E
Euphoria
Hi everyone, I'm really desperate for some advice as I'm concerned about the state of the wiring in the house, as I know very little about electrics.
Apologies in advance, this is a long post but I need to explain how bad it is.
Ok, so I'm from the UK but my parents emigrated to Bulgaria a few years ago. Recently my mum sadly past away, so I decided to go over to Bulgaria to stay with my dad to help him cope.
Since I've been here it's apparent that BG has no concept of Safety when it comes to electrics, or anything for that matter.
Immediately I noticed that if I touched bare metal on any appliance plugged into the mains I would receive a shock, not a static shock, but a continuous buzzing a bit like one of those TENS Machines you use on strained muscles. Sometimes it's a very low amount, just a slight tingling feeling, but other times it's more intense like a sharp continuous pain similar to having a tattoo.
I spoke to my dad, he told me that there is "No" earth cable in the house, nothing at all. Because Bulgarians don't see the point, it's extra time and extra cost to install! I don't mean to be disrespectful, but they do a half-arsed job of everything to make it quicker and cheaper. Plus everybody over here is a "Jack of all", they think that they can call themselves electricians, roofers, builders, plumbers e.t.c.. just because they know roughly how to do something or they saw a guy do it once. There's a well known joke over here that anyone that owns their own screwdriver or hammer is a "Maestro (Professional) electrician, roofer, builder e.t.c...."
Anyway, so I started wearing thick rubber soled slippers around the house to see if this would help, and it did, it seem to negate the issue by me not becoming the earth when I touch something. Speaking with other people that have moved here from the UK, they all say that they have the same issue, no earth. One couple I'm now friends with said their house was hit by lightning a few years ago and it destroyed everything, literally blew every socket off the walls and fried most of their appliances.
Which is a major concern as this house is on top of a hill and we do get a lot of electrical storms here, much more than the UK. As soon as I hear thunder, I run round unplugging everything, but my dad happily sits at his computer with headphones on saying, "Arrh it'll be all right!"
So, other than ripping out the entire house to rewire, not an option as all the walls, floors and ceilings are thick reinforced concrete. Is there anything that we could do to solve this or at least make it a bit safer???
My second major concern at the moment is that we get power outages frequently due to poor infrastructure. So we recently bought a large powerful generator with the intention of hooking it to the mains so we can switch to the gen when we have a power cut, so we don't have to run extension cables into the house every time.
But my dad insists on getting this local guy to hook it up for us, a *Cough* Professional! He owns a screwdriver and can wire a plug basically! I'm really worried about this as I think this is quite a major thing to do, but my dad thinks it's easy, just a switch and a wire, so anyone can do it.
Is this a simple enough job to do, or is it a big job that needs a "Real Professional". If it's done incorrectly could it cause a fire or someone to get a big shock??? Or am I just worrying about nothing??
Thank you to all that read this, sorry it's such along post.
Regards
Apologies in advance, this is a long post but I need to explain how bad it is.
Ok, so I'm from the UK but my parents emigrated to Bulgaria a few years ago. Recently my mum sadly past away, so I decided to go over to Bulgaria to stay with my dad to help him cope.
Since I've been here it's apparent that BG has no concept of Safety when it comes to electrics, or anything for that matter.
Immediately I noticed that if I touched bare metal on any appliance plugged into the mains I would receive a shock, not a static shock, but a continuous buzzing a bit like one of those TENS Machines you use on strained muscles. Sometimes it's a very low amount, just a slight tingling feeling, but other times it's more intense like a sharp continuous pain similar to having a tattoo.
I spoke to my dad, he told me that there is "No" earth cable in the house, nothing at all. Because Bulgarians don't see the point, it's extra time and extra cost to install! I don't mean to be disrespectful, but they do a half-arsed job of everything to make it quicker and cheaper. Plus everybody over here is a "Jack of all", they think that they can call themselves electricians, roofers, builders, plumbers e.t.c.. just because they know roughly how to do something or they saw a guy do it once. There's a well known joke over here that anyone that owns their own screwdriver or hammer is a "Maestro (Professional) electrician, roofer, builder e.t.c...."
Anyway, so I started wearing thick rubber soled slippers around the house to see if this would help, and it did, it seem to negate the issue by me not becoming the earth when I touch something. Speaking with other people that have moved here from the UK, they all say that they have the same issue, no earth. One couple I'm now friends with said their house was hit by lightning a few years ago and it destroyed everything, literally blew every socket off the walls and fried most of their appliances.
Which is a major concern as this house is on top of a hill and we do get a lot of electrical storms here, much more than the UK. As soon as I hear thunder, I run round unplugging everything, but my dad happily sits at his computer with headphones on saying, "Arrh it'll be all right!"
So, other than ripping out the entire house to rewire, not an option as all the walls, floors and ceilings are thick reinforced concrete. Is there anything that we could do to solve this or at least make it a bit safer???
My second major concern at the moment is that we get power outages frequently due to poor infrastructure. So we recently bought a large powerful generator with the intention of hooking it to the mains so we can switch to the gen when we have a power cut, so we don't have to run extension cables into the house every time.
But my dad insists on getting this local guy to hook it up for us, a *Cough* Professional! He owns a screwdriver and can wire a plug basically! I'm really worried about this as I think this is quite a major thing to do, but my dad thinks it's easy, just a switch and a wire, so anyone can do it.
Is this a simple enough job to do, or is it a big job that needs a "Real Professional". If it's done incorrectly could it cause a fire or someone to get a big shock??? Or am I just worrying about nothing??
Thank you to all that read this, sorry it's such along post.
Regards
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