YouTube electricians

[co00okie]

OK, I'm still as green as a baby's nappy with all of this. I decided to change career and took a part-time night course (More on this later if your interested.) I'm no where near as good as someone who has done a full apprenticeship. Took my 17th edition and ran with it. Admittedly to the wrong industry (gates and security/access control etc.) BUT I have found my way back to house bashing and nothing prepared me for this....

After watching numerous electricians on YouTube I find myself trawling the regs to see what they call shocking! Or shody workmanship to see if its against the regs and find them quite minor to what I've landed myself in.

First House - fault find upstairs sockets not working
Easy right, straight to the consumer unit. Burnt out busbar on mcb. Loose connection. Whilst there though, Tennant complained about 2 downstairs lights, when turning them on at the switch lights pop and trip on cu. Belled out every cable and rewired what looked like 18 different electricians who had come and patched and patched and patched work. Changed light fittings and all seems OK.

This one screwed me.... No idea not a clue. Sent to fit x3 smoke alarms (X2 smokes and a heat alarm in the kitchen to be exact.) wireless so should be a walk in the park. No! So I fit smokes and turn the power back on. Lights work fine, but smokes are not illuminating the led to show power... On all 3. I used existing cabling on hallway and landing smokes. And wired to permenant live on kitchen light fitting for heat alarm. I'm stumped because I'm testing power at smokes and it's there. Tested continuity across live and neutral and bing there's a short somewhere. My issue is why hasn't the rcd tripped? I mean wtf?

So my question is why isn't this classed as "shocking" or "shoddy" to the YouTube electricians. I know I shouldn't be trying to learn this stuff on YouTube but, why is a loose switch face the worst thing these guys have seen when the ---- I've come across in the passed 2 days really worry me?

P.s. Sorry if your a vlogger. Its not really aimed at you. Just shitty landlords that probably do there own eicrs.

 

[Lister1987]

For actual learning I'd look at Adrian Davey, Mark Anson(? - appears on EGTE and does Apprentice 121), collectively the E5 guys; strangely the more I watch E5, that more I don't watch eFixx (I watched them since inception but now it's just a huge sponsored advert) - However Gaz and Joe (GSH Electrical and Joe Robinson Training respectively) I could watch all day without issue.

 

[marcuswareham]

What do you mean? I set the meter to ac volts to test for power and ohms continuity across live and neutral. Im only working with the tools that I've got. The problem seems to be on the downstairs lighting circuit, as the downstairs smoke gets its power from hallway light, then goes on goes up to the landing on 3 core and earth.

You cannot test r1 r2 with a multimeter as the resolution of the meter is normally not high enough and nor is the test current used from the meter

You can also not test Ze & Zs, insulation resistance or RCD disconnection times, these tests are quite basic for small electrical work and are needed for a minor works cert

Really an MFT is needed, you can pick them up cheap second hand and then pay a smallish fee to get it calibrated iv also seen alot of single use testers very cheap second hand i guess as people might prefer MFTs now, although you would need a different tester for each type of test so the calibration might cost more due to calibrating a few items

As for YouTube sparks, David Savery and John Ward for me

 

[pirate]

I like John Ward. As a novice, I have learned a lot from his dry, strightforward delivery and hand-drawn schematics...and he occasionally injects some wee gems of humour. David Savery is good fun, imho. He knows his stuff, and has a very broad knowledge base. His delivery is amusing, his "accidental" ---- videos in the background and his swearing are puerile-but very funny. I would commend his latest video on AFDDs where he lambasts the manufacturers for "hiding" their fault codes and for not reaching some uniformity of those codes and for producing items that do not sit happily with their existing range of MCBs and RCBOs etc. His passion is clear from the level of swearing, but he makes some excellent points. he may appear to be a bit of a clown, but he seems to know his stuff. It's a long video, but worth a look.

 

[pirate]

 

[Zerax]

The really early stuff by Nagy was really good , then he went all strange ...

Reminds me of my ex-wife...

 

[Julie.]

Great video, I was watching that a few days ago, my husband passed me just as david's expletive ffs blasted out, decided he would watch that bit himself 'cos it was so funny and entertaining, yet put over the exact points clearly!!

 

[Dustydazzler]

I feel for Delroy in this instance , it’s one of them jobs that he probably would do differently next time.
I do appreciate the fact he shows jobs warts & all not just cherry pick the cream jobs to she on youtube...

 

[nicebutdim]

Great video, I was watching that a few days ago, my husband passed me just as david's expletive ffs blasted out, decided he would watch that bit himself 'cos it was so funny and entertaining, yet put over the exact points clearly!!

David Savery has a big personality, but always ensures the focus of each video remains firmly on the subject at hand.

Thomas Nagy and Delroy, like them or loathe them, manage to present videos as though you're along with them on the job. I'd put the Rupert fellow in that category too.

Some (not seen them all) others seem to simply want people to look at them.

No comment needed about John Ward.

 

[telectrix]

arrr.john ward:

 

[Dartlec]

I suspect it might be self selecting a bit - although the really bad jobs might make good videos, they also take much longer to fix so there may not be the time available that must be involved in putting together a decent video, which clearly is a bit of a time sink.

I doubt the income from youtube offsets anything like their hourly rate, so I don't blame them for choosing jobs that are 'video friendly' to film.

Most of the common ones I like to watch have already been listed, (JW, GSH, E5, Dave Savery) but a couple of lesser known ones from my subscription list that I think are worth checking out:

J Beck Electrical (pretty standard follow along on jobs type video but with some good insight)
Nick Bundy Electrical (ideal if you love flexible conduit - inside joke for those who have watched it.)
Artisan Electrics (Though I think he might be a bit marmite for some, he does cover some interesting installs - Wish I could charge enough to earn a Tesla too tbh)
Delroy the Sparks (An older guy who has some interesting videos on the less 'top end' realities of CU installs etc and not afraid to show mistakes as well as successes)

Then on a slightly tangential aside there is Big Clive and Electroboom of course (His vid on UK sockets/plugs is worth a watch if nothing else)

 

[Dustydazzler]

I suspect it might be self selecting a bit - although the really bad jobs might make good videos, they also take much longer to fix so there may not be the time available that must be involved in putting together a decent video, which clearly is a bit of a time sink.

I doubt the income from youtube offsets anything like their hourly rate, so I don't blame them for choosing jobs that are 'video friendly' to film.

Most of the common ones I like to watch have already been listed, (JW, GSH, E5, Dave Savery) but a couple of lesser known ones from my subscription list that I think are worth checking out:

J Beck Electrical (pretty standard follow along on jobs type video but with some good insight)
Nick Bundy Electrical (ideal if you love flexible conduit - inside joke for those who have watched it.)
Artisan Electrics (Though I think he might be a bit marmite for some, he does cover some interesting installs - Wish I could charge enough to earn a Tesla too tbh)
Delroy the Sparks (An older guy who has some interesting videos on the less 'top end' realities of CU installs etc and not afraid to show mistakes as well as successes)

Then on a slightly tangential aside there is Big Clive and Electroboom of course (His vid on UK sockets/plugs is worth a watch if nothing else)

in one of his more recent videos he confesses to charging £800-£1000 per day , that’s some serious money right there ...
good on him if he can get away with them rates

 

[Dartlec]

in one of his more recent videos he confesses to charging £800-£1000 per day , that’s some serious money right there ...
good on him if he can get away with them rates

Yep - can't be doing bad if he can find people willing to pay that in the domestic sector - I think he has mentioned his hourly rate is £80 + vat. He clearly works hard at it too.

Presumably to get into that end of the market involves a lot of advertising costs to start with at least, until you build up the client list - so the profit is probably not quite as proportionately large.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Yep - can't be doing bad if he can find people willing to pay that in the domestic sector - I think he has mentioned his hourly rate is £80 + vat. He clearly works hard at it too.

Presumably to get into that end of the market involves a lot of advertising costs to start with at least, until you build up the client list - so the profit is probably not quite as proportionately large.

£1000 a day really is the upper end of most domestic work , there are posh roads near me where you could easily get away with £150-200 per hour and probably more than that. These are private roads where the cheapest houses cost £5,000,000

 

[Dartlec]

£1000 a day really is the upper end of most domestic work , there are posh roads near me where you could easily get away with £150-200 per hour and probably more than that. These are private roads where the cheapest houses cost £5,000,000

yet the clients I have who live in expensive houses are often the most cautious about spending money! (I guess that may be why they can afford the house...)

 

[Dustydazzler]

yet the clients I have who live in expensive houses are often the most cautious about spending money! (I guess that may be why they can afford the house...)

cautious yes but they are often happy to pay more for a good standard or work from a face they trust