Electrical tips and tricks

Hello All,

Things have been hectic this last couple of weeks.  I have been mad busy with the intrepid Dave Gee finally getting the “Part P Doctor 2nd fix” to a finished state.   They say in show business, you should never work with children, animals or family (or something like that!)

For my sins, I went to Ireland last week to wire up my sisters new house/ mansion…….This is it from a distance….

It is set in the heart of the Irish countryside in 6 acres of land.  It was a visit to first fix and I had a lift from my sister Polly and her fella Mick.  I put in 800m of cable fully clipped in 3 1/2 days, truly exhausting!  It does not look that big in the photo, but trust me, it comes in at over 2,500 square feet so compares well to my 800 square foot town house in my slum!

My knees are killing me here!

There are lots of differences between UK and Irish install but so far I have established……

Wiring to points cannot be plastered in but must be in conduit

Wiring to switches cannot be sleeved for identification, you have to use single and twin browns everywhere

You have to install your own earth rod, no matter what the supply delivery

The main switch must be single pole, so no neutral switching allowed

No main bond to, water or gas. They run one into what they call the “hot press” . That’s a cylinder cupboard in old money!

I am sure there others that I have forgotten but I will post when we get to 2nd fix stage.

Bye for now!

Alan

Hi all,

This week has been a distraction from normal activities.  I am doing my first 2391 at my local college and I believe it has gone well!

Remember, if you are looking at doing this, you need to know the basics…..

GS38

Basic and fault protection

Exposed and extraneous conductive parts

Difference between B, C and D breakers

Breaking capacities of fuses and breakers

Earthing systems and earthing terminology

The testing order (CRIPPER) That’s Continuity; Ring; Insulation res; Polarity Dead: Polarity live; Earth loop impedance/earth electrode res; RCD.

Thats enough to whet your appetite for now!  the practical exams  are tomorrow. I will keep you posted……

stop press….

I had a verification visit today (Thursday) while doing my practicals!  Everything went well!

I have had calls tonight from some of the lads saying the exam had gone well. However, there is now a 10 week wait for the results! I will keep you posted…..

Bye for now…..

alan

I thought that would get you interested!  Today I am discussing different studs, joint box studs! Last week A customer phoned me to finish off his lounge.  He had scabby wiring to a center light and four wall lights. He wanted these in the same places plus an extra light in his new feature fire place.Now the way all these modern fittings work, there is usually a shortage of space to fit all the wiring.  On top of this he is wiring a fancy sound system with speakers in the ceiling. Therefore I decided to wire it all to a joint box in one of these speaker holes. 

A bit tight but a real good job. Let me explain…… continue

Hi 

A hello to all my readers, all two of you……(only joking!)

My travels took me to the IOM TT last week.  I had an enjoyable time, being an ardent motorcycling enthusiast.  However, as an electrician and teacher I am like a good policeman who is never off duty.  I was staying in the lovely seaside town of Laxey and spotted this….. continue

Hello students!

This part now gets us further into the book. at the end of part 2 we have decided that our grommet reg is somewhere in chapter 52. So leaving page 3 you now have to scoot over to the CONTENTS page for chapter 52.  This you will find on page 96.

you will see here……. continue

Hello students!

Well, our first lesson had a look at the layout of the regulations. Now it is time to see how they work in real life!  If we were re-wiring a house and say putting in new sockets one of us would pop out to the van to get grommets to install in the socket boxes.  This, as we know, saves pressure faults causing blow ups!  Now, the question is, where is it in the book?

You should now be on page 3 which is where you should always look firstly! continue

Hello everyone, again!

I had a call at the office today from a “Part P Doctor” purchaser, asking if I was doing more writing these days.  I replied that, though busy, I did have a new “Doctor” actioned and was “on” with a tips and tricks book.

He asked if I was ever going to do a “How to pass the 17th edition book”.  I said I had considered perhaps for the future, but told him to tune in here for a quick crash course for now! So here I am as promised!

So, you really want to know the secret of navigating the book?  Well the secret is, wait for it, not a secret at all, but stares at you when you open the book! Are you ready for the “secret”? then read on…… continue

Hello, and a happy new year to you all!  I hope the present economic “difficulties” are not affecting you too much.  Rest assured that if your business does go “belly up” you will be able to stroll down Whitehall with the captains of industry/banking and get a tasty bale-out from ministers, not….

Anyhow, now for something on a different subject.  When I teach 2391 (inspection and testing) I do get rather bored looking at the same old questions. One that comes up all the time is regarding circuit polarity.  This basically means keeping the wiring “correct” and to convention. Now the question goes along the lines of “Where must correct polarity be observed”

Guidance note 3 states that it is necessary to check that all fuses and single pole switches are in the line conductor, so far so good. It also states that sockets must be wired correctly and finally that screw type lamp-holders have line connected to the centre contact, with neutral being assigned to the screw thread.

Now this pretty sensible because you don’t want the thread as a live conductor as it is exposed, big and easily touchable!  An exception is given to E14 and E27 holders to BS EN 60238. When I teach this part there are a lot of blank expressions around the room.  The regulations people are talking about this…

So there ends the confusion! Yes it is an edison screw lamp-holder but the line and neutral contacts are buried deep inside so it does not matter which way you connect it up.  If you stick your pinky in here you cannot be saved and probably asked for it anyhow….

Now for completeness I will talk about the numbers and letters.  The “E” means edison, named after the great American inventor and one of the fathers of electricity.  the number is the size of the thread in mm.

The three sizes available here in this part of the world are E14, E27 and E40.  The big ones are used on street lights and such…You may also hear some sparkies refer to these by their old names.  The small one is sometimes called a  ”lilliput” type ( you know as in Gulliver’s travels) and the big one, wait for it, “goliath” (as in David and Goliath from the old testament) The middle one has no name, as it is all complicated enough as it is!

I thought that may get you interested then!  This scenario involves pulling an armoured cable through a duct recently.  Now you know how it works you pull and pull and it comes off half way through…. continue

Oh yes, i just don’t write and teach, I can do a bit now and again! You know how it is, there are all these sparkies cracking that nice decor joint between the wall and skirting board while wiring new sockets.  I, however, do not suffer such woes as i have my secret weapon….

Yes, a 400mm bar about 10-12mm in diameter with a gentle bend in it.  You simply hammer it down curving behind that pesky skirt. Even if the flooring goes tight to the wall you can simply punch straight through it with this baby!

Now I can hear you saying, “Yes clever dick, but how do you get it back out when it sticks?”  Well, that is also a non-brainer.  With a little use, a mushroom head forms on the top of it so to remove you simply grip under the mushroom and “reverse hammer” it back out of there….clever eh?