The problem with calling out workmen to fix something in the house, is that they regularly seem to find something else wrong, which is usually more serious and more expensive than the original problem I had them in to fix! The electrician is a case in point. I called him out a few weeks ago when the electric shower in my en-suite failed, which turned out to be fairly simple to fix. But while he was tracing the fault he pointed out that:
1. There was a fuse protecting the circuit, but no RCD trip-switch, unlike the rest of the circuits in the house.
2. The water pipe to the shower was above the main electric isolator switch, with a coupler/joint in the pipe immediately above the switch.
Any leaks (and they are hardly unknown in this house!) would enter the electrics, and without a trip-switch I could have unpleasant complications……..I’ve been in a shower before that went live on me – in a cheap hotel in the south of France – and don’t want to repeat the experience!
Now that I know about the faults, I shall have to get them fixed. But I have to say that I was rather annoyed with the original installers of the shower, the MEB, i.e. Midland Electricity Board, who really should have known better! I had my suspicions at the time that they were taking shortcuts, when they drilled a holed in the wall from the meter box, and went straight through the side of our fridge! We got a new fridge out of them, which massively subsidised the cost of the shower installation.
Work is busy again at the moment, with yet another bid due imminently. However, once that’s submitted I can foresee taking several days off on leave to get work done around the house….l
