The standard of first-fix electrics in new build homes often receives criticism, but is there a way to improve this? Join us on eFIXX TV as we talk to Karl Mather, an electrician who has won multiple awards, including the NHBC Pride in the Job awards and the eFIXX Residential Installer of the Year. We will uncover his secrets and find out how he maintains high standards in the competitive new build environment. Joining Karl will be Giovanni Baccini, the boss of Lewden, who will update us on the latest developments in consumer units and more!
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TIME STAMPS ⏱
00:00 Welcome to eFIXX TV 18th October 2023
04:00 Coming up on tonight's show
08:18 Let's meet tonight's guests
08:55 Meet Karl Mather of KDM Electrical
09:35 Meet Giovanni Baccini of Lewden Palazzoli
11:00 Karl takes on the Electricians' Challenge
16:21 Placing Karl on the leaderboard
19:26 KDM Electrical - The Residential Installer of The Year
21:20 First fix secrets
38:03 Where's Rick?
38:53 Rick's Tool Time
42:20 Great or Gimmick?
48:20 New innovations from Lewden
56:00 Do consumer units need to be bigger?
1:12:00 Rick vs Gary
1:17:41 Karl sweeps up in the greencable room
1:19:40 The Lewden Van
1:26:40 Comment Corner
1:32:00 Plastic earth bonding clamp
1:40:43 Register and prizes
1:47:57 Thanks for watching: Roll the credits!
Although this fist fix wiring looks tidy I prefer to leave a bit of slack behind points and consumer units . Nothing worse than in the future when you want some slack at the electrician before has left absolutely nothing
True, I agree
No slack, I’d call that a bad job. It’s potentially causing a future cost to the owner of the installation.
i am currently working with atex equipment at the moment doing apprenticeship on chemical plant so its nice seeing this stuff
That little magnet is a great little tool. All boards should come with them
I hope the grouping downrating has been done for all that tied taped and bundled tightly t&e was done.. sure doesn't look like it to me. Do love those coloured blocks though, about time someone did that.
We’d need to know the calculated load for each circuit really. Anything thats only carrying
The 1st fix wiring is very neat coming down the walls into the boxes. I would have liked to see how the cables are clipped /dressed through and along the joists. Also any part of an installation on blockwork. I do agree we need more guys willing to teach a good standard of work to future sparks
We’ll try to get out on site with Karl to see how it’s done.
Interesting didn't think about the thermal cycle with EV charger MCB getting warm..
The first fix looks very neat but all that electrical tape is going to make replacing a wire in the future much harder than it needs to be. Also like others have said there is no slack left for re-termination of cables
It’s been mentioned here in other comments already but aside from the obvious grouping factor issues when taping cables tightly in walls…what if a cable needs to be replaced because of a fault or an alteration? How are you getting that cable out?
I might be wrong but I thought there was a vide on engineering joists / I joists. If so any links?
Is there a plastic earth clamp for a case where you are looping pipes
As far as spacing MCBs, it would be nice if manufacturers made devices that are actually capable of carrying the currents they were designed for, without getting hot.
Clearly you don't understand the relationship between current and heat.
Clearly you don't understand that if they utilised better materials and design, contact resistance could be reduced so to cause negligible temperature rise within their operating parameters. But thanks for your input.@@deang5622
I believe that’s a useful bit of kit.
If you quickly want to know appliance amps/voltage/frequency/power factor, then a ten quid kill-a-volt plug in adapter can't be beaten. Now if TIS was to come up with a similar device that also gives earth leakage reading, that would be a BIG seller.
So interesting; I’ve just started out at college in installations and had some hands on xp with a contractor whom I know; he had one of those plugs and I found it quite cool as it was my first time ever seeing one
What brand did u say you , use ?
In the USA national electrical code requires some space between the cables to prevent over heating. We use plastic clips on the wood beams to space the cables as per code. Job very neatly done.
Ive always loaded from high to low but it makes complete sense to space high loads with low loads
How do you fault find by measuring current flow on a microwave which is tripping the RCD ?
Portable Appliance Test (PAT) the microwave.
Did l miss the dc-dc pv panel breaker to switcher jobbie!???
Coming soon!
Surely the cables need de-rating as there are multiple circuits together, why didn't you separate them into 3 bunches going out🤷🏻♂
Why should a 100A main switch generate significant heat? An MCB has an inbuilt small resistor to deliberately generate heat so it will trip if the max permitted temp is exceeded. But the ideal main switch will have zero resistance and therefore zero voltage drop and no heat generated.
Resistance is never zero - the 100A switch has a contact resistance and so do the terminals - you’ll be surprised by the difference the torque makes 👉kzhead.info/sun/eKZmisxwcKB-oaM/bejne.htmlsi=9ZoFQBqiWVNDOyAQ
You can increase the cross sectional area of the metal current carrying parts in the main switch, that will lower the amount of heat generated, and make it more efficient; how big do you want the main switch to physically be? That's the issue. Or you can make it out of a high temperature superconductor and request planning permission to erect a big white cylindrical tank containing liquid nitrogen or liquid helium to keep it cool so that its resistance drops to zero. Neither are practical solutions for the home. So until someone develops a room temperature superconductor with good mechanical properties that an electromechanical switch can be made out of it, we are stuck with main switches that are going to get warm with a high current.
Leave one mcb gap,blank, and then start .
Van name. Arc the spark
Some good work. Some plain old vanity work. Often grouping cables tightly makes the installation worse for the time and ego of the installer. No twists is really good. I don’t like twists. I don’t think taping is a great idea. The glue on insulation tape doesn’t last. Which is probably a good thing. I’m always grateful to the previous electrician who leaves some length on the cables. Especially, in consumer units. I don’t like vain sparks, who have to make it look great for Instagram to fool the general public and not leaving enough cable for the next electrician. More often or not, the customer isn’t willing to pay for a new set cables on the next board upgrade…. So most add what could have been unnecessary joints. Fortunately, I don’t have to do many anymore.
Nice and neat i’ll agree. But metal plates over cable routes passing through top plates and running cables in zones behind switch boxes, whys this big news? Been done like this for yonks man.
Might not be new, but most people don’t pay this level of attention.
I'm going to say its Barratt homes electrical spec, they seem to believe these galv lids will protect the cables from nails and screws... Even a stack of 10 didn't even slow a nail when I showed them
It's ether OCD or show off.
Please AI guy Let the other have some air. They are your guests.
So why decline speaking on any aspect of his product....I think we can guess.... BUT!!!
Ganging cables together like that would not be safe …
For what reason?
Thermal constraint
@@TheDjardy although should’ve been calculated if this is how the install has been designed.
@@SME_Ste I would be amazed if this was taken into consideration
Derating requirements ( in oz as/nzs 3008 table 22 says 0.76 - .0.23 ( 20:or more circuits ) ie that would lead to degredation and a huge loss in ccc ( current carry capacity ) and hence increase in thermal generation… guess the standards are telling me pretty is not necessarily better ( and the hole size in the wood is questionable …but what do I know.. @@SME_Ste
AI magnet!!??... 😑
DC isolators are just another point of failure