"You Need To Contact UK Power Networks As This Is An Emergency" | Electrician In London Vlog

In this video I attend an emergency call out where a customer was experiencing flickering lights throughout his property. The customer heard arcing and reduced the load in his property and called me to check things out.
I discovered that the main fuse was welded into the fuse carrier where it had been over heating. I explained to the customer that they needed to contact UK Power Networks. Have a watch to find out how things worked out in the end.
Thanks for watching and supporting the channel, please share, like and subscribe.
Business Enquiries:
[e-mail]
Instagram:
/ delroythespark

[@Max_Marz]

Absolutely shocking how competent the woman on the phone was compared to literally any company you could possibly call in the states. I am mad jealous.

[@electronash]

Believe me, the majority of call centres here now are pretty clueless. lol I did manage to get through the first call centre for Sky recently about our broadband dropping out, though, The lady at Sky/BT was very helpful, knew what she was talking about, and immediately booked an engineer to fix the line. (phone wire pulled out of the terminal on the telegraph pole during a mild storm.) That's honestly the exception to the rule, though. The first guy at the call centre stuck rigidly to his script, and forced me to do the basic checks again, like switching the router on and off before he would do ANYTHING else. lol The waiting times are generally quite long, too, even before the Rona. Most call centers are farmed out to Countries abroad, too, so they often don't have direct contact with upper management at the company when there's a problem. But yeah, it sounds like the US has it a bit worse than us overall? We can at least sometimes still make contact with a human here, and not just an automated message or script robot.

[@Enclave.]

@@electronash My ISP (Teksavvy) here in Canada will also typically go with the whole basic turning the router on and off and all that malarkey too. That is until they found out that I worked in a data centre previously. I suppose they put a note on my account because when I call for support now instead of the basic questions they start getting me to do various network tests so they can avoid getting a technician sent out. I know I am technically doing their job for them in that situation but hey, whatever gets my internet issues at the time diagnosed the quickest I'm pretty happy with as it gets things sorted out sooner.

[@McMonkeyful]

I work for an equivalent electricity distributor in a different region of the UK. We have fairly high standards but the key is keeping staff long term as the amount of knowledge you need to retain is pretty immense & people naturally want to move on up the ranks & out of talking to the general public on the phones, who can be a bit of a challenge at times. I've been in the customer service side for nearly 20 years now, mostly due to the decent pay, good working environment (from home for last 12 months) & abundant overtime. Experience is key. Still, people interact with us as if it's our first day on the job, when we've heard it all a thousand times before. The sparky in this video does a proper job and speaks to the local distributor himself. Many just pick up the easy callout fee & run, leaving a clueless customer to call in & give god knows what explanation of what is wrong.

[@Sarge92]

​@@electronash funnilly enough i noticed whilst longer waits the quality of the calls went UP during rona the staff seemed more relaxed more intentive to helping you when you needed to be transfered they would jump you through the queues they would pre brief the next person on EVERYTHING manager escalations tended to happen more promptly and everyone just seemed happier i think having the call center folk work from home rather than some stuffy office block with bitchy supervisors prowling around them like hyenas is the best decision theyve ever made

[@electronash]

@@Sarge92 Yes, in fact I could tell the person I got put through to was working from home, and she was super helpful. No background noise nor supervisor, and she knew exactly what to do, and understood the tech involved. It has been interesting to see how working from home has improved certain areas for some companies. Obviously we'd ALL rather the rona was never here in the first place, but maybe there are a few lessons to be learned from it. I heard that certain companies are even considering allowing more staff to work from home now. (especially in the IT sector, where people don't necessarily need to be in an office environment.) There have also been studies in the past where they changed the school opening hours for students. Starting school at say 9am instead of 8am had a pretty huge impact on alertness levels and learning.

[@FrisnoB]

What a lovely phonecall. With people like Sharon on the line, there's no problems, only solutions.

[@oleachenbach7313]

You should do voiceacting you have a really calming voice

[@mb-electricalservices]

Best electrical channel out there. No nonsense, no ads, no selling, just great work and info. 👍

[@hb6846]

Absolutely agree !

[@Cablesmith]

No ads ? 🤔😂

[@Elvis_TheKing]

Agreed Mike. Delroy has no theatrics, no dramas, no clowning around - just an honest spark showing us what we want to see.

[@leewillelectrical5413]

Yes love this channel

[@HH-zi5li]

Pure content 👍love it

[@cdd1craig]

I'm a network operator responder, we deal with these every day. The main difference between us and a sparky is the PPE we carry can protect us while working live with insulated gloves jackets and face shields. We would have to respond to this job within three hours.

[@BMW-Tourer]

Mate you need to start KZbin channel with your callouts

[@webzterd]

Was about to comment that the spark should have just been straight onto the DNO after assessing it was not the consumer side and they would be out in a few hours. I was in a property recently and discovered a previous occupier had been steeling the leccy but on righting the connection, had screwed up and gave reverse -ve polarity. Had a local out, the DNO out, their supervisor out all within an hour. I now carry a tester with me when going places and always test the polarity and earth before plugging anything else in.

[@Hammy135]

I had something similar where they were having power cuts when using an electric shower. Turned out to be a loose connection on the supply side. I was amazed how quickly they were out to sort it, think it was less than 30 minutes.

[@100SteveB]

One thing I love about your videos Delroy, is the fact you always let us know the outcome. Always find your videos interesting to watch, and love how you let us in to your thought processes along the way.

[@r3tr0nic]

That mains feeder is vintage, would be awesome in a collection. Looks like it is mini glass insulators. Certainly looks the part of a mad scientist tehehe! Service provider def should come out and replace that with an updated connection to the latest regs. I too would suspect a poor connection, causing arcing and thermal runaway. Thanks for sharing, always love seeing unusual and vintage items in a setup!

[@lorenzo42p]

it belongs in a collection, not in service

[@McMonkeyful]

@@lorenzo42p Those old service heads were made to last. I wonder how long today's plastic junk will be around. I reckon it has at least another 250 years service in it 😂

[@lorenzo42p]

@@McMonkeyful the problem with these is often where the glass meets metal. you can't see inside to know if it is in perfect shape or if there is corrosion and looming failure. for something as important and possibly dangerous as this, it shouldn't be overlooked until a problem does come up. foreign electrical just amazes me, the things they find acceptable and normal. I definitely don't like how electricians here worship the code book, but some things we just know to never do. we don't mount circuit breakers directly on wood connected to dinosaur cables.

[@McMonkeyful]

@@lorenzo42p Over the past 20 years I've heard of very few critical failures of old cutouts. They do break down from time to time, but that's to be expected when you have millions in service. Ideally, they would be updated (as the one in this video probably was) but just because they look ancient, doesn't mean there's anything fundamentally wrong with them. At last in my experience.

[@JasperJanssen]

@@lorenzo42p please. You used to mount uninsulated wires on porcelain knobs screwed directly into the wood of the building. You totally did mount fuses directly to wood panels at some point. Not every building could afford to mount them on marble slabs. Just as no modern electrician here has done this in decades, you haven’t either. But the power company’s main feed isn’t going to magically upgrade itself, even when the home owner upgrades their own stuff.

[@DavidStruveDesigns]

Holy crap that was a major house fire just waiting to happen!! Thank gawd the client had some common sense and reduced the load to give you and the power company the needed time to come out and diagnose the problem before a tragedy occurred!!

[@scenepool]

Had my incoming CB melt, had to get UKPN to disconnect me. They attempted to charge me until I said ill just pull the fuse myself.

[@walkerrobinson9614]

This is more entertaining than TV.

[@theodoreharris9557]

Delroy, you're voice is very soothing, Great video! straight to the point and love the fact you're going above and beyond the callout, tightening the fuses just incase. I'd love it if you were my electrician.

[@fraggit]

Showed your age there fella. I haven't heard "L.E.B." for years lol. I'm old enough to have had my electricity supplied by the L.E.B. from Battersea power station.

[@BritishBeachcomber]

I remember developing some software for the L.E.B. (London Electricity Board) in 1981 ;)

[@hpt08]

Was LEB now FEB 😁 Electricite de France

[@donkmeister]

I had my power go recently due to the 60+ year old joint in the street failing. When the UKPN chap pulled the service fuse he found someone had bridged it with copper wire! Previous owners of my house had an electric shower and were partial to a bodge so I suspect they had the 60A service fuse blow whilst showering, running the washing machine and boiling the kettle all at once and thought that was a suitable solution. Stupid, stupid people.

[@McMonkeyful]

Six-inch nail is another favorite. Just asking for trouble.

[@jr540123]

This the type of dumbass shit I see on cars once in a while. But in their defense if the line never burnt up. it was a good fucking line to push to the limit.

[@stitchfinger7678]

That's the only electrical tip you need. "IF A FUSE FAILED OR A BREAKER POPPED, IT WAS *PROBABLY* SOMETHING YOU DID, STOP DOING IT."

[@stitchfinger7678]

@@jr540123 A lot of that stuff is an emergency fix that gets forgotten about, in a car I'd give people a much better pass than their house.

[@diablalexfull]

60 amp? thats not alot of power. im in canada. i can run my car charger, my washer, dishwasher, heatpump, my oven, my microwave all at once without issue.

[@8eewee]

Just got this randomly recommended. Really interesting to see stuff like this as I'm working on renovating my first property. I don't touch this stuff myself, I let an electrician do that. Most I dare do is install a new lamp or maybe a switch.

[@MultiMightyQuinn]

hello from the US! Interesting video, thanks for adding the follow-up. Thanks for bringing us with you!

[@brianj8451]

Just subbed. I'm an electrician with my own business here in the states! I love watching how other people do things, especially you guys across the pond, I always learn something!

[@diablalexfull]

Pond lol

[@AH-if8ik]

same, imean not owning a business, but norwegain and its very interesting, specially since we have a super high quality expectation to our work, however whenever I enter a older house, all rules are out the window xD

[@christopherhulse8385]

Interesting, i had a similar situation where my house lights were flickering all evening, and the next morning i had no power at all, turns out the ground junction box had burnt out in the front garden & it took a gang of lads from UK Power Networks all day to dig up, locate & repair the main cable!

[@hydorah]

The supply into the property has a big old ceramic insulator and bakelite fuse holders. Customer: 'Yeah I think all this stuff is 15 years old'. OK mate, sure. There was stuff in there from all points in human history!

[@blackadder4590]

Hello Delroy, I subbed to your channel. Much better than watching TV. This kind of content is entertaining and educational! Greetings from The Netherlands!

[@rhysbradshaw9244]

Like Delroy's videos because he shows his interactions with his customers.

[@peterah7957]

Great Channel.... I've never had an interest in electrics but this is really educational... Thankyou.. Cannot wait to start messing about with any future electrical problems I may face in the future!! Joking!! 😂

[@misterbroda9872]

Just found you by complete accident. While I am no expert, I really liked this video. Well explained and enjoyable! I wish you good luck with the continued growth of your youtube channel, as well as your job of course. Kind regards from across the channel! :-)

[@lewistempleman9752]

In my country welded fuse is sign of good luck to come 👏

[@marklivingstone3121]

That’s how u no delroy is old skool. The LEB. My grandad use to mention them all the time.

[@volksh9592]

Alright Sharon 🤣 quick to the point gotta love a great spark on the job

[@wisteela]

Good job they called you out. Subscribed.

[@Wilkkid1]

Great vid as always del 👌

[@normanboyes4983]

Nice one Delroy.😀👍

[@CraigMansfield]

I think your videos are really interesting. And you've got a nice calm voice 👍👍

[@jacksonroad9263]

Woah a follow up video at the end. Excellent

[@nicminit]

I must say we had a builder that cost us so much money messing things up, one of these was our power main coming into the house. He damaged it digging footings, bodged it and it worked for 18months, then middle of the night in Dec 2020 all power cut and I called UKPN. They were astonishingly good to deal with. Honestly the best service I’ve ever had from any company.

[@lunchbox997]

Love the channel Delroy!

[@RaphaelDawkinsCombatRadio]

Thanks for the follow up at the end.

[@Jretro992]

I would love to be your apprentice or co-worker!💯👍🏼Keep up the great videos bro 🙂 You're very skilled and knowledgeable

[@alchemisthere]

Nice video, I enjoyed watching it.

[@asamitchell7948]

Ring 105 and state the code A04. Always keep a list of codes and they react on the fault faster than a description.

[@Scottnorman14]

Ain't going to be a04 loose cut outs B02 and welded is B01

[@fluggaenkoecchicebolsen]

@@Scottnorman14 No you’re both wrong that’s a C26 job if ever I’ve seen one. You’ve got a B17 and a J23 right next to a D11. Amateurs

[@merseyviking]

@@fluggaenkoecchicebolsen It would normally be a C26, I agree. But he has a Secure Liberty 100 meter, and the SOPs say that all C26's should be reclassified as M14's. It's a common trap for young players.

[@Fanta....]

ABSOLUTE RUBBISH, thats a c06 if i've ever heard it. where'd ya get your liccy from, a weeties pack or wot?

[@fluggaenkoecchicebolsen]

@@Fanta.... maybe in Scotland mate but down here that’s a C26

[@timothyjones660]

I used to see these types of service heads on Cheshire county council street lighting networks very old

[@NightOwlGames]

respect to you this just gives me anxiety i dont know how you guys do it

[@stinkymart3173]

Electricity is just physics in motion, everything is but electricity is relatively intuitive and easy to understand. Which means when I see electrical shit that doesn't make sense, I get *spooked*

[@williamstrachan]

Just came across this channel and Delroy clearly knows his shit but I can't pretend I wasn't sitting with my hands and feet off the desk and floor when he was wiggling that fuse around 😂 I mean I'm "ok" with electrical stuff but only when it's not live

[@LordStraightBanana]

Guarantee that whoever installed the smart meter had chocolate wrists and didn’t properly tighten the connections in the fuse carrier. Then the whole thing heats up and slowly melts, welding the fuse to the stalks.

[@McMonkeyful]

I'd say that's spot on. I had a similar issue with a new consumer unit in my house. One of the screws for a breaker had not been tightened at all (must have been a tough thread) and the Slovak sparky I had in obviously hadn't given the wires a tug to test. The cable was melting due to the arcing. I only noticed it due to a slight fishy smell, like an old Scalextric set. Luckily there was enough spare cable to snip off the melted section & fit back in the buzz bar.

[@thenullco]

Chocolate wrists 😂😂😭

[@shadowxxe]

Either that or he couldn't be bothered had a similar experience when someone was fitting my electric shower. literally just connected it and set it on the wall with 2 screws. chasis of the shower wasnt put on correctly and they hadn't but caulk around it to prevent water from leaking into the wall and causing damage

[@mandc20022]

What does chocolate wrist mean?

[@McMonkeyful]

@@mandc20022 Lacking the required strength to operate the screwdriver to tighten connections sufficiently to prevent them slipping out, arcing & setting the gaff ablaze.

[@becton98]

Alright Sharon yeah 🤣

[@pault4793]

nice work delroy

[@martincawley31]

Great video, especially giving feedback

[@simthespark324]

Nice one Del, thats a really cool looking incomer I must say. Always liked the way older stuff looks, it's a really unusual incomer never seen one of those before.

[@Ragnar8504]

Looks like an ancient three-wire DC supply converted to AC at some point in the distant past. Positive, negative and common, probably something like 220-240 V from either live to common and 440-480 between positive and negative.

[@simthespark324]

@@Ragnar8504 Ah cool thanks for the explanation, I didn’t think of that. Would love to see stuff like that go to a museum but I suppose it’s been smashed and replaced now 👎.

[@jamesdyas542]

If you dial 105 you get a recorded message asking for a land line phone number on site. Just put any local phone number in and you get put through to the dno. Excellent videos thanks.

[@McMonkeyful]

@@DoctorElectricKZbin Your landline phone code should route you through to your local DNO, & if you call from a mobile, it should route you through based on the mobile phone mast you connect to. The reason they ask for a landline is for messaging. Say there is a HV fault with 2000 properties off, they can burn off a lot of calls by linking the property to the fault & people hang up once they hear there is a known issue & are given an ETR. This frees up the lines for people with critical calls or who may need more assistance (medical issues etc...)

[@LeonSteelpaw]

You sound like a rather chill person

[@anthonyfindlay466]

I ran into a problem like this several years ago where I had recently rewired a house for an elderly client and was called back saying her lights where dim and nothing seemed too work properly. I eventually measured a higher than normal voltage between the earth and neutral at the mains had to call the electric company out, turned out there was a short at the neighbors house and it was feed back on the line tap at the pole, thank God the it was rectified.🙏

[@robv7340]

L.E.B Not heard that in a hell of a long time Delroy showing his age 😗

[@firsteerr]

i STIULL call them the LEB and i dont live or work in london anymore ha ha ha

[@jamiesavage4956]

@@Dog-whisperer7494 became london electricity then 24/7 then edf, now ukpn

[@williamredfern5504]

What interesting videos He is very informative

[@datsunruss]

Nice one Delroy

[@ryano8768]

Interesting incomer there, never seen one like that myself! It'd be interesting to find out what it is and whilst the DNO looks at it probably a good idea to have that earth clamp changed too as it looks like a BS951 clamp which probably shouldn't be used on a paper insulated lead covered cable. Then again i could be wrong.

[@Mic_Glow]

Where I live the power company is usually too busy/ unwilling to come... you just notify them which building it is, remove the power fuses (special tool, no load ofc), fix the problem, put the fuses and the broken seal in the box and leave. The come to re-seal it whenever they want. By-the-book you'd have to file forms, wait 1-2 weeks etc. it would be a hassle for both you, the power company and the home owner.

[@autofox1744]

You are extremely calm for someone confronting a live Raygun Octopus living in a man's wall! Yikes!

[@rouman7]

Yea I still say the LEB. Hahah I had that problem Once loose connection burnt out fuse holder welded together ,due to loose connection on tail .. called leb ( it was them in those days ).. they fixed it .. also another in Camden old installation guy said it was getting hot old porcelain main fuse holder some one had put a nail in it it was like a heater bright red ...

[@deadprivacy]

just needed a smaller nail....

[@brnmcc01]

Ha, when it's nearly as hot as a 1 bar fire, that's a problem!

[@scottyleics]

Good video boss. No BS sale codes or use this app and that app.

[@kanewalton-bell310]

105 gets you through to you local power distribution company, you can't do any work on that main fuse (including pulling the fuse) unless your authorized to do so by the DNO in that area

[@SurpriseFox]

You need authorization to replace fuses over there? Here we are popping breakers in and out, no fuses required.

[@kanewalton-bell310]

@@SurpriseFox the main cut out fuse yes, your own Fuses and breakers no you can do them to your heart's content

[@merlin5476]

I had exactly the situation a few months ago on a sunday afternoon, i know its wrong but i had an old ( but perfectly safe) cut out 80a fuse with carrier & also told the customer its down to the electricity co but could change it if they wanted me to, it was only £50 but i had to break the old welded fuse & carrier & pop a new 1 in. Customer was ok with it & i waddled off & got my self a Lamb madrass on the way home. In Del's job here, i would have swapped the feed to the other phase, mainly because dealing with utility companies can take far longer than the job in question, having said that, Sharon seemed quite on the ball.

[@bjornklaver]

You have some crazy fuse boards over there in Engeland

[@radon1221]

interesting vid mate

[@majorpygge-phartt2643]

That old live phase feeding into that loose main fuse looks like it's been a bit overheated as it looks like the insulation has melted back a bit. And why is there two phases? It looks like an old supply cable left over from the days before our supplies were standardised when there was different voltages and even some DC mains supplies. Or perhaps there used to be a separate supply there for a second flat dwelling, but in that case they'd have to share a common neutral which would have to carry the load of both supplies, not a wise idea unless it has twice the cross sectional area of the phases which it doesn't appear to have. Not good at all. Or perhaps it was some kind of dual voltage supply in the old days, I see the board is marked AC so therefore it must date back to when there was still some DC supplies in use there in that area. That was often the case where there was trams in use as they run on DC but at a higher voltage, usually around 550 volts, often supplied by a rotary converter or through an old mercury arc rectifier, and they used to have one of those at the science and industry museum in manchester, but I don't know if it's still there. It's a dirty great big glass thing that was used on a local railway line there in the past to supply the old live rails. Or else the power plant used dynamos to produce DC but I don't know how they provided different voltages, since DC won't work in a transformer, I think they must've had extra brushes on the dynamos at different positions on the commutator, that would simplify the generating plant.

[@MrTuts4life]

Photonic induction just uploaded a video a few days ago about old mercury rectifiers, based on your comment you'd probably enjoy it :)

[@JasperJanssen]

It’s possible the power was originally 480V centertap, which provides you with 2 phases of 240V each at 180 degrees. Like a US system, except on steroids. I would assume it’s been replaced at the transformer to a standard three phase setup by now, but either way, the neutral conductor gets to be the same size as the two lives because of phase angle. Here in the Netherlands I know that - besides our standard, which is three phase 220V (230V nominal), with either one v large conductor or three smaller ones per house so that service can be upgraded from the standard 1x35A or even the older 1x25A without pulling new wires - we used to have in residential service both two phase at 110V each as well as three phase 127V (with 220 between phases, which gives you everything-is-live capabilities). All of that has been long replaced with real 220V service, of course. I remember in the late 90s when the last 127V system went away near where I was at university in Delft.

[@majorpygge-phartt2643]

@@JasperJanssen I've been to the Netherlands, and I noticed they use the shuko type plugs which don't have a fuse, so therefore they must still be using the old radial type system for the sockets, with a separate supply cable and breaker for each socket, which means having a supersize consumer unit, or load centre with loads of breakers fitted, just like in the states and Canada and lots of other countries. But here in the UK we've long since changed over to ring mains for the sockets with fused plugs. With the old system there was usually lots of separate little cast iron fuse boxes on the supply board which was cluttered, so now we have only small consumer units with just one breaker for each ring main, and there's usually only one ring main in the average house, though some folk fit more. And we used to have different socket circuits with different ratings, and different size sockets to match, which were non interchangeable so you couldn't stick a plug in the wrong socket.

[@JasperJanssen]

@@majorpygge-phartt2643 uh… no. We do not use ring mains nor do we use radial *let alone* with a breaker per cable. We have a star-and-bus system, just like every sensible country on earth. Ring mains are deeply unsafe, and are only used by the UK to save on postwar copper.

[@barrieshepherd7694]

@@JasperJanssen How are ring mains "deeply unsafe"?? The overall system, with a local fuse protecting each appliance cable, and the main breaker protecting the fixed wiring is as safe as, or maybe more safe than, a radial/star installation. As for a "star-and-bus" system what is that if not radial distribution?

[@esuohdica]

I'm already thinking as you went to touch that fuse carrier - Don't pull it too hard!! I once had a 30 amp Wylex fuse carrier fall into two halfs as i'm pulling the fuse! Of course it's always the live pin that remains in the board!

[@DevilbyMoonlight]

had a house back in the 90's where the main coming in the outside box had 'burned' through the connection becoming loose, I remember coming home from work and as soon as I put the microwave on the lights would start to pulse disco fashion - to their credit they came out dug up and replaced the cable quite quick

[@Ragnar8504]

Things get properly interesting when the neutral burns out somewhere in the three-phase distribution.

[@hardstylegamer9932]

@@Ragnar8504 "Lemme just drop my 110 V and 540 V here" - every asymetrical 3 phase system when losing its neutral

[@Ragnar8504]

@@hardstylegamer9932 Exactly! :-D

[@bbr9707]

Wow new head required there network power required there Del!

[@bigsteve6729]

Nice neat board

[@stottybox3185]

Wow, the woman on the phone seemed to know what she was talking about, well impressed.

[@insylem]

That's because this isn't in the US

[@Travelinmatt1976]

@@insylem Or maybe it's because she knows her field.

[@McMonkeyful]

The staff of distribution network operators need to be well trained as small mistakes can cost lives. She almost certainly takes calls from contractors who've cut through high voltage cables, powerlines down, electrocutions, electrical fires, transformers exploding etc... I work in a similar role in a different region & I've seen & heard it all, including several fatalities.

[@deanholloway7755]

My old main fuse filled my porch where its positioned with smoke and it was the smell that alerted me. Turned everything off, called Western Power who came within the hour and they changed whole main fuse and box for new grey one. Unfortunately I had ripped the porch ceiling down first where all CU cables go to check for fire. Haven't put ceiling back yet but it's only been 3 years 😜.

[@jamiesavage4956]

Its called a hackney trident i believe 👌

[@pieterpretorius1014]

looks like a fire waiting for a reason to happen

[@drewfinlay3618]

My favourite story of dodgy electrics in a house was my parents house, we moved in and after 6 months maybe a year we wanted to replace an entire light, our house still running on separate fuses for each room but no switch for individual fuses, so we pulled the fuse for the living room out and noticed it had an old cigarette foil instead of an actual fuse, scared the hell out of us

[@krashd]

I knew someone who did that sort of shit, if anything in his house fused he would take the fuse out the plug, wrap it in tinfoil and put it back in. I told him he was a moron but he was one of those "bad things happen to other people" type of idiots who don't realise the value of something until after the event.

[@I_Don_t_want_a_handle]

Once rented a flat where the main fuse was a six inch nail...everything seemed to work OK but the Gas Man, of all people, pulled the plug. Apparently that's not safe. NB Chappy has a Smart Meter ... the electric board sent a couple of muppets to fit it.

[@mfk12340]

Being from the US and being a lineman, instead of calling the power company (and depending on how bad it is, this didn't look immediately life or property threatening so maybe not here). I'd call 911 or the 211 British equivalent. The distributor can blow you off, and when you have a problem like that I'd recommend calling your local emergency services and they can expedite the response. I've had the fd call us before for problems, and they've sent the cops to escort us to the scene as quickly as possible. I've also worked on calls where the FD called and needed power shut off immediately for property protection and we sent a scada command and dropped 100 thousand customers.

[@kevinrobinson6055]

I had this issue del was very high ze readings supply issue , lights were dimming when switch’s were on all lighting , was a brake in the lead Sheathing of a tns system

[@daviej8180]

Fix these on a daily basis..a Couple of gentle taps with the single phase hammer and all is good ..

[@twiggy1870]

The meter fitter no doubt put the live in loose resulting in an A04. SMS no doubt

[@MB-alarms_and-more]

Hello im new to your channel lovely video i subscribed and liked

[@billmoran3812]

That service entrance and pothead is absolutely ancient. Very different from what is used in the US.

[@jamessparks7962]

Bloody smart meter installers! Cocking up an antique service head like that, they should be jailed for crimes against historical electrical artefacts.

[@Wtfinc]

it is really beautifull. If i got thrown out of that home i would cut it out!

[@Mic_Glow]

The vintage cable is ok as long as it's 10mm+ copper... Ground should be thicker than live (in front of the customer meter) and the whole compartment looks flammable...

[@JasperJanssen]

@@Mic_Glow there is no ground in the power company feed. Two lives and a neutral, weren’t you watching. Where you get your ground from varies by system, but in this case it appears that the building has to provide their own ground.

[@colinscutt5104]

makes you wonder what they did with the asbestos that was certainly in there originally

[@Mic_Glow]

@@JasperJanssen Where in my comment did I state ground comes from electricity provider?

[@fuelledbyink.7557]

The emergency line for anything dangerous is 150 from any landline or mobile, or if you know who your DNO is (UKPN In London) you can normally just google their number!

[@londontrada]

I've never seen a service intake like that before. They'll probably replace the whole head.

[@PWingert1966]

We had something like that at a house here in Canada from 1940!. They insisted on replacing everything back to the transformer down the street. Turns out that this house was under construction at that time and wasn't even included in the record of the electric company for site upgrades. The total cost was $CDN20,000 to the road and then another $10K to the transformer with the Hydro company picking up the other $CDN10K because of multiple houses being wired in the street line. My friend's house was declared unfit to live in after a tear opens the walls and inspect the wiring inspection by the power company. for six weeks while the electrical was redone. The people that sold him the house hid the knob and tub by splicing some copper near the electrical boxes and direct connecting to the knob and tube behind the boxes. The house rewires took another 12 weeks due to permits and inspections. and it cost another $CDN20,000. Total cost $50,000 due to flickering lights. A team of six electricians was responsible for the rewiring and then all the drywalls had to be redone from three feet to the baseboards as well as all the trim is replaced. Upgrade from a 60A service to a 200-amp service, priceless😁.

[@thepenguin9]

@@PWingert1966 hey if you ain't footing the bill

[@JasperJanssen]

@@PWingert1966 hang on. I assume he did t have to pay for everything from his meter onwards? Their bad recordkeeping in the 40s doesn’t mean it’s suddenly the home owner that owns that part of the service and is responsible for paying for it.

[@haldo691]

Nope they will just replace the fuse carrier the rest will be fine

[@PWingert1966]

He had to pay for it but is suing the realtor and the previous owners. The case is still before the courts.

[@rob1248996]

I never realized that Lucas also wired houses.

[@rubusroo68]

ouch

[@curtisss]

Had something similar and my neighbours experienced the same, turns out something out in the street was bad, out lights flickered every time the street light between our houses turned on. It was only recognised by the electricity board when the street light caught on fire 🤦‍♂️

[@curtisss]

Oh, they also didn't mark anything and people installing fibre cables hit the line and caused a power cut

[@asdreww]

I love seeing that old style electrical equipment. What's the deal with that 'head' then - how old is it?

[@McMonkeyful]

Could be pre-war or possibly 50s. Those cast iron service heads were engineered to last!

[@JasperJanssen]

Purely based on the styling, yeah, anywhere around WWII plus or minus a decade.

[@brnmcc01]

@@JasperJanssen I'm guessing circa 1940

[@benjaminkline4855]

I've been trying to pull the bus block on my garage panel. I thought it was rusted together, I never thought maybe it's melted together

[@seraphina985]

Oh for sure electrical arcs are a form of plasma that is to say ionized air which considering that Nitrogen and Oxygen are the 5th and 7th most difficult neutral atoms to ionize is saying something. The amount of momentum electrons need to overcome the electromagnetic attraction to the nucleus in these atoms is considerable and thus since temperature is itself a function of the average momentum of the particles the resulting plasma is also really damn hot. Temperatures can reach in the region of 20000 °C within the arc which when you consider this is 4.6 times the melting point of the material with the highest melting point ever discovered on Earth or synthesised by humans and a good 4 times the surface temperature of the Sun yeah that will do the trick to melt litteraly anything it comes into contact with so yeah an electrical arc will fuse most solid materials together with ease, exceptions here would include materials that cannot exist as a liquid at all at atmospheric pressures and such a high temperature since those will instantly vaporise on contact instead.

[@krashd]

TL;DR? Basically she said welders use electricity for a reason.

[@inventor1v]

You can see the copper is black going into the fuse!

[@mungrus]

The amount of copper coming from that smart meter

[@eddjordan2399]

50hz ac. all ways wobbling. on an old bakerlite fuse you shouldn't pull them if they are stuck. they can disintegrate and start a fire. ie burn the cable. and that struck arc is hard to put out until the 800amp fuse at the sub station burns out.

[@David-js4wd]

that fuse in the sub at 800A - is there enough fault current here to blow the fuse, I suspect theres not..

[@andrew09071969]

@@David-js4wd You are absolutley correct.

[@firsteerr]

thats good eighty years old , the main problem is that we pay a LOT for energy but they invest very little and don't forget people that in the near future they want us to use more energy and increase our consumption by at least forty amps !!! with car charging heat pumps and water heating

[@Dooguk]

It worked fine for those 80 years. It was only since the smart meter was installed that the problems began. I'm sure some of these meter fixers have wrists like crisp packets.

[@McMonkeyful]

If it's not broke, why fix it? Those old cast iron service heads are pretty durable. Having worked for a DNO for the past 20 years, I'd have to disagree with you about the lack of investment. That was certainly the case prior to privatization but, at least the region I work in, invests a lot into the network. Wholesale replacement of old service heads that are working fine doesn't seem like a very cost-effective strategy. Sub-standard installations should be reported by electricians, meter operators or readers. Should be.

[@GhostvaperYT]

fuse used to get hot at my old house because I just jacked straight into it and i ran loads of stuff of it. anyway good job!

[@garrett69]

Smart bloke, advertising the fact that you were breaking the law and stealing electricity from your utility company on KZbin.........

[@richardkaz2336]

The rules in Australia is that if an electrical installation is modified or added too. The whole of the installation needs to be brought up to and meet the currrent Australian Standards and wiring rules. That way distribution switchboard don't have a whole lot of legercy protection devices and consumer mains and cunsumer fuses are maintained and safe. All though you often find a mix of old porcelain rewirable fuse holders, old circuit breakers and some old vir rubber insulated cables. These types of installation require complete full rewiring of all circuits and metered consumer didtribution boards and sub boards complete all current RCD protection and breakers and generally an AED portable defibrillators for when the home owners heard the price for the extra light they requested.

[@nicbrownable]

This is why you constantly run into houses in Australia where people are deferring electrical maintenance. We are looking for a house in older neighbourhoods and every house we have looked at has visible issues with sockets, wiring and switchboards.

[@richardkaz2336]

@@nicbrownable First thing I've done is completly rewire including the consumer mains. Luckily I've had all the wall sheets off, so an easy job.

[@aquual1462]

Keep it up with the videos man. Just some feedback ther is no need to say "Hello it's me again" in the middle of the video.

[@thepenguin9]

Nah its good because having separate clips with hey and see you later means you can end the video at any point, and it's what's he's comfortable with!

[@cola98765]

"It's not.... It's not shutting down!!!"

[@datravman]

i just can't stop seeing that ADSL line lol. That still useful?

[@Bigbushape]

never seen that, wow

[@thumasta666]

do you not need a shutoff before the main fuse in uk?? i think you do in canada every fusebox ive seen has a main shutoff before it goes to the box.

[@justmeEnglandUK]

Octopus energy ad came up spooky

[@nickbowen4722]

how did you charge the client for your time, emergency call out? hour rate

[@alanbicknell7696]

I once lived in a house with very old wiring.We had a letter from the national grid I think stating that the electrical equipment was very old and due an inspection.No problem a few days later the engineer showed up took one look and with a sharp intake of breath says your on a loop I will have to go and check the plans to see who else is on this loop so we know who will be affected when we turn off the power when we come back in a few days.A couple of years later (yes really) we get another letter.Your equipment is old blah blah.Engineer ( the same one from 2 years ago )turns up.Your on a loop.You know the rest.Another 2 years goes by although my wife does disputes the timings my next door neighbour has an electrical fire in the cupboard on the other side of the party wall.The engineer inspects our electrics as a precaution after the fire and guess what your equipment is old your on a loop will be back in a couple of days but this time they were as good as their word and came back in a couple of days. Turns out the loop means that in stead of being in the road the power goes into the first house in the loop and each house has a junction box and that is what caught fire.

[@haydnroberts781]

Call 105 for DNO.

[@tonystewart6592]

And get them to install the correct Earth Clamp to sheath as its TNS, as existing one don't comply to Regs. and btw the Henley Block might have been fitted correctly at the time, but them boards which it is fitted on will & always rot and screws might get loose after 50 odd years lol , as I've have had the same experience in my 35 years in the game

[@-.Andy.-]

I’ve called 105 many times over the years, they are always very helpful and normally are out within a couple of hours. One of the times was for my own house 😝. They had to dig up the front garden to kill the electric to change the service head 🙈

[@emilgemc8913]

Call 999 mate 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@-.Andy.-]

@@emilgemc8913 🤔🤷🏼‍♂️

[@petermichaelgreen]

My understanding is that the suppliers consider it safer to cut/rejoin a live underground cable than to change a service head live, presumably because there are less variables to contend with.

[@-.Andy.-]

@@petermichaelgreen it’s because it was on old metal service head, if it was plastic they would of done it live

[@petermichaelgreen]

@@-.Andy.- IIRC the DNO procedures I came across (which admittedly may vary with DNO and time) said they would only do a live cutout change if the cutout was of insulated material, the cable was of a modern plastic-insulated construction and the supply was single phase. If any of those weren't the case they would cut the cable outside, change the head dead and then re-join the cable.

[@0liver0verson9]

At least it was stable at the time. When you can visibly see arcing and blue sparks showering off you need to call the fire brigade as well the network operator!

[@tjfSIM]

@Exploring With Dark Dreamz I don't think you need to leave the building -if there is a fire incident you'll see it straight away if you're standing there next to it waiting for UKPN to arrive! Certainly don't want to sleep there though until it's been made safe.

[@tjfSIM]

@Exploring With Dark Dreamz Obviously - that's what I said, if there is a fire incident developing then it would make sense to evacuate and call the fire service. But it's not doing that here - and if it started doing that, you'd see it if you were standing nearby! What they did by calling it in with UKPN was perfectly adequate.

[@tjfSIM]

@Exploring With Dark Dreamz Yeh I'm aware of the safety implications - but it wasn't arcing or sparking at the time the electrician was looking at it - it's still serious, that's why they've reduced the load and called out UKPN as an emergency - there's no need to run out of the house with it was in the video though!

[@sdgelectronics]

Switching off all loads would immediately prevent any further arcing.

[@0liver0verson9]

@@sdgelectronics That's not necessarily true. Some cut outs have a 2nd neutral connected to a street light outside. If that suffers a loose connection or some issue, switching off the load inside the property will have no effect.

[@ridefast0]

Wonder what the fault level is at that point, presumably the fuse would still work as a fuse even if it is welded in to the socket! Great video, thanks. From an armchair sparky.

[@JasperJanssen]

Loose connection provides a high resistance path at some point, which provides simultaneously the dimming lights and the heating up of the fuse box (power goes into heating everything around the loose connection instead of into the lights). In this case it will probably have been the loose connection of the wire from fuse to meter, since nothing else would have been touched in decades.

[@David-js4wd]

@@JasperJanssen the cable entering the fuse holder was showing signs of heat damage, it may well have been the connection on the bottom of the fuse and it is not uncommon for this to fail - note the fuse holder was not fixed to the board and its movement to fit new tails may have loosened the connection resulting in the fault we see here.

[@JasperJanssen]

@@David-js4wd the fuse holder was not fixed to the board because the person installing the meter had taken it off to fit the new tails. And, sure it was showing signs of heat damage. Heat travels.

[@Priza25]

@@JasperJanssen the meter fitter would not remove the cutout from the board to fit the tails!

[@Xanthopteryx]

Can you link the picture so we can see how the fuse looked like?