Sparks ' own interpretations of the Regs .

[Evans Electric]

Various sparks who came to work for us had their own ideas on how to interpret the Regs .   This was five of them that stuck with me .   ( Yes I know I 've done them before )  

1.        Steel conduit .        Only one runner is allowed per installation  .   This was viewed by one guy as , say , the whole of this factory , all done in steel conduit , if you use a runner  on day one  

             thats it !   Can't have another on the site !!!!      ( In fact what was frowned upon was if you made up a conduit run and fitted it in using a runner at both ends )      Could never see the                        problem myself    TBH 

2.       On house bashing  you can't fit a pendant in a kitchen  .  :C

3.      You cannot pass a neutral through a switch      ( See sketch )    :C

4.     You cannot pass ring main cables through socket boxes   ( See sketch )    :C

5.      You cannot run stuff horizontally anyway     :C

 

[Andy™]

some people shouldnt be allowed to breed

 

[Evans Electric]

They're all real 'uns  Andy. 

The guy who thought you can't pass the neutral through a switch box  nearly had a heart attack  arguing with us ,  he just would n't have it .          I reckon he got it from  mis-reading the fact that you don't SWITCH the  neutral  on it's own .  

 

[ProDave]

The argument for not passing cables THROUGH a box is in case you want to replace the box. Nothing to do with regs, just a preference for maintenance purposes.

Since conduit is (usually) surface we are not even talking safe zones here anyway.

Is the "one runner" just for aesthetics or an earthing concern?

There are always people with their own ides, that's why it's nice to just work on your own.

 

[Evans Electric]

The argument for not passing cables THROUGH a box is in case you want to replace the box. Nothing to do with regs, just a preference for maintenance purposes.

Since conduit is (usually) surface we are not even talking safe zones here anyway.

Is the "one runner" just for aesthetics or an earthing concern?

There are always people with their own ides, that's why it's nice to just work on your own.

Safe zones weren't invented then Dave . 

The runner thing was either in the 13th or 14th  or may have been in , say the NHS spec or the Birmingham Council spec . 

For some reason that run of tube from the board to the  thing on the end  could only have one runner . 

If you needed a runner in the next run of tube  you just did it ,   but the sparks  was convinced  it meant the whole site  ,  he used to bang on about all the time .       He'd say to me  " How many runners have you done now ?"       " I'd  say look if you need to do a runner just do it , none of us gives a flying phart ..FFS  get it out of your head "      

 

[Sharpend]

   " I'd  say, none of us gives a flying phart ..FFS "      

Well I'd say you've pretty much carried that throughout your time deke from some of your responses :innocent  

or is it you've gone from a flying phart to an old phart???? 

I cant quite remember which

 

[Murdoch]

just goes to show how a "little" knowledge can be so misleading .......................

 

[Rob.]

The runner was in M&Q regs I believe, but only when relying on conduit to provide a CPC for the system.

 

[Tony S]

I thought I’d heard of one runner per run before. You’re most probably right RoB.

 

[Evans Electric]

Yes it was definitely there ....applying to one run  , back when the tube was the earth,   which is all you'd normally need .  This guy , as I said , insisted it applied to the whole site .   

Well I'd say you've pretty much carried that throughout your time deke from some of your responses :innocent  

or is it you've gone from a flying phart to an old phart???? 

I cant quite remember which

I've definitely gone from a "Flying Phart" to an "Old Phart"   Sharpie .  I don't fly anywhere these days .    It was just that these guys were  tiresome with their rigid ideas ...( And they were always right too) .         Thing was  , you get so many guys  working for you ..all from different backgrounds etc .    so one job  the guy says we  can't run horizontal  tube between boxes ......  someone else is saying  I only use long reach bushes  ....  you get another guy who needs 10 saddles to fix a length of tube .

One guy couldn't fathom wiring the lights in the wards.   There were 4 twin 5ft  Fluoro. Hospital fittings with 15watt night lights .  Hung on two  full lengths of tube .   The switching was alternate fluoros  ,  and alternate Night lights  so they could bring the lights right down at night etc.    So the guy just loops them all in a line ...that was another argument ...""its much easier my way" ....Yeah but they want it  as the  spec.   

We were refurbing some hospital wards ...  there was some   25mm steel conduit above  the suspended ceilings to do  so I took a load of 25mm   Galvo  angles , tee  and through boxes  from stock    to site  to  use them up .

Our   subbie   won't use them because the conduit is Black & the boxes are Galvo ,  you can't mix them according to him .

After an argument I had to tell him to just use the damn things up  , they'll never be seen up there , just get on with it .  

He didn't like it , but then he didn't have to buy them did he ...he was good at wasting our money .  I learned from the apprentice later that he did fit them ,  he also brought a  tin of  paint  and  painted them all black .       

I'd just add that we did have  guys who just got on with it and knew what they were doing .    

 

[binky]

Had an argument with a young fella who did a bit of work for me - he was insistent that you couldn't fit back boxes to lathe and plaster walls and you had to find a timber upright to fix to. The reply was 'how they hell have I been doing it for years then?' 

 

[ProDave]

Had an argument with a young fella who did a bit of work for me - he was insistent that you couldn't fit back boxes to lathe and plaster walls and you had to find a timber upright to fix to. The reply was 'how they hell have I been doing it for years then?' 

Tell him you want flush boxes in lath & plaster.

Then watch and laugh.

 

[pewter]

Customer told me another electrician told them that there plastic consumer unit was illegal.

 

[Blue Duck]

Customer told me another electrician told them that there plastic consumer unit was illegal.

It is...☇ also say that wooden fuseboxes and rewirables are illegal also <_<

 

[binky]

Customer told me another electrician told them that there plastic consumer unit was illegal.

hear that quite regularly  :shakehead

 

[Murdoch]

Customer told me another electrician told them that there plastic consumer unit was illegal.

Its the use of the word "illegal" that gets my goat ....................... who the hell gives a  ...

 

[Sharpend]

Illegal is not equal to non compliant with guidance document. 

Unless you're a 5ww!!! 

 

[binky]

or on the make! It's not just 5WWs you hear this BS from.....

 

[Murdoch]

I've heard bulders state this ............... WTGrape

 

[binky]

defo on the make..... :^O