Why You Should Never Assume Another Sparky Has Done Things Right

[@inspireG380]

Delroy haha working live 😂 only KZbin sparky that wouldn't edit that out. Legend 🤣

[@ScottMcD91]

Real world working. Everyone does it 😂

[@bimble7240]

This is why insulated ladders exist. 😣

[@wil172921]

I heard he’s so experience he’s at one with the voltage.

[@r3tr0nic]

Love that you did not edit out the accidental live working. I never trust labels and that is a good reminder to always test for dead and prove your meter. Sometimes, we get reminded a bit more shockingly ;) You are very right about to never assume something was done right by another sparky. My former boss would have me do a lot of honey-do work on her house, she always insisted she had hired the 'best' awesome people when she had the house built... Should of seen her face when I pulled out several powerpoints and switches right as she was watching and shown her the earth leads were not even connected. That was when I coined the phrase "Just because you hire a professional, does not guarantee you get a professional job done". I have seen soooo many corners cut and wrong things done by so called professional tradies

[@bimble7240]

I have made some double hooks out of a metal coat hanger in different lengths from 25mm to 50mm to hang these light fittings from when wiring or testing them so the weight isn't being held by the cables. Just undo one side fixing screw a little, then take the other screw out, let the fitting swing down then put the hook through the screw hole and the other end through the bracket on the ceiling, and finally remove the first screw. This allows the fitting to hang without stressing the cables. Reverse the procedure to refit. Simples !

[@Homerlad]

Very good tip. I’ll be doing this next time. 👍🏻

[@joshdeb]

Just started following you about 6 videos in ... My son has been at collage 1 year and has now just started his apprenticeship with a big firm in Bradford .... I'll get him to follow you so much extra he could learn from this ....you seem a top bloke .....

[@kenwebster5053]

I once stayed in a holiday rental where the owner had done the wiring himself, which is illegal unless he has an electricians ticket. Anyway, the oven/stove was 2 phase and he has one of the phases on neutral and neutral on that phases active. When we had the stove top on, the wall heater in the flat would turn on despite being switched off. When we turned the oven & hotplate on at the same time, the hot plate exploded & the mains link blew. All we knew at the time though was that all power was off, se we told the estate agent. The guy didn't want to pay a real electrician to fix it, but thankfully, the estate agent explained the law to him concerning his rental obligations after taking our money. This is Australia, so 240V on each phase at that time. The Electrician had to arrange for the mains link to be fixed while he investigated the house wiring. He nearly electrocuted himself because of this swapped wiring. Really rattled him I can tell you! Never assume anything with mains power. I don't know exactly how the sparky got shocked, maybe putting test probes across 480V, maybe he had one phase off &thought he was safe but the other phase was still 240V live to neutral. My Dad was chief electrical engineer at a major electrolytic refinery. He taught me a lot, I am not qualified but sometimes fix things. However I am very aware of my lack of formal training & am extremely cautious around mains power. I never trust switches but always test for voltage before working on a connection, holding wires with insulated pliers, even avoid touching insulated dead wiring by hand. I do some electronics repair. Repaired my grandfathers old Bakelite Stromberg Carlson valve radio when I was maybe 14 at most, he passed in 1964 when I was 7. Since then, repaired appliances, cars, stereo and PA gear etc but have no formal qualifications.

[@johndawe449]

I’m 58 been a service engineer since 1985, did four years industrial electronics, put a clamp meter around a live phase last week and my hand touched another live phase pulling 11amps, got a tickle off it, it happens , yes I was at fault but it happens. Love all you vids Delroy, so cool and calm, can’t say I am when I’m trying to fault find on a machine where it trips the rcd only to find it’s a live intermittently going down to earth deep in the wiring loom, customer “how come it took you three hours to fix it”, me “it didn’t it took me fifteen minutes to fix it but two hours forty five minutes to trace where the fault was 😂 Keep the videos coming Delroy.

[@eastwayelectrical]

Cheers thanks for sharing your experiences

[@Liberator975]

I thought you had blue high heals on on the stairs 😂😂

[@angryscottishidiot]

Me too - I had to watch twice lol

[@zedcarr6128]

Del should have said, ''I'm a lady.'' as he went down the steps to the cellar. 🤣👠

[@Liberator975]

@@zedcarr6128 little Britain 😂😂😂 i thought the same

[@exgren]

I thought they were blue stilettos

[@Liberator975]

@@exgren i wanted to go with that, but couldn't spell it 😂😂

[@duncan9237]

A lot of those LED ones don't like dimmers at all and will work for a bit then just die.

[@bimble7240]

Probably an old style dimmer as well.

[@leopold7562]

@@bimble7240 Yeah, those older dimmers don’t work too well with the lower draw of LED bulbs. I found that out when replacing a load of halogen bulbs with dimmable LEDs. The dimmer was ropey at best, the lights wouldn’t go all that dim before cutting out altogether and the buzzing noise was terrible. I ended up replacing everything, largely because the old light fittings were horrible!

[@tscherenkov9461]

Looks like the non-dimmable kind of bulbs that use a capacitive dropper to limit the current. Lots of high current spikes for the LEDs if used with a dimmer.

[@riklowe]

That’s the house that had no earth for 30 years ! Couldn’t see if a proper earth and MET had been added. Great video - shows the dangers of trusting CU labels and not testing before touching. Glad you safe !

[@eastwayelectrical]

It is indeed. Great memory 👍

[@jamiebourne8047]

Non dimmable LED lamps will have shagged the dimmer (which probably wasnt LED compatible).Dimmers often wont work either without sufficient load (1 or 2 LED lamps wont be enough.

[@stevenrobinson5864]

Dangling the light fitting on just the wires made me nervous xD

[@soopahfly82]

Delroy, there should be a setting in your camera that allows you to choose 50hz or 60hz. Most of the time the default is set to 60hz, but you'll need to change it to 50hz for UK. This should stop the banding when you're looking at lights with the camera.

[@eastwayelectrical]

Thanks for the tip I'll look into this

[@Parkingpolice999]

@@eastwayelectrical what camera are you using ?

[@ChrisLivingInYork]

Excellent video Delroy. Just wondering what are those orange connectors you use to extend the shortened cable in the light switch.

[@TheRealBobbysmile]

The ones on the table are Wago connectors (really useful to keep around but quite expensive), but it doesn't look like what ended up being used in the switch. In the switch itself looks like the 2 way push wire connectors made by Ideal. Both can be had at standard hardware stores

[@ChrisLivingInYork]

@@TheRealBobbysmile thanks Delroy

[@ASBO_Rob]

Another great video. Is it possible the triac output in the dimmer with its PWM like output into the LED lights built in switchmode PSU could had caused so many of those lights to fail? I remember Dimmer to CFL was always a bad idea.

[@WooShell]

Highly likely. The cheap switching supplies in the LED bulbs really don't like the phase-chopped output from a dimmer.

[@mbelkadi7936]

Yes, root cause for led to fail definitely switch or Loose connection.

[@davidfaraday7963]

That's why trailing-edge dimmers are recommended for LED lights. Also the lights themselves need to be specified as being dimmable.

[@sdgelectronics]

There won't be a traditional SMPSU in a tiny lamp like that

[@davidfaraday7963]

@@sdgelectronics Agreed. I wrote my earlier comment before seeing the whole video. I have some LEDs of that type and they use capacitive droppers. So entirely unsuitable for use with a dimmer. No wonder the dimmer and the lamps themselves failed!

[@johnny555]

This is why you work with your left hand in your back pocket until you're 200% sure power is off

[@soyebmankda8387]

if you look when you walk down the cellar stairs 2nd time your overshoes look like your wearing blue ladies shoes 😆

[@biddylisduff]

We had house rewiring and I discovered wrongly labelled for ground and upper floor.. Got firm back to check and boss said sarcastically "Been playing with the fuses have we?" He checked and realised I was right, grudgingly admitted it. I was concerned about Maintenence staff getting a shock, but he seemed to resent a silly woman noticed. I don't play with Electrics, that's for trained people.

[@Bin216]

Probably not enough load on the dimmer when they’ve changed the 30w halogen lamps which would have come with the fixture for ~3w LED replacements. Unless the dimmer is designed for LEDs, it probably wants a minimum load of around 50w.

[@Ragnar8504]

Did the dimmer have any fuses? I had a close encounter with 230 V once too, not due to incorrect labelling but because of someone else's incompetence and me failing to double-check. I was helping a friend and her boyfriend was running around the place too. It was only a small job, changing a single-gang switch to a double to get some downlights working the previous inhabitant simply disconnected. Anyway, I told the boyfriend to turn off the MCB labelled "Kitchen". He returned and said he had, so I proceeded to remove the existing switch and chisel out the single-gang plastic back box. At some point the chisel touched the wires and I saw sparks flying, which prompted me to double-check whether the power was actually off. It wasn't - the fool had turned off the MCB labelled "Washing machine" two spots over! To this day I'm not quite sure if he was just stupid or actually trying to kill me for some weird reason. The downlights were a story by themselves. There was a pendant in the centre and four downlights in the corner. The pendant worked, the downlights didn't. I started removing downlights and found them to be 12 V halogen wired in flex. Eventually I came to the conclusion that there must have been a fifth centre downlight at some point and the previous owner removed that, along with the transformer, leaving the others in place. I fitted a new transformer and connected the remaining four to a separate switch.

[@davidfaraday7963]

I got a 240V shock recently at a commercial property that had just completed a major refurb than included a rewire. The sparky had connected a new feed to a wall-mounted isolator switch. The old feed had run in conduit which also carried some low-voltage control wiring, but the new feed went directly to the isolator. As I needed to renew the control wiring I opened the junction box that the conduit went to and found the old feed cable had just been cut off in there. After checking that the isolator was in the off position I went to remove these wires, and got a belt off them. For some reason when the sparky had connected the new feed he'd left the old feed connected so these wires were now back fed from the new feed. Yes of course I should have checked the wires were dead before touching them, but still the sparky should not have just cut-off the old wiring and left it live

[@Ragnar8504]

@@davidfaraday7963 Yeah, that sounds like a pretty bad idea! I've done several rewires of old places where live feeds were just taped and plastered over, that's pretty nasty too. In a full rewire you usually disconnect everything before you start opening walls, so no danger for me, but definitely for anyone drilling a hole or driving a nail into the wall before the rewire.

[@davidfaraday7963]

@@Ragnar8504 What gets me is that the spark had connected the wires of the new feed to the terminals on the isolator switch on top of the old ones. Why? I considered reporting the matter to the main contractor to whom the spark was a subcontractor, but in the end decided not to make waves. So I just finished the job for him.

[@johndevlin980]

I had a little giggle to myself, I have a very light I put up last week, B&Q jobby, all the wires in the connector were falling out, non were tight

[@GARRYEASTON]

Test, test test my friend!! that's how we stay alive! Where's your fibreglass ladder lol

[@SirFloofy001]

I love that you call yourselves sparkys over there and im going to start calling them that here too

[@imark7777777]

It just goes to show you should always check and work like it is on because you never know.

[@trespire]

When in doubt, there is no doubt. Double and tripple check.

[@SuperJinxter]

I never fail to test for dead...ever! Always work like somebody’s watching. It’ll save your life!

[@albertharmon2738]

Del when you switched the breaker on I think for the upstairs lights at 4:44 am I right in thinking the basement light came on. ( Breakers just out of shot so not sure but the light was already off when you went down to see what was happening)

[@johnny555]

The label for upstairs and downstairs is reversed.

[@Michael-cj9uo]

Shoe covers, I like the respect you have for peoples homes.

[@VFRRiderFT]

Hey Delroy, I like your safety boots. we'll certainly see you coming....

[@mikeZL3XD7029]

Delroy, I would love to work with you, you seem to be the most chill electrician I've ever met! Do you think that the LED lamps caused the dimmers to fail?, some people put these new bulbs in and don't even think of the dimmer being in line. Top work....

[@lululombard]

The dimmer probably broke the LED lamps that then broke the dimmer with over current, at least that's what I think happened

[@annaplojharova1400]

I think it was the combination of a dimmer and nondimmable lamps. Killed most of the lamps and then even the dimmer...

[@NivagSwerdna]

Those look like non-dimmable G9 LED replacements for an originally G9 halogen fitting... non-dimmable to a dimmer... it's interesting to see the outcome! G9 LED (approx £5) x lots + a call out fee... that doesn't sound economic replacement!

[@leopold7562]

I did the same thing, sort of. I bought a batch of dimmable LEDs and one of the boxes was ordinary ones that I’d picked up by mistake. Those don’t react to dimmer switches very well at all, they only hold steady at full, any less and they flicker like mad - probably to the point where they burn out entirely, but I didn’t let them get that far. That said, even the dimmable ones weren’t all that great when hooked to an old dimmer switch.

[@gazyounglive]

Changing from halogen to LED... changing dimmer to an LED compatible is critical, as well as make sure the LED retrofit bulbs are dimmable 💡

[@Beansswtf]

Yep, LED bulbs with a dimmer. T'is a no go!

[@ashrafkarjiker6888]

You can also check for voltage where the bulb is inserted

[@matc21]

nice blue high heels. love your videos lol

[@leexgx]

Soon as i seen the led lights + dimmer switch instant problem (dimmer usually burns out if they are not rated to handle led lights or/and the led get burned out as led lights usually don't work with dimmers unless they say they do)

[@madezra64]

Wow. BIG rookie mistake. That could lead to a lethal accident...

[@mathman0101]

So the great dimmer problem still occurs poor quality dimmers leading edge ones can be a problem as well with LEDs. Overlamping is another problem. I hope you gave them names of some better quality design manufacturers scolmore I hear good things about in the Uk.

[@antjohn5383]

Like your videos mate , so logical approach

[@daviddunmore8415]

Some years ago I came across some 'interesting' wiring on a downstairs lighting circuit. I was putting a metal spotlight bar in the kitchen, but there was no earth continuity, so a plastic class ii fitting went up instead. Then in the lounge, the main light showed 0V phase to neutral, but 240v phase to earth. and some genius had spurred an outdoor security light off the ring with no appropriate (1A) fused connector (The light was 500W so was only drawing around 500mA). I think the owner had a 'friend who could do electrics'.

[@bostedtap8399]

Nice work, yes, no information is better than disinformation. Thanks for sharing, stay safe

[@JAY-xg4se]

You forgot your sheet under that ladder

[@alsanova]

Look like non-dimmable G9 LED that got killed off one by one until dimmer cut all it out? Good thing you swapped dimmer for a standard switches, this will solve the problem. 👍

[@knightwolf3511]

ya almost made that mistake although norammly it would kill off the led faster if you use a old dimmer for Incandescent Light, for LEDs instead of a newer one made for LED

[@andrewpowellnz]

Delroy looks like you might need to carry a few more double gang switches. Nice fix.

[@Ralphs-House]

7.30 - Del goes down to the basement in blue high heel shoes :) Its ok Del, we don't mind.

[@johngoard8272]

Hmm, Delroy I always thought that it was difficult to get those LED lights to work with a dimmer switch at least that is what I have experienced at home.

[@tonipeters-looks-at]

You are not wrong, also not all LED lamps can be dimmed.

[@PyroBrit]

If the LED lights are designed to work with dimmers then you need to change the default dimmer to work with bulbs designed to draw 10 watts and not the usual 60 watts.

[@londontrada]

Don't ever assume the board is labelled correctly Del 😲 .

[@bramcoteelectrical1088]

always check for dead ....so you don't end up.dead I always switch lot off whole board and check for dead

[@scotisland]

Great videos, very entertaining.

[@johnspallen3132]

I c your like me I use wago connection's on any new work I do I know screw terminals are old school now,same thing I c regularly circuit's mixed up by so called (Pro spark)wa ta go delroy😍

[@MrSeananners12345]

I’m 21 and have been working my dad (electrician) since I was 18. So three years of just helping him out leading a few little things along the way. I’m starting my level 2 electrical installations in September and then will go onto level 3. Any advice on to do an apprenticeship now or wait until level 2 has been passed then do one ? Thanks

[@smitthyy]

Get out onto one asap, the more experience you have under you the easier you will find the courses. Also, it isnt always so easy to find an apprenticeship so start looking early.

[@MrSeananners12345]

@@smitthyy would you say complete my level 2 electrical installations first then find an apprenticeship for my level 3 or get on one straight away ?

[@smitthyy]

@@MrSeananners12345 get into an apprenticeship as soon as possible, with your level 2 course preferably. College will teach you very little without practical applications at work.

[@roderickthomas116]

so did you swap the upstairs light for the downstair light in the consumer unit or just left it lol

[@joehomanick]

Did you say it was a dimmer ?? I have seen where a bulb would blow out and actually blow up the dimmer! Saw it happen a few times

[@nigelfairman7405]

7.28 you wearing pointed blue high heels del

[@michaeldelyjah5696]

What was he calling the lady? Alpha?

[@winterburan]

what shocks me is a modern electrical panel without a GFCI /RCD in 2021!

[@magic777ize]

RCBO'S

[@winterburan]

@@magic777ize without a RCD, are those RCBOs? I've never seen one

[@malcolmrichards4736]

@@winterburan yep. You can tell. They all have a test button.

[@malltheway2165]

East London... Newham

[@spookyboo3164]

Creating more work for your self

[@Tammas]

Why were the lights flickering like feck?

[@petertallowin6406]

Assumption is the brother of all muck ups. It's mother of all muck ups. Brother, mother, any other sucker...... Spot the reference... Dude, you even had your voltage indicator at the light checking voltage. :)

[@Davey656]

Lock Stock! ... great film

[@petertallowin6406]

@@Davey656 Indeed, a very good film.

[@MMG_MoonManGuitar]

Great stuff Del. 👊🏾

[@lalaa827]

Go on Del nice one

[@Chlorate299]

Cor that was a close one!

[@spookyboo3164]

Plus dimmers are notorious for going down

[@curtisj2165]

I have never assumed that another sparky has done things right. You should have turned those G9 led lamps 180° in case they are polarity sensitive

[@Bin216]

Should that matter on a mains AC supply? Even if they only light half wave, tuning them around would only swap between the positive and negative side of the cycle.

[@kriss1_]

downstairs light was the basement light?

[@KX36]

Those LED bulbs (probably unbranded from China and susceptible to failing short) probably aren't dimmable and probably would die after a couple of weeks anyway. I haven't found a good G9 LED bulb yet, even the £15 for 2 Philips CorePro ( www.chantellelighting.co.uk/philips-g9-corepro-led-capsule-round-bulb-057553 ) don't last more than a year. B22 and E27 LEDs can be OK. The only SES/E14 bulb I've had that lasted more than a few weeks were strangely enough from Ikea as other ones are just the same as the G9's inside. GU10s tend to die quick too. Basically avoid small LED bulbs, they overheat.

[@spookyboo3164]

I always do a static test first

[@BlRaidX]

Stock up on some wago's So when you find them dodgy connectors you can replace them with maintenance free connectors. I kind of assumed you had to. Didn't know was allowed to fit maintenance free boxes into the roof space.

[@petertallowin6406]

Most MF connectors such as wagos and the like only become MF when enclosed in an appropriate box and strapped shut.

[@sdgelectronics]

@@petertallowin6406 I was going to say the same thing. The appropriate box is only the box for which they were designed, i.e. Wago 221's can only be used in a Wagobox 221-4 for example and comply with the requirements of BS5733

[@petertallowin6406]

@@sdgelectronics bang on dude. :)

[@HardHeadMilitary]

Is everything 240 in eu?

[@DeejayP999]

Top work. Just seen your feet though... Sure your real name's not Cinderella?

[@wisteela]

At least it wasn't anything major.

[@mbelkadi7936]

Led light need a led dimmer, excuse my comment but led light should last longer than that, plus they had few off, should check the root cause of that.

[@neilvestervictor180]

simple as it gets for you

[@andrewmann3787]

Prove test prove

[@adriancomtois834]

There are very few electricians in this country that can or even willing to do the job right, as its cheaper to botch and scarper.

[@mattpratt4458]

The word assume !! You should never assume as it may make an ass out of you and me !! Pin drops !!

[@spookyboo3164]

Yes I'd check the sw first

[@K1ZEK]

Ok , sounds like a nice customer. Now, about forgetting the kitchen lights; do you find that you forget to zip up? LOL That is the signs of YEP I AM GOING TO SAY IT. old age moving in. LOL Stay safe. Leo retired IBEW local 260

[@daudDC500]

Hello Delroy I am David. I am Jamaican born and now live in UK. I would like to be your apprentice? Is that possible?

[@therealbosstopob4l974]

How is the electrician going on?

[@John-gm8ty]

of all the multiples of sparkles channels I've watched, the only rational out come yon can make is, "qualified" doesn't mean jack spit.

[@rouman7]

You tell them you worked before there were fibre glass ladders , we all used wooden ones or metal

[@chrismaplethorpe6781]

Personally I prefer wooden or metal steps to the fibreglass ones they seem more solid and stable.

[@Davidhughes9467]

Because you should never assume anything in life del

[@johnthornton1865]

Bulbs go in the ground Lamps go in light fittings.

[@cbcdesign001]

Plenty of lighting specialists call them bulbs including Philips.

[@spudhead169]

Why is it that almost all sparky videos on KZbin are just moaning about the work someone else has done?

[@BritishJax]

wegos ftw

[@eightoone]

B