Rubbish products/materials

[Big n Daft]

Right ho chaps and chapesses,
Its time rat out the rubbish. What have you used recently that has been complete and utter poo.
Lets start with anything that has Proteus on the label, and there is some completely useless swa cable out there as well. You know the stuff, its like a coiled spring sitting on the drum waiting to snare you at first pull.

 

[Welchyboy]

crabtree starbreaker or BG for cheaper alternative.

Wylex/crabtree

Oh i had a drumm of that 2.5mm twin and earth with the sheath that wouldnt split from the insulation i bought it from toolstation, that will teach me! nightmare!, would of thrown it away a few years back

 

[somersetsparks]

Once had a drum of hideous 'early' lsf made by irish driver, not only did you risk breaking teeth/herneas stripping it, once it was installed it tested 0.00 mOhms neutral to earth. Turned out the earth was actually molded into the neutral for about 10' of the cable. Luckily it all ran in trunking down a corridor!

Agree with a lot of comments, especially about the glands and besa boxes had some recently that were so poorly cast they often snapped when trying to thread them onto a piece of tube, so much for malleable!
Even had some nasty conduit that nearly gave me a hernea trying to bend it, had to get an extension for the bender! think it was huble bas?

 

[Dcf]

Once had a drum of hideous 'early' lsf made by irish driver, not only did you risk breaking teeth/herneas stripping it, once it was installed it tested 0.00 mOhms neutral to earth. Turned out the earth was actually molded into the neutral for about 10' of the cable. Luckily it all ran in trunking down a corridor!

Agree with a lot of comments, especially about the glands and besa boxes had some recently that were so poorly cast they often snapped when trying to thread them onto a piece of tube, so much for malleable!
Even had some nasty conduit that nearly gave me a hernea trying to bend it, had to get an extension for the bender! think it was huble bas?

i worked on a 10 year old mk sentry board yesterday.what dream compared to the cack they make now.i also had bit of 25mm be conduit that king kong himself would struggle to put a 90 bend in. the seam was as hard as a coffin nail. hadn't had the bender out for a while and thought i was just weak!

 

[nick182]

Kewtech PAT adapter... i just think its pointless and a cheap fix to get a job done.. I really, really...... really hate it.

its rubbish.

 

[nick182]

Definately not MK Sentry, unless you have the time to be very carefull and a flat surface to fix to.

DOH!!! i just got one today.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Once had a drum of hideous 'early' lsf made by irish driver, not only did you risk breaking teeth/herneas stripping it, once it was installed it tested 0.00 mOhms neutral to earth. Turned out the earth was actually molded into the neutral for about 10' of the cable. Luckily it all ran in trunking down a corridor!

Agree with a lot of comments, especially about the glands and besa boxes had some recently that were so poorly cast they often snapped when trying to thread them onto a piece of tube, so much for malleable!
Even had some nasty conduit that nearly gave me a hernea trying to bend it, had to get an extension for the bender! think it was huble bas?

Theres a lot of ---- tube and pipe about though....i found this when i used to work in fabrications....wouldn`t bend right...full of hard spots see....

 

[electromonkey]

Any tool with the word SILVERLINE written on it should be avoided at all costs. Unless you like to buy cheap disposable tools everyday that is.

 

[Smugley]

This week I have mostly been frustrated by: towel rail controllers. You know the flex outlet plate with an on/off switch, heat level and boost button. Got one from electrifix. Took it back half an hour later cos it was a flimsy bit of [email protected] mains feed and output are meant to be connected to two tiny little terminal blocks which are soldered onto a printed circuit board, with no means of mechanical support other than two tiny dabs of solder. Circuit board not otherwise protected from cables in the backbox. Got one online as a replacement which was meant to be better (Tesla UK Ltd, but went to wire it up and the similar little terminal block just snapped off the PCB when I went to tighten the input conductors which were 1.5mm T+E. Was also surprised to note that what is meant to be a flex outlet has no cable restraint, meaning that a small tug on the flex will tear the terminal block off the PCB. These are about £45 each!!! How do they get away with making such rubbish! Surely any accessory plate with a flex outlet MUST have a cable restraint. Rant over.

 

[vernam616]

ASD mini piazza os light c/w photocell

Photocells are usless, been back to loads of jobs replacing them

Also hate them cavity boxes which dont snap in, the ones where the lugs pull towards you, best ones are the ones with yellow lugs

 

[somersetsparks]

Also hate them cavity boxes which dont snap in, the ones where the lugs pull towards you, best ones are the ones with yellow lugs

the ones with yellow lugs are fine for 1/2" plasterboard but worse the others are better for 15mm which they seem to use alot now.

 

[geordie]

BG consumer units total rubbish

 

[cadspark]

Anything made by Electrium.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

BG consumer units total rubbish

Not tried british general....just looked at em in catologues ...whats up with em?......

 

[telectrix]

BG consumer units total rubbish

iv'e used one. no trouble, and a decent looking unit. what don't you like about BG.?

 

[geordie]

front was a pain to try and get back on and not alot of space in the 15 way board .