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I thought that myself but gave him the benefit of the doubt lol, He is obviously an enthusiast who likes to keep his hand in if it is the OP.

If I remember rightly the OP used to work for one of the DNO's - so he's probably got his feet up, drinking a beer, all funded by the poor unsuspecting consumer...
 
To be honest I have always maintained that a domestic house rewire is not really rocket science. The circuits involved are usually very simple and "deemed to satisfy" assuming a fairly basic install. I can see no reason an intelligent person with a bit of diligent research cannot do this. I think the caution would be the insurance and safety (in terms of testing) If he had gone the proper route (Building control) he could have paid a few hundred and attended to that aspect as well. I mean what price safety???
As it is he has broken Building Control requirements law by not notifying and probably made difficult a sale of the house in the future as well as compromising his house insurance, all of which could have been sorted by going the proper routes. To answer the attitude thing, very cavalier!
 
To be honest I have always maintained that a domestic house rewire is not really rocket science. The circuits involved are usually very simple and "deemed to satisfy" assuming a fairly basic install. I can see no reason an intelligent person with a bit of diligent research cannot do this. I think the caution would be the insurance and safety (in terms of testing) If he had gone the proper route (Building control) he could have paid a few hundred and attended to that aspect as well. I mean what price safety???
As it is he has broken Building Control requirements law by not notifying and probably made difficult a sale of the house in the future as well as compromising his house insurance, all of which could have been sorted by going the proper routes.

It's not rocket science no, but it's not simple either.
Your view is shapped by the fact that you do this sort of work day in day out and for the most part do not have to think about it too much.
The work is indeed fairly straight forwrd, it's the theory behind it that you would struggle with, without experiance and knowledge.
 
I don't think you could call a heating system easy if not electrically knowlegable, an S plan or even a basic Y plan would confuse some people lol, I doubt the OP even knows what they are, also connecting up the DB to the meter as well, how did he do that?
 
fairly straight forwrd, it's the theory
I do agree, I was at a commercial kitchen the other day and a bright young man working there (not an electrician) had worked out all of the loads and what he could and could not put in to the kitchen. I asked him how the diversity affected his calculations, and did he apply C factors to the wiring methods, and so on. I suggested he should speak to an Electrician and get some advice....Ohhh hang on...
 
heating system easy if not electrically knowlegable, an S plan or even a basic Y plan would confuse some people lol, I doubt the OP even knows what they are, also connecting up the DB to the meter as well, how did he do that
Apparently he paid for someone to do that according to the OP.
 
Ok let's just agree that anything not done by a fully qualified and trained person is unsafe, so no carpentry, roofing, car repairs etc etc should be done by any one else. I have seen jobs done by so called qualified sparks with all the fancy stickers on their self maintained vans, which of course shouldn't be on the road because they are unsafe, with all the letters after their name that could have been done better than a blind martian. Like it or not, wiring can be done safely by any intelligent person. I was taught the amateur radio course by an unlicensed person. He'd forgotten more than I will ever know. I know safety isn't the same issue here, but the principle is the same.
 
Ok let's just agree that anything not done by a fully qualified and trained person is unsafe, so no carpentry, roofing, car repairs etc etc should be done by any one else. I have seen jobs done by so called qualified sparks with all the fancy stickers on their self maintained vans, which of course shouldn't be on the road because they are unsafe, with all the letters after their name that could have been done better than a blind martian. Like it or not, wiring can be done safely by any intelligent person. I was taught the amateur radio course by an unlicensed person. He'd forgotten more than I will ever know. I know safety isn't the same issue here, but the principle is the same.

You are perfectly entitled to your opinion, but you are repeating yourself.
You have not addressed any of the issues brought up in this thread such as proof of competence, testing to prove safety, compliance with the wiring regulations, compliance with the law, insurance validity etc.
Any intelligent person would address these issues and take them into account.
 
You get knobs in all walks of life, great he inherited a house in Cumbria, if his relatives had been hard working then he would have inherited something in London and been a real smug git, but he isn't and won't be.

Everyone is a smart arse until it goes wrong, I do my own boiler repairs as well as certain jobs on the car and anything else as next week I need to replace a fence......... and service the neighbours wives, no complaints so far.......
 
It might be safe, it might not be. Who knows? As Andy says above the regs is no 'how-to guide' it's written in quasi-legal speak and wouldn't make sense to anyone who didn't already have some idea of what they were doing.
Pulling in cables isn't rocket science, if you know what you're doing, but then anything is easy if you know what you're doing. The question is whether or not this guy actually does, bearing in mind that everyone seems to think they can 'do electrics' but then leave a trail of cables buried outside prescribed zones and connector blocks plastered into the walls which they had no idea they weren't supposed to do.
 
Ok let's just agree that anything not done by a fully qualified and trained person is unsafe, so no carpentry, roofing, car repairs etc etc should be done by any one else. I have seen jobs done by so called qualified sparks with all the fancy stickers on their self maintained vans, which of course shouldn't be on the road because they are unsafe, with all the letters after their name that could have been done better than a blind martian. Like it or not, wiring can be done safely by any intelligent person. I was taught the amateur radio course by an unlicensed person. He'd forgotten more than I will ever know. I know safety isn't the same issue here, but the principle is the same.

Why didn't they go down the building control route? If they had then they could of completed the work themselves and all would of been above board....
 
Ok let's just agree that anything not done by a fully qualified and trained person is unsafe, so no carpentry, roofing, car repairs etc etc should be done by any one else. I have seen jobs done by so called qualified sparks with all the fancy stickers on their self maintained vans, which of course shouldn't be on the road because they are unsafe, with all the letters after their name that could have been done better than a blind martian. Like it or not, wiring can be done safely by any intelligent person. I was taught the amateur radio course by an unlicensed person. He'd forgotten more than I will ever know. I know safety isn't the same issue here, but the principle is the same.
Was it you that wired this house?
If not, how do you know it's such a good job? Pretty much every spark on this forum that works in domestic sector will have seen some bad DIY bodges, that the home owner themselves did and think is a great job.
 
carpentry, roofing, car repairs
Personally I would not equate (and object to) any of those trades with Electrician, I am sorry to say there is a lot more maths and theory with electrical work, and the consequence of those trades getting it wrong can not be lumped into the same consequences of getting electrical installation wrong. It is much more fraught with danger on a day to day basis. In Germany if you are an electrician you are treated with great respect it seems they understand the technical aspects of the trade are more scientific on a day to day basis, here we get less than an automotive engineer. We are lumped in with plasterers, labourers and such like. Somewhat unfair I think.
 
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So I just re-wired something done by a Landlord in a commercial kitchen. It was atrocious! Even the way he had installed new cables had caused the IR test to drop to 30% of its possible result just through stressing the cable alone. It is not quite as simple as it seems even the installation of the cables requires particular ways to avoid this stress to cables, even to how you reel off the cable from the drum. Sound pernickety? No it is not, just proper install technique.
 
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Sorry I got a bit irate, but when some one says he hopes a person fries because he rewired his own house to save money, then I do find it hard to keep calm.
I don't get irate on here, too often, but when you get people throwing such rubbish around, it does get my back up.
I made the 'comment' as an innuendo and, in no way would I wish such upon anyone....even if they do disregard all I stand for as an electrical contractor.
The whole point is that it is quite possible that someone could be seriously injured due to the use of hair brained DIY electrical work, even if the possible perpetrators do believe they are 'qualified' to carry it out.
When I install, even if I'm 100% sure I've done things correctly, test and inspection is required. Anyone can make a mistake, be it major or minor, and serious consequences could result.
I've just had a read through the 'wiring stables' thread
and I've never seen such an embarrassing number of 'dumbs' and 'disagrees'. Must have the hide of a buffalo starting another one so ridiculous.
I think I'll leave it at that.
 
DIY gas work is not permitted. Electrical should be the same.
Everybody tries to do something they are not qualified to do. And I must admit I have tried just about everything. (gas included, but that was LPG, and on a barbeque)
Try to be a joiner, cut a bit of wood short, or offline, and the worse is it doesn't look good.
Try to be a decorator. Paint is a messy business. worst case is it doesn't look good.
Even a plumber. Do it wrong, and you can get a little wet.

Gas engineer. Have to be gassafe registered. have to be trained and qualified. Do that wrong and there could be an almighty bang one day

Electricians are well trained, even more so than gas engineers. There should be a register for all qualified sparks such as gassafe.
Get this wrong, and there could be a bang. or not. Electricity is silent. It sneaks up on you and grabs you from behind.

We are trained to do the work and TEST it afterwards, to ensure the end user will be safe. Some members on this forum can be quick to criticise DIY work, and perhaps rightly so. They have had years of coming across DIY bodge jobs and having to fix them.

I am sure the OP's friend has done the work to the best of his ability. However, without proper testing, it is nothing
 

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