A lost art

[peterb]

I had to make up a specific cable extension yesterday, which involved putting three pin plug on a cable. Wiring a three pin plug is something I've done scores of times, but not for a while with the introduction of mounded cable sets.

It used to a rite of passage for (mainly) sons learning from their Dads - I was about 8 or 9 when my Dad showed me, but I wonder if it is now a lost art or considered "too dangerous" for other than electrician to do?

[g8ina]

It should be mandatory to learn how to do this in schools. I taught all of my kids how to do this *properly* !

You wouldnt believe some of the bad wiring I've seen in UK mains plugs.

[jim]

I was taught how to do it in school in the 2000's, but I can well believe it would be dropped at some point.

I only recently discovered that it was typical in the UK at one point to sell devices without the plug on the end. These days, obviously, that doesn't happen. I can't say that I've ever needed to do it so far in my life.

[Spreadie]

I know a guy who bought a new TV because his last one just stopped working. His dad happened to call round, before he dumped the old TV, and asked him if he'd checked the fuse. A blank stare gave him the answer. The TV was fine.

Simple DIY skills are an endangered species.

You wouldnt believe some of the bad wiring I've seen in UK mains plugs.

When we bought our first house, they included the cooker and washer in the sale.

The first time I used any more than two rings on the cooker, it stopped working. The consumer unit was still live and nothing had tripped, so I pulled the cooker out to check the wiring to the back of it. The 30 amp cable from the consumer unit was terminated with a free hanging mains socket, and the cooker was wired into a 13 amp plug.

The light fitting in the upstairs hallway was also being used as the junction box for all the upstairs lighting circuits - literally 6 pairs of wires jammed into two contacts!

Oh and the electric shower was was wired to the mains using 2.5mm twin and earth, and the MCB contacts had been shorted (presumably because it kept tripping), so the the contacts heated up to the point of melting the fusebox housing.

None of this was picked up by the electrical survey we paid for prior to buying.

[herulach]

When we bought our first house, they included the cooker and washer in the sale.

The first time I used any more than two rings on the cooker, it stopped working. The consumer unit was still live and nothing had tripped, so I pulled the cooker out to check the wiring to the back of it. The 30 amp cable from the consumer unit was terminated with a free hanging mains socket, and the cooker was wired into a 13 amp plug.

The light fitting in the upstairs hallway was also being used as the junction box for all the upstairs lighting circuits - literally 6 pairs of wires jammed into two contacts!

Oh and the electric shower was was wired to the mains using 2.5mm twin and earth, and the MCB contacts had been shorted (presumably because it kept tripping), so the the contacts heated up to the point of melting the fusebox housing.

None of this was picked up by the electrical survey we paid for prior to buying.

I hope you pursued them for the cost of remediation?

I was taught it in school, but thats not sure to say that people remember it. My brother in law is a surveyor (i.e. works on building sites all day) and can't even manage hanging a mirror. Fundamentally a lot of people are just garbage at anything that isn't 'buy a new one'. TBH its probably a good thing. The only thing you really get nowadays that needs the plug changing is cookers and such, and the odd time when wiring applicances in without wanting to cut cupboards and things. Probably a good thing people don't know how tbh

[Gerrard]

I was taught it at school in the late 90's, but already knew about it from my Dad by that point anyway. However, I can see how the H+S culture would want to try to prevent a lot of people from trying. I believe all plugs on new devices are now moulded and cannot by taken apart?

The light fitting in the upstairs hallway was also being used as the junction box for all the upstairs lighting circuits - literally 6 pairs of wires jammed into two contacts!

I replaced the light fixtures in my hallway last week (legal to do without a Part P since it is using an existing fixture) and found something similar. I bought this place new a couple a years ago! There are two lights in the hallway, but also a fire alarm. The RCB in the electrical box was labelled as "lights + fire alarm" so I quickly worked out what was going on. They were looping the second light through the first fixture, but also had a permanent live looped through it (i.e. not controlled by the light switch) that went to the fire alarm which was physically between both light fixtures.

[Spreadie]

I was taught it at school in the late 90's, but already knew about it from my Dad by that point anyway. However, I can see how the H+S culture would want to try to prevent a lot of people from trying. I believe all plugs on new devices are now moulded and cannot by taken apart?

I replaced the light fixtures in my hallway last week (legal to do without a Part P since it is using an existing fixture) and found something similar. I bought this place new a couple a years ago! There are two lights in the hallway, but also a fire alarm. The RCB in the electrical box was labelled as "lights + fire alarm" so I quickly worked out what was going on. They were looping the second light through the first fixture, but also had a permanent live looped through it (i.e. not controlled by the light switch) that went to the fire alarm which was physically between both light fixtures.

It isn't a problem when done correctly. Most ceiling roses these days cater for pass-throughs and multiple connections, but this was a ceiling mounted rose/lampholder with nothing more than two connections, so I ran everything to a junction box I fitted in the loft.

[Phage]

Without a dad - I looked this up in the Library at that age. (Actually different colours then)

[Ferral]

I was taught how to wire a plug at school, now though every plug has to be moulded, something to do with safety regulations introduced by the government. You used to be able to buy replacement plugs from Supermarkets but that is no longer the case, they just stock shaver 2 pin to 3 pin now, so small hardware shops is the place to go, mind you the one near us in the town center has gone and the other closest is literally at Stanley which would mean getting there and back making said plug more expensive!

Now when something electrical is completely dead if it has a proper plug on it I cut it off before disposing and it goes in the drawerr, handy things to have, especially if I am wanting to keep all my old computers correct with their plugs etc.

Earlier this week I replaced the light switches in the front room as the dimmers had failed, wiring was slightly different but reading the sheet that came with the new ones was easy enough to follow and that was using pre 2004 wiring (Red, Black & Yellow), I removed the strip light from mine and wifes bedroom pairing off the outer 2 red cables and then wiring in a spot light bar, then did the same in sons room and finally replaced switches in dining room.

I think DIY is dropping off a bit with a lot of younger folks, me personally love doing it, especially if it is something new and watching a few vids and reading up before starting. To do the jobs I done there would have cost around £150 labor from a certified sparky.

[Phage]

Fond memories of the click as the circuit breaker told me that I'd wired the Bathroom extractor/light wrong again.

[Saracen]

Much the same as Ferral, I did a similar job a few months back. Similarly, dimmer switches were causing concern. One, an elderly two-gang dimmer controlled two lounge light fittings, but my metered electricity usage was actually lower with the lights on, at about 15-20% power, than when off completely. I'm still a bit confuzzled about that.

So .... replace old CFL bulb with remote-controlled (wifi) dimmable LED bulbs and the dimmer switch with a plain, double-gang on/off and not only did the problem go away, but the (not cheap) LED bulbs use a lot less power than even the CFLs did. They're colour-temp adjustable (by remote) too.

Of course, now the lounge light switches don't match the rest, so I replaced the rest too, which was simple except for the two-way upstairs/downstairs because, again similar to Ferral, colour schemes were different. More that that, the genius "sparky" that wired them DID NOT follow colour conventions at all. He has just used what bits of wire he had laying around. So it took a bit of testing, some notes, and a bit of noggin-scratching, to figure out what he'd used for perm-live, switched live, neutral and even on one occasion, earth.

[Gerrard]

One, an elderly two-gang dimmer controlled two lounge light fittings, but my metered electricity usage was actually lower with the lights on, at about 15-20% power, than when off completely. I'm still a bit confuzzled about that.

My first thought is something to do with balancing the capacitive/inductive load (True, Reactive, Apparent power), but then I wouldn't have thought lights would make that much difference.

One thing I did notice with my junction that I mentioned above was the that one of the permanent live wires was actually blue, but with some brown sleeving around it.

[listy]

funny my dad showed me years ago how do this got it at school too changed a fridge @ mum and dads just other week had to remove the fitted plug... and wire up a unfitted one dad did it but made me check it before he closed it up

[kalniel]

Do they still come with the card showing you exactly how to wire them up?

I've no problems doing this or a variety of other appliance based tasks, but completely agree about simple DIY skills - mine are almost non-existent! Generally, if I can see the screws/bolts etc. I can figure it out, but I'm completely lost at sea in a number of tasks where they're not so visible or you have to get the right part as two recent examples showed up:

1) Toilet problems - had a problem with the flushing unit, which is easy to diagnose and find replacement parts for. But then the button for the flush (pneumatic link) broke and is that a standard one? No. I can understand the mechanism, ordered what *looked* very much like a the right replacement part, but part of it is too thick and fouls the mechanism. Still working out how I might bodge it, otherwise it's a whole new pneumatic system just to get the right button

2) Door handles! Recently pulled one off one of those multi-bolt PVC type doors. I haven't got a clue how to fix it - I'm used to door handles that have grub screws or similar to attach, none of which are visible for these kind of doors, it seems to be some kind of one-way washer type things.

I know some villages have hobby clubs for young and old to mix and share skills/help each other, but round here it's mostly commuters who I guess would pay other people to fix it, so I've not found such a club.

[peterb]

My first thought is something to do with balancing the capacitive/inductive load (True, Reactive, Apparent power), but then I wouldn't have thought lights would make that much difference.

One thing I did notice with my junction that I mentioned above was the that one of the permanent live wires was actually blue, but with some brown sleeving around it.

The reactive component won't register on the meter.

[Phage]

Do they still come with the card showing you exactly how to wire them up?

I've no problems doing this or a variety of other appliance based tasks, but completely agree about simple DIY skills - mine are almost non-existent! Generally, if I can see the screws/bolts etc. I can figure it out, but I'm completely lost at sea in a number of tasks where they're not so visible or you have to get the right part as two recent examples showed up:

1) Toilet problems - had a problem with the flushing unit, which is easy to diagnose and find replacement parts for. But then the button for the flush (pneumatic link) broke and is that a standard one? No. I can understand the mechanism, ordered what *looked* very much like a the right replacement part, but part of it is too thick and fouls the mechanism. Still working out how I might bodge it, otherwise it's a whole new pneumatic system just to get the right button

2) Door handles! Recently pulled one off one of those multi-bolt PVC type doors. I haven't got a clue how to fix it - I'm used to door handles that have grub screws or similar to attach, none of which are visible for these kind of doors, it seems to be some kind of one-way washer type things.

I know some villages have hobby clubs for young and old to mix and share skills/help each other, but round here it's mostly commuters who I guess would pay other people to fix it, so I've not found such a club.

Thank you ! Exactly my experience as well.