Tag
Troubleshooting
62 articles
ArticleHow to Install a Photocell (Dusk-to-Dawn) Light Sensor Switch: Choosing the Load Rating, Wiring L, N and Load, Mounting, Adjusting and Fixing Lights That Stay On or CycleA client wants the gate light or signboard to come on by itself every evening and go off in the morning. A timer can do part of this, but sunset shifts through the year and a dark,…
ArticleHow to Do an Insulation Resistance Test on House Wiring: Isolating Safely, Choosing the Test Voltage, L–N and L–E Tests, Reading Megohms and Finding the FaultA house has just been rewired and the client wants the power on today. Another client's ground floor was flooded last week. A third has an RCD that trips "for no reason" every time…
ArticleWater pump not pumping water: hums but won't start, what to checkWhen a water pump hums but will not start (the shaft stays still), the cause is almost always one of four things: a failed capacitor (the most common), a seized shaft or impeller f…
ArticleHow to Use a Clamp Meter: Measuring Load Current Safely, Checking Circuits Against Breaker Ratings, Motor Inrush and Leakage Current BasicsA client says the breaker for the kitchen "trips every evening", another wants to know whether the old cable to the water heater can take a new, bigger unit, and a third suspects t…
ArticleHow to Install LED Strip Lights: Choosing 12 V or 24 V Strip, Sizing the Driver, Avoiding Voltage Drop, Wiring and Mounting in Aluminium ChannelA client wants a soft glow along the ceiling cove in the living room and bright light on the kitchen worktop under the wall cabinets. LED strip looks easy: peel, stick, plug in. St…
ArticleHow to Install Electricity Sub-Meters for Rental Rooms: Choosing the Meter, Wiring to Its Terminal Diagram, One Breaker per Room, Testing and Fair Billing RecordsA landlord has six rooms for rent behind one EVN meter, and every month there is the same argument about who used how much electricity. They ask you to fit a meter for each room. I…
ArticleWhy Are My Drains Gurgling? Causes (Partial Blockage, Blocked Vent, Air Admittance Valve, Trap Siphonage, Sewer or Septic Backup) and Step-by-Step FixesA client calls: "Every time the toilet upstairs flushes, the bathroom basin goes glug-glug ." Another says the floor drain bubbles and gurgles whenever the washing machine empties.…
ArticleHow to Install a Smart Wi-Fi Light Switch: Checking for a Neutral Wire, Wiring L, N and Load, Pairing, and Fixing LED Flicker on No-Neutral ModelsA client shows you a glass touch switch they bought online. The box says "Wi-Fi smart switch, 3 gang, works with phone app". They want it in place of the old switch by the living-r…
ArticleInstalling wired and wireless doorbells in homes: choosing the type, outdoor push-button placement, wiring, safe 220 V supply connection and fixing a doorbell that won't ringCalls to an electrician about doorbells usually fall into a few familiar situations: a newly built house needs a doorbell at the gate; an old doorbell does not ring however many ti…
ArticleBlocked roof gutters, box gutters and rainwater downpipes overflowing in heavy rain: inspection, safe clearing on the roof and preventing re-blockageTen minutes into a heavy downpour, water is already spilling over the edge of the gutter and running in streams down the wall; in some houses it even seeps through the plasterboard…
ArticleElectric fan won't spin, runs weakly or hums: checking the fan capacitor, shaft bushings and windings, and replacing the capacitor with the correct ratingA client calls: “When I switch on my pedestal fan it just hums and the blades don’t turn, but if I give them a push it starts running. And the living-room ceiling fan on speed 5 sp…
ArticleBlocked bathroom floor drain and standing water: 7 steps to clear the floor drain and waste pipe of hair and soap scum"After a shower the water sits around the floor drain for ten minutes before it goes down, and some days it smells." This is a call plumbers get very often. The most common cause i…