You could consider splitting the rings front and back rather than upstairs/downstairs. That way the kitchen shares with the back bedrooms, the lounge with the front bedrooms. As well as giving you two circuits on every floor (so you still have power on every floor without having to run an extension lead up the stairs) it means that the kitchen is shared with rooms which are probably lightly used during the day.
If people are in the lounge (and you have eg temporary electric heaters plugged in) they're less likely to be in the bedrooms, but lounge and kitchen/oven use is likely to coincide.
Well personally, no I would not, but I am not into this whole "blame culture" thing. You do raise an interesting point however.
I would be surprised if anyone would be able to build a case against someone for offering free advice in a public forum such as this, but I suppose it is possible. It would be easy to argue that someone injuring themselves for blindly following bad advice, without at least making attempts to verify the validity of the advice first, would be equally or more culpable.
If the issue concerns you, I would have thought that it is easy enough to add a disclaimer to any information you post along the lines of "IANAE" or even just "IMHO", but then give a reasoned answer to the question since that would be of benefit to all.
My personal preference is always to try to reduce risk by education (where reasonable) rather that opting for the "there be dragons here, you had better get a man in" approach. After all, the purpose of this forum is to support a class if like minded individual who rejects the "you have better get a man in" philosophy as a starting point.
My experience of this group is that it is very rare for poor advice to go unchallenged anyway ;-)
I agree with the principle in some cases. However I feel that it does not require that much in the way of education to get someone basically competent to the point where any electrical work they do, will be at least as good or better than much of the installed electrical work most of us live with day to day (i.e. a good proportion of the housing stock has wiring that is not actually bad - but is not to current standards).
Sometimes you can tell from the post that there is a gulf in understanding between where someone is, and where they need to be in order to not be a danger to themselves. In this case the OP had already successfully completed several house rewires in the past, and was keen to learn, so I did not get the feeling that was the situation here.
OK, I accept that is your point of view, and don't have a problem with it. My comment was more questioning the value of saying "Yup, I know the answer to your question, but I don't want to tell you in case I make a mistake and you sue me".
Having one of those on the lighting circuit that illuminates the CU is a good plan as well I think. That way you are not groping in the dark to reset a MCB or RCD.
Can't disagree with that. But it has to be said that I don't actually know what I am talking about (oo-err missus!) with respect to earthing arrangements. I am not a qualified spark and nor do I pretend to be.
3 years ago before I did my C&G2381 I thought I knew it all. I had been installing/repairing domestic electrical systems for 30+ years. I didn't do the course on the basis that I expected it to train me as a spark (it isn't that sort of course), but one of the things it definitely did teach me was how little I knew about things like earthing, diversity, cable sizing, you name it. Big alarm bells started clanging for me about some of the things I was previously prepared to take on - none of it unsafe in my view, but such work had always been without due respect for the regs.
From that day forward I chose to restrict any further electrical work I undertook to simple and straightforward stuff. Even though there has been lots of work that I could feasibly have taken on, I won't do so because it trips over that perimeter where I admit to "I don't actually know what I'm up to once I get to this point".
So, when I see someone who is probably at about the stage which I was at prior to me attending C&G2381 I respond as you've seen. Visions of Robbie the Robot quoting "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!" come to mind :)
The thing is that as far as I can tell, Part P does not specifically exclude DIY work any more than Parts A through N (generally) exclude DIY work. What it *does* exclude is *unchecked* DIY work. In the same manner that you should involve Building Control before (for example) knocking down a supporting wall and inserting a lintel, Part P requires either a notice to BC and a full inspection of subsequent electrical work by a suitably qualified person who is willing to take on responsibility for the work, or the work to be done by a self certifying company/person. It doesn't require even this for some sorts of work ("non-notifiable"), though obviously a complete rewire doesn't come under this category.
Note that this is a lot less strict than the situation for working with gas or with pressurised hot water systems.
So one has to make a judgement here. Since DIY isn't outlawed, why should we stop giving advice in how to do it correctly? There are several highly knowledgeable electricians in this ng who give consistently accurate and well-reasoned answers, even if they don't always come up with exactly the same solutions as each other. Some are (I believe) even working under self certifying schemes and so *should* know the answers! I have learned immense amounts from them. The only reason to stop giving such advice would be if we could be certain that the person asking would carry out any given advice without following the new rules.
Perhaps an update to the electrical section of the FAQ is called for, and perhaps any posts containing electrical advice should post a direct link to that section before any advice.
Nonsense. A DIYer can do any amount of work on a gas installation system as long as he doesn't charge for his work. He has to deem himself to be competent in the art to comply with the law. This is a common misconception propagated by the likes of Corgi which you have fallen for. The act is very clear and the relevant section has been posted to this newsgroup before.
Yes, I've heard that too. Perhaps it wasn't the best place to make the analogy. You're not the first person to state this in this ng and I dare say you won't be the last. There are, AIUI, differences however, particularly with regard to certain types of electrical work, and the rules about "competent persons" when it comes to companies undertaking such work.
Sorry I didn't mean to come on strong like that. As an experienced electrical engineer with a MIEE I feel really pissed of with the nanny state that the institution I belong to insist I get a cowboy into to do the work just because he has the C&G qualification.
Just had a leaflet through from NICEIC which is designed for people like you - people with decent qualifications who only do a few notifiable installations a year (up to 8 IIRC); it still requires registration, but is at about half the rate of full registration.
Specially when you've left the cover off the CU because you're in the middle of something, and somebody trod on it and cracked it so you're waiting on a new cover down the wholesalers as well as a three for the price of two pack of tuits
Sorry to come in so slow on this. I've been away for a week.
One of the main reasons for the area limits on socket circuits is the fact that they should be designed to provide emergency electric heating requirements. Fixed electric heating should have its own circuits, whilst socket circuits should be capable of running enough thermostatically controlled fan heaters to heat the area, in case the main heating system fails.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.