How Many Electricians Does it Take to Change a Socket?

a staggering 7 000 electrical safety faults are discovered on rental properties in england a national newspaper alleges wasteful practices on the railways in which two or more vans turn up to simply change a socket and jailed the drug dealers who disguise themselves as electricians to apply their evil trade welcome to electrical news weekly whether you're listening in the van on site down at the wholesale counter or if you're a designer and you've made it safely to your desk

wherever you are i hope your week is off to a great start i'm joe robinson and i've been through the best of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble and as always don't forget to listen out for the two words that i've been challenged to slip into today's show comment below or tag us on social media if you think you've spotted them

over 7 000 serious electrical safety faults have been discovered in rental properties in england since compulsory testing came into force there have been multiple reports of exposed live wiring and hundreds of broken sockets one electrician neil jenkins reports that he is finding faults during most of the checks he conducts the charity electrical safety first described the condition of the electrical installation in some homes as shocking and dangerous five-year mandatory checks were

introduced in the private rented sector in england in june 2020 this mirrors an existing scheme in scotland the charity now wants the law to cover england's 4 million social housing properties as well the government says that it is consulting on the issue the lack of maintenance isn't the only

bad practice alleged this week the daily mail is quoting an unnamed source in network rail who says that out-of-date practices on the railways mean that a team of three electricians must turn up to what could be a simple job like converting a single socket to a double the source also says that electricians and other trades won't share vans meaning multiple vehicles often turn up to jobs the allegations are all part of the war of words between the government

and its supporters in the press and the railway workers union the rmt the rmt says it will accept modernizing in return for a pay rise and the dropping of a proposal for compulsory redundancies the dispute continues and we'll keep you updated

and now to a team of electricians who weren't electricians a gang of four drug dealers from surrey disguised themselves as electrical contractors in order to apply their trade undetected but detectives soon became suspicious of the fake sparks and when they cracked their encrypted communications they soon learned that the foursome weren't discussing the latest changes in the 18th edition police swooped in april last year and now the men have been sentenced to a combined 35 years in

prison congratulations are due to the volunteer electricians and other trades people who came to the aid of the former

bricklayer kevin mcgowan mcgowan has an extremely rare debilitating disease called pml which means he has very limited movement the team from construction charity band of builders came together to build a garden extension and lounge for mcgowan this means he can now enjoy the outdoors for the first time suppliers and wholesalers donated their materials for free so well done to them too

now at this point in the show we like to pause and give a shout out to someone we're following on social media this week we're diving into instagram to have a look at an account producing some great work i'm not sure if it's mmm electrical or mmm electrical but either way they are producing some exquisite indoor lighting installations there's not a ton of pictures on their feed but what there is is top-notch so go and check them out and we're sure it'll have lots of you saying electrical

another shout-out goes to jordan

brompton the co-founder of the hugely successful ev charger manufacturer my energy brompton has taken home gold as woman of the year at the 2022 humber renewables awards the judges were impressed by brumpton's pivotal role in driving the rapid growth of my energy and her commitment to leading the transition to electrification as one of the uk's fastest growing renewable tech firms my energy is well known for its zappy charges and eddie power diverters and finally a big well done to lead city

council which has scooped up a prestigious industry award for the success of its low carbon district heating network the council and its network partners vital energy and enerv8 were revealed as the winners of the heat and efficiency operational trophy at the ade's decentralized energy awards the network costs 47 million pounds and is over 26 kilometers long it uses heat and energy recovered from non-recyclable waste to provide hot water to buildings in the city renewables got another boost

this week with the revelation that current high energy prices have cut paybacks on solar panels to as little as five years depending on the installation smart energy firm goodwill uk says that the 12 increase in the energy price cap means that payback periods are between five and seven years previously the working assumption set the payback period between 15 and 19 years goodwill is basing its payback period calculations on an average household installing a typical four kilowatt solar

system the switch to renewables and the electrification of cars and heating is however leading to pressure on the nation's cabling network so it was good to see that this week work has begun in hertfordshire to reinforce the power capacity there for future connection of more electric vehicles the project is part of the uk's green recovery program uk power networks is installing six and a half kilometers of high voltage electricity cables between saint albans road and potter's bar to supply a new

transformer these new cables will meet an anticipated growth in future demand by enabling the installation of new ev infrastructure in future years uk power networks is spending 66 million pounds of green recovery money to deliver low carbon projects that will help the government get to net zero by 2050. a total of 86 schemes are being fast-tracked by the electricity company across a range of sites one bit of ev

infrastructure that is no more sadly is an electric car park in delhi in india a huge fire engulfed the facility destroying a hundred vehicles mainly electric rickshaws no doubt leaving many workers relying on them for employment crestfallen delhi fire department sent 11 fire engines to the blaze and managed to bring it under control the cause of the fire is still not known but investigators are speculating that it could have been caused by a short circuit

if you're still driving a petrol or diesel vehicle especially a work van then you'll know the pain of filling up the tank with prices as high as they are but a little help is at hand in the shape of an app that can find you the cheapest fuel near you simply enter your postcode into fuel genie and it will locate the nearest tesco morrisons and sainsbury's petrol stations it also shows the latest prices at the pumps the app is free to download and i've popped a link in the show notes

in product news this week marshall tufflex has extended its exclusive partnership with spanish trunking maker basal electrical it is now stocking basil's metal and pvc cable trays as well as its wire baskets the metal cable tray is available in light medium and heavy profiles and has a pre-galvanised finish the product is a fast fix system allowing sections of tray to be simply interconnected and bolted together without the need for separate couplers saving on both installation time and

costs the pvc cable tray range is suited to harsh outdoor environments where a non-corrosive solution is required also suited to harsh environments is a range

of industrial luminaires from lighting firm led vans it's introduced a series of sensor luminaires flex luminaires and compacts all with high ip ratings easy installation fittings and long lifetimes they're aimed at demanding applications where the quality of light is crucial but also for health and safety they're suitable for harsh and damp environments and high ceilings of up to 12 meters in areas including warehouses supermarkets logistics halls and underpasses and if

you're interested in advanced lighting then please check out the range of videos that we've made with their equipment it really is good gear unicrimp is selling some new wiring

accessories from this week the company has introduced three new products nylon meter tail glands saddle bar spacers and catenary kits the glands are designed to house incoming cables on a metal consumer unit and provide a solution for 32 mil or 40 ml knockouts this allows you to fit 25 mil or 16 mil meter tails the 20 mil and 25 mil white metal saddle bar spacers provide support and spacing between conduits the catenary kits meanwhile bring all the essential items

together to suspend cables and lighting

in tool news industry superstore has unveiled what it is billing as the world's first range of sustainably manufactured cable strippers the wacom tools greenline stripper is made to a special formula which includes up to 97 renewable resources the recyclable material is based on plant oils as well as natural waxes fibres and minerals and is completely recyclable to show their environmental credentials all the tools have bright green handles

now speaking of colours there are lots of colours available from a range of electrical accessories from electrical direct the trendy switch and socket range which come with a screwless design as standard now includes 13 new colour finishes comprising a vibrant hues such as plum pink and moss green as well as neutral shades of matte black light gray and warm grey seriously there's so many colors that flicking through the web pages is like looking down a kaleidoscope i popped a link to all our

products this week in the show notes and finally new research by selco builders

warehouse has revealed how tasks performed by electricians in their day-to-day job compared to gym workouts it's found that working as a spark can burn more calories than a gym or yoga session in an hour an electrical contractor will burn 248 calories compared to an average person who will get through just 206 that's the equivalent of four hob knobs that's a pretty epic call back to last week's favorite biscuit story from our writers that are very impressive the most

physically demanding trade task is carrying heavy loads which takes 661 calories that's the equivalent of an hour-long game of basketball now coming up this week on our youtube

channel it's a live stream week so we'll have lots of giveaways and your usual favorites like the challenge wall gary swap shop and news at pen and joining us on the show will be marshall tufflex which means we'll also be sharing a great new product from them the tufflex tile so watch out for that dropping we've also got a great q a where we look at the regulation that was too controversial to stay in the regs and keep watching for a lot of content on the philips hue system and just in case

you missed it last week we were at the installer show at the nec it was great

to meet loads of electricians there as well as some celebrity plumbers yes there is such a thing a particular highlight for me was being mistaken for a relative of gordon with a hint that i might look young enough to number among his offspring we've launched a roundup of the best products and services that we found at the show including snap it the delivery for trades last week's challenge words were non-binary and metaverse and it seems that i must have mumbled that last one a bit because

nobody got both however the first person to get one of them right was fishbait 075 i'm just trying to picture his frustration when he was trying to pick his username fishbait 072 and that's been taken fishbait 073 no fishbait 074 come on really anyway fishbait click the get involved link in the show notes to get in touch and claim your prize if you think you know the words that we've smuggled into today'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 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