Old timers?!?!?

[Jay Sparks]

Hi Guys & Gals,

Its been a while, so I thought I would have another little rant.
My mate phone me up the other day, " can you come and look at this bungalow and tell me what needs doing about the electrics."
So Igo round and spoke to the lad that has just bought it. He told me he had one of his sparky mates out to look at it the other day and hes been in the game for over 30 years!!!
The guy told him (without getting the tester out) that the wiring was fine and didnt need rewireing but it wouldnt hurt to put a new ccu in.

So I took a look and the guy had taken a few switches off and a few pendants and one socket. Well the whole lighting circuits had no cpc. The socket cpc had no sleave on it and there was no water or gas bonding. So I got my tester out. started with the sockets. The loops and R1 + R2 was ok. The IR however was crap, a short between line and neutral. Split all legs and found the fault and rectyfied. Tested all other circuits and they were not good.

I told the lad he needed a new lighting circuit, shower circuit, cooker circuit, boiler circuit, alarm circuit and bonding to water & gas and a new board. He said I can get that done for £400.

Now I am abit skint at the min, I just got married 3 weeks ago and could do with the money but I just laughed and said " If you can get bronco billy to do all that for £400, then go for it."

So after all that, my rant is, why do some of the old guys go into a house and without even getting there testers out, say ther is nothing wrong! Now Im not saying that all old timers are like this but its normally a guy that has been in the trade for decades and knows what hes talking about.

Well, rant over, feel free to add something, if your still awake after reading all that. And I would like to appolagise to any old timers out ther that are genuinely good sparkys.

Jay

 

[Des 56]

Wow

Not me Guv
I cant remember Ve day,"honestly" :wink5:

 

[ian]

[FONT=&quot]I am an old timer with around 30 years in the trade, certainly wasn’t me….honest, anyway I test everything to death.

ian
[/FONT]

 

[Jay Sparks]

Hi Guys,

Im sure that all the old timers on here are straight up, honest citezens!:rockon2: lol.
I dont want to offend any one, but there are old time cowboys out there, and because I've only been doing this for about 5 years, customers believe the old timers. :banghead:

Jay

 

[sbrown2]

Has he tested enough to be sure that RCD/S wont trip ( ie impedances). If so, although not necessarily the correct solution, he wil be raising the standard of the installation. I am no expert, but certain simple tests to your final circuits can ascxertain if you can fit a new ccu. If faults occur in the wiring after the new ccu change the RCD/s will pick this up and the customer will incur a call out. Which I am sure you can make the customer aware of.

 

[Jay Sparks]

Has he tested enough to be sure that RCD/S wont trip ( ie impedances). If so, although not necessarily the correct solution, he wil be raising the standard of the installation. I am no expert, but certain simple tests to your final circuits can ascxertain if you can fit a new ccu. If faults occur in the wiring after the new ccu change the RCD/s will pick this up and the customer will incur a call out. Which I am sure you can make the customer aware of.

Hi,

He didnt test any thing. He just took a few socketsand switches off and said it was ok. There was no bonding to gas or water, which he didnt spot, no cpc to any light fitting or switch and no sleaving on socket cpcs. All the sockets and switches were very old ( not sure of the bs number ) and when I tested the circuits,there were faults every were.


Jay

 

[topquark]

If he didn't even use a tester then the guy is either seriously misguided or a fraud (or both)! If folk don't want to have the job done properly, walk away every time.

 

[malcolmsanford]

Hi Guys & Gals,

Its been a while, so I thought I would have another little rant.
My mate phone me up the other day, " can you come and look at this bungalow and tell me what needs doing about the electrics."
So Igo round and spoke to the lad that has just bought it. He told me he had one of his sparky mates out to look at it the other day and hes been in the game for over 30 years!!!
The guy told him (without getting the tester out) that the wiring was fine and didnt need rewireing but it wouldnt hurt to put a new ccu in.

So I took a look and the guy had taken a few switches off and a few pendants and one socket. Well the whole lighting circuits had no cpc. The socket cpc had no sleave on it and there was no water or gas bonding. So I got my tester out. started with the sockets. The loops and R1 + R2 was ok. The IR however was crap, a short between line and neutral. Split all legs and found the fault and rectyfied. Tested all other circuits and they were not good.

I told the lad he needed a new lighting circuit, shower circuit, cooker circuit, boiler circuit, alarm circuit and bonding to water & gas and a new board. He said I can get that done for £400.

Now I am abit skint at the min, I just got married 3 weeks ago and could do with the money but I just laughed and said " If you can get bronco billy to do all that for £400, then go for it."

So after all that, my rant is, why do some of the old guys go into a house and without even getting there testers out, say ther is nothing wrong! Now Im not saying that all old timers are like this but its normally a guy that has been in the trade for decades and knows what hes talking about.

Well, rant over, feel free to add something, if your still awake after reading all that. And I would like to appolagise to any old timers out ther that are genuinely good sparkys.

Jay

Out of interest what was not good?

Agree with the lighting CPC, but you can only do that if the client wants to rip in a new circuit.

All you young'uns doing all these upfront PIR's do you charge the client for these or is this all part of the CU change?

 

[Paul.M]

It's probably because he couldn't be bothered crawling around due to his arthritis playing up or he couldn't get his zimer frame through the loft hatch . That's me getting an ear bashing from the bus pass members Tin hat on Paul.

 

[tawraste]

i think there are bad sparks in all age categories irrespective of college training or 3 day courses or whatever training history they have, just as there are good sparks in all categories.
the first job i ever went along on was with a guy whos been a spark all his life with college training. we went up to a housing estate to re-wire a kitchen for someone who he knew, so i assume they were friends.
anyway, long story short:
inspection tools comprised of a pen style voltage detector.
old cables terminated in cheap connectors, taped and pushed into the wall to be plastered over leaving a 2 square foot area that can never be drilled! (yes cables left in the breakers on the cu side........)
time spent in the cu involved turning the supply on and off and that's it.
no certs, no testing, no nothing.
and all this while the customer stood there and chatted away with him. i knew very little at that point but i could see quite plainly that avoiding jobs with this guy was the only way to go.