Plumbers

[Pete999]

I was in a well known DIY outlet the other day, no not B&Q the other one that has a trade side, this geyser comes in all kitted out in his Snickers work gear and calmly asks the assistant if he had a 40A fcu as he wanted to spur off the Ring final for a Shower. had to tell him but he wouldn't listen, bought a normal fcu and foxtrot Oscared, you can' educate pork can you?

 

[Leesparkykent]

Same thing in CEF a few weeks ago. Bloke comes in all kitted in his work gear with property maintenance printed all over it and asks the kid behind the counter for a strip of connector block. Kid behind the counter says what amp connector block to you want? Property maintenance fella says I don't know it's for a cooker cable, you know the thick grey one. Kid behind the counter hands him some 15amp block......

 

[Hellmooth]

Scary!

 

[DuaneMHunt1976]

When we were putting in our shower (i was 12 at the time) my dad wanted to run Flex from the socket in the hall way.
And im reading the instructions, asking for 45A Circuit breaker and 10mm cable
Managed to get some kit so we could use a 45A, and the cable wired to the switch but ran out of cable
said going to have to get some more, (moans as it costs so much for 10mm)
next thing i know he comes back with some cable.. !!!
he had taken the bit of slack i had at the CU and cut it so i could switch to shower!

Glade im not on a Rope ladder with him

 

[R G]

Had a guy knock on my door last year and asked for the sparks , he said he wanted his summerhouse connecting up , I said I would call in the following evening , he had an old Crabtree c50 board full of rust with the breakers in and all old wiring still connected and cut back where it had been removed from somewhere else , with some butchered swa connected into the front of it with no cover , this fed a water feature and he had an orange 2 core lawnmower flex feeding the board, this in turn was bunched into the main switch at the house end , what a complete mess , he said he had been given the board and had done the work himself , but he wanted it connecting to the house properly , I told him it all had to be removed but he couldn't see why , but heres the crux of the situation , this guy works for the maintenance team at the local RAF base , god help us all I walked away and told him I had thrown better than that away ....

 

[Dave OCD]

A few months ago I came across an 8.5kW shower, partially wired in 6mm - BUT fed from the 2.5mm immersion heater circuit in the airing cupboard, the whole thing was supplied from an old Wylex unit, no RCD upfront of it and whoever did this had changed the original 15amp fuse for a B40 MCB. I rewired the whole thing including a new CU but the 2.5 showed no sign of any overheating at all, nor did the 20a DP immersion isolator that the 6mm had been bodged into. Apparently this was also done by a plumber. :leaving:

 

[Hellmooth]

A few months ago I came across an 8.5kW shower, partially wired in 6mm - BUT fed from the 2.5mm immersion heater circuit in the airing cupboard, the whole thing was supplied from an old Wylex unit, no RCD upfront of it and whoever did this had changed the original 15amp fuse for a B40 MCB. I rewired the whole thing including a new CU but the 2.5 showed no sign of any overheating at all, nor did the 20a DP immersion isolator that the 6mm had been bodged into. Apparently this was also done by a plumber. :leaving:

Just shows you eh!

 

[Richard Burns]

The thing to remember is that the current ratings are for a continuous current, so after 24 hours carrying full current the cable should still be at less than 70°C, running a high (ish) current for ten minutes once a day may raise the temperature of a conductor to 90°C in that time which is still not enough to cause problems,but then it cools down again.
Though I did go to a shower that was spurred off the immersion circuit into a cooker control unit with socket and the shower kept on tripping the 15A breaker for some reason!

 

[Darkwood]

Same thing in CEF a few weeks ago. Bloke comes in all kitted in his work gear with property maintenance printed all over it and asks the kid behind the counter for a strip of connector block. Kid behind the counter says what amp connector block to you want? Property maintenance fella says I don't know it's for a cooker cable, you know the thick grey one. Kid behind the counter hands him some 15amp block......

Counter staff are not Electricians its the responsibility of the customer to know what they needs and I've seen it so many times myself ..issue is they get short with the staff saying they gave them the wrong stuff... its like going to McDonalds everyday then complaining they are putting on weight.

 

[Midwest]

Wonder what plumbers say about electricians.....and builders....'Ah, yes Mr O'Reilly, well it's perfectly simple. When I asked you to build me a wall I was rather hoping that instead of just dumping the bricks in a pile you might have found time to cement them together... you know, one on top of another, in the traditional fashion'.

 

[th_walking_dude]

I did an EICR the other day, 1mm flex from fused spur to power shower AND extractor fan, no RCD, no reliable or verifiable earth or bonding. I literally thought I was losing my mind and had to do a double take. That was just the shower the rest of the place wasn't any better.

 

[Hellmooth]

I did an EICR the other day, 1mm flex from fused spur to power shower AND extractor fan, no RCD, no reliable or verifiable earth or bonding. I literally thought I was losing my mind and had to do a double take. That was just the shower the rest of the place wasn't any better.

Cable would have been more than capable if it was spurred down to 3A which it normally is when a power shower is involved, but should be 1.5mm minimum for power!

 

[Dave OCD]

I must admit to having used a 1mm 3 core heat resistant flex to connect the smallest 0.85kW storage heaters in the past, but when it's protected by a 5 amp BS1362 fuse and about a foot long what could go wrong ?