DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad ‘Plumbing’
Regulations broken: BS7671:2008

We were at this property a month or so ago to repair some dangerous electrical work left over by a central heating engineer. He left some live and uninsulated wires in a wall and told the homeowners it was safe to cut them out. It wasn’t safe and fortunately they urned the power off first. We came back this time to look at running an outside cable to their new shed. They moved the washing machine aside so we could see the wall behind. Ooops! Band plumbing.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad ‘Plumbing and Decorating’
Regulations broken: BS7671:2008

We received a call to look at ‘some’ water around the bottom of a tub. When we arrived we removed the tub panel and found a leaking flexi connector which had been previously packed with a cheap DIY leak repair epoxy. It didn’t work and the joint kept leaking. The leak had been there for some time as the floorboards were well soaked. When the landlord went to the empty downstairs flat to see if anything had leaked through the fun began.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad ‘Electricians’
Regulations broken: BS7671:2008

You may have never heard of a Marrette or Marr connector and I was surprised as anyone to see one in a job to remove a fluorescent light fixture. As an ex-Canadian I’ve used hundreds and have seen thousands of Marrettes over the years…but never in the UK.

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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. continue

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad ‘Gas Fitters’

Now here’s one we see on a very regular basis and I do mean regular. The gas fitting on the wall has been installed incorrectly and in such a way as to cause mechanical damage to the gas hose when the cooker is withdrawn. continue

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad ‘Gas Fitters’
Regulations broken:

Earlier this week we received a call from a desperate social worker who required a cloths washer hooked up ASAP. She told us that a plumber appointed by the council had been around two days earlier to sort out ‘a’ boiler issue. When she asked him if she would be able to hook up a cloths washer he told her there was no problem. No problem for him! She ordered a washer and upon arrival the delivery staff told her that there was no water or waste connections.  continue

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad DIY ‘Electricians’
Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 Reg 411.3.1.2

We showed up to a plumbing call on Friday afternoon to install the hookups for a new washing machine. We knew that we would have to create a cold water feed and a new waste hookup. While getting ready to cut into the water pipe work we spied the earth cable shown below! continue