a swindon man is electrocuted after drilling into a mains cable under his garden we reveal the
three greatest hazards to electrical contracts installing solar panels the fake branded tools
aimed at getting unsuspecting electricians to part with their cash and their easy to install
pulsar max ev charging point finally arrives in the uk 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
a homeowner from swindon has electrocuted himself and caused a huge power outage
when he accidentally drilled through a mains electricity cable under his garden
the diy accident triggered a major emergency response with two air ambulances sent to the scene
he's understood to have suffered a cardiac arrest as a result of sustaining a huge electric shock
the burned out drill that he was using at the time was found charred in the garden the man
was transferred to south mead hospital in bristol where he remains under examination the incident
sparked a localized electricity outage which was later restored by west and west utilities
we at efixx send our best wishes to the man for a speedy recovery in fact electrocution has
been named as one of the three major hazards for contractors installing solar panels identified by
test equipment maker fluke the company warns that faulty insulation of cables damaged insulation of
safety covers and improper grounding can all lead to live conductors becoming accessible the likely
places for this to happen are at combiner boxes the equipment grounding conductor the pv source
and the output circuit conductors the second hazard comes from the shift from a thousand volts
to 1 500 volts for solar installations over voltage category cat 3 1500 volt systems are being
more widely used and so cat 3 and cat 4 equipment is essential for pv systems at high altitudes
the final hazard is arc faults and arc flashes arc faults between two or more conductors can result
in discharge causing heat that can lead to the deterioration or even to the burning of wiring
insulation systems are particularly vulnerable to arc faults caused by disruption in conductor
continuity or by unexpected current between two conductors often the result of ground fault
arc faults are of course being addressed in the amendments to the 18th edition and the requirement
for arc fault detection devices or afds comes into effect in september however testing and
inspection body bureau veritas is urging the electrical trade to adopt the changes immediately
there are so many changes in the regs it's best to start getting used to them straight away for
a quick and easy rundown on the major changes in the second amendment check out our special news at
pen episode i'll leave the link to it in the show notes the experts at bureau veritas also recommend
that electrical contractors see these regulations as a minimum standard to work from not up to and
that things like full testing of rcds is still a best practice approach to ensure maximum safety
and mitigate risk a great place to brush up on best practice will be at the installer show which
takes place next week at the national exhibition center in birmingham although it started as an
event aimed at plumbing and heating contractors the good news is that it has now expanded to
include electrical contractors it's a natural move as we head towards the electrification of heat
and the need for multi-skilled contractors you'll recognize lots of familiar names on the exhibitor
list from google nest to nipex tools now we've been through the exhibitor list and there's
lots of stands that we'll be making a bee line for snapit is a tech company which is aiming to be the
deliverer of trades it will supply key electrical parts on demand for contractors with some kit
arriving as quickly as 30 minutes ford will also beat the installer show so it will definitely
kick the tyres of their new hybrid and electric vans german tool brand Eibenstock will be showing
some really interesting twin diamond wall chasers which we think could save a ton of time on a job
and also showing its latest launches is huawei now you may know it as a mobile phone equipment maker
but now the chinese company is aiming for a big slice of the solar pv and battery storage market
we'll report back on the hot tech we find as soon as we can another innovator that we'll
be visiting is mixergy you may remember that we first came across the mixergy intelligent
hot water tank during our visit to park erin in wales we're really looking forward to seeing what
they're going to be exhibiting to get ahead of your visit and see how an intelligent hot water
tank functions as part of an electrified house check out the video on the mixer gtech that we
made when we went to park erin i'll pop the link in the show notes and indeed links to all of those
brands exhibiting there's also a link to register for the event and remember to give us a shout out
on social media if you're planning to attend we just love meeting up with our efixx viewers
and putting names to commenters another product launch that we're really excited about here at
efix is the news that the pulsar max ev charger from wallbox has just been launched in the uk
as well as being really easy to install the pulsar max looks great and is compatible with loads of
car brands including tesla vw porsche audi jaguar and mercedes it delivers a chunky 22 kilowatts of
fast charging power and is compatible with type 1 and type 2 cable connections no earthing rod
is required and there's integrated pen fault protection we hope to give it a full efix
bench test and if we do i'll add the review to the show notes and to the eevee installation playlist
another exciting ev technology is so called vehicle to grid power this is where your car
provides electricity to your neighbors via the national infrastructure of cables and pylons
octopus electric vehicles uk power networks and g99 professional services have got together to
introduce a new device called power limit this will for the first time allow uk homes
with compatible cars solar panels and batteries to connect them and sell power back to the grid it's
all part of a trial into how electric vehicles of households could be used to help balance the grid
make the most of green electrons when they're abundant and even save people money on their
energy bills the resilience of the uk grid was called into question this week however
with a report from ofgem interstorm arwen you'll remember that storm are when ripped across the
country in november with wind speeds reaching 98 miles an hour in some areas it resulted in over
1 million customers losing power the report says that in many cases consumers were badly let down
offgem has come up with a list of recommendations which it says it expects dnos to implement
in order to improve the network's resilience for future storms young families especially
mothers with children under the age of five are especially hit by power cuts say experts and a
charity is set out to provide additional support in case they lose electricity in the future the
young mums support network has partnered with uk power networks to ensure residents in south london
don't miss out on free extra support in case of a power cut they're encouraging them to join the
electricity firm's priority service register the charity identifies families in need of support
through their social care work children's centres and through employers another way of protecting
yourself from power cuts is to use a piece of kit called an uninterruptible power supply or ups
this week schneider electric is introducing a new 24 volt dc system called easy ups it's
been created for commercial and industrial environments where power disruption risks
harming productivity the ups minimizes downtime and protects equipment resulting in reduced
machine maintenance and improved control over industrial infrastructure another new piece of
kit designed to provide resilience and eliminate weak points in industrial and commercial premises
is a thermal imaging camera that's just been unveiled by teledyne flier the e52 camera offers
professional quality thermal resolution to ensure that images are super easy to read the camera can
detect the hidden early signs of possible failure such as hotspots on weak electrical connections
and yet another nice tool out this week is a new heat gun from makita uk it delivers an air
temperature of up to 550 degrees celsius and both this temperature and the air volume are adjustable
there is also a quick release toolless mechanism to allow you to replace the nozzle easily without
having to touch any hot metal in the process could be handy for heat shrink sleeving we absolutely
love the inventiveness of makita products here on efix please click the link in the show notes
to check out all the videos that we've made on their gear we've had a warning this week about
fake tools hitting the market cktools have told us that fake versions of its top-selling cable cutter
are in circulation in the uk after being targeted by counterfeiters they've asked the efix viewers
beyond alert for the imitations of the 3963 the printed packaging is reasonably convincing but
the handles are a brighter red than genuine ck tools and have a grey color at the top
our final bit of gear news is that snickers the workwear people has unveiled its summer range well
maybe not a range as such more like a pair of shorts but the lightweight work shorts will be
the must-have item on the nation's building sites this season at least that's what it says here we
have to concede that the shorts are actually pretty cool in all senses of the word they're
made of a quick drawing technology fabric that includes a sun protection factor of upf-40 they're
also text deductible and it says here they have a special four-way stretch panel at the crotch
to which one of our writers has commented what else does a man need well thinking about it maybe
a man could do with a state-of-the-art panel light as well happily ansel lighting has just dropped
the pace plus led panel which it says that at 180 lumens per watt is the most efficient backlit led
panel light available on the market it's aimed at offices schools colleges and healthcare buildings
and comes in three power selectable outputs 11.5 watts 13.5 watts and 17 watts all
in one luminaire another interesting light that's just been launched is a new luminaire for shops
called the sino the cno is made by zumtabel and it's designed to adapt to the many changes that
happen in retail outlets the luminaire rotates the wings which house the led modules can swivel so
you can put light on the merchandise wherever it moves to you can get light outputs of up to 14 000
lumens colour temperatures between 2 700 kelvin to 4000 kelvin and there's a set of honeycomb louvers
you can add to reduce glare so it can be used to illuminate anything from teabags to tiaras
in people news this week it's been announced that alastair grant who's been an electrical contractor
for over 40 years has just been elected as the new president of select select is the
trade association for the electrical contracting industry in scotland and alistair is pledging to
put apprenticeships and regulation of the sector at the top of his agenda he also tells us that
one of his main ambitions is to push forward the select campaign to introduce protection of
title for electricians congratulations alistair and we wish you every success in your new role
another qualification that apprentices can achieve has been introduced by aco the alarm firm has
launched a city and guild's assured qualification on domestic fire and carbon monoxide alarm systems
the qualification is a continuation of aco's fia cpd accredited expert installer training which
provides installers with the essential knowledge to correctly install eco fire and carbon monoxide
alarm systems and environmental sensors this is a one-day course and it focuses on the design
installation maintenance interconnection siting and electrical connection
of domestic alarm systems if you'd like to consider adding this qualification to your roster
i'll pop the link again in the show notes in other good news for young electricians it's been
announced that the prestigious apprentice of the year award is to return after a two-year absence
it's hosted by the eca and supported by edmondson electrical the winner will receive an array
of prizes including a 1 500 pound cash prize a state-of-the-art toolkit and a unique study trip
overseas if you like the sound of that again i've put the entry page in the show notes in
other awards it's been announced that screwfix has been named as the best customer experience
in the highly respected retail week awards screwfix innovations include screwfix sprint
it's hyper convenient 60 minute same day delivery service an app that we think deserves an award is
tradify a really easy to use bit of software on which you can almost run your entire business
it was set up by electrical engineer curtis bailey and it's a dedicated platform for uk trades people
now schneider electric has partnered with tradify to support electricians across the uk
the partnership will help electrical contractors to manage all aspects of
their business through tradify and help them work more efficiently helping their businesses grow
tradify includes things like online job management scheduling quoting invoicing materials tracking
and real-time project updates it boasts effortless accounting and syncs with software like xero
sage myob and qbo to reconcile your invoices and payments in other words it sorts out all
those issues that normally serve to discombobulate electricians running their own businesses another
nice bit of tech design to make life easier is a virtual ecs card which you can now download and
use for easy site access this digital ecs card is then checked by the cscs smartcheck app ensuring
the right people get access to uk construction sites developed by the 38 schemes displaying the
cscs logo cscs smartcheck allows those responsible for checking cards to verify all two million cards
using one app on their smartphone or tablet it works like a train or plane ticket you show the qr
code and away you go so you don't need to remember to bring anything just your smartphone coming up
this week on our youtube channel it's not often electricians fall in love with electrical products
but we team up with our old friend marcus barrett to see how deep is his love for the hamilton verve
range of wiring accessories it's also a live stream week so make sure you subscribe to our
youtube channel to view this week's episode of efix tv with special guest will winter managing
director of primspec or hansom will as we know him and david draper product manager for Wago on the
challenge wall it'll be interesting to see how he gets on with screw terminals you can just picture
him looking around for the levers can't you and also a q a video that is bound to trigger a few
people on the subject of torque setting devices and how we can check they're working correctly so
stay tuned for all of that coming up this week now last week's challenge words for the podcast were
kangaroo and partygate so if you managed to spot them in our newscast well done and special
congratulations to callum clark who was the first to comment with both correct words on last week's
podcast well done to you callum click the get involved link in the show notes to get in touch
and claim your prize although unlike screw fix we don't do 60 minute delivery more like 28 days
on a good month 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 very much 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