Electricians Tips from a professional electrician

[littlespark]

Electricians Tips from a professional electrician in the UK Electrical Forum

Sometimes you need to work in an old house, and there’s a number of threads on here about how to, say, fit downlights in a lathe ceiling.....

Here’s a start... on lathe and plaster walls without making a huge mess....

Mark where you want the socket to go. Height wise, measure an existing one from either the floor or the top of the skirting.


Next, use a pad saw to find a gap between the lathes. Hit and miss jabbing with the saw until it breaks through.

I will be using a regular dry lining box, so you don’t want to be too close to a vertical joist. Use the pad saw to feel to the left and right. If you can feel a joist, just adjust your planned position.

Once you have the final position, you can draw around a regular metal back box to give your cutout size.

Using a multi tool on a fairly slow speed, you can chip away at the plaster, but not the lathe quite yet.
yet.

Now, with the multi tool on a high speed and a fine toothed wood blade, you can cut neatly through the lathe without much problem. A small wood screw screwed into the middle of the lathe and held tight in pliers will help as the lathe will want to push into the hollow wall.

Now for the biggest tip I can give. Very very important whenever you are doing anything like this;



Always remember to charge your phone fully, or it will die when you’re in the middle of trying to make a hints and tips thread???

 

[Lister1987]

do same regularly. another tip is to stick a small cardboard box ( like what 5 sockets come in) to the wall with masking tape, just below where you are drilling. then all the crap goes in the box.

I use an envelope works just as well.

 

[littlespark]

C’mon guys... we’ve got a reputation to uphold....
The trade that doesn’t clean up after themselves. ?

 

[brianmoooore]

The trade that doesn’t clean up after themselves. ?

Exactly! I've always made it quite clear to my customers that I'm a reasonably priced sparky, but an extremely expensive cleaner.

 

[littlespark]

I do like to surprise my customers sometimes... start clearing the jobsite, putting tools back in the van... and turn up at the door with a brush and pan.

9/10 times i get " don't worry about that... we'll get it"

 

[Dave OCD]

We always make the effort to clean up properly and customers really do seem to appreciate it , I just think that you could do a first class job but if you leave a load of dust and crap behind that's the lasting impression you create.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I have a Karcher vac that has a power take off when you switch on the multi tool the Karcher starts up, when you switch off the tool the vac keep running for about 6 - 10 seconds to clear the hose, the Fein multi tool I have has a purpose made vac port that fits around the head of the tool and collects practically all the debris.

 

[Intoelectrics]

I have a Karcher vac that has a power take off when you switch on the multi tool the Karcher starts up, when you switch off the tool the vac keep running for about 6 - 10 seconds to clear the hose, the Fein multi tool I have has a purpose made vac port that fits around the head of the tool and collects practically all the debris.

That sounds very professional Mike!

 

[Mike Johnson]

That sounds very professional Mike!

On most occasions you do get what you pay for. ?

 

[telectrix]

i notice nobody recommends dyson crap for serious use. wonder why? sir james dyson for producing unserviceable, overpriced plastic rubbish.

 

[Mike Johnson]

My OH loves the Dyson Animal, take it off the wall and just use around the house, no cable, last long enough to clean the whole of our three bed detached, but we don't have animals or kids to make things very dirty, sorry tel, but IMO its OK.

 

[nicebutdim]

i notice nobody recommends dyson crap for serious use. wonder why? sir james dyson for producing unserviceable, overpriced plastic rubbish.

While I've no love for over-priced goods, I think there's a distinct difference between product designed to clear large amounts of dust or debris and products that are designed to remove every last trace of dust/crumbs/hair etc, while being light enough to reduce the effort required to vacuum in a home. People that want the convenience of a Dyson/Shark/G-Tech product aren't generally the sort of people who regularly set about butchering lath & plaster.


Tl;dr: Dyson etc are about convenience and efficiency, rather than clearing volume.

 

[Mike Johnson]

FIO Distinct difference between HVLP and HPLV, "High Volume Low Pressure" is to move large bits of detritus like shavings from a Planner Thicknesser and are quite large machines at 4500watt with a 150mm intake, my version is taller than me and moves 2200ft3/hr, however the "High Pressure Low Volume" vacuum I also use in my workshop is only 350ft3/hr on an 83m hose, but is high pressure low volume and is perfect for dust and small debris, it's 2400watt, that sort of wattage is not allowed in domestic vacuums anymore.

 

[brianmoooore]

Going back a few years, I'd just finished sorting out a customer's oil fired boiler, which had failed with a fault that had made it run extremely rich for a while, producing copious quantities of light, fluffy soot, much of which was now on the kitchen floor.
Out she comes with her nearly new Dyson, boasting of how it would make short work of the mess, and in spite of my warnings, got stuck in.
There was no doubt it was making a good job of the cleaning - right up to the point that the motor note abruptly changed and acrid smoke started pouring out of it.
I don't think it ever went again.
Having said that, I have four old Dyson DC32s in use (one in each holiday cottage, and two more for cleaning said holiday cottages) and although fragile, they do out perform most other vacuums we've tried.

 

[Dave OCD]

You can't beat a good old Henry IMO.

 

[timhoward]

You can't beat a good old Henry IMO.

There's even a female version now called a Hetty.

 

[brianmoooore]

You can't beat a good old Henry IMO.

The Dysons replaced a couple of Henrys. Henry's OK when the filter's clean, but just like Mr Dyson says, his don't loose suction power as a filter clogs.

 

[nicebutdim]

You can't beat a good old Henry IMO.

My Henry cost less than a fiver, bought at auction a few years back as no one else wanted him.

Noticed last week his flex had escaped the plug's grip and discovered polarity had been reversed the whole time I've owned it ?


Doesn't half get heavy when filled with rubble!

 

[brianmoooore]

Henry's are still here, and come out if there's large quantities of material to be removed, and there's also a wet version of a Henry that we have that deals with floods and carpet/rug cleaning/

 

[Mike Johnson]

Whoever thought that a vacuum cleaner with a smily face would hold such loyalty, at least they are made in the UK, but now a new era has emerged for Henry: NBV240NX - Numatic International - https://numatic.co.uk/products/cleancare/nbv240nx/

 

[R-fur]

My Henry cost less than a fiver, bought at auction a few years back as no one else wanted him.

Noticed last week his flex had escaped the plug's grip and discovered polarity had been reversed the whole time I've owned it ?

How could you have missed that when you were doing all your three monthly PAT checks on all your site tools.

 

[nicebutdim]

How could you have missed that when you were doing all your three monthly PAT checks on all your site tools.

Good question and one that I can answer with ease...

I'm not working in any properties belonging to others and I'm not an electrician. It did teach me the lessons of assuming nothing, taking nothing for granted and amending my own practices in this regard.

 

[telectrix]

now you got me going to open the plug on my henry what i bought for £2 at a car boot sale 12 years ago.to check it. GRRR.

 

[nicebutdim]

now you got me going to open the plug on my henry what i bought for £2 at a car boot sale 12 years ago.to check it. GRRR.

I know you've probably seen this sort of thing countless times, but I couldn't believe it. What's more is that it was part of a liquidation sale of an engineering business, who obviously would have regularly PAT tested all portable electrical equipment...

Very handy having a short flex on henry, combined with a long hose.

 

[Mike Johnson]

My twin motor 110V George is well past its sell by date, but just keeps going, I obtained it second hand over twenty years ago.

 

[casperLennon]

I’ve recently bought a battery Henry. Fantastic hoover. Much better that the previous dysons I’ve had