Blog

Hi and welcome to my blog, part 2 focusing this week on electrical inspections or electrical testing for domestic homes in Bexley, Sevenoaks, Bromley and Dartford

The inspection is based on the electrical system of each individual household and includes the following:

The adequacy of earthing and bonding.

The suitability of the switchgear and controlgear. For example an old fusebox with a wooden back, cast iron switches, or a haphazard mixture of both will need replacing.

Around this time of year I get many calls from homeowners asking me to carry out an electrical inspection of their property.

This can often due to an electrical problem that has arisen such as overloaded electrical circuits caused by switching on increased numbers of appliances such as electrical storage heaters now that the colder nights are drawing in.

August tends to be busy for moving home in the UK, normally in the build up to September which statistically is the busiest month for moving home.

When looking for a new property whether for living in or rental purposes something that very often gets overlooked is the electrics and specifically the safety elements and the functional side, these are not looked at in the property surveys and often the very first time they are noticed is when you move in.

Adding a socket

Adding a switch

Taking out sockets or switches

Replacing a light fitting or 2

Replacing a door bell

Changing socket or switch fronts.

Rewiring plug tops

Partial rewiring

Earthing of gas and water pipes.

Replacing lightbulbs

Investigate things that don’t work

Adding outdoor sockets

Replacing fuseboxes or consumer units

Rewiring of old garage electrics

Making sheds, garages and outbuildings safe.

Installing loft lighting

Tomorrow marks the 58th anniversary of Friendship Day.

The first World Friendship Day was proposed for 30 July in 1958 and was started by Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark cards in 1930 – It was originally intended to be on the 2nd August and a day when people celebrated their friendships by sending cards.

Power cut what powercut

Welcome to the first of a new type of blog, one that takes a look on the day to day goings on of your local electrician but not, thankfully written every day, I am a Local Electrician in Bromley Kent.

It was an early start today, the first phone call came at 7.30 am, and luckily I was up and already hard at work.

On the other end of the phone was a local Lady who had suffered a power cut which began last night, it had now resulted in the entire contents of the freezer defrosting and being thrown away.

Recently I read about proposals being made in the House of Lords regarding changes to the renters’ rights bill. Lots of things discussed but I am going to focus on 1 particular item.

The proposal; Making five-yearly electrical safety checks mandatory in the private rental sector.

Charity Electrical Safety First are pushing for the new legislation to ensure that regular, five-yearly electrical safety checks in the private rental sector are a legal requirement for landlords or letting agents acting on their behalf.

Back in 1946 the first combined radio and TV licence, costing £2, was issued. In June 1946 there were in the region of 1.5m to 3m licences issued.

In March 2004, there were 24.5m licences in force and today in 2016 the figure is even higher than that.

Now you may ask what the relevance of a TV licence is to this blog and it’s simply this…

Many of the blogs that I have written in the past mention how important it is to have an RCD fitted in your home. Although I've explained the importance of having one, I've never actually explained what an RCD does and how it protects the household.

An RCD stands for Residual Current Device. It is an essential safety device that automatically cuts off the electricity if there is a problem. This might sound pretty boring and bog standard, and you might even wonder what the point of having one is.

Ever wondered what the difference is? Well, it involves a very simple check, but firstly what other factors should you be looking at before deciding who is a good electrician and who is a bad electrician. The answer is found right at the end of this post (in case you are wondering.)

It is not easy to spot who is good and who is bad at face value. This is why I always recommend doing some digging about and researching an electrician that you feel might fit the bill for your next job. Carrying out a few basic checks can save you a lot of trouble further down the line.