DIY dunces?

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How can people not know how to change a light bulb?

It's a bit like saying they don't know how to unlock a door. I don't believe it!

tim

Reply to
tim.....
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If I thought that I'd could make a living out of doing numpty jobs for people I'd join you

But I'm sure that I'd get more than my fair share of clearing out gutters and digging out trees.

tim

Reply to
tim.....

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> It looks as if there's going to be a boom time for the 'Professional > Handymen' then.

Probably the same ones that can't wrap a Christmas parcel:

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Reply to
mark

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> It looks as if there's going to be a boom time for the 'Professional > Handymen' then.

In days gone by you used to have to fit a plug to every electrical appliance that you bought, so many people could do this.

Today nearly all (all?) appliance come with a plug so knowing how to fit one is hardly an essential skill..

Reply to
Michael Chare

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>>> It looks as if there's going to be a boom time for the 'Professional

Of course it's been photoshopped, their biggest mistake is that the earth core stops short of the brass terminal!

Soldered ends were common on new appliances until they started factory fitting plugs. The fibreboard clamps are still around, some cheap plugs in B&Q I saw the other week are like that.

I usually only use MK plugs with the push in plastic cable grip which for some reason have now gone from their logical all wires trimmed and stripped to the same length with an offset earth terminal to something with two wildly differing strip lengths and an earth terminal directly over the earth pin. I'm not impressed as they now take much longer to terminate.

Reply to
Mike

In message , Michael Chare writes

Indeed, I recently rewired a plug (it was a flex being passed through a hole) but I can't remember the last time I did it before that.

IIRC, Kids to get taught it at school as part of science, but unless it's a skill you get to use occasionally I can see how you would forget the details

Odd to think it was considered sensible to sell things without a plug.

Reply to
chris French

If you were a manufacturer selling the same product all over europe it probably made lots of sense!

Reply to
John Rumm

Most replacement plugs come with instructions.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

IIRC they were soldered to allow easy connection for testing - I've also seen brass sleeves fitted. But both should be cut off before fitting the plug - the wires were usually too long anyway.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Plenty of work about matey, even in a cwedit cwunch. You would be amazed.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

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> It looks as if there's going to be a boom time for the 'Professional > Handymen' then.

A prime example of gutter press IMHO. The first photo with the actor set up for the photo rather than doing the job using a powered screwdriver! The second including all the failings that other posters have referred to.

Sadly, though both my kids in their early to late 20s have seen me change fuses, install sockets, remove light fittings, do Prat P jobs, etc. with no disaster to date (!), they do not have a go themselves, aided by the Elfin safety crew. Also, as alluded to by another poster, all purchased equipment comes with effectively sealed plugs so that they are like black boxes under the bonnet.

Though having seen me and aided me to change engines and gearboxes, radiators, brakes, et al. in cars in their younger days, if a fault appears, it's off to the commercial garage!

Journalists using stats to such good effect for those that do not read behind the words. It's no wonder that journalists have such a bad reputation. Sorry, I do not read such rags and having just come across such tripe, I'm a mite wound up by the tosh. Is there some way we can persuade folk not to look at (and possibly for the limited literate few) assist them into a more informed existence?

Reply to
Clot

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>>> It looks as if there's going to be a boom time for the 'Professional >> Handymen' then.

As Benjamin Disraeli said, "Lies, damned lies, and statistics".

Don.

Reply to
Don

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>>>>> It looks as if there's going to be a boom time for the 'Professional

sadly so and the Gubbermint this week regarding injuries to police at a proposed power station development in Kent!

Reply to
Clot

as also it did in this country when there were one of four possible plugs that might need to be fitted.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Which many do not read because they know how to wire a plug. The better makes often have a drawing that if the flex cores are laid over will make it easy to get the lengths just right but this often thrown off without a thought. Realised this when working with a colleague attaching plug tops to a batch of appliances. He commented how I was doing 3 to his 2 and getting the lengths right first hit. When I showed him that the card that came with the plug had a drawing on it to follow he was surprised,said he had never bothered to look at it over a decade or two of wiring plugs.

G.Harman

G.Harman

Reply to
damduck-egg

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>>> It looks as if there's going to be a boom time for the 'Professional >> Handymen' then.

I have used an impact driver to fit light fittings before now, its not a problem with the Ryobi one+.

Reply to
dennis

Following up to snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk

i never looked also!

Reply to
M

Umm - why should brass sleeves be removed? My thought was that they were crimped on, rather than soldered, so would be ok for fitting into (brass) screw down terminals. If they are not advised (and if so, I'd like to _understand_ the reason why) then I have some plugs to rewire.

As for rewiring plugs, I recently had the pleasure of rewiring a CEE

7/7. Ugh. The earth connection is set closer to the cord-grip than the terminals, and the plug I rewired had terrible terminal screws - it looked like they were made by taking standard Philips head screws and (badly) grinding a slot into them so a standard bladed screwdriver could be used. Whatever they were made of was very soft - not the hard brass used in BS1363 plugs, and the live and neutral terminals and screws were made of dissimilar metals to the earth terminal and screw. I still can't work out how those things are rated to 16A when BS1363 plugs are 13A.

Cheers,

Sid

Reply to
unopened

So you don't bother lining up the screw slots. Figures.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I don't look because I don't need to, having done so many. Plus the fact they never show leaving a loop in the earth wire so it will be the last one to break if the cord grip fails.

However, if I didn't know how to fit a plug I would look at the instructions.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

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