25
Jan

The Doctor’s surgery is now open for personal consultations!

Posted by admin

Hello All!

It is now a few weeks since we launched the “Second Fix”.  Sales have been very brisk with no advertising thus far!  Anyhow, now it is time to get down to brass tacks.  This page is my open surgery where I shall take all questions or comments on the book, or anything else that takes your fancy, electrically speaking!  I’m waiting……

Best wishes

Alan

Category : Part-P Books

24 Responses to “The Doctor’s surgery is now open for personal consultations!”


leckyles January 26, 2010

Hi Al.
Good Luck on the opening of your new practice, i hope you soon gain many new patients,and have great sucess in Diagnosing & treating their Ailments…
I must confess I have yet to obtain a copy of your latest offering…but intend to put that right very soon. I Hear it is receiving Great reviews within the trade and on various Electrical Forums….Much deserved i am sure .
…Will Post again soon.

Regards….Les

-By the way Al can you explain the reason why i am requested to copy Security codes each time prior to posting ?

Don Potts January 28, 2010

Well i never !
nice to track the elusive doctor…

doctor p i presume, not livingston.

best wishes don potts.

Don Potts January 28, 2010

Doctor p i presume…?

like dr livingston…..very elusive !

best wishes ,d.potts.

admin January 31, 2010

Hi Don!
Am ready and waiting, like Robert De Niro in \Taxi Driver\ ( said in deep menacing New York accent)

\You talkin to me?\

carol johnson February 10, 2010

Hi you wont remember me I spoke to you on the phone think it was around dec 2008 I bought a copy of your 1st book and very good it was just 1 question you said in it that putting cables down cavities was ok have you changed your mind or has anything changed since the 17th edit only cant find anything anywhere that says you cant do it now if you can help on this question I would be very grateful,I will be buying your new book but i do need to know answer asap.

Thank you.

Carol Johnson Lysco Electrical

admin February 10, 2010

Hi Carol,
Thank you for your note and kind words!
I am sorry for the delay in my reply as I work in college till 9 pm on Wednesday nights.
As to cavity wiring there is no change in policy from anyone, including myself!
It is still included in the new book on page 31 in my “myth-busters” comments.
On the latest project house I had to install some new cabling. The mains was under the stairs and I was forced to use the cavity wall to get up above. This home had the dreaded insulation so I merely pilot drilled and carefully removed bricks in the outside wall. I then proceeded to viciously roger the cavity with a trunking lid till I removed the ‘orrible stuff.
I cant get my head round this whole thing. In the beginning God made all the little animals with fur to trap air to keep them warm. Fast forward a few millennia and Homo sapian covered him self in animal skins to trap air and thus heat. Now some dude knocks on your door and sells this chemical alternative that brings nothing but damp transfer and great grief for sparkies the world over!!!
Rant over now, going to lie down!
Bye for now
Alan

carol johnson February 11, 2010

Hi Alan,
Thank you very much for your help and I quite agree with you its a real pain.Could you please send me an address where I can purchase your new book as I dont want to use my card on the internet abit old fashioned about these things.Hope you enjoyed your lie down I do that quite abit these days as everything seems to be sent to try us.

Regards and thanks again.

Carol Johnson

admin February 11, 2010

Hi Carol,
No worries!
The doctor’s HQ is:
13 Haddon Ave,
New Moston
Manchester,
M40 3SB
Make your cheque payable to “Electrickery publishing”
Thank you again Carol.

carol johnson February 12, 2010

Hi Alan ,

Thanks for the address,but you will really think Im thick How much is it ?
Im looking forward to a great read so thanks again,

Take care.

Carol.

admin February 12, 2010

Hi Carol,
No of course you are not thick! I am daft for assuming you knew! It is £15.95 + £3.90 pp which is a total of £19.85…..

carol johnson February 14, 2010

Hi Alan,

Thanks for that the cheque will be in the post first thing tomorrow,just one more thing ahead of getting the book could i ask you one more thing(hopeing you will say yes)If I am putting a socket in a kitchen onto an excisting circuit do I need RCD protection.

Thanks

Take care.

Carol.

admin February 14, 2010

Hi Carol,
Cheers for that! Now do not forget to put your address on the letter otherwise we won’t know where to send it!
As to your question, wow! That is a bigger question than you would think! I shall break it down into factoids!

The new regs state that all wiring sunk in walls, in the “safe zones” but in regular twin and earth must have 30mA rcd protection. The regs also state that all sockets in a house must also be 30mA rcd protected. There is an exception to this where it supplies “one item of equipment only” like say a fridge and must be marked up as such so……
……on a minor works,
1 if you keep the wiring surface and supply one item of equipment then no
2 if you sink the new wiring for the above then yes
3 if you wire a “general use socket” then yes again

I have found that if the board will take it then the rcbo is the way to go. If it wont I will fit an rcd enclosure next to the consumer unit and pull the ring lines and neutrals back to that new rcd. I then feed the rcd off the now spare way in the board with some 6mm sq singles.
the top and bottom of it is that the minor works bit at the minimum must comply with the 17th edition even though the rest may not….

does this help to explain it?

Best wishes
Alan

carol johnson February 15, 2010

Hi Alan
Thank you for the information it was much appreciated I understand it now thought it was right but just wanted to be sure you explained it very well just like your book on that subject Im very glad you said about sending the address with the cheque I hadnt thought (theres no hope for me) but dont worry Iv done it now and you should get it tomorrow with any luck,so once again thank you for all your help and Il look forward to receiving it very soon.

Take Care.

Regards Carol.

admin February 16, 2010

Hi Carol,
Your cheque arrived today…..
The book will be posted in the next couple of days when Dave Gee, our intrepid art-man/postman gets to the PO.
He is the one who deserves more credit than me, a real clever person! :)

carol johnson February 17, 2010

Hi Alan,

Glad you got it and thanks to Dave Gee aswel.

Take care,

Regards Carol

carol johnson February 22, 2010

Hi Alan,

Book arrived safely thanks read it from cover to cover over the weekend didnt think you could have improved on the last one but you have great book really enjoyed it very informative cant wait for the next one.

Take care and thanks for everything.

Regards Carol.

admin February 23, 2010

Hi Carol!
Always a pleasure and never a chore!
Thank you for you kind comments, I am humbled. I am proud and it was hard work by Dave and me but nice words make it all worthwhile!
I promise I will get my install book done before I shuffle off to “electricians death row!”
I shall one day install you as president of my fan club!

simon norton March 9, 2010

Hi Alan

Thanks for such an amazing book. I am just starting out in the world of electrical installation, Having bought other books to give me a heads up on the subject first. Your book is totally different just makes sense first time, without reading again. Just need to get my self on a 2330 course now.

Thank you

simon

admin March 10, 2010

Thank you Simon,
Truly humbling! It was never done for the money, though that does come in handy! It was 25 years in the making and done as a labour of love- stuff like this makes it worthwhile. I passed your words through to our art man Dave Gee, he nearly went misty eyed too!
Best wishes
Alan…

Will March 17, 2010

Hi Doc,
Nice to be able to join your blogsite, so thanks for the invite.
Just a quickie- I’m doing a C.U. change on extant installation with only one upgrade, client wants smoke alarms up & down. Problem is that interlink cable access is near impossible to install. Whilst it’s obviously in the regs as a requirement for new installations/new builds, is it really breaking the rules to not link them? I asked a mate who’s been a sparks for 20 years and he doesn’t know either! My reasoning is 2 separate alarms are a big improvement on none at all!!!
Would you care to comment on this please?
Cheers, Will :o )

admin March 18, 2010

Hi Will and welcome!

As far as I know, linked alarms are the order of the day on new builds only. Rewires and so on are exempt. I would say that two smokes, unlinked, would be a good job.
Remember that linked units create a really noisy house if you burn that toast!

Will March 18, 2010

Thanks Alan,
You make it sound a lot less scary in those words, especially I like “exempt”!!
Appreciate your help. I stumbled across the site link on talk electrician forum.
Didn’t know about book but may have to get a copy, sounds cool!

Cheers for now,
Will

admin March 18, 2010

Hi Will,
No worries.
As to the advice, fire stuff comes under part B of the building regs so……

If you are ’self certifying’ ask your scheme providor
If you are paying building control, ask them
And if you are doing neither………. ;)

Will March 21, 2010

OK, with NAPIT actually, only recently.
For the record, my client (who is a H+S conscious surveyor) decided to pay the extra for a wireless interlinked system after all.

All the best for now,
Will.



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