Rubbish products/materials

[Big n Daft]

Right ho chaps and chapesses,
Its time rat out the rubbish. What have you used recently that has been complete and utter poo.
Lets start with anything that has Proteus on the label, and there is some completely useless swa cable out there as well. You know the stuff, its like a coiled spring sitting on the drum waiting to snare you at first pull.

 

[telectrix]

solid strand twin & earth.if it's cold it's a nightmare to work with. not a patch on the old 7/029 and 3/029.

 

[ChristianG]

T&E Cable that has the outer sheath stuck to one of the conductors insulation and you need to terminate a house load of accessories.

Had this experience with cable from City's and Rexel's

 

[Sintra]

Definately anything to do with MCG is pants.


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[Big n Daft]

T&E Cable that has the outer sheath stuck to one of the conductors insulation and you need to terminate a house load of accessories.

Had this experience with cable from City's and Rexel's

Doh!!!

 

[Big n Daft]

Crap swa glands.............
Olive like a ring out of a cracker or its too big and the gland wont go together.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Some pvc conduit my boss had bought the other day (to try and get a job finished) It just would not bend...it just kept kinking and rippling...it wasn`t tecnique.....IT WAS CRAP.........

 

[ruston]

As above. Had 2 out 8 would'nt thread up ,out of separate packets too . Thought I was cracking up.
Most stuff is c9ap now . Cooker outlets with little or no grip, fast fix that pull the ferrules out or wont lead in, could be here all night Lol


OOPS , Not quick enough - was referring to SWA glands.

 

[DurhamSparky]

start from the top

Cavity boxes made by a company other than Appleby ( you know the type)
Any CED Product
Any Chint Product
Any Proteck/Proteus/Marbo product

 

[GLENNSPARK]

As above. Had 2 out 8 would'nt thread up ,out of separate packets too . Thought I was cracking up.
Most stuff is c9ap now . Cooker outlets with little or no grip, fast fix that pull the ferrules out or wont lead in, could be here all night Lol


OOPS , Not quick enough - was referring to SWA glands.

Had loads of fastfix boxes that wont start screws and ferrules pull out myself.........

 

[Engineer54]

Well what can i say!! ...Those totally useless 3/8'' X 1.2m earth electrodes. You can't even extend the dammed things. They should be banned, discontinued, scrapped, or anything else that will get rid of them.... lol!!!

 

[ruston]

Had loads of fastfix boxes that wont start screws and ferrules pull out myself.........

Screws with the leads that do'nt , Board lids that are not made for what you are trying to fit them to , screws that have been made by Mr bean , pattresses that shatter when you open the knockouts,and most J/bs.

 

[baileysufc]

ced plastic conduit :56:

 

[Adam W]

Cheap brass bushes where the manufacturer has totally cheaped out on the amount of brass they put in them; if they're going to do that they could at least have the decency to make a bush spanner that fits them.
I forget the make but on one job I was given some earth sleeving that would split if you rubbed it between your fingers. Why even make something which does that?

 

[Rappid]

Dewalt open-tote tool bag, carry handle broke in under 10 months. They should rebrand their stuff to Black & Decker and change their slogan to 'Guranteed NOT tough'

 

[Hawk81]

The worst suff i have used is Control Gear mcb's and boards. I detest the stuff. Proteus is really bad too.

 

[jeremy]

I hate cheap screws! ( I'm not on another ex-wife rant, she wasn't cheap!) Why would anyone even bother making a screw that wasn't straight, snaps under the slightest amount of torque, doesn't drive into wood etc? Self tapping screws? why make them out of such soft alloy that the slightest slip burrs the head??!! Drives me up the ******* WALL!! ( as opposed to into!) Spax everytime for me. (where's my beer, I need to calm down a bit!)

 

[Knobhead]

solid strand twin & earth.if it's cold it's a nightmare to work with. not a patch on the old 7/029 and 3/029.

Old fart :willy_nilly:

 

[ian]

Proteus C.U, Non branded LED’s, installed 8, replaced 8. neveragain.

 

[Kamikaze]

Not so long ago had the misfortune of screws which unwound and turned themselves into nails while they were being screwed in.

 

[Big n Daft]

Hit a bit of a rich seam with this one.
Next one is conduit boxes with a p!ssed thread, so you give the pipe a tweek and either the spout cracks or the pipe collapses snapping in two.
NEXT........................

 

[Dcf]

ill add mk dual rcd boards to this one

 

[Hawk81]

Robus GU10 LED lamps are pure crap. Eterna vapour proof flouresants are flimsy rubbish. Tower cable clips hate them. B&Q value floodlight, when a customer buys 1 and wants it fitted.

 

[MarkieSparkie]

Magnetic cable guide Magna Mole cheaply made plastic tool, suitable for the DIY market but aimed at professional electricians. Anything tougher than plaster board walls and plastic splits or disintegrates spilling the magnets the tool relies on to work. Utter crap!

 

[Phil]

cheap and nasty cable rods that splinter and leave nasty fibreglass down the finger nails and under the skin.

cheap naff screws

socket sinkers what a load of old tosh

100+ not so fast fix boxes i got stitched up with in Jarrow

a well known large electrical wholesaler that ripped me for £13.50 for a box of penny washers that were £3 in tool station

those 10 lengths of plastic conduit i got stuck with the other week, cracked and split, tbh I thought it was me out of practice but by the previous posts maybe its just naff cheap plastic they are using now.

the rather expensive allegedly dimmable low energy lamp that did not dim

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Tamlight....often poorly thought out and thrown together....Gotta say,despite the slagging off of proteus here,I use it on cheap jobs/temp site supplies etc and have never had a problem with it.
Niglon,stopped using their stuff years ago,after SWA glands which either wouldnt start or pulled off even when wound right down...and 2" locknuts which were so flimsy and loose you could tighten them by hand and they would strip.
RPP IP sockets.....Oh dear.
Marshall tuflex minitrunking....where do you start?
BELL linear T/H lamps...no end of hassle,contacts set too far back in the endcap so they wont meet the pins on the fitting.

Could be here all day!

 

[johnboy6083]

cheap glands, BW glands of any make (i always use CW or E1W), a manufacturer called MCS make our MCC's and control panels, and they are rubbsih in some respects ie- p[anel; trunking that sits dirctly on the gland plate, so that i cant remove it to install cables.

 

[High Tower]

AS said previously

Cheap surface patress' that shatter as soon as you try and open up for a cable
Control gear brand ccu's and breakers......chap tat!
adaptable boxes that have pre determined holes with not enough clearance to get a lock nut on
MK accessories that dont grip the conductor well enough (i only have this problem with MK)
cheap swa with inner insulation that wont strip

ill stop ranting now lol! thank god for the likes of hager, spax etc etc!

 

[telectrix]

AS said previously

Cheap surface patress' that shatter as soon as you try and open up for a cable
Control gear brand ccu's and breakers......chap tat!
adaptable boxes that have pre determined holes with not enough clearance to get a lock nut on
MK accessories that dont grip the conductor well enough (i only have this problem with MK)
cheap swa with inner insulation that wont strip

ill stop ranting now lol! thank god for the likes of hager, spax etc etc!

and adaptable boxes with dual concentric knockouts ( 20mm and 25mm ) when you try and knockout the 20mm, the whole 25mm comes out.

 

[Big n Daft]

Magnetic cable guide Magna Mole cheaply made plastic tool, suitable for the DIY market but aimed at professional electricians. Anything tougher than plaster board walls and plastic splits or disintegrates spilling the magnets the tool relies on to work. Utter crap!

Was that another great idea from Dragons Den, just like the horrible choc block box piece of tat.

 

[Richard Burns]

adaptable boxes that have pre determined holes with not enough clearance to get a lock nut on

I definitely go along with that one and also the cheap screws supplied with fittings that strip as soon as you look at them.
Cheap cable that is stuck together so you can't strip it.
All patresses that shatter and those that do not have enough break out to fit a 2.5 T&E

 

[Amp David]

Definately anything to do with MCG is pants.


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What a suprise, another CEF own brand, a replacement for the good old Proteus they tell me

 

[Amp David]

Tamlight....often poorly thought out and thrown together....Gotta say,despite the slagging off of proteus here,I use it on cheap jobs/temp site supplies etc and have never had a problem with it.
Niglon,stopped using their stuff years ago,after SWA glands which either wouldnt start or pulled off even when wound right down...and 2" locknuts which were so flimsy and loose you could tighten them by hand and they would strip.
RPP IP sockets.....Oh dear.
Marshall tuflex minitrunking....where do you start?
BELL linear T/H lamps...no end of hassle,contacts set too far back in the endcap so they wont meet the pins on the fitting.

Could be here all day!

RPP sockets and switches, the whole range, pants

 

[ruston]

I wonder between us all how many man hours have been wasted rectifying c9ap gear. And when you go to the wholesaler they tell you- "you are the only one that brings stuff back".
So it's not just us then!

 

[Kamikaze]

Just as a matter of curiosity, does anyone else have problems tightening the screws on 16A Crabtree Polestar breakers, or is it just me? All other sizes appear ok, just not the 16A once.

 

[Rockingit]

Just as a matter of curiosity, does anyone else have problems tightening the screws on 16A Crabtree Polestar breakers, or is it just me?

Can't comment on Crabtree specifically, but one recent-ish thing which is really getting on my ---- is that we are now all encouraged / required by the various CU manufacturers to go out and buy expensive torque screwdrivers.....and then they fit cheapy cheap screws inside that shear before you get anywhere near the setting they say to tighten too - neutral and earth bars normally. FFS, really.

 

[Rockingit]

And to add to the list of crap kit: Any light fitting, ever, that has come out of a box with 'Homebase' written on it.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

This crappy bathroom lightfitting that a client insisted we put up for her the other day B&Q with "made in china" on the inside...pressed out of tin so thin you risked buckling it just by holding it too tightly...cable entries in the wrong place and crappy plastic clips holding a glass shade to it all....just dying to come off and conk someone on the head that one......if it were my choice it would have been in the bin with it..........

 

[D Skelton]

Any plasterboard backboxes from TLC! They're horrendous.

 

[rsmck]

Magnetic cable guide Magna Mole cheaply made plastic tool, suitable for the DIY market but aimed at professional electricians. Anything tougher than plaster board walls and plastic splits or disintegrates spilling the magnets the tool relies on to work. Utter crap!

This product was featured on Dragon's Den when it first came out and I seem to remember the quote "You kind of almost want your product to break occasionally" when addressing the size of the market. Guess this is why they sell spare magnets