Author Topic: Now I do really need an electrician  (Read 7257 times)

Now I do really need an electrician
« on: 06 April, 2008, 09:53:28 pm »
Back over at acf classic I asked for some help with some power points that were playing up. True to form, I have done nothing about them. And now the entire downstairs lighting loop is on the blink.

Can anyone recommend an electrician in SW London or am I going to have to run the gauntlet of the yellow pages rip-off merchants? Please help!

steveB

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #1 on: 06 April, 2008, 10:14:44 pm »
You're right to ask for a recommendation, I was an electrician in a previous life and have kept in touch with old colleagues, sadly none of them live your way.  They tell me that the standard of work out there can be shocking (no pun intended), house wiring is technically simple, but good practices need to be adhered to.

Recommendation is everything nowadays.  I recently paid a couple of grand to have the roof fixed, used a large local company and guess what? I still leaked in some places.  After the event I found a local roofer who came highly recommended for his work but not his reliability, he eventually turned up and repaired a leaking Velux window for thirty quid.

simonali

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #2 on: 07 April, 2008, 01:20:15 am »
What is wrong and how old is the wiring? If the house wiring is old it might need a full rewire, which your local electricity board should be able to help with.

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #3 on: 07 April, 2008, 09:35:40 am »
What is wrong
I don't know, other than the downstairs lights don't work, and the switches on several different sockets are stuck on "on" and the sockets don't work

Quote
and how old is the wiring?
I don't know, but the fusebox ain't modern

Quote
If the house wiring is old it might need a full rewire
That's what I'm scared of

Quote
which your local electricity board should be able to help with.
I didn't know that. A glimmer of light? I'm going to investigate...

~Thanks

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #4 on: 07 April, 2008, 10:31:40 am »


Quote
which your local electricity board should be able to help with.
I didn't know that. A glimmer of light? I'm going to investigate...

~Thanks

nooooooooooooooo   :o

unless the main board needs replacing, bitter experience has shown that a recommended sparky is a much better bet than the local electricity company who will take ages to appear (and then be late) and be ruddy expensive.

Do you know any local estate agents? [spit]   Ask them who they use to tidy up the rental properties they manage.


Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #5 on: 07 April, 2008, 10:49:51 am »
It's okay, I've found someone local who I think might be reliable.

We'll see what happens...

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #6 on: 07 April, 2008, 11:49:11 am »
If the house is pre-1950s and the wiring has a rubber coating, the house needs a full rewire asap; the insulation will have broken down.  If it's PVC-coated it is probably fixable, although it depends how badly it was designed in the first place.  The idiots at Bovis Homes put ALL our power sockets, and the whole separate garage, on one 30A circuit - and this isn't a small house.  Fortunately our power needs are reducing rather than increasing over time.

(Edited because it didn't actually make much sense)
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #7 on: 07 April, 2008, 03:39:46 pm »
*whimper*

What, exactly, would be rubber coated?

Pete

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #8 on: 07 April, 2008, 03:57:50 pm »
*whimper*

What, exactly, would be rubber coated?
This is something you might be able to check for yourself, but you're not comfortable about doing this, wait for the electricians to come, they'll be able to tell you.  You must make sure that the correct circuit is turned off at the fuse-box: do this in daytime and if you're in any doubt as to which is the right circuit, turn everything off!

Climb some steps, find a ceiling rose above a pendant light and unscrew it carefully.  Look at the wiring leading to the terminals inside but don't touch anything.  If the insulation sleeving looks hard, crumbly and discoloured (indeed it may be difficult to tell which was originally red and which black), you've got rubber and a problem.  If the insulation looks smooth and plasticky, and the colours are still bright, you're on PVC and should be OK.

Hope this helps.

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #9 on: 07 April, 2008, 04:29:06 pm »
Thanks for that, Pete. (Hello, by the way!)

I think I'll wait for the electrician.  ;D

simonali

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #10 on: 07 April, 2008, 09:04:43 pm »
Once, my sister-in-law asked me if I could go round their house and put up some new light fittings and switches in the lounge and dining room. When I got there I found that the brother-in-law had helpfully made a start on the job and had removed all the existing stuff, just leaving all the cables sticking out of the walls and ceiling. Aaagggghhhh!!!

Took me most of the day to reassemble their lighting circuits correctly without the meter that I didn't take!!

Pete

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #11 on: 08 April, 2008, 12:18:30 pm »
I think I'll wait for the electrician.  ;D
Probably best thing - on reflection - very wise of you.

I remember a wiring 'horror story' of my own, but please don't get alarmed: quite often the wiring turns out to be fine and even a re-wire is not a catastrophe!

We were checking over my father-in-law's house when it was sold after his death, cleaning up and removing all the stuff not included in the sale, etc. etc.  I noticed that a wall-mounted light fitting wasn't working properly, so I casually unscrewed it from the wall.  As I gave the wires a little tug a mini-avalanche of perished rubbery crumbs poured out of the hole in the wall, leaving nothing but a couple of strands of bare copper disappearing into the darkness and no way of re-insulating them  :o .  I had to leave it all switched off, and shamefacedly 'fess up to the buyers, that the lighting was all shot up and the first thing they'd have to do before even moving in, was get the electricians in.  This all happened after we'd exchanged contracts, but luckily the buyers were very decent about the whole thing (it was caveat emptor in a situation like this, in any case...)


clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #12 on: 08 April, 2008, 12:24:13 pm »
YHPM
Getting there...

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #13 on: 08 April, 2008, 03:42:50 pm »
I don't know, other than the downstairs lights don't work, and the switches on several different sockets are stuck on "on" and the sockets don't work

From that description I haven't got a clue what's wrong with the downstairs lights, but it sounds like some of the sockets have just got old.  Sometimes you find that with old switches and sockets, that the switch can get a bit temperamental.  Normally it's just a question of replacing the switch/socket, which ought to just be a five minute job (if you're careful you can do it live, but I really wouldn't recommend that!)  A half competent electrician shouldn't charge you much for that.  It's also a pretty simple DIY job, but electrics aren't recommended for those of a nervous DIY bent.

(Of course if the insulation is rubber, then even the newest rubber cable is now starting to perish, and you're buggered. :()
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #14 on: 08 April, 2008, 03:47:34 pm »
I thoroughly recommend you get a socket tester, like one of these
http://www.pat-training.co.uk/socket_testers.htm

Very easy to use, and tells you if you have an immediate major problem (of course, it won't detect an intermittent problem).

I think I bought one from Maplins for a fiver.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #15 on: 08 April, 2008, 04:10:14 pm »
I got the sparky at work to give the house a once over when we bought it.  He used one of those testers.  It "passed".


Then, following some DIY I realised the electrickery was completely stuffed and ended up having a full re-wire >:(


Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #16 on: 08 April, 2008, 04:11:05 pm »
Then, following some DIY I realised the electrickery was completely stuffed and ended up having a full re-wire >:(


Bit of a clue to the problem?
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #17 on: 08 April, 2008, 04:31:34 pm »
Yup, this was previous owners doing DIY on a major scale... and it not being picked up on any survey >:(


e.g.
How to wire up an outside light.
Take one length of three core mains cable, strip to individual wires.
Locate a Wire under floorboards.  Strip outer.  Cut ONE inner and rejoin with chocolateblock. Use this to T off one of above wires, feeding switch.
Locate another Wire under floorboards.  Strip outer.  Cut ONE inner (who cares if it's black and you've got a red cable in your hand) and rejoin with chocolateblock. Use this to T off one of above wires, feeding light.
(I think the other feed to the switch went via the light switch in the lounge.)

How to wire up a cooker hood
Plaster wall.
Place stripped live cable alongside live cable from hood, hold in place with tape.
Place stripped neutral cable alongside neutral cable from hood, hold in place with tape.
Place stripped earth cable alongside earth cable from hood, hold in place with tape.
Press this joint into wet plaster.
Skim.


When I changed the light switch in the lounge the Dining Room light stopped working.

The two way lighting circuit ran off a single two core cable.  Before you wonder how impossible that is, it had additional feeds from the outside light (see above).

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #18 on: 08 April, 2008, 04:54:32 pm »
That's professional standard wiring.

I'm very impressed they managed to do that without ending up with crossed neutral/live wires.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #19 on: 08 April, 2008, 04:58:02 pm »
Yup, this was previous owners doing DIY on a major scale... and it not being picked up on any survey >:( ...

Well, that DIYer should be taken out and shot.

I guess electrics should only be done from a view of some knowledge.  I've got a degree in Physics with Electronics, and have previously done household wiring with other people (family and friends), but I still know that whilst I can deal with limited wiring like adding spurs etc, I know my limitations.  So, I wouldn't attempt to rewire a house without an awful lot of reading up on the subject (and the IEE Regs are tortuous reading!)

Having just had a house survey done, the surveyors approach to electrics was along the lines of "Nothing appears to be wrong, but you should have them inspected by a qualified electrician".  This seemed to be his approach to a large number of subjects, which makes you wonder why you bother employing a surveyor. :-\

Professionals aren't necessarily that much better though.  When this lab was refurbished, which cost of the order of a million quid iirc (five rooms!), they still managed to wire up two sockets incorrectly.  Badly enough that pluging an item in and turning it on caused the circuit breaker to trip.  A socket tester would have detected this, but they clearly didn't bother.  I think each additional double socket we added to the design increased the price by £200. >:(
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #20 on: 08 April, 2008, 05:07:47 pm »
As people may know, I live on a boat.

It was previously a sailing charter barge in Freisland, Nederlands. We bought it from there and brought it across to the UK.

In the UK, boats on inland waters need the equiv of a boat MOT.

The boat has 24V dc and 240V ac wiring. In mixed colours, mixed cabling, mixed everything. DC cabling done with 3-core 240V ac, colours switched about at random. I thought the worst was finding a (plastic) socket next to the diesel heater; it had melted.

Nope, the worst was finding that not only were live and neutral swapped at random, but that the moron who had wired the boat had carefully cut away the earth at every junction they could reach.  I spent 6 hours in the engine room tracing and fixing this. For one cable.  >:(
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #21 on: 08 April, 2008, 05:10:38 pm »
That's professional standard wiring.

I'm very impressed they managed to do that without ending up with crossed neutral/live wires.

It certainly is - when I rewire our house in Coventry I found that the original wiring had been accomplished not with the usual twin and earth type conductor with solid copper cores, but with stranded core cable, all with silver outer insulation, some with red inner insulation, and some with black inner insulation. So the rings were bundles of three wires. I never bothered to check if they'd used red for live and black for neutral and earth....
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #22 on: 09 April, 2008, 07:15:46 pm »
A knight in shining armour on a rather nice blue carlton fixie appeared at my door this morning. We now have lights and working sockets.

Thank you Clarion, you are a gent among gents.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #23 on: 09 April, 2008, 07:20:16 pm »
A knight in shining armour on a rather nice blue carlton fixie appeared at my door this morning. We now have lights and working sockets.

Thank you Clarion, you are a gent among gents.

 :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[
Getting there...

rower40

  • Not my boat. Now sold.
Re: Now I do really need an electrician
« Reply #24 on: 09 April, 2008, 07:25:33 pm »
Clarion, can you tell us what was wrong?  Or would that break patient/doctor confidentiality?

Interested (as a sometime electrical engineer, helping out with other re-wirings and done a few of my own) - and Nosy.
Be Naughty; save Santa a trip