel is actually about 4 times as tall as shown and extends to the top of the stair well just to help matters)

Some photo's pointing my phone in the hole...

The earth wire below goes to an old oil pipe not the cut-out btw

 

[pc1966]

As far as I can tell it's TT (found the rod and getting 2 ohms Zs from CPC bar) but can't verify what else is bonded at this point. There's only one earth wire that isn't a CPC coming into the board, so suspect there's a MET somewhere in Narnia.

2 ohms is either a very rubbish TN or a suspiciously good TT result!

Of course if there is a lot of oil pipe or whatever buried in damp ground then 2 ohms is possible, but it feels to me like a lot of buried metal or extraordinarily wet & salty ground.

 

[LewisM]

Another quality install, somebody with a bent neck has put the board in tooView attachment 107746View attachment 107747

Did the best I could with a tight budget and slack

 

[timhoward]

Not my photo, sent by a friend.
I don’t think the concept of a trap has been mastered by the installer

 

[Dustydazzler]

Great bit of design that , future proofed for 3 further additions

 

[brianmoooore]

It's only a single sink, so why was he using a manifold in the first place??? Simple P or S trap with an appliance inlet branch would have been a lot simpler.

 

[nicebutdim]

Ceiling void illumination?

 

[Raptor0014]

On the theme of plumber. Couple of call outs on Monday.

First one was a tripping boiler. Plumber had the wisdom to put the wireless stat directly under the boiler, which leaked straight into the stat. They’ve also used the earth as a core.

Second one was from a plumber who was trying to wire in a switch for an immersion and also a shower pump. Couldn’t work out why every time they screwed the switch back it tripped.

I politely told them it was their rubbish wiring and they’ve nicked the live so it’s tripping on the back box.

I sorted it all out and tidied it all up.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Black as the N and Earth as a Phase, Nice work there Mr Plumber and you wonder why you should be banned from touching anything with Wires

 

[Dave OCD]

Black as the N and Earth as a Phase, Nice work there Mr Plumber and you wonder why you should be banned from touching anything with Wires

He may have used the grey and green/yellow as a 'volt free' switching pair from the relevant boiler terminals - still not right though.

 

[pc1966]

At a friend's party last night, but seeing an extension lead plugged in to an extension lead, plugged in to a multi-way adaptor in the hall for the garden use and not and RCD in sight made me wince. Had a quick look as she was telling me of other electrical woes and its not pretty, though far from the worst to appear here. Sadly whoever did the last wiring could not be bothered to remove the old heating fuse box, not event to remove or cut the tails off!



The top butchers of the box is impressive, more care and effort than a hammer hole, but still such a mess. Of course why put in a blank when there is a live busbar within finger reach?



The supply is in pyro and I hope the red sleeve is just for identification as it looks af if the copper is exposed off the pot, but maybe there is black sleeving below? I decided not to poke it just to find out.



Its not a great installation and at some point I should try and help out. Blanking the spare and maybe RCBOs replacing the Proteus MCBs is an option to avoid the hassle of trying to redo the tails the correct (non seal faerie way) but I don't know if current Proteus RCBOs are compatible, and for all the cost a new metal CU of a brand I prefer might be less trouble in the long run.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Price to Rip that entire monstrosity out and start from scratch all new , or don't touch it at all

 

[pc1966]

Price to Rip that entire monstrosity out and start from scratch all new , or don't touch it at all

If this was commercial then 100% what you say.

As a friend I would be happy to donate my support but it probably comes to the same thing - the cost of a new CU is less than the time wasted trying to make something less crap out of what is there. The other thing slightly troubling me is this is a 40-60s build I guess, and it has asbestos panels in places, so I am not going to make changes that mean new holes being drilled. Thankfully there is plenty of 19mm (I think) plywood there to fix stuff to.

I also dread to think what else will need attended to. There is an unmarked 16A MCB which needs to be identified, also there appears to be two RFC for a two bedroom flat, so possibly one is for the kitchen. But it has damn-all sockets and so she has an extension lead to plug in dishwasher and washing machine in to a single socket under the sink. Yes, more WFT? and another burned out aspect to properly fix.

The other oddity is two 16A socket circuits for the attic conversion. It is a single big room with only around 6 sets of sockets! Wonder if it was done by EU folks?

Single light circuit is another thing, though I would not be too surprised if that unmarked 16A turned out to be attic lights. And there is an outside PIR flood-lamp that is playing up and she is unaware of any means to switch it off, or indeed what circuit it was taken off.

 

[mainline]

The man from next door helped this recent widow out by doing a little electrical work.

 

[nicebutdim]

Everybody needs good neighbours.

 

[mainline]

Everybody needs good neighbours.

He probably charged her travel time as well.

 

[timhoward]

While trying to find out why a bathroom light doesn't work (for 3 months and multiple people have looked at it and ran away), it was obvious there was no power to switch...and the cable toner/tracer led me to this point as where it left the room. There was a suspicious severed cable the other side of the wall so I thought I'd have a look.

I decided to make the old feed safe and run a new one in the end. As there was no loft at all in this house it was time to break out the super-rods and today was my lucky day:.

And then some D-Line, sticks like, and filler (and some future sanding and painting....)

The exciting candlelit bathroom visits are no more.

 

[Julie.]

Eeek

 

[Raptor0014]

Eeek

View attachment 108464

Nicely done! I particularly like how they have left some of the bedding material on the conductors to give that little bit of extra protection. It’s little touches like that which sets them apart from other installers…

 

[mainline]

Nicely done! I particularly like how they have left some of the bedding material on the conductors to give that little bit of extra protection. It’s little touches like that which sets them apart from other installers…

I agree it’s probably one of the best worse.
It looks like they couldn’t be bothered with the cabinet door either.

 

[happysteve]

Looks like phase sequence is out, too

 

[mainline]

The man from next door helped this recent widow out by doing a little electrical work.


View attachment 108392

Went there yesterday to disconnect and this pic almost made me knock his door to tell him he shouldn’t be messing with electrics.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Don't really see any issue

It worked didn't it ?

 

[littlespark]

Its an air gap.... perfectly suitable form of insulation

is that 1 out of 7 cores on the line being used?

 

[mainline]

Don't really see any issue

It worked didn't it ?

Yes your right

Grenfell towers worked fine for many years as well.

 

[mainline]

Its an air gap.... perfectly suitable form of insulation

is that 1 out of 7 cores on the line being used?

Yeah I think he did some adiabatic calcs and decided he only needed 1 core

 

[Dustydazzler]

Yeah I think he did some adiabatic calcs and decided he only needed 1 core

the others are future upgrade cores

 

[Raptor0014]

No idea how this hasn’t ever tripped. Found it purely due to IR test and luckily it was in the bathroom at the end of the circuit. RCD protected and supplying a working fan.

Couple of others I found.

Lives in chocbloc and shoved in ceiling. Completely ignored the loop terminal on the rose.

Making sure the CPC is fully sleeved….

 

[littlespark]

This is at the funeral directors I’m at today.
Behind a locked door, so no immediate danger, but I’ve told them to talk to DNO.

3ph cut out. L1 unused, L2 does the funeral parlour and L3 (which I suspect is a link) runs upstairs to another fuse for a flat.

Should have been noticed when the meter was changed last September.

L1 has two exposed terminals, L2 has its spare terminal capped off with a plastic pin and L3 has 1 exposed terminal.