Been doing a rewire.......

[Loki]

Hi,

Been doing a full rewire on a social housing 2 bedroom house.
Lifted the floorboards to find that the house has been rewired in the past.
The sockets were really low maybe 75mm off the floor, also the original cables to the sockets had be cut with about 3 foot left connected to the old rewire via terminal connectors wrapped in tape & far to much outer sheath stripped back.
Not a quality job done lol.

Now new cables are in, sockets & switches at the usual 450mm / 1200mm heights.
New crabtree CU, 2 afdd & rcbo's, revive 7 fans in kitchen & bathroom, 2nd fixing still to do.

Give it 6 - 12 months & tenant will probably have trashed the place lol

 

[Dave OCD]

Can you put a picture of the CU on here sometime please mate ? I'm imagining it must be quite big ?

 

[Welchyboy1]

Afdd's on a social housing job....wow!

 

[Strima]

I miss read that, I wondered why you would put seven fans in the bathroom and kitchen...

No doubt the dodgy electrical goods from The Range and B&M will make the tenants bypass the AFDDs within a couple of days and they’ll try to trade them in at the local flat roofed pub for some Amber Leaf, a bottle of blue WKD and a quick fumble round the back of the smoking shelter.

 

[Charlie_]

ive done a few local government rewires where it had already all been done surface.. new administration wanted it all done again but flush

 

[Loki]

Can you put a picture of the CU on here sometime please mate ? I'm imagining it must be quite big ?

Will do, company specs is a 13 way board.
2 slots for main switch, a afdd with attached rcbo takes 2 slots. 7 slots left for rcbo circuits.

 

[Loki]

Afdd's on a social housing job....wow!

Bloody expensive, but company specs is to put them on rfc.

 

[westward10]

They are ineffective on ring final circuits.

 

[Loki]

They are ineffective on ring final circuits.

Agreed, They wont pick up arcing on the ring itself but they do on the outlet points onwards.

 

[Pete999]

Afdd's on a social housing job....wow!

Double wow

 

[Dave OCD]

I wonder why they don't go all the way and spec SPDs as well ?

 

[casperLennon]

Are afdds for one circuit or to cover the whole install?

 

[Dave OCD]

There seems to be a general hint on this thread that social housing tenants are less worthy of a safe electrical installation than more 'upmarket' types. Kind of makes some of us look like tw@ts IMHO....

 

[Dave OCD]

Afdd's on a social housing job....wow!

Are afdds for one circuit or to cover the whole install?

They're individual shared with an RCBO.

 

[Pete999]

I wonder why they don't go all the way and spec SPDs as well ?

Com[any needs to employ someone who knows What's What with regards to these devices I reckon, what say others?

 

[Loki]

Com[any needs to employ someone who knows What's What with regards to these devices I reckon, what say others?

Think its more a knee jerk reaction still to grenfell incase something like that ever happened to one of their properties.

 

[westward10]

AFDDs would not have prevented Grenfell.

 

[hasel5]

interesting

 

[hasel5]

interesting

 

[hasel5]

I feel sorry for all the guys whom will have to attend the calls outs after the fitting

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Afdd's on a social housing job....wow!

Speaking to somebody who does new builds last week, he said that housing associations and councils are insisting on them on new builds around here, i am not generalizing but in one project they built self contained flats for drug addicts going through recovery, when they find out the value of the afdd or spd then wouldn't put it past them to put it up on ebay!

 

[Welchyboy1]

There seems to be a general hint on this thread that social housing tenants are less worthy of a safe electrical installation than more 'upmarket' types. Kind of makes some of us look like tw@ts IMHO....

More the quality of the install and spec of the job being directly proportionate to the budget allowance for said install and spec of the job

 

[FatAlan]

There seems to be a general hint on this thread that social housing tenants are less worthy of a safe electrical installation than more 'upmarket' types. Kind of makes some of us look like tw@ts IMHO....

Agree with you Dave but in reality the cynic in me says it’s only being done as an --- covering exercise by those putting together the spec.

 

[HappyHippyDad]

They are ineffective on ring final circuits.

What's that got to do bureacracy?

 

[HappyHippyDad]

There seems to be a general hint on this thread that social housing tenants are less worthy of a safe electrical installation than more 'upmarket' types. Kind of makes some of us look like tw@ts IMHO....

That's a bit of an insult to a tw@t really

 

[Squid]

There seems to be a general hint on this thread that social housing tenants are less worthy of a safe electrical installation than more 'upmarket' types. Kind of makes some of us look like tw@ts IMHO....

The "upmarket" ones pay for it themselves, the social tenants you are paying for their rewire via your taxes.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

They are ineffective on ring final circuits.

They wont pick up arcing on the ring itself

I think this is pretty misleading. As far as I know, from various manufacturers' info, they work just as well at detecting arcs on rings as on any circuit.

E.g. see Arc Fault Detection Devices - https://www.hager.co.uk/news-exhibitions-case-studies/18th-edition/arc-fault-detection-devices/89766.htm

and http://www.beama.org.uk/asset/0C5A2A43-C78C-40A5-98513C9F6CCB343F/.

What is different about rings is that a broken ring won't necessarily arc at the break, so there's nothing for the AFDD to detect, but also nothing to set fire to the building. On an RFC, an AFDD will detect:

* Series arcs in fittings carrying load (e.g. between the cables and the socket terminal they are in)
* Series arcs in connected plugs and appliances
* Series arcs on spurs
* Parallel arcs everywhere

The only thing they will not detect is a series break that is not interrupting a load due to a parallel connection, because it won't arc significantly or at all. Describing this as 'not working on rings' seems to me like saying that CO2 fire extinguishers don't work on non-flammable materials.

 

[Tony Reidy]

I wonder why they don't go all the way and spec SPDs as well ?

If it's in a built up area then it shouldn't need them

 

[magnoliafan89]

There seems to be a general hint on this thread that social housing tenants are less worthy of a safe electrical installation than more 'upmarket' types. Kind of makes some of us look like tw@ts IMHO....

I do social housing...i dont think they're are less worthy. I always do a qaulity job everytime because its obviously a reflection of me, i dont want any repercussions from bodged work. However it does grind my gears when you have to go replace sockets that are hanging off the wall when the fella of the house has had too many beers in him and wants to show hard bruce lee hard he is by smashing up an inanimate object...then they have the nerve to tell us its our responsibility to maintain their house.....

 

[Charlie_]

It’s not just social housing that’s the problem but also the rental sector..
Basically, the majority of those people living in a house that don’t own it.

 

[Zerax]

My old Mum (God bless her) used to get really annoyed that she had to scrimp and save for years to be able to afford, say a new kitchen, when council tenants would get it all for free !

Originally, if you were given council housing you considered yourself lucky to have it. These days everyone is 'entitled' to it !

 

[Dave OCD]

The thing is I've worked in many rented homes that are spotless and occupied by really nice decent people as well as the stereotypical type popular on this thread. I've also worked in the homes of well off 'professionals' [Including senior doctors for example] which are utterly filthy. I never discriminate against people who don't own a home,that's just utter snobbery,and to say they get everything provided for free is generally nonsense, they do pay rent.
And apart from the lucky ones who get a good inheritance I suspect fewer and fewer people will be able to afford their own homes as time goes by, many who can easily afford the mortgage payments [often less than rent] just can't get the ridiculous deposit together that's required now.

 

[SparkyAndGeorge]

Did social housing for a little bit once. Never again... used heroin needles lying around, dog excrement on the carpets and to top it off a colleague was threatened with a knife by a drug crazed tenant. No thanks.

 

[James]

Did social housing for a little bit once. Never again... used heroin needles lying around, dog excrement on the carpets and to top it off a colleague was threatened with a knife by a drug crazed tenant. No thanks.

I've been to private rentals that are worse.
we all know the score, can tell if you want to accept the cup of tea if its offered within 30 seconds of walking in the door.

 

[Welchyboy1]

What is it with doctors houses being filthy?, ive had this more than a few times now

I realise they are super busy but surely they can get a cleaner in

Worrying really!

I do maintenence for a LOT of property management blocks and most have been built within the last 5-8 years, all really nice private rented flats(ok you get the odd nasty, but generally nice)

But each have got a social housing section and they are all the same in every block, throughout essex, dirty dumped sofas and rubbish discarded everywhere, load music blaring at all times, constant smell of weed, groups of mothers outside smoking in their dressing gowns at all times of the day. Nearly every kid has a motor bike or scooter with a broken exhaust which they drive up and down relentlessly, without helmet when im sure they should be in school. Most tenants have a least one dog which is nearly always a staff bull terrier.

If i get a call out for vandalism, 9 times out of 10 thats where its likely to be

I know this is not every tenant, but the general theme is, when some people dont have to work hard for something they dont really respect it. Im far from a snob but its simply the truth. I know, I live it every day.

 

[Charlie_]

What is it with doctors houses being filthy?, ive had this more than a few times now

I realise they are super busy but surely they can get a cleaner in

Worrying really!

My doctor done a lovely job of cleaning out my back passage a while ago

 

[GBDamo]

There seems to be a general hint on this thread that social housing tenants are less worthy of a safe electrical installation than more 'upmarket' types. Kind of makes some of us look like tw@ts IMHO....

I read it as they are less likely to have possessions valuable enough to warrant the additional expense.

I don't think that's too ----tish a position to take, I don't think I have possessions valuable enough to warrant an AFDD.

Off on a tangent but if a social tennants did have possessions valuable enough to warrant AFDDs then why do they need social housing?

 

[Dave OCD]

I thought AFDDs were more about reducing the risk of an electrical fire, so more about potentially saving lives than possessions ?

 

[Dave OCD]

What is it with doctors houses being filthy?, ive had this more than a few times now

I realise they are super busy but surely they can get a cleaner in

Worrying really!

I do maintenence for a LOT of property management blocks and most have been built within the last 5-8 years, all really nice private rented flats(ok you get the odd nasty, but generally nice)

But each have got a social housing section and they are all the same in every block, throughout essex, dirty dumped sofas and rubbish discarded everywhere, load music blaring at all times, constant smell of weed, groups of mothers outside smoking in their dressing gowns at all times of the day. Nearly every kid has a motor bike or scooter with a broken exhaust which they drive up and down relentlessly, without helmet when im sure they should be in school. Most tenants have a least one dog which is nearly always a staff bull terrier.

If i get a call out for vandalism, 9 times out of 10 thats where its likely to be

I know this is not every tenant, but the general theme is, when some people dont have to work hard for something they dont really respect it. Im far from a snob but its simply the truth. I know, I live it every day.

In fairness I agree with you there mate, you put it very well. I don't see as much of the really bad stuff here in Cornwall so I guess I'm lucky.
Your point about people not looking after things nowadays seems to be a common theme with many many people now. The number of new and nearly new cars I see that don't seem to have ever been washed for example is an eye opener. Have people become lazier or just too busy browsing tw@tbook to actually do anything else ?

 

[Strima]

What is it with doctors houses being filthy?, ive had this more than a few times now

I realise they are super busy but surely they can get a cleaner in

Worrying really!

I do maintenence for a LOT of property management blocks and most have been built within the last 5-8 years, all really nice private rented flats(ok you get the odd nasty, but generally nice)

But each have got a social housing section and they are all the same in every block, throughout essex, dirty dumped sofas and rubbish discarded everywhere, load music blaring at all times, constant smell of weed, groups of mothers outside smoking in their dressing gowns at all times of the day. Nearly every kid has a motor bike or scooter with a broken exhaust which they drive up and down relentlessly, without helmet when im sure they should be in school. Most tenants have a least one dog which is nearly always a staff bull terrier.

If i get a call out for vandalism, 9 times out of 10 thats where its likely to be

I know this is not every tenant, but the general theme is, when some people dont have to work hard for something they dont really respect it. Im far from a snob but its simply the truth. I know, I live it every day.

I've worked in some delightful places in London that have some of the most atypical social housing known to man, or woman...

Dog waste smeared on door handles, razor blades glued to handrails and dirty syringe needles snapped off in switches.

 

[pirate]

In a previous life my work took me to many different homes. It is wrong to generalise, albeit in some geographical areas you do see a pattern...
Doctor's houses: quite often chaotic, but not always
Tenanted properties in the private sector: Usually neat and tidy, especially those with a high rent
Social housing: very dependent on location, but usually fine
Big, private houses with stables: often a midden!

Where there are horses and/or dogs, it seems the owners lavish time and money on their animals, less so on their houses, even though they clearly have plenty disposable income...however you are much more likely to be offered a decent glass of claret than a cup of tea, so all good!

 

[telectrix]

we have 4 dogs and although a lot of attention is lavished on them, 'er indoors does keep the house clean and (generally) tidy, sometimes to the point of OCD. I keep telling her that the washing up/ ironing/dust etc. will stilll be there in the morning, sometimes I need to watch her dusting the coffee table , don't need dust in my beer when I'm watching Air Crash or Animal Cops..

 

[pirate]

One category of customer which is the same across all house types...those where there are handcuffs and masks hanging off the bedposts, and an array of "unusual" chargers on the dressing table...without exception they are laid-back and amusing and always a pleasure to deal with!

 

[pirate]

PAT can be fun!