A question about electrics.

paintguy said:
My missus would flip her lid at the suggestion of DIY on live electrics :eek: (She's in the commercial electrical safety & testing game)

Sure you might well be fine most of the time, but then the same could be said for Russian roulette...
Click to expand...
yea it's senseless I once touched the 2 prongs on a lightbulb socket dangling from the ceiling whilst the switch on the wall was off and I still got fairly big jolt and that was probably just any power still in the wire or something.

I don't see why anyone would take the risk of working with live wires in a house where the power being turned off for a few minutes makes no difference anyway.


I changed the element in an electric oven recently and rather than just turning that circuit off I turned the whole power to the house off because why bother taking any risks? you wouldn't take a risk running across a road without looking which is essentially the same thing as taking risks with potentially live wires

BTW whilst some sockets can be doubled up others have to be on their own separate circuit like electric cookers
 
Last edited:
arknor said:
I changed the element in an electric oven recently and rather than just turning that circuit off I turned the whole power to the house off because why bother taking any risks?
Click to expand...

I know what you mean! I could've got caught out doing the job pictured above if I wasn't a bit more savvy. I isolated the MCB that was marked up "downstairs sockets" but after double checking the socket it was still live. Turns out it had been added to the "upstairs sockets" ring while on it's way back to the CU (one cable goes straight up the wall)

Check, check, check. Only James Bond gets to live twice :D
 
After a bit of a faff I got it done. More because the wire comes up from the floorboards in front of the skirting board. I needed a backplate that would allow the wire in from the bottom. I tried to cut a small hole in the first one using wire clippers and promptly sheared the damn thing in half. Made do with a second one that is actually designed for fitting into plaster boarding but has a proper entry from the bottom.

It's hidden behind a filing cabinet so not disastrous and will do for now until I do more work on that room in the future.

Thanks for all the advice though, it made me feel a lot more comfortable about doing it myself. Easy really, as long as the sensible precautions are taken. :)
 
-BA- said:
I tried to cut a small hole in the first one using wire clippers and promptly sheared the damn thing in half. Made do with a second one that is actually designed for fitting into plaster boarding but has a proper entry from the bottom.
Click to expand...

A dryline box screwed to the surface is dog rough :(

The correct way to open the cable entries in a pattress is by picking one of the removeable entries, create a slot to suit the cable by cutting two slots with a junior hacksaw, snap out the bit in between with long nose pliers and tidy up with a file

You can also buy thermoplastic pattress (designed for trunking and conduit systems) which you can drill with a HSS bit
 
OP, i did the same job as this last week, had a single plug under my desk, needed at least a double!

its a REALLY simple job, just MAKE SURE YOU TURN OFF THE ELECTRIC!!!!

mine went well, just need to do a bit of touch up painting around the area where the paint scratched whilst i was making the back plate hole bigger.
 
desires said:
It's only 240V, just use correctly rated screw drivers and be careful. No need to switch the power off.
Click to expand...

Considering the OP said he wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, suggesting this is stupid

You can die with far less voltage/current than the mains in your house can deliver
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom