April 1st Already??

[Scoby_Beasley]

This years flying by!!
1.) Regarding an FCU:

Can anyone help. I've unscrewed the plastic bit that holds the fuse, but I can't work out how to get the fuse out. Is the plastic 'draw' the fuse is in supposed to come out completely? Any help would be much appreciated!

2.) Regarding (the invention of Satan) choc block . (Go Wago! Go!!):

all I need to know is... when you screw the wires down do you screw the plastic down or the metal wire at the end of the cable?

also when you connect each cable in the light is the metal end of the wire meant to touch the metal end of the wire the opposite end?

FFS!!!!

1). If you can't figure out how to remove a fuse from a FCU, get someone in to open your letters to avoid paper cuts. And take up something as a DIY hobby that is far less harmful. Self acupuncture?

2). If you don't realise copper (in the cable) is a metal and conducts a current. And strangely enough, choc block, is made of metal (brass/alloy) and not coco-pops, so it conducts, get a qualified electrician in to turn your kettle on.

Didn't realise All Fools Day had come around so fast!!

And these are on top of two or three threads in the last few days that were simply idiotic, springing to mind are the ones from the poster who has new metal switch plates, no earths available as he cut them off, and kids in the house.

 

[EFLImpudence]

 

[cajar]

2). If you don't realise copper (in the cable) is a metal and conducts a current. And strangely enough, choc block, is made of metal (brass/alloy) and not coco-pops, so it conducts, get a qualified electrician in to turn your kettle on.

If you tighten a screw onto the insulation of a conductor it will pierce the insulation and conduct, abeit less well than bare copper. The question asker might not know the proper way of doing it but it sounds like he's thought about it a little more than you.

 

[viewer]

Better anybody asks than assumes. There is a greater danger from being critical than from giving simple answers, (even if the starting point seems stupid) because the poster won't ask again and may do something dangerous.
In this example the worry lies not just with apparently weird questions but in what the OP is trying to achieve
Sliding a fuse out? No idea, but if the fuse is stuck tight in the holder it may appear to the first-time-user that it is necessary to remove the drawer.
Whilst it seems strange to SB that the OP questions whether to screw onto the plastic, there are many connectors which do exactly this sometimes with pointed screws or more usually by having sides which cut through the insulation to meet the metal. Fluorescent tubes and automotive connectors are common examples.

 

[Taylortwocities]

If you tighten a screw onto the insulation of a conductor it will pierce the insulation and conduct, abeit less well than bare copper.

I beg to differ. I have repaired a number of faults that have been caused by the screw clamping onto the insulating PVC sleeve.
Strip the cable back, double it over and then secure it with the screw.
As taught on the tools and at electrician's college since Edison's time.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I think we have all asked what may be considered foolish questions in our time.
Just because someone does not have the practical knowledge, does not automatically make them a fool for asking. In fact I would say the opposite would apply, better ask the question than foolishly proceed.

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

If you tighten a screw onto the insulation of a conductor it will pierce the insulation and conduct, abeit less well than bare copper. The question asker might not know the proper way of doing it but it sounds like he's thought about it a little more than you.

It doesn't need thinking about. Anybody with half a brain cell would realise its bloody obvious.

Better anybody asks than assumes.

Very true, never assume anything as far as electrical work goes.

There is a greater danger from being critical than from giving simple answers, (even if the starting point seems stupid) because the poster won't ask again and may do something dangerous.

Sounds like the OP has already started down the "do something dangerous" route.

Sliding a fuse out? No idea, .

Four year old grandson was helping Granda' change an FCU. Took him all of 20 seconds to figure out how to get the 13A fuse out and put a 3A fuse in. And no, it wasn't connected to anything at the time.

He's going to be an astronaut when he grows up at that rate.

Or maybe he just used logic?

I think we have all asked what may be considered foolish questions in our time.
Just because someone does not have the practical knowledge, does not automatically make them a fool for asking. In fact I would say the opposite would apply, better ask the question than foolishly proceed.

100% agree. But if someone is asking such a basic question, it makes me cringe.

Not knocking folks for asking, just the daft questions being asked!

Does this make me 'Son of BAS' ???????

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Does this make me 'Son of BAS' ???????

No "the son of" but could be some blood relation!

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

Does this make me 'Son of BAS' ???????

No "the son of" but could be some blood relation!

EEK!!!

 

[flameport]

Some people suffer from a fundamental deficit in understanding.

It's pointless explaining things to such individuals.

 

[cajar]

If you tighten a screw onto the insulation of a conductor it will pierce the insulation and conduct, abeit less well than bare copper.

I beg to differ. I have repaired a number of faults that have been caused by the screw clamping onto the insulating PVC sleeve.
Strip the cable back, double it over and then secure it with the screw.
As taught on the tools and at electrician's college since Edison's time.

I'm not saying that screwing onto insulation is the right way to do it, just that asking if that's the right way to do it is not a stupid question, after all it could work. It's not like the question asker is earth bonding to plastic pipe or something.

 

[clifford1]

Neither is a stupid question.

There are fuse holders where the drawer stays locked in place and you have to slide the fuse out, and there are some where the entire holder unplugs after undoing the screw.

Some electrical connectors do cut through the insulation automatically.
Ever wired up a BT phone extension, or spliced an accessory into a car loom?

There are no stupid questions, just stupid answers from arrogant know-alls.

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

Neither is a stupid question.

There are fuse holders where the drawer stays locked in place and you have to slide the fuse out, and there are some where the entire holder unplugs after undoing the screw.

Some electrical connectors do cut through the insulation automatically.
Ever wired up a BT phone extension, or spliced an accessory into a car loom?

There are no stupid questions, just stupid answers from arrogant know-alls.

Wood floats. And lead sinks.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There are fuse holders where the drawer stays locked in place and you have to slide the fuse out, and there are some where the entire holder unplugs after undoing the screw.

And there are people with basic mechanical/manipulative skills and the ability to look at things properly, and there are not.

Some electrical connectors do cut through the insulation automatically.

Would anybody who had bothered to do a bit of studying of domestic wiring systems and techniques have seen anything to suggest that that's how junction boxes and connector strips etc work?

Ever wired up a BT phone extension

Ever thought about the difference between the amount of current in phone cables and that in those of low-voltage electrical systems?

or spliced an accessory into a car loom?

Using the incompetent and lazy butcher's method of choice?

There are no stupid questions, just stupid answers from arrogant know-alls.

There are people who have the basic attitude and understanding to be doing electrical work.

And there are those who do not.

 

[SaladFingers]

This years flying by!!
1.) Regarding an FCU:

Can anyone help. I've unscrewed the plastic bit that holds the fuse, but I can't work out how to get the fuse out. Is the plastic 'draw' the fuse is in supposed to come out completely? Any help would be much appreciated!

2.) Regarding (the invention of Satan) choc block . (Go Wago! Go!!):

all I need to know is... when you screw the wires down do you screw the plastic down or the metal wire at the end of the cable?

also when you connect each cable in the light is the metal end of the wire meant to touch the metal end of the wire the opposite end?

FFS!!!!

1). If you can't figure out how to remove a fuse from a FCU, get someone in to open your letters to avoid paper cuts. And take up something as a DIY hobby that is far less harmful. Self acupuncture?

2). If you don't realise copper (in the cable) is a metal and conducts a current. And strangely enough, choc block, is made of metal (brass/alloy) and not coco-pops, so it conducts, get a qualified electrician in to turn your kettle on.

Didn't realise All Fools Day had come around so fast!!

And these are on top of two or three threads in the last few days that were simply idiotic, springing to mind are the ones from the poster who has new metal switch plates, no earths available as he cut them off, and kids in the house.

This is a DIY forum.

Let DIY ask questions and receive answers.

This is a DIY forum which has become over run by bored tradesmen, know it all desk jockeys and turned into a cliquey playground.