Becomming A Sparkie

[Mr Fixit]

the DTI ??

> Amateur electrical installation work is _NOT_ killing large numbers of

[Mr Fixit]

I never said part p would make any difference it was a reference to the OP saying "I can make a few mistakes and learn from them"

[Mr Fixit]

it has nothing to do with becoming a electrician but the blasé way of oh I can make a few mistakes on my own house and learn from them

[Dave Fawthrop]

|=20 | Knowledgable People. |=20 | I have been looking at cources about becomming a Domestice | Electrician. There are 2 aims, 1 wire my own new build, 2 charge for | work on other peoples houses.

I have a very old, 1957, HNC in Electrical Engineering, a *real* 4 year Student apprenticeship in an Engineering factory, and 30 years experience designing little power stations for aircraft.

Does this qualify me to do house wiring, if I bone up on the latest regs?

--=20 Dave Fawthrop

17,000 free e-books at Project Gutenberg! Yorkshire Dialect go to

[baz]

[baz]

Rick, and everone else in his position Iv'e seen a lot of folk on this site take the rise out of someone who wants to be a spakie, this is easy but not constructive or too smart. It's true what the 'grumpy old man said' but it does not mean it can't be done. I have trained mature people to become self employed electricians in my professional role as a college lecturer. Colleges near to you will also be able to do the same for you. It will take time, at least a couple of years to get your City & Guilds 2330 level

3=2E Following this you will need to gain the City & Guilds 2391 Inspection testing and verification course (usually 12 weeks evenings) Then you will be able to apply for Part 'P' registration, NAPIT seem to be the most accessible for one man bands. You could wire the house and get the Building Control of the council to appoint a tester to inspect the job, or you could appoint your own electrician to carry out the test. Don't be surprised if you are given a long list of remedial tasks, talk to the testing electrician first discuss the job before you start, get advice, get a copy of the On Site Guide issued by the IEE, its the best =A317 you will spend. Finally, to avoid those little mistakes that may lead to fire or electrocution, do have it tested, preferably at the end of first fix and again on completion. Unlike others, I recognise your qualifications to date, but you must be realistic, you may know some of the electrical science, but your knowlege of the regulations and installation practices will be weak. My advice, join a C&G 2330 course at your local college, preferably evening only, you will meet many students of your own age and you will learn nearly as much from each other as you will from the lecturer.

[baz]

Andy, I agree, it's to stop electricains doing domestic jobs for folding money, but if you look closely the tax issue can be partly avoided by issuing a completion certificate from Guidance note 3 which satisfies BS 7671, Then issue a periodic test certificate for part 'P' through the official channels. QED Job's a good un.

[usenet]

No. I have a fairly similar background except that mine was a degree with a 1-3-1 sandwich course. It thus also included quite a lot of practical 'shop floor' work. However I can think of very little that one does as an apprentice in an engineering factory that helps in knowing how to do house wiring (unless you actually worked as an electrician in the factory of course).

[Stephen Dawson]

I should have read it properly, it does no have to beself certified, but has to been approved then by the building control inspection process.

[Andy Dingley]

all relevant here?

[John Rumm]

Perhaps you and the OP have different interpretation of the word "mistake". He may be including things which are safe and to regulation - but with hindsight could have been done better / simpler / with less hassle etc. (long term readers of this group would probably realise that Rick is pretty well clued up about the things he posts on)

The OP said he was happy to carry out a full rewire, but allowed for the possibility of "minor mistakes". That to me seems like a safer attitude than making a blanket assumption that there will be no mistakes at all (as in a "I don't need to test it, I never make mistakes" kind of attitude)

[John Rumm]

Thanks baz, at last a sensible response to the question...

I accept what he said and also believe that you never stop learning, but it is perhaps also worth noting that most domestic wiring contains only a subset of the full range of skills that your would expect a well experienced professional electrician to posses. Most domestic installations don't include three phase, or the need to carry out much underground cable jointing, or go anywhere near HV.

Out of interest what level of knowledge does 2330 go up to?

How much work would be involved in achieving this for someone starting from the position of having a technical/engineering background, a reasonable understanding of BS7671, plus a good understanding of the sort of topics you see covered in books by Whitfield, and Scadden etc?

It strikes me that one of the areas not covered so well in the normal lists of recommended reading, is that of actual instalation practice - i.e. the physical process of getting wiring into a building neatly quickly and safely. In fact association with the good folks over at uk.d-i-y seems to cover far more of that sort of information than I have seen formally documented anywhere.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

House wiring is 99% building work anyway. The amount of electrical knowledge needed is relatively small.

[Dave Fawthrop]

| In article , | wrote: | > > I have a very old, 1957, HNC in Electrical Engineering, a *real* 4 | > > year Student apprenticeship in an Engineering factory, and 30 years | > > experience designing little power stations for aircraft. | > >=20 | > > Does this qualify me to do house wiring, if I bone up on the latest | > > regs? |=20 | > No. I have a fairly similar background except that mine was a degree | > with a 1-3-1 sandwich course. It thus also included quite a lot of | > practical 'shop floor' work. However I can think of very little that | > one does as an apprentice in an engineering factory that helps in | > knowing how to do house wiring (unless you actually worked as an | > electrician in the factory of course).

The first job I did after coming out of the Apprentice School was electricians mate wiring big machines. |=20 | House wiring is 99% building work anyway. The amount of electrical | knowledge needed is relatively small.

The building bit is a doddle :-)

--=20 Dave Fawthrop

17,000 free e-books at Project Gutenberg! Yorkshire Dialect go to

[Tim Morley]

Full cable calcs for each circuit calculating Earth fault loop impedance and disconnection times, voltage drop restraints, ever changing regulations, good practice, ????????

[Dave Fawthrop]

| >> > Does this qualify me to do house wiring, if I bone up on the = latest | >> > regs? | >

| >> No. I have a fairly similar background except that mine was a = degree | >> with a 1-3-1 sandwich course. It thus also included quite a lot of | >> practical 'shop floor' work. However I can think of very little = that | >> one does as an apprentice in an engineering factory that helps in | >> knowing how to do house wiring (unless you actually worked as an | >> electrician in the factory of course). | >

| > House wiring is 99% building work anyway. The amount of electrical | > knowledge needed is relatively small. | >

|=20 | Full cable calcs for each circuit calculating Earth fault loop = impedance and=20 | disconnection times, voltage drop restraints, ever changing = regulations,=20 | good practice, ????????

Bit of boning up to do. No probs

--=20 Dave Fawthrop

17,000 free e-books at Project Gutenberg! Yorkshire Dialect go to

[Phil Addison]

I did. Well as an apprentice in the electricians department, aircraft wiring dept, and aircraft electricians school (still got my Bristol Britannia wiring manual somewhere). Does that qualify me? :-)

Seriously, don't you need an up to date City & Guilds or whatever they call them these days to work as an electrician? I won't be surprised if the answer is "no"!

Phil The uk.d-i-y FAQ is at

Google uk.d-i-y archive is at NOSPAM from address to email me

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Don't be silly. In the average house you don't need to calculate anything.

[mitchd]

most electrician's will go on experiance for your average house and sometimes that will mean thinking about the job and calculating earth loop etc, it's not as simply as throwing a few wire's in and hoping for the best!!

[Stephen Dawson]

Most decent reputablecompanies wont take you on unless you can prove competence and qualifications