We cannot upgrade your 60A fuse to 100A unless the tails are 25mm

Who's saying that?

Robin scrobe on the papyrus:

Get in an "Appropriate Person" to upgrade the tails to your existing consumer unit, but remember to leave plenty of slack for later modifications.

The UK regulations are so ridiculous these days. Even though I am a Chartered Engineer with over 30 years experience in electrical machinery, I cannot legally change a wall socket in my own house as I don't have a portfolio of inspected installations and am not willing to pay the requisite 400UKP to get one.

Protectionism gone mad.

In the USA, in Arizona at least, as the homeowner I can do any work on my house, electrical, plumbing, etc.

The only restriction is I must have the work inspected by the city... the same as if I had a contractor do it.

I even once put in 100 feet of 2.5" special-coated natural gas pipe for my pool heater and BBQ. The city permit desk even drew me a sketch of exactly how to do it, fittings, moisture trap, etc ;-)

...Jim Thompson

That's the nice thing -- you're allowed to screw up your _own_ house (or do it right, as the case may be). You're just not allowed to screw up someone _else's_ house for money unless you have the right licensing*.

• Note the phrasing -- it's intentional.

Around here "home inspection" prior to sale has become almost a required part of the transaction.

Anything you've done to your house better be to code, or NO SALE.

...Jim Thompson

What are "tails"? The incoming power leads to the house maybe?

Here, in a big over-regulated US city, new construction and major repairs involve permits and inspections. After that, a lot of people just make interior mods themselves, or have an electrician or "handyman" do it, without benefit of legal oversight. Not *me* of course! What's practice over there?

I know one guy who put up plywood and painted it to look like the existing peaked roof, added an entire floor to his house, then removed the art when all the construction was over.

We can buy anything we need at a hardware store or Home Depot, so it's no secret that there's a lot of do-it-yourself going on. The stuff is incredibly cheap... you can get a switch or a duplex outlet (dual wall socket) for about 75 cents. Our wiring's not as safe as yours, but it sure is cheap and easy.

John

This reminds me of one of the happy home owner modifications I saw when I bought my first house. In the basement, there was a piece of two wire plus ground romex that came out of the breaker box and went to an old 2 prong outlet in a box that was nailed to one of the floor joists. From there, a piece of two wire no ground, romex went from a very old

I think that this job was up there with the back door that was held in place with two finish nails and about 5 tubes of caulk.

John Larkin scrobe on the papyrus:

Hi John. 'Tails' is a UK term for the single core double insulated cables between the cable head fuse and the consumer unit. For a 100A feed in the UK it must be 25mm2 whereas a 60A feed only requires 16mm2. The colour code has also changed for what is now called the "Harmonised Cable Code". The old single phase colours of red for live and black for neutral have been replaced by brown and blue respectively. This is to combat the problems experienced by the 6% of the male population who suffer from red-green colour blindness. It's even worse with three phase where red, yellow and blue cables have been replaced by brown, black and grey! Note the change of black to blue in single phase and blue to grey in three phase, I'm glad that I retired last year and don't have to worry about such things any more. . . .

It's the same here. Electrical sockets and cable can be easily obtained from any DIY shed, as can all the other components. It's just that one is not legally allowed to do any of the work, even in one's own home, without the appropriate piece of paper. Of course, as Jim pointed out when coming to sell the property the vendor will have to be able to supply the certificates to the purchaser, so there's really no option.

I'm not officially certified to do electrician's work. I can design it, but not install it... unless I'm the property OWNER, with a permit, and then get it inspected.

...Jim Thompson

Hello Jim,

Which probably most people don't bother with. When I asked to take out a permit for a fence they looked at me in disbelief at first. They really came out to scope the project (huge fence, told them to come with solid shoes or boots). Must have been impressed since I had a CAD drawing of it, they did not bother to come out when it was finished.

The topper was when our first flag disintegrated from all the high winds. Looked at the flag code which said to fold it in a certain way and then bring it to a post office which will make sure that it is disposed of in a proper and respectful manner. The lady there was stunned, said she worked there for decades but never had anyone actually come in with a worn flag.

Regards, Joerg

I was taught in Boy Scouts that the proper way to dispose of a worn or soiled United States flag is to burn it.

Made me wonder what all the flag-burning excitement was about.

That is correct.

The fruit cakes need something to whine about.

...Jim Thompson

Hello Richard,

But only in a respectful way and with the proper ceremony:

Regards, Joerg

Well, that only makes sense, but there's no need for government intrusion here - I'm sure that the lender and insurer will insist on a safe and sound edifice. :-)

I know the next time I buy a house, I'm going to not only hire inspectors, but dog their ass to make sure they do _their_ job right! :-)

Cheers! Rich [The Dreaded Libertarian says, "Me, Too!" ;-) ]

You can also bury it. Essentially, treat it like a person you're having a funeral for.

Thanks, Rich

My term paper in 6th grade was "The Flag of the United States". The proper way is to separate the union (stars) from the field (stripes), then burn the 2 pieces (which are no longer a flag).

Or make a bikini.

John

Or a diaper, for the Democrats ;-)

...Jim Thompson

If the cloth is that tattered that it needs retirement, this should make for an interesting garment. 8-)