Another Bloody Cowboy, is this the worst CU change ever ???

[bwm730]

Came across this recent CU change yesterday while quoting to replace some Storage Heaters.
The builder had replaced the original Main CU and seperate Economy7 CU with the unit pictured below.
He crammed both sets of tails into the mainswitch by cutting some cores off of each tail and put a strip of wood between the tails as extra insulation.
He installed the 1mm lighting circuit on a 20A MCB, the 6mm Cooker circuit on a 63A MCB and put 2 seperate ring circuits on 1 32A MCB.
Obviously no testing or certificates, he even mounted the new CU lower than the old ones so that now the door hit it when fully opened.
I advised the customer to contact LABC and Trading Standards and wait to see any results.

I have now replaced this with 2 seperate CU's, fully tested and certificated ( 2 IR faults found ) .

The Cowboy's skills are not limited to electrics as he also stuck some ceramic floor tiles down in the bathroom and kitchen with NO NAILS which have now started to crack and the laminate floor in the bedroom has been laid so tight to the wall that it is now rising in the middle.

 

[Tonkatoy27]

Full marks for effort. Must of been a right mission to ram that lot in. I had builders con unit similar to this a couple of years ago, as usual nobody wanted to know when the house owner contacted them. LABC were only interested in getting him to get someone else to issue certificates...

 

[tony mc]

If you do not cut off a few strands how do you go about getting the two 25mm cables into the isolator !:bucktooth:






Joking aside what was the white tape or whatever it is covering the line on the breaker switched off !

 

[Tonkatoy27]

well he obviously does not know what a henley block is lol

but the're sooooo expensive...

 

[plugsandsparks]

Well, not even going to put my tongue in cheek and ask if it worked. Jesus, that is amazing and simply has to go in the latest mag from NIC or NApit etc.

BTW did the cover actually fit ?

Deserves an award of some type...

 

[rich.250]

Deserves to be on a ward you mean

 

[Adam W]

I think this is a good example of why part P is counter-productive - cash-strapped householders would rather pay a hundred quid in cash to help out a friend of a friend or the nice builder with kids to feed, than pay 4 times that to some obstructive electrician who keeps going on about how all of a sudden you need rcd protection and the bonding which has been there since you moved in now isn't good enough any more, wastes time faffing about with testing and wants you to pay a premium for a load of red tape, much of it going to the government anyway.

Some of this might seem reasonable if you're getting a perfectly competent commercial/industrial/retired electrician who sometimes does private jobs at the weekend and to whom it doesn't make financial sense to be a member of a scheme, but in this case I agree that this builder guy should be taken outside and shot.

 

[Guitarist]

Not even funny this one. Hope he is imprisoned for that.

 

[SPARTYKUS]

The thing is, he's probably looked at it (the bloke that did it), on here, and had a laugh with his mates. he'll never have to answer for it.

Still, a few hundred for someone a bit more ethical !

 

[alarm man]

I think this is a good example of why part P is counter-productive - cash-strapped householders would rather pay a hundred quid in cash to help out a friend of a friend or the nice builder with kids to feed, than pay 4 times that to some obstructive electrician who keeps going on about how all of a sudden you need rcd protection and the bonding which has been there since you moved in now isn't good enough any more, wastes time faffing about with testing and wants you to pay a premium for a load of red tape, much of it going to the government anyway.

Some of this might seem reasonable if you're getting a perfectly competent commercial/industrial/retired electrician who sometimes does private jobs at the weekend and to whom it doesn't make financial sense to be a member of a scheme, but in this case I agree that this builder guy should be taken outside and shot.

why is it just commercial/industrial sparks are competent and di's are qualified,scheme or not theres plenty of sparks do cash jobs,always has been always will be,part p wont change a thing never has never will,cant see the problem with a spark paying a fortune in tax & ni doing a bit for cash,id call it a rebate..until a spark (not a di) gets hauled up in front of the beak for doing work and not being part p and gets prosecuted(wont happen) nothing will change regards part p and cash jobs

 

[Guest111]

typical of some builders,once I had one who asked for a price for a job labour only then turned up with a load of secondhand gear,some of it covered in paint saw him once buying second hand gear from car boot sales.needless to say I walked away from it.but builders seem to be wanting maximum profit with minimum outlay and the electrics seem to be the favourite area for savings.

 

[rich.250]

I know of a local spark who was prosecuted for not being part p!
They called him incompetent! Mind you I do think he had done any updates in 30years since his apprenticeship! Lol.

Yet builders get away with this crap, that is far far far worse!
Makes no sense.
IMO part p needs higher entry requirements, but that's another story lol

 

[sparky-s-w]

i say well done to him, no mean feat cramming 2 lots of tails into such a small board.
could do with him next time im dressing a 90mm armoured.

send it to proffesional electrician magazine.

 

[alarm man]

I know of a local spark who was prosecuted for not being part p!
They called him incompetent! Mind you I do think he had done any updates in 30years since his apprenticeship! Lol.

Yet builders get away with this crap, that is far far far worse!
Makes no sense.
IMO part p needs higher entry requirements, but that's another story lol

have you got a link for that,part p needs scrapping simple as..

 

[Silly Sausage]

why is it just commercial/industrial sparks are competent and di's are qualified,scheme or not theres plenty of sparks do cash jobs,always has been always will be,part p wont change a thing never has never will,cant see the problem with a spark paying a fortune in tax & ni doing a bit for cash,id call it a rebate..until a spark (not a di) gets hauled up in front of the beak for doing work and not being part p and gets prosecuted(wont happen) nothing will change regards part p and cash jobs

I think the simple answer to that is, to be comm/ind, you invariably have to go through the interview/references process etc., whereas, it appears to me, virtually anyone can walk into someones house claiming to be an electrician, and by the looks of it, do whatever (and charge) they like.

 

[rich.250]

No mate, it was a local guy. I will ask around for some info