Home Improvement Advice for Electrical

Do it Yourself Tips for Electrical

Safety is a foremost issue when dealing with electrics, you must ensure that yourself and the installer are safe. Do not touch electrical installations of any kind unless you are 100% sure of what you are doing.

When employing an electrician to carry out work in your house we would strongly recommend that he/she is NICEIC approved (National Inspectors Council for Electrical Installation Contracting). This will ensure your electrician is using good quality products and their work is 100% satisfactory to the NICEIC standards. Regular checks, by the governing body are carried out to ensure that these standards are constantly kept up. An NICEIC certificate should be issued to you when the job is complete; this is to show the contractor is agreeing that the job is safe and finished. The NICEIC will investigate any complaints you have against one of their members. If the contractor is found to be responsible for any problems he will be made to return and complete the job correctly at no further cost to the customer.

Electric storage heaters are the main kind of electric heaters. Nothing should be stored on them, they are not radiators, its not advisable to put washing on them.

Electrical wiring more than 30 years old will probably have some problems and will be unable to cope with modern day appliances etc, that it would be expected to run. Even if you are having no trouble with it, it is wise to get it inspected just in case. We would suggest that you have a professional look at the wiring and carry out a full inspection followed up by a report with his suggestions for improvements and changes.

The modern way of running electrical power in a property is to run the power through a ring main system from a 30amp fuseway on the consumer unit which will then run power to each socket outlet.

Installation and resting of electrical circuits must be done in compliance to Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) regulations.

When having new electrical installations in your home, remember that you have the chance to have sockets where you really need them. Double socket outlets are only slightly more expensive and more practical than single socket outlets. The key is to fit more than you need. You will be surprised by how many you use.

Have lights on walls as well as ceilings and put light switches where they are most convenient to you, think about height. Think about external lights for security purposes as much as decoration. External sockets are useful for things such as tree lights and when your cleaning the car. Your electrician - if he is IEE or NICEIC approved should be able to tell you if you are breaking regulations.