"Get an electrician in"

[Spoon]

There seems to be more posts coming up there people are asking for advice and rather than us helping them they just get the usual "get an electrician in" reply.
Yes, before the idiotic replies of "so we should give everyone advice on how to....." No of course, not everyone comes across as being competent enough to do what is required but we should at least try and assess if they are.
What's the point in the forum if we are not helping people.

 

[telectrix]

try googling " get advice from a solicitor". you will then land on a site/sites where online advice is given. after you've paid, of course.

 

[Squid]

Working on that principle then all forums should not exist for giving advice.
People will have 'advisory' jobs and they require paying for all advice, be it to electricians, DIYer's or anyone else.

You owe me £20...........

 

[Spoon]

You owe me £20...........

You told me where you get your ------ from. That's not worth £20

 

[uksrevivor]

Ok here is my bit on this post (scrumpy pushed to one side)
This forum has been a very big part of my long road to becoming an electrician. The get an electrician in response is almost always a justifiable reply. We have and always will get the im trying to help the electrician out by wiring my shed/garage/house/garden shed myself and i need advice posts from people who want to and think they are capable of connecting a few wires together and hey presto everything works or ohh feck i done it wrong now my house has no power so how do i put it right posts. One of the most common is i brought this new light switch and tried to wire it up scenarios, now if the OP has been up front and honest has posted pictures of the old switch, new switch and pictures of the offending wires hanging out of a back box and is responding to posts then i have noticed our forum members have helped them out and i take my hat of to them as this is what i have learnt from. Would this scenario warrant a get an electrician in response, not really IMO(in certain circumstances) as a helpful hand is often what they require providing that they can confirm the circuit is isolated, but this is always an assumption as we are on a forum and not there to confirm. You can pretty much judge someone by the way they post a question or how they respond to the replies to there post and some replies are nothing but laughable hence the get an electrician in reply (justifiable.) Most homeowners will at some time undertake DIY electrics be it change a light switch/socket/light fitting/ spur whatever and some albeit very few will call in a spark to do it. The list is endless for non DIY jobs but we will always have posts asking for advice from homeowners on how to do a job way out of there depth and scope and this will always warrant a get an electrician in reply.
If you google electrician forum we are top of the list but it also states free electrical advice alongside it which may be a bit misleading. IMO the forum is not just for advice it provides a great learning source as well

 

[pirate]

I wholeheartedly agree that this forum gives excellent advice and is a great learning source. Sometimes I feel the advice to get an electrician in is given rather hurriedly, but I feel it is for the poster to decide if the OP shows a sufficient level of competence...and that is subjective and hard to assess. I think one can usually tell the very keen DIY'ers from the "freeloaders", but it depends on how they respond to questions.
The "tripping RCD" question is one where I think it is fair to give some advice, like taking each appliance out of circuit etc. After all, it usually is something dodgy with an appliance, if the circuit has been fine for ever. Indeed, I bored many of you with my RCD problem recently in the Dodgy Trade Pic's thread...but at the end of the day, I have a very simple setup, and removing the microwave stopped the tripping...and plugging it into another circuit caused the tripping again. Had it not been the oven, frankly I would have been stumped, and got an electrician in. However, I would also have posted the problem on this forum, in the hope that someone would point me in the right direction as to what might be the cause, for my own information and learning, but I would have made it clear that I was not competent nor had the right equipment to try to rectify the fault myself. As I say, lots to learn here, and a big thank you to all who have posted so much stuff that has expanded my knowlege-base immeasurably.

 

[surreygirl]

You have all been very helpful to me I must say. Yes I wasnt asking advice about how to rewire my flat. It was advice on what an electrician was charging me to take a wire through the lounge to the kitchen and trailing the wire along the wall etc.........! would have been ugly not to mention the price for doing it which was £1500! Having said that I think I might do a night class course in electrics. Anyone fancy employing me! One of the posters went through all of the areas the electrician said required doing and after I had him in and went over everything he retracted a lot of it. I do have to say I was so grateful for all the advice I got on this forum

 

[Deleted member 26818]

My point is:
If you don’t want to help someone (for whatever reason), then don’t, end of.
There’s no need to insult the OP, there’s no need to call the OP a liar and there’s absolutely no point in getting into a slagging match over it.

 

[dksanders]

It does beg the question though as to what liability we may be exposing ourselves to. Picture the scenario. Someone posts for advice on e.g. changing a light switch and supplies existing and new pictures. If then one of us, particularly one who is e.g. running his own business/trading as, gives the OP advice on how to do the job, and the OP then injures himself, others, or causes damage; then I bet some litigation lawyer would have a field day with the forum member who gave professional advice to an amateur which then resulted in injury or damage.

I wonder what liability we may have in this situation.

 

[Spoon]

It does beg the question though as to what liability we may be exposing ourselves to. Picture the scenario. Someone posts for advice on e.g. changing a light switch and supplies existing and new pictures. If then one of us, particularly one who is e.g. running his own business/trading as, gives the OP advice on how to do the job, and the OP then injures himself, others, or causes damage; then I bet some litigation lawyer would have a field day with the forum member who gave professional advice to an amateur which then resulted in injury or damage.

I wonder what liability we may have in this situation.

I only give advice to people I think are capable of doing the job and has knowledge of the dangers of electricity.
If I gave someone advice on how to hang a picture and the muppet hit his hand with the hammer repeatedly then I can't get sued for that. Every forum would have to close if that was the case.

 

[elsparko]

It does beg the question though as to what liability we may be exposing ourselves to. Picture the scenario. Someone posts for advice on e.g. changing a light switch and supplies existing and new pictures. If then one of us, particularly one who is e.g. running his own business/trading as, gives the OP advice on how to do the job, and the OP then injures himself, others, or causes damage; then I bet some litigation lawyer would have a field day with the forum member who gave professional advice to an amateur which then resulted in injury or damage.

I wonder what liability we may have in this situation.

say the cat fell on the keyboard, case closed.

 

[JK-Electrical]

something that is green and tasty

 

[Spoon]

Someones chopped the middle fingers of her right hand off.

 

[dksanders]

Where do I get mine?

 

[Spoon]

Where do I get mine?

Any street corner for £10.

 

[dksanders]

Damn. I was ripped off, she took her false teeth out, pulled in the wrinkles, and charged me £20