DIY is not an electrician. No sir, not at all...

[ban-all-sheds]

No, because it doesn't.
.
.
No, because they do.
.
.
No, because it isn't.
.
.
No, because they won't.
.
.
No, because it might be.
.
.
No, because it will be.

Are you trying to say that DIYers can make just as many mistakes as professionals?
.
.
Or are you trying to say, in some obscure way, that professionals are permitted to make mistakes

No - I'm trying to say that DIY electrical installations are not magically immune from those considerations just because they are DIYed.

I'm trying to say that DIYers who don't know how to do it properly, who don't understand voltage drop and derating factors, who don't know about current carrying capacity, who don't understand the concept of fault loop impedance, who don't know about cable concealment zones, who don't understand the issues of PME export etc etc etc should not be encouraged to do jobs where that knowledge is needed.

They should be encouraged to either learn and become properly competent or to give up the idea of fiddling with things they don't understand and get an electrician.

They should not be hand-held through installing and connecting things if they do not have a genuine understanding of it all.

 

[Space cat]

I'm trying to say that DIYers who don't know how to do it properly, who don't understand voltage drop and derating factors, who don't know about current carrying capacity, who don't understand the concept of fault loop impedance, who don't know about cable concealment zones, who don't understand the issues of PME export etc etc etc should not be encouraged to do jobs where that knowledge is needed.

In that case, perhaps I should give up and stick to what I know so ---

If there are any amateur physicists out there who are trying to build their own atom-smasher and need some help, please post your questions in the General DIY forum.

PS: I don't do bombs. Sorry.

 

[EFLImpudence]

If there are any amateur physicists out there who are trying to build their own atom-smasher and need some help,

I have been saving baked been tins and yoghurt pots for several years and I have two rolls of duct tape.
I would like to build a medium-sized hadron collider. Can I do it?

Only joking - I don't like yoghurt.

 

[JohnW2]

I have been saving baked been tins and yoghurt pots for several years and I have two rolls of duct tape.
I would like to build a medium-sized hadron collider. Can I do it?

No, I'm afraid not. With only two rolls of duct tape, it would have to be a small hadron collider

Kind Regards, John.

 

[Space cat]

I have been saving baked been tins and yoghurt pots for several years --

Forget the yoghurt pots but --

If you take the ends out of the baked bean tins, line them up end to end and put a very long, non-metallic tube down the middle, you have the beginnings of a crude linear accelerator. To complete the job:

1) Evacuate the tube.

2) Introduce a small amount of whatever you want to accelerate. Helium is good.

3) Wind a coil around one end and pulse it with a burst of RF to ionise the gas.

4) Devise a way of applying very fast, high voltage negative pulses to your baked bean tins. (Edit: Oops! Schoolboy error; make that positive pulses. )

The clever bit is in the timing. You need to pulse the coil and each tin in the correct sequence so that the ions gain energy every time they pass from one tin to the next.

You will also want to choose a suitable target for your ion beam. For a helium ion beam I recommend beryllium - and a large quantity of borax with which to build yourself a neutron shield.

PS: Do you have a basement to put it all in?

PPS: If you just want to mess about and have no desire to split any atoms, a fluorescent tube already has neon in it. Edit: WARNING! You will get X-rays when the neon ions hit the end of the tube so don't be in there with it when it's running

 

[stillp]

But "electrocution" is a relatively recent word, and for the vast majority of its existence it meant death by electric shock.

Yes, as recently as 1964 my Concise Oxford Dictionary defined electrocute as "to kill by the use of electricity".

 

[skotl]

OK, I'm back (was in Cyprus at the beginning of the week for work) so can't resist this point.

before I get to that, what's the diynot record for number of responses to a single post? Do I win a badge or something?

They should not be hand-held through installing and connecting things if they do not have a genuine understanding of it all.

BAS - that's a bit of a sweeping statement. If I came on here and announced that I was going to do a total rewire of a 1930s house and I had experience cos I had successfully wired up a 3v airfix motor, then I deserve to be shot down in flames.
However... there are plenty of examples of folks who, for example, want to wire a spur off a radial and who display the basic competency to do so, given a little guidance.

Space Cat mentions that, since the advent of Part P, DIYnot has been performing to the literal interpretation of its name; "just don't".
So, given that I broadly agree with many of your proclamations, can you see that occasionally, if the DIYer that has shown some basic proficiency (not like the caravan wirer-upper!), they could just be given some advice, without the tirade?

Regards
Scott

 

[securespark]

They should not be hand-held through installing and connecting things if they do not have a genuine understanding of it all.

I wouldn't hold anybody's hand if they weren't sure what they were doing with electricity....

 

[JohnW2]

before I get to that, what's the diynot record for number of responses to a single post? Do I win a badge or something?

If you ever got there, you might - but this is only Page 5, and the record is well over 20! To get into double figures, you really need to be totally crazy, start the thread with an outrageous and/or plain dangerous post, and then persist in attempting to defend your ludicrous ideas

Kind Regards, John.

 

[skotl]

before I get to that, what's the diynot record for number of responses to a single post? Do I win a badge or something?

If you ever got there, you might - but this is only Page 5, and the record is well over 20! To get into double figures, you really need to be totally crazy, start the thread with an outrageous and/or plain dangerous post, and then persist in attempting to defend your ludicrous ideas

Kind Regards, John.

Ah poo.

OK, here goes. BAS is wrong in everything he says, so is John, and Eric and Westie. I have a nuclear generator that I want to wire to my house.
I have a BSc in applied genetic thinking, which clearly makes me more than competent. I intend to plug my generator into a set of 25KW solar panels, backed up with a farm of 17 x 20KW wind generators, which I calculate to be around 45KW of energy to be paid back to the grid, netting me a profit of around £100,000 per month according the the formula here; (x * y / x -z * cats / dogs - elves * 4.534 at £ per cost/month).
I am going to feed that into the grid via my caravan, which is fed to the house via 1mm T+E, but it's protected by a 65AMP circa 1930s fuse. However, I have drilled a 3 foot hole and stuck a copper pan into the hole, and joined that to my caravan's earth by connecting the pan to my electric heater via some speaker cable I had lying around.

There! That should keep the thread going for a few pages...

 

[JohnW2]

Ah poo. OK, here goes. BAS is wrong in everything he says, so is John, and Eric and Westie. I have a nuclear generator that I want to wire to my house.
I have a BSc in applied genetic thinking, which clearly makes me more than competent. I intend to plug my generator into a set of 25KW solar panels, backed up with a farm of 17 x 20KW wind generators, which I calculate to be around 45KW of energy to be paid back to the grid, netting me a profit of around £100,000 per month according the the formula here; (x * y / x -z * cats / dogs - elves * 4.534 at £ per cost/month).
I am going to feed that into the grid via my caravan, which is fed to the house via 1mm T+E, but it's protected by a 65AMP circa 1930s fuse. However, I have drilled a 3 foot hole and stuck a copper pan into the hole, and joined that to my caravan's earth by connecting the pan to my electric heater via some speaker cable I had lying around.
There! That should keep the thread going for a few pages...

A valliant attempt (and I suppose I should ask you what you said about how you were going to comply with Part P when you informed LABC of your intention to do all that!), but I don't think it's in the league to get you the record. If you want to hone your skills, you might have a look through this 31-pager - but note that, although the thread is essentially all down to him, the actual protagonist (the reason for the length of the thread) does not make his entrance until page 4

Cheers, John.

 

[skotl]

Dumm, de dumm dumm dumm de DUMMMM!

BAS must have been on holiday.

OK, I give up

 

[skotl]

Ah poo. OK, here goes. BAS is wrong in everything he says, so is John, and Eric and Westie. I have a nuclear generator that I want to wire to my house.
I have a BSc in applied genetic thinking, which clearly makes me more than competent. I intend to plug my generator into a set of 25KW solar panels, backed up with a farm of 17 x 20KW wind generators, which I calculate to be around 45KW of energy to be paid back to the grid, netting me a profit of around £100,000 per month according the the formula here; (x * y / x -z * cats / dogs - elves * 4.534 at £ per cost/month).
I am going to feed that into the grid via my caravan, which is fed to the house via 1mm T+E, but it's protected by a 65AMP circa 1930s fuse. However, I have drilled a 3 foot hole and stuck a copper pan into the hole, and joined that to my caravan's earth by connecting the pan to my electric heater via some speaker cable I had lying around.
There! That should keep the thread going for a few pages...

A valliant attempt (and I suppose I should ask you what you said about how you were going to comply with Part P when you informed LABC of your intention to do all that!), but I don't think it's in the league to get you the record. If you want to hone your skills, you might have a look through this 31-pager - but note that, although the thread is essentially all down to him, the actual protagonist (the reason for the length of the thread) does not make his entrance until page 4

Cheers, John.

On the point re Part P, I have three rejoinders;

• 1) it is non-notifiable cos it is for the greater good (i.e. I am feeding back to the grid)
  2) I make clear my point around wind energy that this is clearly exempt from your piffling land-based regulations
  3) I am based in Scotland, where your evil Part-P "safety for safety's sake" does not apply.

I would like to add one final "ah-hah!" for those who have not read the details.

I suppose I should also add that the above is meant in a jocular fashion. If you land on this response with no prior context, please treat it as totally untrue...

 

[bernardgreen]

I suppose I should also add that the above is meant in a jocular fashion. If you land on this response with no prior context, please treat it as totally untrue...

""the above is meant in a jocular fashion"" is also part of the total untruth. Which means we have sky diving medics . also known as paradox.

 

[Paul_C]

Yes, as recently as 1964 my Concise Oxford Dictionary defined electrocute as "to kill by the use of electricity".

It still had that correct definition in 1977.

On the point re Part P, I have three rejoinders;

• 1) it is non-notifiable cos it is for the greater good (i.e. I am feeding back to the grid)
  2) I make clear my point around wind energy that this is clearly exempt from your piffling land-based regulations
  3) I am based in Scotland, where your evil Part-P "safety for safety's sake" does not apply.

I'll add one:

4) I am perfectly competent to do anything from adding a socket to a complete rewire, it's my house and my electrical apparatus, I am perfectly ready to accept responsibility for the work I do, and therefore I don't see any reason why I should pay an extortionate amount of money to the local authority, so as far as I'm concerned all electrical work I do in my own house is not notifiable.

There, that might get you a few more posts on the thread as I get called an "anti-government conspiracy theorist nutcase" or something similar again.