An AFDD is a type of circuit breaker, which is constantly looking for loose connections and basically anything which causes electrical arcs. When an arc is detected the breaker trips and disconnects the affected circuit.
Below you will find a list of the questions we get asked on a regular basis.
Under the 18th wiring regulations, consumer units within homes throughout the Uk need to be constructed out of a none combustible material.
The green goo you sometimes see in older electrical installations, is a chemical reaction caused by the brake down of the cable insulation which reacts with the copper inner core. The process can be speed up by loose connections and overloaded accessories. You can find out more about this by heading over to a video we created here.
A surge protection device is designed to protect you and the electrical accessories within your home from electrical spikes.
How does it work?
A surge protection device SPD either blocks incoming voltage spikes or it directs the over voltage back down to earth.
How do I know if my SPD has been activated?
There are indicator windows located on the front of the SPD, if these turn RED it means there’s been a surge and the SPD module needs to be changed.
A 500w halogen security light if left on constantly for an hour costs on average 17 pence.
A 500w halogen light produces on average 9,200 lumens of light.
In comparison a 50w Led security light, if left on constantly for an hours costs on average 1.7 pence.
A 50w LED security light produces on average 4900 lumens of light.
The above estimates are costing electricity at 34 pence per kilowatt.
As a guide an average three bedroom house, consisting of a living room, dinning room, kitchen, three bedrooms and a bathroom is going to cost around £5,500 mark for a basic rewire.
To find out more about how much to rewire your home is, read out blog post on this subject here.
If there any issues with the main fuse the distribution operator should be contacted straight away. These issues include, burning smells, if it's hot or damaged. The main fuse is where the electrical supply enters your home. Then on to the meter, it belongs to your energy provider, this could be British gas, octopus' energy, or another provider. The fuse board and everything after is your responsibility (the homeowner) or your landlord, if there are any problems or you are thinking of having some electrical works done give us a call today.
Well… A halogen bulb has a Filament cable which heats up and produces light 
, it uses a small amount of halogen to allow the filament to get hotter increasing light output.
A LED is a semi conductor which controls the flow of electricity through it. In the middle there’s a junction which the electrons jump over and change into light.
You can read more in our full blog post HERE.
A residual-current circuit breaker is an electrical safety device that disconnects the circuit in the event of a fault. It is to protect equipment and to reduce the risk of serious harm from an ongoing electric shock.
The wiring should last at least 30 years if it has been installed correctly by a competent electrician
Our work is guaranteed for six years through our napit registration
You should test your alarms at least once a month by pressing the test button located on the front of the device
If your property is rented out the regulations require private rented sector landlords, from 1 October 2015, to have at least one smoke alarm installed on every storey of their rental property which is used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation where solid fuel is used - after that, the landlord must make sure the alarms are in working order at the start of each new tenancy. But these regulations are subject to change very shortly.
They come in warm white which is best for bedrooms, daylight and cool white, plus loads of other colours.
Well, if you replaced every light in your home you should see an improvement of 60% to 70% and if you go for A+++ efficient ones you could see a saving of 90% on lighting electricity bill, now that’s worth changing those old halogens.
LEDs produce little or no heat at all.
Most LEDs can be dimmed but you will need a LED compatible dimmer installed as well.
The average life span of a LED light is 50000 hours, so around 6 years of constant usage which is 40 times longer than a standard light bulb.
LED stands for light emitting diode.
Any light that is installed outside should have an IP rating of at least IP43 which will guard it against light rain and sprayed water
We can achieve the industrial look by wiring your kitchen in exposed metal conduit which will give your kitchen the ultimate industrial makeover.
Downlights can pretty much be installed anywhere in the home, however they must suitable for the environment in which they are to be installed. They must also be fire rated if they are be installed between habitable floors.
We normally recommend a good source of ambient light in the kitchen, such as downlights but directional spot lights can be a great alternative, If you have a breakfast bar we would also recommend pendant lights which make a great feature.
On average it takes around 4 hours to test and inspect a 3 bedroom house and 2.5 hours for a 2 bed flat, for which time power within the property will be limited.
If there is more than one fuse board present or outbuildings more time will be needed.
All accessories, outlets, sockets, switches, fittings, fuse boards and metering equipment are visually inspected to look for defects, signs of damage, signs of burning and to make sure there access to live parts.
Your electrical system will be switched off and isolated, some live tests are carried out on the incoming supply.
The earthing is inspected and tested (gas, water and oil).
A percentage of points are removed from every circuit for internal inspections and testing, if any defects are found more points are removed.
A series of dead tests are carried out to check circuits are complete and safe, there is earthing where required and to check the general health of the cabling.
All removed points are then re-instated and live tests are carried out, these tests are to make sure protective devices are functional and will trip in the event of any unsafe situations.
On completion a full in-depth report in PDF format will be emailed to you and we will talk you through our findings.
To change an average 8 way fuse board and carry out the testing it takes around 4 – 5 hours, but previous to any board change, an electrical installation condition report (EICR) needs to be carried out to remove any potential faults or anything unsafe which is already present.
There is nothing worse than hearing that dreaded trip sound and wondering why!
All light fittings can be changed, but there some questions that need to be addressed first such as:
- Is the cabling in a good state of health
- How big is the light and can a good fixing be achieved?, if not, can we get above to support it?
- Can we get to the light? Is it at the top of your stairs and access equipment is needed?
- Is there an earth at the fitting (green and yellow cable)? if not a class 2/double insulated fitting will be required.
If we can get a cable to it, then YES we can, there’s always a solution.
For our up to date prices please refer to our pricing page.
