Home DIY

What happens when you click on this link?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8131181@N05/24570056459/sizes/l

Any electricians free to cap off a mess of a double socket for me? I fear blowing myself up. E3. Thanks.

I get the opportunity to download the photo but can't see any in your photo stream etc. I'm on Safari using an adblocker though, maybe that's it.

E3 too far for me. You probably won't blow yourself up with a double socket? It's not much more complex than a plug.

Safe isolation is the key. To the layman, turn the power off before working on it. Then check that it's off.

Fair play if you don't want to do it though, there might be someone local that would pop round and help out.

Cheers. I have one of those srewdrivers that checks for current and I have swapped out some switches and sockets before but this one is a god damn mess! My flat has been cowboyed... can I just buy those connecter things and join up matching coloured wires then plaster over? (with some sort of cover obvs, not plaster up wires).

I have one of those screwdrivers that checks for current

Throw it in the bin.

Seriously! Those things use you as the ground and if the resistor inside shorts or gets moisture inside the casing you'll get the full current going through you.

Non-contact testers are far safer.

@chrisbmx116, @Mr_Sworld seconded, your life is worth more than the 99p you paid for the POC in poundland..?

@Airhead I'm glad you got there eventually, haven't been on here for a day, so was reviewing convo with mounting tension (no pun) until you divined the relevant section in 7671 and stated the correct csa for various installation methods

[/patronizing cunt]

Where can I buy metal conduit in Londons famous London? Screwfix are out of stock.

I was being lazy about getting the book off the shelf. Been working out a mass of other jobs that really take off in March, one of my issues will be main bonding of water pipe so it caught my interest.

I'm pleased I got the answer right.

I'm seeing the pictures now. I like these kind of puzzles. Perhaps a socket was planned at that point but they changed the plan. If you have plans for an electric cooker then you might need to check the rating of the current cable. Maybe they used one earth for both circuits? It would still provide a similar protective function, just not allowed any more. Looks to be a radial circuit, unless the earth belonged to the cooker and the other 2 wires are a switch line or as you say a spur. If you look in the CU you should be able to see if there are 2 line conductors going into the breaker (ring) or 1 (radial).

You could do with a little cheap fuse finder. With the power off you connect the sender to a wire (in the cu or socket) and then trace that wire with a receiver. They seem to be available for £15. The more expensive versions will work on live wires and are a bit more accurate.

It's probably easier to take it all out and rewire it in singles in the new colours. Label the ends as you go and you should have an easy time of it as long as you don't run out of space in the conduit.

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Information/branches/default.htm

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/tcl/search.tcl?search=metal+conduit&Submit=Search

Wasn't expecting much from this (on C4 now), but it's actually excellent and shows some serious dedication to home decor

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/britains-weirdest-council-houses

These guys might be worth a look. They're pretty well stocked:

http://www.cdrelectrical.co.uk/

Fun with sockets today:

And we've now got Iroko throughout - kitchen surfaces and windowsills, finishing off the shelves:

Books as insulation, I like it.

I have not validated this assumption, but my belief is that they should have a decent U value.

Here's the balcony door when we moved in:

We've added a wood burner and a load of shelves.

Neil. That looks fucking great.

Amazing that you can install a burner in an apartment like that - never happen out here.

In the first picture you can see a grey (concrete) rectangle against the right hand wall - that's the remains of the fireplace which was part of the original design/construction.

I demolished the wall, including the chimney breast that was inside said wall, got a chap in to build a new wall from decent yellow stocks (original wall was uggers) behind the burner and plonked it down underneath the hole through which the original chimney exited the flat.

Wood burner is ace, I am going to fill it with burning wood now.

Ah, grandfathered in.
Nice work.

Yeah, no way you could add a burner to a flat that didn't have a chimney I suspect.

This is London. I wouldn't be so confident.

Hmm. So I've been replacing all of the sockets in the house. I found a tough single socket that was a bitch to connect. It being so tight, I thought I'd test the sockets and now the first floor (where this single socket was) sockets aren't working. Ground floor and loft are working. I have only touched the one socket on the first floor, the tough one.

Nothing is tripped in the fuse cupboard, and as far as I can tell all the wires are connected. Whats going on?

All the sockets are working....That is strange.

I'd check the fuseboard/consumer unit and see if the wire has become disconnected.