Thread: New AS 5033 will make expansion too co$tly

Originally Posted by superquag

Dennis,
Friend of mine was in the same boat... Being a bright fellow and more than handy with electrical stuff, he did the wiring in his house exensions.. running cables, chasing, conduiting etc.. the Full Monty. Another (Sparky) mate checked and signed off on it, and told me later on how embarrased he was to see such neat, safe and perfect workmanship...

- You'd like the New Zealand system... The householder can do all his - or her - own wiring and bring it to the main meter for connection, where an Inspector will check, sign off and power-up. Naturally the work must be to 'standards'...which the NZ government is only too happy to show you.

New Zealand Electrical Code of Practice for homeowner/occupier's electrical wiring work in domestic installations | Energy Safety

Australia and NZ share electrical standards etc, but we Aussie blokes are deemed (by our gov't) to be less competant than a NZ blonde ... :-(

Superquag
Sound like the Brit/Pom set up!
Being from that island I fixed up a few houses to live in during my younger years.
One I remember was a stone cottage built in 1808 and had a lecky system of sorts bunged in during the early 20th century and held to the plaster walls by staples and bent nails .
When I rehabbed it from a hovel that had cows in it during the 70's the ring main system had been introduced so I ran in chases and conduits plus two additional ring mains for the cooker and range etc.. In fact my first venture into the world of DIY leckying.

The day of inspection eventually came along so that I could get some power hooked up to the house. The inspector came in with his test kit and ran through the installation looking for polarity, grounds (earths etc) etc.
During the check he asks "You a professional electrician or home owner"?
Home owner install I quipped! Hmm!
He gets to the boiler hot water tank where I had the immersion ground strap on the water pipe -----testing it with his meter he says
"thurs a high resistance here mate "!
Like wot said I ?
Not telling yah lad its just too bloody to high!
I knew he was lying because i had just tested it, being forewarned it was a popular failure point!

So out with a file I gave it a scratch!!!
Check it now!--well s'pose it will do!

Ahh well sign the ticket, connect me up and bugger off!
Which he did muttering about the utility company distribution box made in 1918!
I swear the wheel inside was about to fly off when switched on the cooker and pulled about 3.5 Kw.

Ps Where are you north or south island!
Cheers Dennis

Originally Posted by superquag

Dennis,
Friend of mine was in the same boat... Being a bright fellow and more than handy with electrical stuff, he did the wiring in his house exensions.. running cables, chasing, conduiting etc.. the Full Monty. Another (Sparky) mate checked and signed off on it, and told me later on how embarrased he was to see such neat, safe and perfect workmanship... ....<snip>

When I bought my house in an older Sydney suburb, the cotton wrapped rubber insulated wiring was not only unsafe the addtions the PO had done were outright dangerous, like the power to the garage in old gas pipe, 2 to 6 inches under the lawn carrying a pair of extension leads with twisted together ends covered in electrical tape, the joint between two pipes was open to the soil.

My first action was to completely re-wire the house, everything is pin clipped even in the roof space (conduit not required at the time). Then a sparky mate came around and checked every point and switch before screwing them to the wall, then he did the new meter box, followed by a disconnect re-connect of the mains to the new meterbox and wiring. My mate died of cardiomyopathy not too long after.

A couple of years later I needed a dedicated circuit for a spar, so contracted a local sparky, the wiring was looped from bearer to bearer without any fixing until the 1 metre of conduit along the wall to the spar. I rang the authorities to be informed this style of wiring was legal. Don't tell me about professional standards of work!

Originally Posted by zedcars

Ps Where are you north or south island!
Cheers Dennis

West Island Dennis, West...

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

When I bought my house in an older Sydney suburb, the cotton wrapped rubber insulated wiring was not only unsafe the addtions the PO had done were outright dangerous, like the power to the garage in old gas pipe, 2 to 6 inches under the lawn carrying a pair of extension leads with twisted together ends covered in electrical tape, the joint between two pipes was open to the soil. ...

......to be informed this style of wiring was legal. Don't tell me about professional standards of work!

That's the point, the PO had no idea, was'nt interested or did it with malice aforethought.- Pick one !

Under the Island schemes on both sides of the globe, the homeowner may do his own bits & pieces providing standards etc are met, but is not obliged to. - Sparkies are NOT an endandered species in either country.

Given the average (mentally) lazy Australian, the take-up rate for DIY electrical would be pretty low, especially if it was going to be inspected for compliance.

I'm given to understand that our accident figures from illegal DIY electrical work is quite high, compared to NZ's figures for inspected/approved legal home-owner modifications & installs...


Industry Standards. (or, what you can get away with...)
When we had our house extension done, the Sparky had no idea what a 'drip loop' was, or what double-folding accomplished or why it was done 'In the Olden days'. He was quite dismissive of such time-wasting, as the current use of multi-strand wire instead of solid, obviated any need.
- This from a Tradesman who'd damaged his health from using teeth to strip TPS etc for 15+ years !!!

No wonder he was mentally-challenged.

Originally Posted by superquag

...

I'm given to understand that our accident figures from illegal DIY electrical work is quite high, compared to NZ's figures for inspected/approved legal home-owner modifications & installs...

I am not sure the stats would back you up.

About 50% of the confined space deaths (a ceiling is classified as a confined space) in WA in the past 30 years have been professional (and apprentice) sparkys.

Most of these have been due to degraded insulation on old cables [however the wiring was legally/professionally installed - just a long time ago...]. In none of the reports is there mention of DIY wiring being at fault.

In one case (shopping centre), the sparky isolated the wrong circuit, and started stripping the wires without checking if it was still live...

Also, the ABS/NCIS stats show that most electrocution deaths occur during paid work, and most are due to overhead powerlines.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

I am not sure the stats would back you up.

Only the stats on homeowner work, legal or otherwise. - I should have clarified that betterer.
A significant number of Aussie DIY's either killing, shocking or potentially damaging... compared to the NZ's/ Poms who do the job properly and legally, because they're encouraged to do so by the gov't. It's a no-brainer to see that an officially signed-off job will cause no problems, with or without a Trade Certificate.

And you're correct. If your profession is working with bitey's you risk being bitten, deservedly or not.

My #1 son the Sparky's Gopher, tells me enough horror-stories of 'professional' mistakes and Standards being broadly interpreted... His own employer nearly zapped him once.