Deadly Toilet Revealed! Is it REGS Compliant?

- Coming up on this week's news, the loo that could give men the shock of their lives, how an electrical contractor got surprising revenge on the seller of a faulty van, and the Guernsey electrician who's revealed to his family a secret he's kept for 66 years. Welcome to "Electrical News Weekly" in association with the Electric Heating Company, whether you're listening in the van, on-site, or down at the wholesale counter.

I'm Joe Robinson and I've been through the best of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble. And as always, if you think you spotted the two words that I've been challenged to slip into this week's show, comment with them below for the chance to win a prize.

Now, is this Britain's deadliest lavatory? An experienced builder has revealed how a trip to a loo in Stoke-on-Trent could be fatal for men. John Sale was working on a construction project in which a house is being converted into a home of multiple occupancy when he came across the death trap toilet. Sale discovered that the main light in the lav is plugged into a socket located right next to the toilet pan. For gents, it's right in the line of fire.

This setup poses a serious risk, as anyone who misses the target could inadvertently spray the live socket resulting in a potentially dangerous electric shock. Also alarming is the use of thin speaker cable running from the light fixture down to the power point. The installation appears to break a host of wiring regulations. Thankfully, it's been made safe now, so the gentlemen of Stoke can rest easy.

So, are there any circumstances in which you can install a socket in a toilet or bathroom to avoid looking like a complete wombat? Check out my explainer video. I've popped the link in the show notes.

In other news, a Scottish electrical contractor who believes he was sold a dodgy van has come up with a novel way of exacting revenge on the seller. Ayrshire-based Stewart Logan paid 23,000 pounds for a secondhand Citroen Relay, but says the vehicle started developing faults almost immediately. After just 30 minutes in the new motor, the warning lights began bursting into life. An MOT station later found six faults.

Logan says he was then passed from pillar to post for months by the customer service department at Evans Halshaw in Ayrshire. He eventually lost his patience, and like Baldrick, came up with a cunning plan. He plastered the back of his van with his complaints in large lettering to publicly shame the dealership into sorting out the issues. The complaint reads, "I bought this van from Evans Halshaw in Kilmarnock, and they are bad."

Logan says his van was going to get a sign written anyway, so he thought he'd give it a try and see if it gets things moving. He says he's just a one-man band and a small business, and this was his way of getting action. We'll let you know if and when the embarrassed dealership eventually fixes Logan's van.

Something else that needs fixing is the system of apprentices for the electrical and other trades, so says a group of the UK's local councils. As the school year ends and final-year students consider what to do next, the local authorities are calling for massive reform of the apprenticeship system.

They argue that apprenticeships should be put on an equal footing with academic qualifications, and they say the apprenticeship label should be reserved for higher-level training to restore the mark of quality it used to provide. They also want the Apprenticeship Levy paid by larger employers to be reinvented as a skills levy. This change will give them flexibility on how funds are spent.

Finally, the councilors want the power to control further education and skills funding, as they say they are best placed for this task. Spokesman Keith Cunliffe said that the era of more and more graduates should end, and that a wider range of high-quality skills and training should be the priority. Training is also key to the successful rollout of EV chargers across the country. And of course, we at eFIXX are happy to help.

Our latest educational video is on the industry communication standard for charge points. It's known as Open Charge Point Protocol or OCPP, and it allows chargers, apps, and other devices to talk to each other in the same language. In the vid, we delve into the advantages that OCPP brings to both end-users and charge point owners. We also demonstrate with a step-by-step guide how to install a new OCPP app to your existing EV charger. The link, as always, is in the show notes.

Two EV industry bodies who have been communicating

in a more traditional manner are the Motor Fuels Group, one of Britain's leading installers of fast public charging points, and Northern Grid. The boss of Motor Fuels Group, William Bannister, is furious at the long delays in getting electricity connections. Bannister has fired off a letter to Northern Grid chief, Phil Jones, to complain of what he terms "unacceptable delays and obstacles put in his way by Northern Grid's staff."

He says the problem is especially acute in Yorkshire and the northeast where the ratio of charge points to cars is one for every 66 EVs. The national average is one to 36, and in London, there is one charge point for every 11 cars. Northern Powergrid says it has made contact with the company, and that it wants to make sure that charges are connected as quickly as possible. It says it's committed to helping firms like MFG to roll out the infrastructure necessary for electric vehicles.

Now, would you know what I was talking about if I said something was suffering from phenolic degradation?

Is it something perhaps that happens to 10 pound notes locked away for years in Gordon's wallet? Does it explain the peculiarity of the whiff from Gary's forgotten fleece on the eFIXX coat rack? Again, our scriptwriter is just trying to get me in trouble here. In fact, phenolic degradation is a serious problem which affects older style electricity service cutouts.

And to throw light on it, the aforementioned Gary has done the fresh fleece, and gone forth to meet Eddy to create a special explainer video. You'll recognize Eddy as the one brandishing a contact voltage indicator. The link, as ever, is in the show notes.

Also fresh from the oven is my video review of the BG alarm range included our optical smoke alarms, heat alarms, and carbon monoxide alarms. You'll see lots of cool and interesting features, so give it a watch if you also install alarms or thinking about getting into that area of the industry. And remember, we also have a full CPD video package on the rules and guidance on installing all types of alarms. Again, I've put all the links into the show notes.

And finally, a Guernsey electrician has revealed to his family a secret he has kept for 66 years,

that he worked on a special classified project in an underground bunker. Keith Tostevin broke his silence on his 80th birthday when he went back inside the World War II bunker for the first time since 1957. He'd just started working as an apprentice electrician when he was given the secret mission. He was told to install electrical circuits including lighting inside the disused German construction.

Tostevin says the team behind the subterranean installation was told not to say anything about it, and they didn't. No reason was given for the secret scheme, and he still is unsure what the purpose of his work was. But it's believed that the bunker was brought back into life during the Cold War as a place for senior figures to work if a nuclear bomb went off. And on that bombshell, or not, we've got a date for your diary.

We've teamed up with the EI Live! exhibition this September to bring you special videos, panel discussions, and more at the Technical Theatre. We'll be pressing a panel of experts to share their insights and insider tips on smart home systems. The pundits include the 2022 eFIXX award-winning smart home installer of the year, Alex Sime, and friend of the channel, Craig Gifford, aka the Secret Millionaire.

We'll also discuss the reliability of wireless systems and explore whether the new matter standard will have an impact on the trade. EI Live! takes place at Farnborough Exhibition Centre in Hampshire on Wednesday the 13th of September and Thursday the 14th of September, 2023. If you see the eFIXX team out and about, come up and say hello. And just before we get to your favorite bit of the show where I reveal last week's challenge, words, and winners, we want to thank our premium partners.

We couldn't make the news without you. First up, they're the people who've created the Swiss Army knife of solar inverters along with all weather batteries, very much the boy scouts of the solar industry, it's Sunsynk. Up next, for all your circuit protection needs, they're like having an Italian star-striker in your premiership team, it's Lewden Palazzoli.

Next, they're your one-stop solution provider for EV installations from domestic to large DC public charges, it's the ingenious and gifted GARO. The best thing to come out of Yorkshire since stainless steel, it's Doncaster Cables, the home of EV-Ultra and other groundbreaking and quality cables. And to fix all that gear together and to surfaces, you need fasteners that would win a gold medal, it's Olympic Fixings. Big thanks to you all. We really appreciate your ongoing support for the news.

If you think you know the words that I've smuggled into this week's show, pop your guess into the comments, and we'll dig out a goody bag prize to the first to get the right answers. Last week's words were gatekeeper and xylophone, and it was looking for a while like no one was gonna get those, but a couple of people did. And the first over the line was grimleaper09, which I'm guessing isn't your birth name. Anyway, well done for getting it.

And make sure you click the link in the show notes to claim your prize. Thanks for listening to this episode of "Electrical News Weekly" in association with the Electric Heating Company. Make sure you subscribe to receive the next update. Thanks for listening, and until next time, have a great week. Stay safe out there. And remember, there's no such thing as a torque calibrated arm.