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Joined: Jul 2002
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How far is the DIY'er allowed to go in your country,with respect to electrical work?. Over here in 1992, the then Government, reworked the Electricty Regulations, to allow homeowners to do their own electrical work, provided that a Registered Person tested and connected the installed work. As a Fire-Fighter, I have put a number of these houses out, they were just hooked up, no registered person involved. Your input please?.
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Joined: Dec 2001
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As far as Austria is concerned, a DIYer is allowed to put in conduit and pull the wires and boxes or install cable. An electrician has to make all connections and stuff. That's what we did when we relocated our meter. In theory, a DIYer would also be allowed to do all his wiring if he has it checked by a licensed electrician WHO HAS FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WORK DONE! So I doubt there's any sparky who'd do that.
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Joined: Aug 2001
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You've probably got this point already by now , but in England a DIYer is legally allowed to do any wiring he likes, including a total rewire if he so wishes.
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Joined: Oct 2000
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the US has a wide range of bureacracy here, there are some stringent states, as well as those where anything goes.
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Joined: Sep 2002
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Sweden: See Austria. You are allowed to replace switches, sockets and the like. The electricians union of course claim that only electricians should do this, at $50/h Having said this, D-I-Y work is common and there is a shortage of electricians. This means that much small scale commercial wiring is done by laymen. (Connecting power for alarm systems, emergency lights and other add-ons to old buildings. I've seen really scary "sparky-killers" that have looked like neat wiring.) Electricians consider us engineers to be the worst D-I-Y'ers, and rightly so. (A friend had wired up a fuse box outdoors (!) with old reused single insulated wires tied to nails on the wall (!). He used the fuses as light switches...) Regards, The criminal
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Joined: Oct 2002
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Here a DIYer can do anything, bbut it has to be inspected by a independant inspection firm before the PoCo branches it. The same applies (about the inspection) for qualified electricians.
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Joined: Oct 2002
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Too bloody far for my liking! Go down to the electrical wholesalers on a Saturday morning & you find Mr (or Mrs) DIY. Mr DIY: "I want some wire!" E.W.: "What size?" Mr DIY: "I don't know, it's for wiring a shower" E.W.: "You'll want 6 or 10mm then, what's the loading of the shower......etc. I've witnessed the above on several occasions. Then they go home & wire a nice little death trap for their family & future unsuspecting homebuyers. I'm sure you will all be surprised to learn that I don't approve of DIY electrical work! There is talk of requiring all electrical installations that need a Building Warrant Electrical Completion Certificate to be carried out by a "competent enterprise". However this is a couple of years away & will only stop DIY work on new installations & alterations where Building Warrant is required. I think this is a step in the right direction (if it happens), but I would like to see DIY wiring limited to replacing broken accessories only. I would also like to see all electricians compulsorily licensed. (Steps down from soap box.)
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Joined: Jul 2002
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David, I have seen the senario at the wholesaler, they stand there, in droves, all demanding what they asked for, even if it does not exist, while you are standing in line to get a single Earth rod, I happened to murmur "Hurry up!" and wow, the sneers and filthy looks. One woman was told that she was not allowed to install an RCD into her own s/board, there was an explosion, I can tell you. Some people have no idea, eh?.
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Joined: Sep 2002
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David! I have a slightly different suggestion. Anyone who wishes to do any work except replacing accessories is required to have a limited license. A theory exam and a practical test should be enough. This license is limited to unpaid residential work. For paid work or work in commercial environments it will only be good for minor work on existing circuits. (Lot's of installers just need some power for their system, not a whole new circuit.)
Rest of work is reserved for real Electricans.
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Joined: Aug 2002
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David UK said:
"I would like to see DIY wiring limited to replacing broken accessories only." --
I'm a DIY guy and I fully agree with you.
I believe all connections to the fuse box should be made by a licenced electrician, especially when you live in an apartment where you can't easily shut off power to your own fuse box.
In that case you certainly need someone who is familiar with working with live electricity and knows what they're doing.
However, I've noticed even some simple (to me) tasks such as replacing a cracked socket or a burned out switch are beyond the scope of a lot of people.
These are the same folks who shove the fiberglass insulation from the fixture "rose" up into the wall box, wire them in with pig-tail leads made out of .75mm "lamp cord" (disintegrates in the heat generated by the bulb enclosed in the fixture) and use TWO 100-watt bulbs in a fixture rated for two 60-watt bulbs max; leaving me with crumbling cables I now have to rip out of the ceiling and replace!!!
I've encountered these problems in the last two flats I've lived in. It's scary, to say the least.
Frankly, if you don't know how to replace, or install a plug on an appliance or toss out the entire lamp just because the bulb socket has worn out, you certainly have no busines messing with the wires in the wall!!!
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