Mattg4321

Been bailing Scotland out since 1707! Even with the oil money Scotland deficit is very large. We could stop the debate here though if Scorland continue to send us the electricity in exchange for the money 😁

Reform the Barnett formula so citizens of Scotland get the same spend as England/Wales and you can have it!

Tell the sparks he’ll be running his cables from above. Ridiculous idea to put them in the screed when not absolutely necessary

Much better installing a duct with a rope through.

It appears ‘somebody’ put pressure on octopus. I wonder who. Hopefully an incoming government will use the opportunity to distance themselves from the previous administration and pull the rug from under the MCS parasites.

But the scam that is MCS still has to be complied with to get SEG payments. As a sparks, the amount of absolutely shocking PV installs I see is frustrating. It’s not cost effective for me to go MCS for a few systems a year, however I’m just about to fit my own system (which will actually be done properly, unlike most MCS installs!), which I won’t be able to get SEG payments for. Ridiculous.

Also worth looking at DIY Kitchens. Better quality than Howdens imo, having DIY fitted both. The only downside being the delivery can be a bit of aggro. They’re usually cheaper than Howdens though.

I don’t want to do that either!!

I can’t be doing with changing batteries all the time personally

You’ll need to ask the suppliers/installers of whatever blind you go for. Imagine it will need power inside the window recess, probably at one end or the other. I’m thinking of using the below when we do our extension, but not got round to looking into it properly, so please update the thread if you do the legwork for me!!! https://www.poweredblinds.co.uk/electric-roller-blinds/serene-electric-roller-blinds/

You’ll want 2x flexis right the way up into each socket if you’re doing it that way. Make sure you can actually pull the cable through it though. Mostly that stuff isn’t smooth on the inside and can be a pig to pull cables through more than a few meters. If you’re going to all that trouble though you may as well just 1st fix the ring entirely, cables and all.

In an ideal world don’t run the cables through the floor void where they are more susceptible to rodent damage and damp. Drop them down from the ceiling void above if that’s an option? Easier than messing around with flexicon

He’s correct in that it’s against the regulations. However in practice it’s unlikely to cause a problem at a domestic level with relatively low currents. You’ve also got issues there with basic insulation of the meter tails being visible and cable thus not mechanically protected. The meter tails are not properly supported and also quite likely IP rating to top surface of consumer unit not to IP4X. Nothing major, and all could be argued C2 or C3 depending on exact circumstances. It might just be worth getting someone to tidy them up - doesn’t have to be original inspector, you just append the invoice\certificate for the work to the original EICR to show the remedials have been carried out.

As far as I know it’s not mentioned in BPG4. Might be hard to change someone’s mind on this though as it’s ultimately the inspectors opinion. https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/media/2depcuen/best-practice-guide-4-issue-6.pdf

Eddy currents maybe? That being the case though a C3 seems more reasonable if no ill effects are observed and it’s been in service for that long.

If steel conduit then no because of risk of eddy currents. If plastic then I don’t see what the conduit is offering. Can you run in SWA as it sounds like meter tails are not ideal here?

Careful or you’ll have the net zero stasi after you!! Think what this shows more than anything is the heat source isn’t really that important from a cost point of view certainly. What is extremely important is insulation and air tightness.

The whole thing looks like a shambles to be fair. Need to get hold of a good electrician to come and give you some advice. Seems like the last few haven’t been very good, including the PV installers shoehorning a Crabtree MCB into an M2 board. OT slightly, but why are solar installers nearly always so bad? MCS scheme is a total mess imo.

PME has the downsides you’ve listed, but it’s also a very cost effective way of achieving very low Ze. If we went down the route of TT earthing everywhere, it would then be routine to rely on the operation of RCD’s for fault protection. I come across countless RCD’s not operating properly/at all every year. I’ve only very rarely come across a lost PEN conductor. Both situations dangerous. TN-S earthing is probably the best, but not done anymore. This can fail too though. A supplementary earth rod to TN-C-S (PME) systems looks likely to be brought in and would be a good idea imo. FYI neutral/earth bond relays are needed to give neutral a reference to the earth. Without it an RCD will not operate correctly. It’s a slightly separate issue to loss of PEN conductor, which won’t usually matter when in islanding mode as grid is switched out.

Better still get it swapped for a switch fuse (you can’t achieve selectivity with MCB upstream of MCB and a fault could trip both). Obviously only if cable type and routing allows. As above you need an electrician. Good chance this is just build up of ‘earth leakage current’ if the RCD’s in consumer unit don’t trip though. Easily verified with insulation resistance testing and an earth leakage clamp meter.

They usually use ‘pure water’ or similar like https://www.spotlesswater.co.uk/locations/

Anyone here fitted any large white sliding patio doors? Or even Bi-Fold doors? It seems the strong trend for a while has been for colours - especially anthracite and black. We’ve got a 70’s box we’re extending (2 storey), with materials to match - brick and concrete tile roof!! The wife doesn’t really want white patio doors - she thinks black looks much better. I tend to agree, however… I don’t like the idea of mixing black doors with white windows on the same side wall. I also really don’t like the idea of black windows on a 70’s box - it just looks wrong to me and I’m convinced it’s going to date really badly and quite quickly!! That’s only my opinion! Back to the original question… would be great to see pictures if you do have them. Bonus points for lift and slide and around 4m wide on brick!!

Those rates sound ok to me, but I don’t know the local area. Here in SE England I charge roughly £300-350 a day and mark up materials by 20%. This covers the cost of sourcing the materials, sometimes having to pay my account before I get paid by the customer and also the cost to replace or repair materials should they be faulty. I’m happy for customers to supply materials, but if they’re wrong and I’m hanging around, they’re paying for my time and if they’re faulty and I have to return to replace then, again, they’re paying for my time. It sounds like a lot of money, but after all the expense of running the business, periods of quieter times, no holiday, no sick pay and no pension it doesn’t work out to be as much as you’d think.

If you’re on economy 7 then that teleswitch is still in use. It’s what switches you from peak to off peak rate. As above though I believe the signal will be turned off soon and you’ll need to move over to a smart meter to use a dual or multi rate tariff. In any case you cannot remove it. It belongs to the energy provider. They would have to remove when replacing the meter. The black box your arrow points to is the incoming service fuse/cutout. If you pull the fuse, aside from being something you’re not allowed to do, and potentially dangerous, you’ll have now power!!!

Not in my experience. Nothing like that high. Perhaps that’s under certain circumstances. Like when they are run continuously at full rated current or something. Failed inside what timeframe? I fit hundreds of RCBO’s every year. Probably not far off 1000. I probably get 1 or 2 failures a year, even including devices fitted years previously. Admittedly though most people don’t use the test button! So if you’re including failure to operate under fault conditions then the figure will be higher. I assume you guys are thinking of total failure ie no power to circuit. As above it’s different if they are subjected to substantial current flow. The reality is that the vast majority are only having to deal with 1 or 2 amps at the most either all the time or nearly all the time. Electric showers and EV chargers are the biggest culprits for causing RCBO failure.