Discuss Lost or forgotten installation tips from the past! in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

Pete999

-
Esteemed
Arms
Reaction score
17,081
Just thinking back to my Apprenticeship time, and working on a Large luxury Housing development, the chap I was working under, was a strict, but knowledgeable Electrician.
At the time in question we used metallic oval conduit for our switch drop and sockets etc., one of his rules where possible were that all switch drops had the conduit cut to the same length and the same for the runs from the floor up to the socket positions, during the first fix he would always inquire as to which make of sockets we were going to used for the second fix, so much so that he insisted that if the L was on the right hand side of the accessory, I had to feed the 7/029 cable up the conduit , with the L on the right hand side, didn't think it mattered all that much, until you came to install the socket, and how much easier it was with the cables entering the back box all on the same side.
Anyone else got any odd little tips that they were taught, that may have gotten lost over the years?, another one was marking the lighting cables at the ceiling rose, switched pair with a cross and the feeds in and out with a split at the end for identification, simple things I know.
 
I was told to cut the switch drops diagonally and the feed straight to identify them, seemed to work okay for me although did waste a centimetre of cable when the loose end is the wrong shape!
When pulling multiple singles int conduit, if possible, use a piece of cardboard or thin plywood with the same number of holes in it, to correspond to the number of singles being pulled in, to alleviate possible crossover of cables in the conduit. Little things mean a lot, sometimes.
 
...another one was marking the lighting cables at the ceiling rose, switched pair with a cross and the feeds in and out with a split at the end for identification, simple things I know.

I saw the switch cable marked in a rose years ago and assumed it was standard good practice, so I've done it myself ever since. Although to be honest I mark pretty much everything, my label printer has a higher mileage than my car :cool:
 
with 3 plate light wiring my method has always been to mark feed with 2 x, out with 1 x, and switch with a nick,
 
When dressing cable down a wall to a CU.The Electrician I was serving under always taught me to dress them into the CU as you would connect them IE Bonds, Cooker, RFCs, W/H. lights etc easier to connect, looked professional, job done. Mind you we were using Wylex CUs with the wooden frame, and the Paxoline backing, rewireable fuses.
 
When dressing cable down a wall to a CU.The Electrician I was serving under always taught me to dress them into the CU as you would connect them IE Bonds, Cooker, RFCs, W/H. lights etc easier to connect, looked professional, job done.
that's what i try to do .makes life easier when connecting in CU. also like to dress the cables with all the reds(browns) to the left and blacks (blues) to the right.
 
that's what i try to do .makes life easier when connecting in CU. also like to dress the cables with all the reds(browns) to the left and blacks (blues) to the right.
Yes Reds and Blacks before EU interference. Makes you wonder who it was who saved Europe in WW2.
 
I watched saving Private Ryan, apparently it was the Americans. God bless em.
well,the septics did give us a lot of help, once they realised that we were going to win. up till them US business wanted Germany to win as they had many lucrative contracts with the krauts.
 
1815 bonaparte
1918 kaiser bill
1946 adolph hitler
2018 angela meerkat.
come on lads.
View attachment 45494

Gotta say... I do a lot of work in Germany and the slightly awkward truth is that they get all the stuff we struggle with over here, pretty well sorted. They have also somehow ended up more liberal and free than we seem to have :confused:

How did THAT happen!?

A point really driven home when I went to a Christmas market in the UK after years of going to German markets over there. I bought a beer and they gave it to me in a plastic beaker, like a child. Over there I'm an adult, so it's handed over in a glass. I get a 3 Euro's back upon returning the glass or I can opt to keep it. Why can't I have a glass in the UK? Because I might use it as a weapon or smash it on the ground and leave a 'highly dangerous situation' apparently. Needless to say the use of glasses at German public celebrations has not, in fact, led to the death and mutilation of thousands :rolleyes:
 
well,the septics did give us a lot of help, once they realised that we were going to win. up till them US business wanted Germany to win as they had many lucrative contracts with the krauts.
A lot of the younger generation have short memories Tel, or their History lessons were crap
 

Reply to Lost or forgotten installation tips from the past! in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc

Electrical Forum

Welcome to the Electrical Forum at ElectriciansForums.net. The friendliest electrical forum online. General electrical questions and answers can be found in the electrical forum.
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock