Have I Gone Too Far?

[DullSpark]

It all started when I looked at all of the plastic surface trunking in my house. I couldnt abide it any more...

   so I put access holes in the platerboard drilled the joists put in new wires replaced central lights in some areas with inset spots and made good...works a treat.

 

[Andy™]

just make sure the cables you have installed into the wall are in safe zones

 

[DullSpark]

Sorry - I didn't mean to post that yet... Theres more....

Next we had gas installed.... Great I can get rid of the night storage heaters and associated wiring... No probs but I left the economy 7 consumer Unit in place.... for a while.

Nah.... I just had to declutter meter panel...

   Safety first - cut the seals remove the incoming domestic fuse... pull the e7 tails and remove the e7 CU..... all good

Hmmm...  Dont like the normal domestic CU... one RCD for everything (probably original in 1960) so I bought a nice new one from B&Q 17th ed and all.. no probs...

now I'm begining to get more adventurous... but more about that later.....

At which point should I have stopped?

 

[apprentice87]

The point where you decided that they had RCD's in CU's in the 1960's!!

It is all very well deciding you are going to change a CU, but how you planning on testing everything when you finished, how you going to cope when you find things like cables too short, and what about wiring faults that might show up once you have, or think you have finished.. Saying that, you cannot be any worse than some people that would "claim" to be an electrician, but my biggest worry would be how you going to test it all??

john

Oh, I see, you have already changed the CU. !! How did you test it all though, and i do not mean did things work afterwards!!! Fair play to you for having got this far!!

john

 

[DullSpark]

Functional testing only I am afraid .... I used a socket tester as well  (he said rather meekly) ......

Can you point me in the direction of expected testing defficiencies.....

I was rather hoping that when my PV is installed later this month any possible problems would be picked up.....

 

[Andy™]

At which point should I have stopped?

just before you pulled the service fuse

and if you want someone to look at your wiring / work and check it over, you need to pay for a periodic inspection report. the person installing the solar will only be there to install the solar

 

[DullSpark]

I wrestled with that at the time... my logic was if you can buy a CU and it didn't state.... to be installed by certified electricians only. then it could be installed by myself. I new enough to know the service fuse was the only way of removing power to the meter and I would have to open the meter to remove the tails.

Thanks .... I wasn't aware of the Periodic Inspection Report.. I shall be commisioning one asap.

 

[Andy™]

I wrestled with that at the time... my logic was if you can buy a CU and it didn't state.... to be installed by certified electricians only. then it could be installed by myself. I new enough to know the service fuse was the only way of removing power to the meter and I would have to open the meter to remove the tails.

your right, it probably doesnt say 'certified electrician'. but it most likely does say it must be installed by a 'competent person'. which is something your clearly not. removing the fuse is the illegal and dangerous way to isolate the CU. and it isnt the only way either. the correct wya is to contact your supplier and ask for an isolator to be fitted....

so, back to my first question, did you install the cables in a safe zone? do you know what the safe zones are?

 

[ParkySparky]

Total wind up this! I'm not even going to bother saying anything!

Go spam somewhere else!!!

 

[DullSpark]

OK guys calm down..... I am trying to do the right thing here..... I am in the right forum arent I?.....

Safe zones - inside the house and protected by an RCD is my interpretation of a safe zone - feel free to correct.

I have never seen an isolator in a domestic environment... (not that I have seen that many domestic environments).

 

[Andy™]

OK guys calm down..... I am trying to do the right thing here..... I am in the right forum arent I?.....

Safe zones - inside the house and protected by an RCD is my interpretation of a safe zone - feel free to correct.

I have never seen an isolator in a domestic environment... (not that I have seen that many domestic environments).

do you live alone? i really hope you do, so its only you that gets killed and not some innocent person.

 

[m4tty]

What size tails did you use mate ? And what size was the bullet ?

 

[DullSpark]

OK. I get the message.   to get some constructive criticism. I'll let you

 

[ProDave]

There's nothing wrong or illegal about DIY electrics.  Just like DIY gas work, it is legal, just as long as you are COMPETENT to do it.

So you need to know some of the wiring regulations. Get a copy of the 17th edition and the on site guide and GN3. They need not be expensive if you search ebay from time to time  :innocent

The big one which many DIY electricians don't know is "safe zones"  Very basically (and there is a bit more to it) you can only bury wires in a wall directly up / down or horizontally from an accessory.  No running cables at funny angles, and no running cables up or across a wall where there is no accessory to create the safe zone.  And fitting an RCD does NOT allow you to run cables outside a safe zone.

And I agree with others, you should not be pulling the suppliers fuse. There are procedures to do that, some DNO's authorise qualified electricians to pull the fuse, some come and do it for you (sometimes for a charge) and some will come and fit an isolator switch (sometimes for a charge). The trouble is it's different in different placed so no easy answer.

The wiring regs demand some tests are done to ensure the installation complies. They are not very difficult and once you have bought the books it's all described how to do it.

If you have any doubt that what you have done may not be up to standard, then please get a qualified electrican to come and check it.

 

[samson337]

Here's a pic of an isolator.

Sorry wont let me upload

 

[binky]

the blue lines are special paint, you find it next to Tartan paint at B&Q. :coat

Hmmm should have stopped quite a while ago Dully. Couple of points for you:-

1/Did you improve main earth and MEBs - generally required when changing CU.

2/ Read up on testing circuits, purchase simple test gear, and do some dead testing of circuits, even better get qualified spark to EICR the property and check your handiwork. To test properly you need to do insulation tests and cost of test gear for that is almost certainly more than paying for EICR, and being laughed at a bit :^O

the problem with what you have just done is that when changing CU its one of the few times in an installations life that anything gets checked properly. Now if you had a 30 year old car and took it for an MOT what do you reckon would be the chances of not finding something wrong??? Electrics are far more reliable than cars, but faults can and do develop over time.

 

[Apache]

DIYer here.

Hats off to the OP for having the balls to give it a go. If he has put everything on a RCD then although not perfect, any glaringly obvious or dangerous faults should trip the RCD/MCB. I think the OP has been rather lucky, as if he'd changed his CU and couldn't get the RCD to stay on he'd be in deeper hot water.

If you look around it is quite possible to pick up test equipment for very little money. I started with separates and got a stupidly cheap MFT that MM was selling off. There is no excuse for not checking the work is safe.

You can go on the internet and order all sorts of surgical instruments, you only break the law once you start performing unlicensed surgery.............

 

[binky]

Law was always abit strange, you can buy all sorts of legal and illegal stuff that you're not suppossed to use or own even, like radar gun detectors.

 

[Marvo]

I was rather hoping that when my PV is installed later this month any possible problems would be picked up.....

I doubt it cause I'm assuming from your posts so far you'll be installing your own PV.

At which point should I have stopped?

Debatable but certainly before you started electrical work without knowing how or having the equipment to prove isolation.

I wrestled with that at the time... my logic was if you can buy a CU and it didn't state.... to be installed by certified electricians only. then it could be installed by myself.

I made the same mistake when I was a student with a bottle of vodka that didn't say on the label 'stop drinking this when you're good and drunk because alcohol poisoning will occur shortly afterwards'.

I am in the right forum arent I?.....

Yes, absolutely you are