How to become a qualified sparky

[gazz68]

Hi,

I am looking at a career change (from an office job) and am exploring becoming a sparkie.

In terms of practical DIY experience in my home I have installed:
- ring mains (kitchen) and spurs
- lighting circuits
- plus in my garage, a new consumer unit (off off main CU in house) for fully powered garage (mains and lighting) and installed mains and lighting circuits (incl. remote controlled fan light, etc.) for a detached office in my garden with full wired ethernet cabling
- plus a further CU for garden and patio lighting (about 15 lights).

Given the above what would be the best route for me to obtain qualified status so that I could do kitchen rewiring, new build wiring, sockets, etc.

All suggestions appreciated.

Cheers,

Gary

 

[wingcoax]

Who signed off your jobs? and who notified LABC? Seriously, those jobs should have been done by a registered sparks. As far as qualifying goes,lots of reading and a minimum of three years at college. Oh and a lot of money.

 

[too old to learn]

OOOh your in for such a ear bashing here!!!
You want to become a spark and have not had all the apprenticeship training and years of experience. trust me mate, it cant be done!!!

anyways, that will be the usual reply, i offer a different one

it does take a long period so cant be done over a 9 week course!

but for qualifications wise your looking at 2382 (17th edition), Part P course, 2391 (inspection and testing) and possibly 2377 (PAT testing) then you do need to put all this into practice, which is the hard part, but if you have done what you say, and after doing all the courses understand where you may have done things wrong (or you may not have), your off to a good start, the only way of gaining experience is by doing it, learning from mistakes (hopefully not expensive ones lol) and from other sparks that you may know, or you can come on here and be abused for been a moron who knows noot!!

Anyhow, thats a start, no doubt others will say other things but its good to know someone is willing to ask rather then just go out and do what they want anyhow

 

[ColJack]

none of that makes you a sparky.. it makes you a kitchen fitter than can wire in a few extra sockets.
it takes at least 2 "years" at college to get qualified ( 236 or whatever the equivalent is now ) .. and that's 1 day and 1 evening a week.. if you do it evenings only then it's 3 evengings a week or a longer time to do it..

even then that only makes you a sparky on paper.. there's no substitute for experience.. which can only be obtained from doing the job..
luckily this can be done as you get qualified.
you will start at the bottom as a lowly mate and work your way up as you gain knowledge and experience.... first ting you learn is how the boss likes his tea / coffee...

 

[mart24x7]

I too am doing this, I've had enough of sitting at a desk all day not achieving anything...

Currently doing C&G 2330 L2 two evenings a week and soon going to help out a friend in the trade on weekends for nowt but it will be worth the experience (hopefully get him to take me on one or two days a week and go P/T in my current job). The aim is to eventually set up on my own!

I wish there could be a definitive answer to this maybe a mod can sticky the accepted answer???

 

[gazz68]

Thanks guys I expected a bit of abuse given I did not give much more of a scene set... but hey, wiring kitchens would be a good start for me!

Rest assured that when I did the kitchen, etc. I did it under the guidance of a proper sparkie (Uncle) as his lackie chopping out, running cables, installing sockets/switches/lighting circuits and then getting him to vet my work (as part of my Sparkie rewiring my house)

On later projects I got him and a Sparkie mate to review my plans and advise on additional hints, regs, etc. and got them to review / verify my work before I flicked switches... my wiring of circuits is sound as I have about £10K worth of home cinema kit relying on my electrical skills. So everything was done properly and was verified accordingly and my wiring is pretty good (especially as I check, doublecheck and triplecheck everything I do).

I am under no illusions that it is a lengthy / costly route to get the experience / qualifications.

Before I get too long in the tooth (am in early 40s) just thought that my practical experience was a good starting point to fasttrack me into a more interesting career (outside of IT). I want to understand how far down the learning path I am and what I need to do (Part P, C&G, etc.) to be able to go as a sparkie.

I just don't want to shine a seat all my life and think that my basic electrical skills ain't too bad and should be a reasonable basis upon which to explore this as a realistic alternative.

Appreciate the feedback.

Gary

 

[mart24x7]

Im in IT too!

It was fun in the days where you acctually repaired a PC but they are so cheep these days my boss just buys new.

/off_topic

 

[dingbat]

I wish there could be a definitive answer to this maybe a mod can sticky the accepted answer???

There is no definitive answer.

A few online definitions:

electrician (electricians plural ) An electrician is a person whose job is to install and repair electrical equipment. [Merriam-Webster]

e·lec·tri·cian / ilekˈtrishən; n. a person who installs and maintains electrical equipment. [Pocket Oxford]

elec·tri·cian (ē′lek tris̸h′ən) noun a person whose work is the construction, repair, or installation of electric apparatus

e·lec·tri·cian   [ih-lek-trish-uhn] noun a person who installs, operates, maintains, or repairs electric devices or electrical wiring. [Dictionary.com]

Etc...

As you can see, a broad agreement, none of which definitions refers in any way to qualifications, apprenticeships, etc...

The law requires that you be competent, which means you have the requisite skills, experience and knowledge appropriate to the nature of the work. For some, this will be acquired very quickly indeed, whilst others will never be fully competent in a lifetime.