Discuss When do you decide.... It needs rewiring. in the Electrical Wiring, Theories and Regulations area at ElectriciansForums.net

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robo83

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The last 3 jobs I quoted all had previous quotes and all were told they needed rewires and they didn't.. Except 1 of them that needed lighting rewired due to no earth's and the customer wanted metal fascias. The others needed a day hunting jbs to rectify low IR and several other issues.

The electricians who QUOTED those jobs hadn't even tested the circuits.

When do you pull the pin on a full rewire.
 
I'd say when testing demonstrates it's unsafe (low IR) and the issues that make it unsafe can't be remedied any other way, or if the changes required by a client would require more work/cost than ripping it out and starting again.

That would be my strategy, it's only come to that once for me so far and that decision was based on an EICR that wasn't great and me taking quite a thorough peek around the installation.
 
When the customer agrees with you that due to the age of the install it may be in their best interests while other work is taking place.
When cable construction and/or condition dictates you should recommend no other course of action.

Seems like you have a good attitude toward your customers' interests though. Honesty generates recommendations and reputation.
 
I was brought up in the old school methods and use my instincts and observations first and foremost.
It may be controversial but in the past I have declined to carry out a periodic test and inspect because I was confident that the property needed rewiring without charging the customer for the privilege of having me spend a day testing it just to draw the same conclusion.
 
Visual clue's - insulation falling off cables.
Lights flickering - cables too old.
Testing fails - moisture in cables.
Your instincts screaming !
just a few possibles
 
Subjective sometime, also depend on the customer situation, if they having some work done or just moving in then it's possible an idea time.... there is nothing worst than trying to rewire a house occupied with a ton of junk, I mean the customer furniture.!

If there are issue with circuits which requires investigation then you have to think, how many days will I be on this for and will it result in a satisfactory installation at the end?
also if the installation has been botched it make you think of all the other unseen botches hidden in the building,
if its old installation and had some heath Robinson work done over the years then I always suggest to the Owner they consider the possibility of the Rewire.
as the cost of me rectifying their problems will not guarantee the circuit from future failure especially if there are junction boxes hidden within the floor/ ceiling voids.

Never be afraid to recommend a rewire. there are very few installation I've come across which have require a rewire, but that does not mean I've not recommended it to the customer. To be honest most of them have a new CU and that can rectify a lot of issue.

Always Be Honest and up front and give the customer the Pros and Cons and let the customer make the decision generally get the best result.
 
How does the age of a cable make lights flicker?

The new harmonised electricity is looking for brown and blue cables on its way to the load, sees only red and black, and heads back to source. However the other half of the wave is obviously reversed so it's looking for things the other way round and actually gets to the load, resulting in a flicker every half wave.

So you can "see" old cables by looking at the lights, but you have to look very quickly.
 
you have got something there. as current flow is higher on the surface of a conductor, it's the surface lectrons ( which do the bright bit) see brown and blue, so become confused, whereas tor electrons in the centre (which do the dim bit) can't see the colours so they keep going as normal. hence intermittent brightness results in flicker.

time for another one.

When do you decide.... It needs rewiring. download (1) - EletriciansForums.net
 
I seriously had a customer tell me something similar once.
She had taken down a light in her kitchen and left all the wires exposed and live for about 3 weeks.
She asked me to put up a new fitting and also figure out why the second kitchen light wouldn't work. :|
She was ok to have it all rewired though because she knew the brown/blue wires wouldn't work with the red/black ones in the ceiling. They needed the "new electric" like the bloke in the pub she knows who knows about these things had told her.
 
The Dark-Sucker Theory
For years, it has been believed that electric bulbs emit light, but recent information has proven otherwise. Electric bulbs don't emit light; they suck dark. Thus, we call these bulbs Dark-Suckers.

The Dark-Sucker Theory and the existence of dark-suckers prove that dark has mass and is heavier than light.

First, the basis of the Dark-Sucker Theory is that electric bulbs suck dark. For example, take the Dark-Sucker in the room you are in. There is much less dark right next to it than there is elsewhere. The larger the Dark-Sucker, the greater its capacity to suck dark. Dark-Suckers in the parking lot have a much greater capacity to suck dark than the ones in this room.

As it is with all things, Dark-Suckers don't last forever. Once they are full of dark, they can no longer suck. This is proven by the dark spot on a full Dark-Sucker.

A candle is a primitive Dark-Sucker. A new candle has a white wick. You can see that after the first use, the wick turns black, representing all the dark that has been sucked into it. If you put a pencil next to the wick of an operating candle, it will turn black. This is because it got in the way of the dark flowing into the candle. One of the disadvantages of these primitive Dark-Suckers is their limited range.

There are also portable Dark-Suckers. In these, the bulbs can't handle all the dark by themselves and must be aided by a Dark Storage Unit. When the Dark Storage Unit is full, it must be either emptied or replaced before the portable Dark-Sucker can operate again.

Dark has mass. When dark goes into a Dark-Sucker, friction from the mass generates heat. Thus, it is not wise to touch an operating Dark-Sucker. Candles present a special problem as the mass must travel into a solid wick instead of through clear glass. This generates a great amount of heat and therefore it's not wise to touch an operating candle-type Dark-Sucker.

Also, dark is heavier than light. If you were to swim just below the surface of the lake, you would see a lot of light. If you were to slowly swim deeper and deeper, you would notice it getting darker and darker. When you get really deep, you would be in total darkness. This is because the heavier dark sinks to the bottom of the lake and the lighter light floats at the top. This is why it is called light.

Finally, we must prove that dark is faster than light. If you were to stand in a lit room in front of a closed, dark closet, and slowly opened the closet door, you would see the light slowly enter the closet. But since dark is so fast, you would not be able to see the dark leave the closet.

Next time you see what is called an electric bulb, remember that it is really a Dark-Sucker.

:D
 

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