ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Any Electricians on here from NZ

Aussie,
I remember back in my early days as an apprentice electrician at the Power Board, one of the jobs was to make the tea (for some strange reason no-one drank coffee back then).

You had to boil the kettle (jug, in your language), it was one that didn't turn itself off, you had to unplug it at the kettle, because the plug at the wall used to get too hot to touch, ( yeah, all this in a Power Board building).
You had to warm the pot and then put the tea leaves (no tea bags back then) in and the water and let the tea "draw".
Milk and sugar in the cups (I was once told off one day by an old Inspector for getting it around the wrong way)
and then pour this filthy looking brew into the cups, no tea strainer either.

Years later, after the old guard had more or less retired,
we threw out an old toaster like you described above, Aussie, it had more joints in the flex than actual real cord, at one time it would have been chromed but it had been overheated and thrown in the nearby sink so many times, it looked more like an old lady's hand-bag with a "cord" on it.
This was of course before we had anything remotely like smoke detectors.

Sure mate,
What is not clearly understood, even by electricians in this country (NZ), is that any bad connection in the MEN (Multiple-Earthed Neutral) system, can cause rising earth currents not only in your own installation, but on properties either side of you, that do have better connections to Earth.

Should there be an appreciable fault in your house, that cannot find a low enough impedance to operate a main fuse at a pole or pillar box, that fault current will continue through any low impedance paths (namely the neighbours N/E system) until sufficient current is obtained to trip the protection.

We are talking 1000's of amps here, not 100's of amps.
If however the person has done things right and installed Circuit Breakers,the circuit will trip in a shorter time, if they haven't and have merely "upgraded" an existing porcelain fuse circuit, it will take longer to blow that fuse.
In any installation, make sure your earth and neutral connections are well made and tight.
After all, there are MEN connections in houses that have not been checked or tightened in years, they will at the most carry 63A here, but, that does not take into account the ever climbing PSCC values of the outside electricity network.

Sorry I missed this comment, Nev,
Same regulations as who?
If Australia has the highest death rate in the world, with respect to DIY work, wouldn't that make you think that people aren't understanding what they are doing.

It seems to make me think that ignorance of the rules is more to blame than any lack of skills, or maybe it is a combination of the two?, you don't get killed by 230V by knowing what you are doing.
There used to be an Inspector here from Queensland, haven't seen him in ages, but if he could poke his head in here, it would be cool.
Come on in Gray!

We occasionally watch a local home show about real estate sales around the world. Besides all the English retirees oddly fleeing Great Britain for other countries, one particular episode on New Zealand homes was especially odd.

Why are appliances, most equipment, sinks, & toilets stripped from homes before sale in New Zealand? Mortgages seemed uniquely budgeted around these empty shells.

If house payments are budgeted without plumbing & electric fixtures, doesn't this unique practice invite economic incentives for New Zealand families to attempt equipment re-fit themselves?

A tradition of owner installed equipment in New Zealand homes may explain why such perpetual DIY installations are removed entirely when properties are sold.

In the U.K., the inclusion or exclusion of major appliances during a house sale varies, and is generally by mutual agreement, or -- at least in the past -- if not specifically included in the contract on the basis of "£200 cash if you want them" kind of an arrangement. It would be expected that the integral ovens and cooktops which have become more popular in recent years over the traditional free-standing range would always be included unless otherwise stated though.

It would certainly be very odd to take the toilet or major sinks when moving though!

I believe that over in France it is -- or used to be -- pretty common for people to strip out virtually all "fancier" light fittings when moving and just leave the cables poking out of the ceiling for the next owner to install whatever lights he wanted.

Where on earth did you hear/see that??
That is most certainly not the case here, stealing permanent fixtures like you have described,after you have sold your house, would be straight out theft!

After all, you wouldn't sell a car then whip the wheels off, take the engine out and remove the steering wheel, would you?

Doesn't it happen that the seller will state whether he intends to leave certain appliances or take them with him? That's certainly the norm here -- Either at some point during the discussions the subject will come up and an agreement as to whether they remain or not will be made, or quite often the real-estate agent's description of the property will indicate the seller's intentions over this.

HGTV is the cable broadcast channel in my region.
House Hunters International is the specific program.
New to New Zealand, Episode HHINT-310 looks familiar.
http://www.hgtv.com/house-hunters-international/new-to-new-zealand/index.html

My dial-up can't buffer any of the broadband media episodes, so I can't be positive which one it was.

OK,
I thought for a second, it might have been a reliable source.
Don't ever expect that TV is EVER a reliable source to reference from, especially "Reality TV", it is made by clowns, for retarded people to watch.

But people do like this rubbish, I have NO idea why.

LOL, I would love for someone from NZ to comment on this one.