YouTube electricians

[co00okie]

OK, I'm still as green as a baby's nappy with all of this. I decided to change career and took a part-time night course (More on this later if your interested.) I'm no where near as good as someone who has done a full apprenticeship. Took my 17th edition and ran with it. Admittedly to the wrong industry (gates and security/access control etc.) BUT I have found my way back to house bashing and nothing prepared me for this....

After watching numerous electricians on YouTube I find myself trawling the regs to see what they call shocking! Or shody workmanship to see if its against the regs and find them quite minor to what I've landed myself in.

First House - fault find upstairs sockets not working
Easy right, straight to the consumer unit. Burnt out busbar on mcb. Loose connection. Whilst there though, Tennant complained about 2 downstairs lights, when turning them on at the switch lights pop and trip on cu. Belled out every cable and rewired what looked like 18 different electricians who had come and patched and patched and patched work. Changed light fittings and all seems OK.

This one screwed me.... No idea not a clue. Sent to fit x3 smoke alarms (X2 smokes and a heat alarm in the kitchen to be exact.) wireless so should be a walk in the park. No! So I fit smokes and turn the power back on. Lights work fine, but smokes are not illuminating the led to show power... On all 3. I used existing cabling on hallway and landing smokes. And wired to permenant live on kitchen light fitting for heat alarm. I'm stumped because I'm testing power at smokes and it's there. Tested continuity across live and neutral and bing there's a short somewhere. My issue is why hasn't the rcd tripped? I mean wtf?

So my question is why isn't this classed as "shocking" or "shoddy" to the YouTube electricians. I know I shouldn't be trying to learn this stuff on YouTube but, why is a loose switch face the worst thing these guys have seen when the ---- I've come across in the passed 2 days really worry me?

P.s. Sorry if your a vlogger. Its not really aimed at you. Just shitty landlords that probably do there own eicrs.

 

[DPG]

What if 25 of you "Embed" 2 videos each.

I'll give the 25 of you a badge.

Just look on YouTube - there's plenty of sparky videos. David Savery best in my opinion from what I've seen.

 

[Dan]

Just look on YouTube - there's plenty of sparky videos. David Savery best in my opinion from what I've seen.

Yeah, to be fair mate I can't bloody stand watching youtube.

But I wanted a few heads share some of the good videos on here. Then we can all chat about 'em and stuff.

But maybe that's gone and done. We don't seem to have managed to get people to upload to the forum directly (which I pay shed loads in Amazon hosting fees for each month) so perhaps we close that bit down. Dunno.

 

[DPG]

Yeah, to be fair mate I can't bloody stand watching youtube.

But I wanted a few heads share some of the good videos on here. Then we can all chat about 'em and stuff.

But maybe that's gone and done. We don't seem to have managed to get people to upload to the forum directly (which I pay shed loads in Amazon hosting fees for each month) so perhaps we close that bit down. Dunno.

Must admit I don't really get the video upload thing. Unless it's something you've done yourself.

 

[gazdkw82]

The only YouTube electrician I would entertain is David Savery, as previously mentioned as he does not film for effect and is very knowledgeable. The others I would not employ for free.

Savery is without doubt the most entertaining, knowledgeable and easy to follow for me.

There are some others that seem to try and do a good job, seem diligent and take on board criticism with the view of improving and then there are some that dont want to hear anything unless its positive feedback, promote bad practice and just want to rinse as much money as they can from customers and YouTube.

Personality has alot to do with it for me. Some of the popular sparks on youtube have really droany voices or questionable attitudes towards customers but may possibly show some intuitive quality workmanship. Theres a few I wont even entertain.

John ward for in depth breakdown on equipment, systems, science and historic electrical installations.

Savery for the best on the ground knowledge of working as a sparks, understanding what it is your actually doing and not just copying what you have seen (understanding test results, understanding why an RCD is tripping).

GSH electrical for understanding circuits, equipment, testing and installations.

Efixx for breakdowns on equipment, science and regulations.

 

[Dan]

Must admit I don't really get the video upload thing. Unless it's something you've done yourself.

Same same.

The aim was, on all our forums, to enable people to upload their videos not only to youtube where they get slagged off instantly, but also to the forums, where they get, well, slightly less slagged off.

We eventually rank for more stuff.

Which in turn brings more unregistered readers here.

Which a percentage of register.

And then become members.

Didn't quite work out. I'm not giving up yet I've already paid up for a bit lol so let's see what happens.

 

[Dustydazzler]

We Cant have a proper celebrity youtuber conversation about electricians work without mentioning Chris the plumber sparks ...
I never watch his stuff anymore but I’m sure he is still out there fitting baths and the like ...

 

[Dan]

We Cant have a proper celebrity youtuber conversation about electricians work without mentioning Chris the plumber sparks ...
I never watch his stuff anymore but I’m sure he is still out there fitting baths and the like ...

Whack a video in a reply or you're fibbing.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Hold the the front door , we can’t have a discussion about YouTube sparks without this guy , probably one of the best vids on the tube imo

 

[Vortigern]

These are the kinds of things they should be raving about. I really can't get excited about a loose light switch that can be fixed in half a mo. It's things like this that make me amazed at just what you can get away with and no harm to person or livestock or property ever occurs. And I have seen a lot worse than this!

 

[telectrix]

this guy is always good for a laugh.

 

[Lister1987]

For actual learning I'd look at Adrian Davey, Mark Anson(? - appears on EGTE and does Apprentice 121), collectively the E5 guys; strangely the more I watch E5, that more I don't watch eFixx (I watched them since inception but now it's just a huge sponsored advert) - However Gaz and Joe (GSH Electrical and Joe Robinson Training respectively) I could watch all day without issue.

 

[marcuswareham]

What do you mean? I set the meter to ac volts to test for power and ohms continuity across live and neutral. Im only working with the tools that I've got. The problem seems to be on the downstairs lighting circuit, as the downstairs smoke gets its power from hallway light, then goes on goes up to the landing on 3 core and earth.

You cannot test r1 r2 with a multimeter as the resolution of the meter is normally not high enough and nor is the test current used from the meter

You can also not test Ze & Zs, insulation resistance or RCD disconnection times, these tests are quite basic for small electrical work and are needed for a minor works cert

Really an MFT is needed, you can pick them up cheap second hand and then pay a smallish fee to get it calibrated iv also seen alot of single use testers very cheap second hand i guess as people might prefer MFTs now, although you would need a different tester for each type of test so the calibration might cost more due to calibrating a few items

As for YouTube sparks, David Savery and John Ward for me

 

[pirate]

I like John Ward. As a novice, I have learned a lot from his dry, strightforward delivery and hand-drawn schematics...and he occasionally injects some wee gems of humour. David Savery is good fun, imho. He knows his stuff, and has a very broad knowledge base. His delivery is amusing, his "accidental" ---- videos in the background and his swearing are puerile-but very funny. I would commend his latest video on AFDDs where he lambasts the manufacturers for "hiding" their fault codes and for not reaching some uniformity of those codes and for producing items that do not sit happily with their existing range of MCBs and RCBOs etc. His passion is clear from the level of swearing, but he makes some excellent points. he may appear to be a bit of a clown, but he seems to know his stuff. It's a long video, but worth a look.

 

[pirate]

 

[Zerax]

The really early stuff by Nagy was really good , then he went all strange ...

Reminds me of my ex-wife...

 

[Julie.]

Great video, I was watching that a few days ago, my husband passed me just as david's expletive ffs blasted out, decided he would watch that bit himself 'cos it was so funny and entertaining, yet put over the exact points clearly!!

 

[Dustydazzler]

I feel for Delroy in this instance , it’s one of them jobs that he probably would do differently next time.
I do appreciate the fact he shows jobs warts & all not just cherry pick the cream jobs to she on youtube...

 

[nicebutdim]

Great video, I was watching that a few days ago, my husband passed me just as david's expletive ffs blasted out, decided he would watch that bit himself 'cos it was so funny and entertaining, yet put over the exact points clearly!!

David Savery has a big personality, but always ensures the focus of each video remains firmly on the subject at hand.

Thomas Nagy and Delroy, like them or loathe them, manage to present videos as though you're along with them on the job. I'd put the Rupert fellow in that category too.

Some (not seen them all) others seem to simply want people to look at them.

No comment needed about John Ward.

 

[telectrix]

arrr.john ward:

 

[Dartlec]

I suspect it might be self selecting a bit - although the really bad jobs might make good videos, they also take much longer to fix so there may not be the time available that must be involved in putting together a decent video, which clearly is a bit of a time sink.

I doubt the income from youtube offsets anything like their hourly rate, so I don't blame them for choosing jobs that are 'video friendly' to film.

Most of the common ones I like to watch have already been listed, (JW, GSH, E5, Dave Savery) but a couple of lesser known ones from my subscription list that I think are worth checking out:

J Beck Electrical (pretty standard follow along on jobs type video but with some good insight)
Nick Bundy Electrical (ideal if you love flexible conduit - inside joke for those who have watched it.)
Artisan Electrics (Though I think he might be a bit marmite for some, he does cover some interesting installs - Wish I could charge enough to earn a Tesla too tbh)
Delroy the Sparks (An older guy who has some interesting videos on the less 'top end' realities of CU installs etc and not afraid to show mistakes as well as successes)

Then on a slightly tangential aside there is Big Clive and Electroboom of course (His vid on UK sockets/plugs is worth a watch if nothing else)