DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad Landlord Planning

We’ve already  highlighted  Landlord Licensing Schemes on several occasions. Our aim in those articles was to highlight other contractors unsafe or poor working practices. An interesting pattern has emerged as we undertake more of these checks on our landlord’s behalf. The pattern is that we are always the last people called in. The assumption by the property owner seems to be that because everything appears to work there should be no issue. That is the wrong assumption and it could end up costing you cold hard cash!

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In many cases such as the one highlighted in the photos above we are being called in after the property has been painted, decorated and carpeted. In the case of this property a quick visual inspection provided the information we needed to declare that nothing would pass! The electrics were so poor that not only would the consumer units require replacing but almost every switch and socket were  damaged in various ways. It got a lot worse once we got the meter out. It turned out that the circuit labeled ring main wasn’t, the kitchen sockets ere all was being run from only the cooker circuit and some other electrical work that was completed by the decorator was also incorrect due to bad workmanship and assumptions on his part.

The only solution was to install two new consumer units. One for the overnight storage heaters on an Economy 7 tariff and another consumer unit for everything else. We also had to run a new ring to the kitchen as the exiting sockets were all connected to the cooker spur which was not safe in SO many ways. Unfortunately the decorator had also just fit new work surfaces and tiled the walls before we were called in. He had also added an electric space heater which was not safe for use in the kitchen but was also wired into the kitchen wiring which we found to be incorrectly wired. There were some other smaller issues which also required cutting channels into the wallpaper, tile and plaster. The decorator had to come back after we finished our work and fix up the damage…again.

The moral of the story is to call in the builders, electrical, plumbing and heating engineers before anybody else! In most cases the mechanical issues involve at the very least pulling up a few floor boards and many times the addition or removal of cables embedded in the walls.

Please remember that a PIR is just that. It’s an inspection. It highlights issues with the electrical systems in the property and that’s all.  It is not an automatic pass for the property. In the case of Salford Council it won’t go away nor should it. If the inspection highlights safety issues that require sorting out then those issues will need to be sorted out. You wouldn’t want to injure a tenant would you?

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad ‘Electricians’

Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 416.2.2, 134.2.1, 610.6, 631.1, 314.4, 132.13, 514.9

We were on this site to re-install an electric shower about a month ago. See original article here. We installed the shower but were unable to sort out the electrics due to a issues we located with the previous consumer unit. While testing circuits we found some errors in the house wiring. To be specific the circuit feeding the sockets had been bodged by a bad kitchen fitting job.

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As we mentioned in the previous article this home had apparently been re-wired five years earlier. It hadn’t! Someone calling themselves an electrician added a couple of mini circuit breakers (MCBs) of a different brand type and did some creative wiring. We repaired the bodged cooker circuit and then discovered that the circuit labeled bedroom socket and the supposed ring main were spliced into each other. As we continued testing the ring main we discovered that there was in fact no ring main. We did however find that buried in the kitchen behind the tiles was a cable which connected the upstairs circuit to the downstairs but also created an unwanted spur with four sockets on the end.

In the end we found the unwanted kitchen to upstairs connection and removed the offending cable. We then created two spurs feeding each floor with properly rated circuit breakers. The bedroom socket that was supposedly on it’s own breaker was also added to the new spur. We then installed the new consumer unit using RCBOs for each circuit. The entire system was tested as prescribed and then made live. Once our live readings were recorded we cleaned up and left the property safe.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad ‘Electricians’

Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 416.2.2, 134.2.1, 610.6, 631.1, 314.4, 132.13, 514.9

We were on site to re-install an electric shower which was removed a few years earlier. We found both ends of the T&E and it tested true. We had some difficulty running a new water feed and a new section of T&E. While at the consumer unit testing the existing shower cable we found some interestingly poor wiring to everything else in the property.

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The home had apparently been re-wired about five years earlier. From what we could see however someone had installed a consumer unit only. The property is wired in T&E using the old colours (red and black) and we even found one old rubber cable (cracked and broken) running to the upstairs lights. This house was not rewired. The consumer unit is a 6 way box with 5 mini circuit breakers and the breakers are from three different manufacturers!

We were stumped by the cooker circuit mini circuit breaker which in turn ran via pair of 14mm tales to a mini single way consumer unit which in turn fed the 6mm cable back to the cooker. Lots and lots of cables, sloppy workmanship, unsafe cables and a gigantic hole cut into the top and running the entire length of the consumer unit cover. Make sure you don’t get taken like this. Hire a professional!

We are installing a new consumer unit next week which will address most of the issues. We’ll also be removing the rubber cable which feeds the upstairs lights.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad ‘Electricians’

Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 Reg. 421.7, 526.5, 530.4.2, 411.3.3, 522.8.4, 522.6.1, 522.2.1, 528.3.1, 522.6.5, 134.1.1, 526.3, 526.8.1, 411.3.1.1, 514.4.2, 559.10.5.2

While installing a wet-room in this property we needed to move all electrical junctions from beneath the bathroom floor before we put down our new plywood floor. We found three junction boxes in a row and after a lot of tracing found that they all eventually fed back into the downstairs light circuits via PVC cables pushed through old metal conduit. Unfortunately however not all of the cables were being used for lights!

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We traced two of the cables through the outside wall and into a non-waterproof metal junction box which was no longer fastened to the wall. We couldn’t help notice that the PVC cables were dried out and cracked. One cable which apparently ran to nowhere had been cut off at some point but left connected inside to live!! When we moved the metal box water dripped out and when we opened it we saw badly corroded connectors. What was surprising was that another cable ran to the shed which was further connected to a fluorescent light fixture, fridge, freezer and workbench. All of this was running from a 5amp fuse in the house. When I asked the home owner if the fuse ever blew she said ‘yes, it blows all the time.’ So the good news is that the fuse was doing it’s job.  The bad news was that we couldn’t just disconnect the shed so as to get on with our structural work as the freezer was full of food.

We carried out the work we came to do which was to relocate all junction boxes from the bathroom area to the hallway just outside. We also ran a temporary circuit the garage via a new 2.5mm T&E cable which keeps the freezer running for now. We will be back after the wet room to install a permanent circuit to the shed with a new consumer unit.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad ‘Electricians’

Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 Reg. 421.7; 526.5; 416.2.1; 514.3.1; p343

A simple  request to have a new American style fridge freezer plumbed in started easy enough. We located a spot to cut into the existing water supply and run a hidden line to a location nearby to the new freezer. The electrical supply was a different story. While looking for a ring to main to splice into we found this mess behind the drawer carcass.

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Clearly the kitchen fitter/electrician/moron figured that because you couldn’t see the wiring there was no need to cover the wiring. Wrong! The wires, although inside a back box that was made redundant during a kitchen makeover are only an inch away from the edge of the carcass. A curious child could easily get their fingers into these wires and ZAPP! The photo doesn’t show clearly but there is also another cable within the old box too.

We’ve made an appointment to go back and sort out the plumbing as well as investigate exactly how the cables are hooked up so that we can correct any issues found and then add a socket for the new fridge freezer.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad ‘Electricians’

Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 Reg. 421.7; 134.2.1; 610.6; 631.1; 633.2; 134.1.1; 416.2.2; 633.2; 314.4; 514.8.1; 514.14.1; 132.13; 514.9; 432.1; p363; 433.1

This job seemed simple enough. A mixed bag of jobs so the client could skim and redecorate their front lounge. They wanted a water stop tap moved, a radiator relocated and an electric fire fitted to the old chimney breast. We arrived on the day with the intention of adding a fused spur to the double socket located on the side of the chimney breast.  Unfortunately, the double socket was fed by a single cable meaning that it wasn’t part of a ring main and was already a spur. We removed three more double sockets and discovered that they too were spurs! As I checked three more sockets located on the opposite wall to the lounge they too were spurs. NO RING MAIN!

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At that point we also opened up the consumer unit to discover that the circuit feeding spur circuit was 32 amp. A radial being fed with a 2.5mm cable should be fused by a 20amp breaker. The 32 amp breaker also had two live (line) wires going in to it. This is exactly why a REAL electrician has test equipment and knowledge of circuits. The appearance of two cables tricks lay people into thinking that the circuit must be a ring. Electricians trust their meter reading. So when I did an end-to-end measurement on the live (line) cable I got a reading of 0.0 ohms. That means that one end of the cable did not connect to the other end of the cable such as it would in a ring circuit. If it was a ring we would expect to get a reading in this property of about 0.30 ohms or thereabouts. We have circuit issues here!

At that point we have to isolate the circuit and disconnect all cables so we can trace which one goes to where. To make a long two hour story short it was hooked as follows: One line from consumer unit was connected to one double socket near front of lounge. The other line cable from the consumer unit ran directly to a junction box under the floor which then fed the double socket on the side of the chimney breast and then continued to feed another double socket on the other side of the lounge. That double socket then fed two more double sockets located in the new kitchen extension and the other to a hallway double socket. We also found another double socket near to the consumer unit which was fed from yet another junction box from the cable that was feeding the hallway spur mentioned above. What a mess!

The solution to this was real easy. Start again. We ran new cable from the consumer unit and picked up all sockets extending back to the consumer unit. We added our spur for the electric fire and added the other double sockets as radials. After testing our cables and checking our circuit for correct operation we put everything back together and got on with the plumbing. Job done but not in an hour as planned but in six hours because the previous moron cut corners due to either lack of knowledge, laziness or both.

The previous electrician was hired to wire up an extension being added to the property. He had to upgrade the consumer unit and did leave a certificate for the work he did. Unfortunately he didn’t check any of the cables he moved in the mistaken thought that they weren’t his responsibility. He therefore connected dangerous circuits up to the new consumer unit! He also added at least two and possibly three of the radial circuits we had to fix meaning that he didn’t check the existing ring main for continuity. Oh there was one more thing as well. The cooker circuit, which WAS installed by the same electrician did not have the earth connected at the consumer unit as the screw connector was never tightened!

So I’ll say it again. Hire a real electrician who has knowledge and the tools to not only undertake new work but also fix up poorly installed work like that described above. If the original circuits in this home had been tested like they should have then all of these faults would have shown up for him just like they did for us.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad ‘Electricians’

Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 Reg. 421.7; 526.5; 416.2.1; 514.3.1; p343

I stopped in at one of my suppliers earlier this week to discuss some upcoming work. While there I required the loo so was pointed the way. The room was dark and I fumbled around for a light switch eventually finding it. What I found was unexpected!

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The washroom had been recently renovated and tiled. Some new accent lights were required so the wiring was put in and connected before tiling. Unfortunately, the wiring to the accent lights was also hooked up to the main light and left live and as shown in the pictures above!

As can be seen someine put a connector block on one of the lives yet but no protective cover around the connector to keep fingers away. The other cable shown is live with NO connector and no cover!!

Can you imagine an office with your child in tow who required the loo. You wouldn’t think twice about showing them the room and waiting outside. are too curious and don’t alway know better when it comes to touching things they shouldn’t.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad ‘Electricians’

Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 Reg 522.8.4; 522.6.1;521.10.1; 522.6.5;522.8.14; 527.5.1

We were on site converting an old gravity feed boiler with a combination boiler and came across this mess of wiring in the boiler room. The boiler room is now located in the old outside loo so the wiring passes through the supporting wall and goes direct to the light and light switch.

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Thinking it was just localised we were going to install new conduit and put it back up correctly. Unfortunately when we pulled up the floors in the main house to re-work some heating pipe work we found that most of the house was wired the same way! As the pictures show the conduit wiring was attached directly to the wall and ceiling by way of cable clips and was probably never installed correctly inside a conduit. Where the cable passes from the outside boiler room and into the main house the cables are laying directly onto brickwork and then pass next to the copper pipe work to and from the boiler.

We’ve sorted out the boiler now and will be returnung to replace the wiring with PVC and/or putting the cables in conduit where necessary.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad ‘Electricians’

Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 Reg 526.6, 530.4.1; 421.7, 526.5; 416.2.1; 514.1.2; 514.14.1

How many safety issues can you count here? Whatever the count is there are more issues here than we photographed. What you can see here is the (connector strips or chocolate block) that is uncovered and LIVE! This area under the homeowners stairs is where the children store their toys and bike helmets! But wait! There’s more.

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The home owners wanted to remove the old tongue and groove wall that was covering in the area under the stairs. The problem was that over the years, about fifty years, old power cables and subsequent new power cables had been clipped direct to that same wall and the timber frame holding up the wall. Our job was to trace each wire and then re-route them to the back wall where they could be hidden behind a dry lined wall we will be putting up next week.

What we found was a series of wiring issues ranging from underrated connector strips, uncovered (as pictured) connector strips, a few nails that had been driven into floorboards and through the cables beneath them, and two live cables with nothing but a wrap of white tape keeping the children safe.

All in a days work for us. We traced each cable and clipped them off upstairs and then drilled out proper routes for the cables to run away from the flooring nails. We also extended a few other cables we located so that the cables ran in one piece from the source at the consumer unit to the destination. Much better than having several lengths of cables being spliced together with a dozen connector blocks. And finally we clipped back those two live cables we found hanging out of the ceiling under the stairs and fixed a secure covered connector.

And the last items we found while sorting out the cables in the consumer unit was an unhooked neutral connector to the house ring main! We sorted that out too. Has anyone noticed that this property has two main fuses before the meter? That’s because one of the fuses is feeding the neighbours property through a conduit in the wall. We checked that property too and sure enough the feed comes through the wall runs into another main fuse and then to the his meter.

Next week we’ll build a proper cover over the consumer unit and dry line the back wall ready for skimming.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad DIY ‘Electricians’

Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 Reg 411.3.1.2

While chatting with the owner of a local plumbing shop earler this week we were sked if we could sort out a small issue. One of the circuit breakers trips every time they turned on the wall mounted heater. We ha a quick look to see what we could see. YIPES!! We wish we hadn’t looked.

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So down to the cellar we go. The pictures above show the story better than we could ever try to describe it. You will find exposed live and neutral conductors almost everywhere. You’ll also see many uncovered connector blocks dangling from the ceiling. Watch what you back into! As it turns out only one of the consumer units (fuse board) is hooked up and it’s the bottom six way distribution board that is running the entire store upstairs.

Between the  showroom lighting, warehouse lighting, all heating, computers and various other stuff plugged in there is little wonder that breakers are tripping. To further complicate matters we also discovered (surprise, surprise) that the store owner wired everything up by himself. I pointed out a few MAJOR issues as seen in the final two pictures above.

The kitchen extractor display has been wired directly to the 32amp ring circuit with the live, neutral and earth cable pushed through the sharp metal vent slats near the top of the display. At the time this photo was taken we already knew that the earths weren’t hooked up correctly in the cellar. In fact the main bonding runs to the two disused units!

So after finding lots of spurs feeding spurs feeding more spurs amongst the other highlighted issues we’ve recommended starting from scratch with a new larger split consumer unit thus allowing us to break the store up into manageable chunks. Also with all of these live displays being handled and touched by clients all day long it is critical to get it all right the first time.

If you fry someone to death in your home, office or shop and it turns out it’s your fault you’re on the hook. It should be mentioned as well that any insurance policies you have to cover such accidental injuries won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on. You’ll lose your business, your savings and perhaps a lot more than that. All of the wiring shown above is probably only a half day to sort out properly. Not as bad as one might think. Certainly cheaper than a solicitor or an undertaker I’d say.

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