Sparkies On Holiday

securespark

securespark

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Memo to DIY'ers:

The well-worn (my spark has gone on holiday) excuse to try and cover the fact that you or another DIY'er is planning electrical work is getting boring now. To brighten up our dull days (we are not always on holiday) try and think of some exciting, outlandish excuses.

For example, you could go down the route of that most accurate respected journal ever, "The Sunday Sport":

"Freddie Starr ate my electrician!"

"Electrician Found On Moon"

C'mon, punks. Make our days!
 
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Indeed - but, as I recently wrote in another thread, we should perhaps reflect on why these holidaying electricians are so often mentioned - i.e. think about how those who are honest can sometimes be 'treated' here (allbeit probably no longer quite so aggressively as in the past, or with long reading lists and/or large fonts!).

It's difficult. If we feel that someone is thinking of undertaking DIY work which they clearly are not competent to do safely, it's very appropriate for us to say so, and try to 'discourage' them. However, if we are seen to be doing that, this will inevitably result in some not telling the truth about their intentions.

Kind Regards, John
 
It's hard to tell which is the most well worn cliché - people pretending their electrician is on holiday or regular posters falling over themselves to be unhelpful to closet or unabashed diyers.
By all means point out the risks, but honestly I went on some electricians forums because everyone on here was being unhelpful, and they couldn't be more helpful despite being more aware of the risks, whereas here is full of smart arises.
I sometimes wonder if people are unhelpful because they're scared of being wrong.
 
John D v2.0 said:
It's hard to tell which is the most well worn cliché - people pretending their electrician is on holiday or regular posters falling over themselves to be unhelpful to closet or unabashed diyers. By all means point out the risks, but honestly I went on some electricians forums because everyone on here was being unhelpful, and they couldn't be more helpful despite being more aware of the risks, whereas here is full of smart arises.
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At the extreme, I think that most of us here feel it appropriate (necessary) to 'be unhelpful', and to 'discourage' when it is apparent that a DIYer is totally out of their depth and/or is proposing to do crazy and/or dangerous things.

However, most cases are not at that extreme, and I have always tried to advocate (and practise) pragmatism in that situation (i.e. on the basis that it's in the OP's interests to receive advice, rather than to receive no advice, even if their capabilities are limited).

In the past, we have had repeated situations in which someone asking about, say, how to wire a light switch has received a tirade about 'the unacceptability of meddling with something one doesn't understand', together with a 20-item 'reading list' (which no-one is going to read when what they want is to get their lights working again) followed by abuse if the OP does not appear to accept that 'advice'. However, the main perpetrator of such responses is no longer participating in this forum, and I would like to think that most of the rest of us are a bit more helpful, understanding and realistic/pragmatic.

John D v2.0 said:
I sometimes wonder if people are unhelpful because they're scared of being wrong.
Click to expand...
I don't think that is often the case. I think most of those who have been unhelpful genuinely believe that it is not in an OPs interests to attempt the work in question, maybe coupled with the fear that if they 'encourage' (or merely don't discourage) an OP to do something which they don't feel the OP can do safely, that they will become (morally and/or legally) 'responsible' if some catastrophe results.

Kind Regards, John
 
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Thanks John, that certainly reassures me. As a new member to this forum I hope I can learn (and help other people learn) as constructively as possible, so I hope most people feel the same.
 
John D v2.0 said:
Thanks John, that certainly reassures me. As a new member to this forum I hope I can learn (and help other people learn) as constructively as possible, so I hope most people feel the same.
Click to expand...
I think you'll find they probably do. There are a few people (some would probably include myself!) who do a fair bit of nit-picking, but that is primarily 'amongst ourselves' ('the regulars', not all of whom are electricians), but that most commonly happens as a 'tangent', after people have tried to help the OP as much as they can.

There are, of course, some people who come here who are essentially 'unhelpable' - in particular those who come here with questions (e.g. "Is it OK to do XYZ?") but will only accept the answers they wanted to hear (and have already made their minds up about) - such people probably don't get treated all that sympathetically, but I think that's their own fault! Similarly, people who come with vague questions and almost no information ("how do I re-wire my house?" !) won't get much help until they respond to requests with a lot more information.

Kind Regards, John
 
securespark said:
"Freddie Starr ate my electrician!"
Click to expand...

My electrician has become radicalised and is now hiding from the security services.

My electrician is now earning more than the Prime Minister as a Brexit consultant for an accountancy firm.

My electrician has joined the Amish and is now only installing mechanical doorbells.

My electrician has joined Meibion Glyndŵr and won't install any consumer units that don't come with bilingual instructions and sticky labels.
 
Well in spite of being an electrician myself, I decided with time constraints, the LABC fees, and the fact my meters needed repairing to get a firm in to do the job. It was a bank holiday week so just 4 days to do the rewire. In spite of them flooding the place on the last day, it was not finished.

Now I have a problem, the workforce was booked on another job the next week so they could not return until 10 days latter and I had loads of work to do re-decorating. Some I could do, other bits presented a problem.

The main problem was if I did any electrical work before they returned to do the inspecting and testing then they could not issue the installation certificate or the compliance certificate. So even work which did not require notifying I could not do, only electrical job I could do was install the TV cables.

So in real terms electrician on holiday means wait and do nothing. Maybe if I had asked the electrician doing the inspection and testing would have allowed me to have done some work, but he was not there to ask, I did ask if I could plaster, but there were some errors found which using common sense I knew mean I could not plaster, in one case a socket was not level so I plastered to within 6 inches to allow them to correct, they still knocked off some of the new plaster and I in the end had to level it myself.

I don't think there was one room I could finish, in some cases I wanted to run spurs so did not want to plaster, the idea was all sockets fitted would be on a ring, however that was not the case, and one socket which I wanted to extend from with another three doubles turned out to be a spur, so I needed to convert it into a grid socket, switch and fuse.

Some of the work was so easy, for example they had put the kitchen supply on a RCD, since the supply was with SWA and it fed a board with all RCBO's I wanted it not through a RCD specially since my mother can't reach the new board. But I could not DIY this, it had to wait until they returned.

So now having been in the situation when the electrician went on holiday or in my case went to another job, I know the answer must be leave it well alone until he returns, in real terms you can do less than if he was not working on the system.
 
OwainDIYer said:
My electrician has become radicalised and is now hiding from the security services.

My electrician is now earning more than the Prime Minister as a Brexit consultant for an accountancy firm.

My electrician has joined the Amish and is now only installing mechanical doorbells.

My electrician has joined Meibion Glyndŵr and won't install any consumer units that don't come with bilingual instructions and sticky labels.
Click to expand...
Since the University I got my degree at is Glyndŵr University, does that mean I am "Meibion Glyndŵr" or the sons of Glyndŵr? If you need every thing in Welsh how do you read BS7671? Also many of the laws are written in English only so no Part P. So back to the 110 volt DC generator and telephone like distribution system I remember as a boy.

So come home to a real fire, buy a holiday home in Wales.

Or is that why the electrician is on holiday?
 
D

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