Electrician courses?

86JR

86JR

86JR

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With my impending move to the NW from the SW partly for change and partly for plans to buy and then rent/sell property, I have about 13 months to get some skills that will allow me to save cash doing things myself (and obviously have someone come and sign off on it).

I already plan to learn how to render and do basic building maintainence, and basic plumbing even if just for an understanding of what could need doing.

What confuses me is electrician courses - there are so many and I have no idea what I would need. I only need enough skill for fitting light switches, power outlets, thermostats etc really, any big jobs like fitting a boiler I could pay someone to do.

Any ideas gents?

Thanks.
 
Fitting a boiler isn't actually big job, just a long one.
You have one power feed, one gas feed (OK, corgi), one outflow, one flue and radiator/HW in/out.
Conceptually, wiring a two way switch is harder.
 
You don't need a course for those things. Just read a few DIY articles and watch a few YouTube videos.

Most of the basics are based around the premise that charged particles flow down the brown wire (red for positive when you were playing with circuits in school physics lessons) and once discharged by the appliance or whatever, back to the grid via the blue neutral wire (black in older circuits and equivalent of the negative wire at school). The earth wire is sort of an emergency bail out for the particles if something goes wrong.

Safety is of course another huge part. I always just knock off the whole house at the consumer unit when working on domestic circuits as I'm a big girl when it comes to electricity.
 
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Participant said:
Most of the basics are based around the premise that charged particles flow down the brown wire (red for positive when you were playing with circuits in school physics lessons) and once discharged by the appliance or whatever, back to the grid via the blue neutral wire (black in older circuits and equivalent of the negative wire at school). The earth wire is sort of an emergency bail out for the particles if something goes wrong.
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This sounds like something extracted from a course for 1st year primary school children to learn about electricity or something :p
 
You don't even need to get them signed off nor any training if they're existing circuits eg you're just changing the switches/fittings. It's only when you're doing new installations that you need to be qualified.

I am a sparky and honestly just cut the power to the whole house like participant said. The wiring is so simple for that sort of things. I advise just taking a picture of it before removing the wires from the original socket then match it to the new one.
 
Mynight said:
You don't even need to get them signed off nor any training if they're existing circuits eg you're just changing the switches/fittings. It's only when you're doing new installations that you need to be qualified.

I am a sparky and honestly just cut the power to the whole house like participant said. The wiring is so simple for that sort of things. I advise just taking a picture of it before removing the wires from the original socket then match it to the new one.
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Its refreshing to see a Sparky who doesn't take the usual stance scaremongering :)
 
If you're planning on adding sockets, moving things around etc. then it's probably a good idea to at least learn the basics. You wouldn't want to be in a situation where someone won't sign off on work because you forgot to put appropriate physical protection in place for cables or ran them the wrong way and have to rip walls apart to fix it.
 
He doesn't live in my area so I won't be making any money :D honest advise in that case.

It's when it comes to running cables through walls/new installations there's so much legislation (some of it makes perfect sense but its a small lot) it can be dangerous to do it yourself(the fines are huge).

To be honest I lost a lot of respect for the 17th edition when I read how "water doesn't conduct electricity" :D

However swapping a fitting is so easy its untrue if you get it wrong the trips go off, in which case you probably shouldn't be doing it yourself screwing up somthing so simple :D. Especially when you had the orginal one for reference.

Don't get me wrong electricity really is dangerous even with trips/fuses it can quite easily kill you. Use the wrong cable and you can happily start a fire. Good luck putting out a fire in the walls/space below floorboard. Should see the stretch marks on my arm from when I was working grabbed a cable and got a belt. (Power was off in my building, next doors sparky had left the power on with bare cables in the walls).

If you intend on moving things around then caged is correct learn the basics. As long as your using the existing cable without extending it/altering it in anyway your fine to proceed. However make sure you're confident as if the sparkies in your area are anything like me they will charge more for rectifying mistakes than they would have done for doing it themselves.

Common sense prevails 9/10 times :D
 
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To answer OP question, No there aren't any fast lane courses that will learn you "just the basics", There's a lot more to it then just the basics, and most of the 4 year electrician apprenticeship course integrate with each other. Get a sparky in to do the work!

Sliver said:
You'll need to complete the 17th Edition Wiring Regs course if you intend to work with electricity domestically, commercially, or on any industrial premesis; safely.
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Fixed that for you.

Threads like this are just like medical advice threads, which aren't allowed. These sort of threads shouldn't be either.

Jez, why do you think they come across like that(trying to scaremonger people)? 230v CAN kill you, so don't tamper with it! Get someone qualified to do the work you require.
 
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Like Mynight says, changing switches, sockets, light fittings etc like for like is easy and doesn't require any special training.

Everything else is probably best left to someone qualified. If you screw it up you will have a hard time finding an electrician willing to correct it and when you do, will likely charge through the nose to do so.
 
I would say just stick to the simple stuff where you dont need to know any regs or comply with any laws etc, buy a elecs DIY book or use DIY sites like DIYnot or post in home and garden like others do if you get stuck.

Bigger jobs best to get a pro in really, by the time you learn how to do it, buy some tools and then take twice as long to complete the job yourself it would have been cheaper to pay someone else to do it.

PS. If you just want to learn the basics of several trades then maybe you can find a home maintenance course locally? do these exist, basic plumbing, odd jobs etc?
 
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Traffic_Warden said:
To answer OP question, No there aren't any fast lane courses that will learn you "just the basics", There's a lot more to it then just the basics, and most of the 4 year electrician apprenticeship course integrate with each other. Get a sparky in to do the work!



Fixed that for you.

Threads like this are just like medical advice threads, which aren't allowed. These sort of threads shouldn't be either.

Jez, why do you think they come across like that(trying to scaremonger people)? 230v CAN kill you, so don't tamper with it! Get someone qualified to do the work you require.
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I believe British building regulations state a person has to be competent not qualified, Its what I stated to the up his arse building inspector started asking for my qualifications, demanding i show him my part p.:rolleyes:

after much of me winding him up he finally buggered with his tail between his legs when i showed him my 17th edition, inspection and testing, low voltage industrial authorisation and high voltage authorisation, plus hnc.

all i would recommend is read a book, get a voltage indicator, and take your time. oh and a camera phone is a blessing.

on a funnier note a friend asked me to wire up a pump for his cherub fountain, this pump he got from his friend and was much bigger than the orginal, i told him this. he told me to wire up, que on power up the force of the water caused the cherubs head to explode :D
 
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You guys know that the 17th edition course is there to basically teach you how to use the regs book its not intended in anyway whatsover to teach a person how to be an electrician thats what an apprentiship is for
 
Abraxaz1 said:
I believe British building regulations state a person has to be competent not qualified, Its what I stated to the up his arse building inspector started asking for my qualifications, demanding i show him my part p.:rolleyes:]
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Correct, but would you say a DIY'er can be classed as a "competent person" in the electrical industry, and abide by what it says in the 17th edition regs? Nope :)

2FDud5Ql.jpg

http://imgur.com/2FDud5Q
 
Brutal biff said:
You guys know that the 17th edition course is there to basically teach you how to use the regs book its not intended in anyway whatsover to teach a person how to be an electrician thats what an apprentiship is for
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This ^, i did the 17th edition course recently, and all it "teaches" you is how to find the answers in the book, the pass rate needed is 60% i achieved 83.3%, the company i work for need it so they can show we have the "relevant" qualifications...

It certainly doesn't turn you into an electrician:p
 
Part P has just been relaxed a little, got an ECA bulletin through the other day (which I cant find now...) stating that you are now allowed to get a suitably 'certified' person to sign off on any notifable work that you do yourself.

I agree with most above. Just be sensible, confident before you start anything, write everything down/take photo's, mark up cables before disconnected especially in lighting circuits and always remember that if you do something half arsed expect a spectacular failure. Electrocution isn't much fun, a fire under your floorboards (as mentioned above) is even less fun.

If ever you want to see what not to do just call in your local electrical wholesalers where, no doubt, they will have copies of "Proffesional Electrician" for free - theres always a double page spread with pics of the DIY disasters people have found.


Personally I don't do domestic much, to the point that I usually pay someone else to do electrical in my house. I hate it lol, far rather go do my day job (petrochem/compex spark) and pay someone to work in my house :p
 
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