coming up on this week's news electrical contractors revealed the tsunami of DIY
disasters they're having to deal with in the cost of living crisis we reveal how to get installation
work in the booming Data Center business and why electricity pylons are being felled like trees in
Dorset welcome to electrical news weekly in association with Schneider Electric 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've spotted the two words I've been challenged to slip into this week's show
comment them below for the chance to win a prize a poll has revealed that a tsunami of electrical
disasters that electricians have to put right in the nation's homes it seems cashstrap Brits
have been turning to DIY to save money during the cost of living crisis the survey by Selco Builders
warehouse found out that for the majority of Trades people or 50.4 percent fixing DIY disasters
now makes up around a third of their call outs some 30 of dodgy electrical work involves light
fittings the instant isolation of switches and badly wired plugs according to the electricians
surveyed some of the worst DIY disasters they've been asked to sort included an electric socket
installation that caused a house fire however many are having to Fork out more money in the end
2000 pounds extra on average when they have to call in a contractor to fix their botched work
now while some jobs can be relatively cheap to sort such as refitting plugs and sockets others
come with significant bills the survey revealed the rework across all the trades came with a hefty
average bill of 2 000 pounds the reasons for the surge appear to be a mix of money saving and the
explosion in home renovation projects appearing on social media one area happily free from DIYs
is Data Centers they represent some of the most lucrative work in the electrical sector right now
these buildings house the computers which make up the plumbing of the internet but getting a slight
of the action isn't straightforward that's due to the special complexities of power management
in a data center but now help is at hand the Schneider Electric university has unveiled a
raft of updated courses for electrical contractors on the topic the modules include the fundamentals
of power for data centers cable strategies and surge protection today the free online
university has delivered over 1 million courses in 14 languages the courses are free can be done
online and don't promote Schneider products I've popped a link to the university in the show notes
in product news this week Martindale electric has unveiled the CM series range of professional
clamp meters these work on both AC and DC Systems the clamps are Auto ranging and measure current
to better than a two percent accuracy the cm57 model measures AC current up to 600 amps AC and
DC voltage resistance with continuity testing plus capacitance frequency and diode testing
making it suited to HVAC applications the cm79 trms features AC and DC current measurement
up to 600 amps with minimum and maximum for monitoring loads startup and charging currents
this clamp is aimed for applications involving PV installations battery monitoring UPS systems and
electric vehicles the elliptical jaw design will accommodate conductors and Buzz bars up to 35 by
15 millimeters now if you're in the market for a copper or Fiber tester I have some good news the
leading brand fluke is offering big discounts to celebrate its 30th anniversary in fact you
can save up to four thousand pounds from these pricey bits of Kit there's 800 pounds off the
dsx602 pro cable analyzer and a chunky 4000 pound discount on the DS X2 5000 qigint cable
analyzer the price reductions are available to all customers in the UK Europe the Middle East
Africa and the Commonwealth of independent states until December 2022 and is valid with purchases
made from Fluke Network's authorized Distributors only Vent-Axia has unveiled its latest extractor
fan which the company says achieves new standards in efficiency and noise the low-carbon NBR dmevc
achieves building regulation compliance with the quietest sound levels the lowest number
of installed fans required and the Best in Class efficiency its noise level has been
independently measured at just 7.4 decibels event Axia says that's his near silent operation as you
can get on the market right now it has an ipx5 rating so you can use in zones one two and three
of a bathroom there's a choice of a hundred mil and 125 mil models and there's a variable speed
setting for easy installation and commissioning it also complies with the new sap-10 performance
requirement and on the subject of extraction and ventilation check out our free training packages
on the know-howpage of efix.co.uk that detail the updates to the building regulations and
how that will impact on you as an electrician now did you know that it's the international
week of happiness at work of course you did you're incredibly well informed members of the cognizanti
I can see that from here well to celebrate said week researchers set out to find out just how
satisfied electrical contractors are with their lot in life and it's good news they found that 63
percent of UK electricians enjoy what they do some 58 percent are proud of their jobs over a
quarter are happy with their work-life balance and 4 out of 10 are satisfied with their level
of income Sparks like seeing what has been accomplished each day they enjoy learning
new things and they appreciate the variety of work and interacting with customers the survey
was conducted for electrical direct and finally we turned to the case of the purged pylons of purbeck
in a world first scheme 116 million pounds has been spent to remove about 60 miles of overhead
cabling and replace it with underground cables from an area of outstanding National Beauty in
Dorset the high voltage underground cabling has been installed and tested and now the 120 foot
pylons that have been described as a blot on the landscape that inspired Thomas Hardy being removed
there are plans to carry out similar projects in other areas of the beautiful countryside
across the UK including the north Wessex downs snowdonia and the Peak District I thought it
would be nice to quote a lovely poem by Thomas Hardy at this point but my goodness that man's
writing was dreary and introspective turning to the week ahead we're approaching the end of the
month so the Safe4September campaign will reach its end that means this week is your last chance
to enter our competition to win either a safe isolation kit or a bigger prize of a voltage
indicator from test instrument Solutions taking part in the competition involves taking our free
online training package on safe isolation so even if you don't manage to get your hands on a prize
your reward will be knowledge and increase safety in the workplace for full details on how to enter
click the link in the show notes or Google efix competitions to see the other great competitions
we've got running at the moment we've also got great videos coming up including a q a
on conduit an affordable laser level review and watch out for Gordon heading north of the border
to look at a property that's having a Philips Hue lighting Takeover in Scotland so stay tuned
for all of that if you think you've guessed the two words that I've smuggled into Today's Show
pop those into the comments as well and we'll dig out a goodie bag prize to the first to get
the right answers last week's words were Gumdrop and hogwash you know everyday common words that
everyone one uses all the time despite these being the least obvious words in the English
lexicon to stick out in the electrical podcast the first person to guess correctly was Neil
Wright so well done to you Neil please click the link in the show notes to claim your prize thanks
for listening to this episode of electrical news weekly in association with Schneider Electric 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