Keysbrook Electrical | Electrician

Keysbrook Electrical

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25.01.2022 Switchboard needs upgrading? Needing RCD’s fitted? Not sure on the cost and what is needed? Lately I have been hearing some interesting prices that people have paid to get work done at their switchboard. The work being circuit breaker, and RCD/Safety Switch replacements for fuses. Though it does take a lot of work and time to replace fuses on switchboards, there are a few cheats to making it cheaper. However I do believe that installing separate RCD’s for each circuit is bett...Continue reading

20.01.2022 A new year and a new set of Australian Standards for Electricians to follow. As of the 1st January 2019 Australia has moved to a new set of standards for the average electrician to decipher. Oh yes this is in lawyerese so that we can be hung drawn and quartered at any time someone in Energy Licensing is having a crappy day! Having snored my way through the new standards there is a few differences which are sure to hurt the wallet of ambushed customers. I promise you not all ...Continue reading

16.01.2022 Earthing of your home or business, and what is it and why is important? The Earth wire in Australia and internationally accepted is coloured Green with Yellow Stripes. Prior to the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, in Australia was Green only. These days neither Green nor Yellow individually, are permitted to be used on any electrical installation, and must always be combined to clearly identify the Earthing Network. And as of 2018, the use of insulation tape is also restricted....Continue reading

15.01.2022 Let’s look at your oven. Most ovens have two dials, one for the function and one for the temperature setting. The function dial is used to choose between the different cooking options available in your oven, for example fan forced, grill or simply heating. The temperature or thermostat dial is for the user to determine how hot the oven will get to cook food, for example, 180 degrees for a cake Which should be moved first when you are turning your oven on or off?... Answer the temperature dial it should always be in the OFF position prior to moving the function button into any position. Why is this? When the temperature selection is made, power travels from the supply through the function dial, and then to the thermostat/temperature dial, and into the heating element to make the oven heat up. And why is this a problem? Many manufacturers are cutting corners when it comes to making parts. The cam switches used to control the different functions are not so strong any more, and when power runs through them they tend to arc and burn out the contacts. Meaning that once the contacts are burnt out, the switch will no longer work on that setting. This problem only occur on some ovens, however if you get into a good practise, the next oven you use will be working longer. In Western Australia, everything has to come from the East, so if the cam switch fails, expect to wait a week before being able to use the oven again. Most suppliers and manufacturers refuse to ship by overnight express, so forget about any quick solution if you need the oven in a hurry. See more

13.01.2022 Blooper reel number two. One of my biggest complaints I have the Governments of Australia is that they refuse to acknowledge that electricity is complex. They will talk to you about safety and all types of blah, but the hide the fact that have made fatal flaw in the industry and they people are trained. Anyone can be an electrician, but to understand the way electricity works and how best to harness its potential takes more than a school drop-out may comprehend. So if you ge...Continue reading

11.01.2022 Bore Pumps Bore Pumps come in two basic designs, surface or submersible. Both come in three phase and single phase options. Always chose the three phase option over the single phase option. Single pumps have more that can go wrong, and generally use more power. The exception to this rule would be where dual voltage pumps are considered. Dual voltage pumps run on solar energy and trickle feed water during daylight, but can automatically switch over to high speed pumping when ...Continue reading

10.01.2022 With exceeding the 30 year mark in the electrical industry, a short while back, perhaps it is now an opportunity to showcase some of the work completed in the past. This video shows a series of photos of the LED upgrade in a new house. Not sure of the location and would be insterested in hearing from anyone that knows further details. Please do not critise my video skills - publishing for the first time on a limit time frame - Thank you.

09.01.2022 I have been threatening to display some of the bloopers that I see in my travels for some time. I always try not to criticize people too much, though I make it clear that I expect some standards. A while ago I was decommissioning a device connected to this isolator, while trying to check if it had power or not I managed to cause an explosion as per the photo. Did I do wrong? Yes - I trusted another electrician! ... The picture in this post highlights so many wrongs, from the laziness of the electrician who did the work originally, to the lives at risk after the work was done wrong. The burn marks are caused by me shorting out the two copper bars. Considering how accessible the bars in the box, it should seem crazy that touching them would generate any sort of lethal reaction and if you thought that, you are correct. When I began my testing I was not getting the readings I was expecting from my meter, and thought that my probes or tips of my meter leads were not getting a good contact so I decided to short out the two bars it should have been safe to do that! When an electrician crosses the wires on an RCD back at the switchboard he makes the black wire live and the red wire dead. Trying to explain better is best done by viewing the second picture. As is shown, the colours are swapped in the switchboard at the RCD/circuitbreaker which also swaps the polarity. Anyone turning this isolator off would have assumed that the equipment attached would also be safe to work on; unfortunately it would not have been until the equipment was turned off at the switchboard. So much for a safety device in an emergency!

08.01.2022 There are a number of things to consider when quoting and accepting a job. At the end of the day the final finish and costs are important to the client, but as a contractor pride must be installed along with the material and labour. So what makes a job a good job, a great job or a perfect job? Is it simply giving the clients the needed items in the cheapest manner? Or does extra detail count? Should it be done for free as part of a good service or should clients pay for the... extra? I think that there is room for a little of everything. For example I included supply and installation of a manhole into a recent job as part of the job, with no real regard for the added cost because it made everything simpler and technically I was vandalising the new ceiling. The man hole gave access to the existing cabling and supply feeds without the need to enter the house and use the man hole already installed in the centre of the house. For the Lady of the House, this was a plus because she did not have to deal with a contractor stomping through clean floors. It also sped up the completion time and lowered the risks associated with climbing in and on the roof. In other words as the garage was not duly affected by the addition of a manhole, there were more advantages gained than lost. When installing power points on the ceiling, for things like garage door openers, we have to deal with the live part of the power points which are touchable whenever someone enters the roof space if they are not provided with physical barriers. Many electricians resolve mounting power points on the ceiling by fitting a mounting block and use the ceiling as a barrier. But there are solutions available, and it is possible to flush mount the power point on the ceiling safely. And the end result is worth the minimal extra cost to make the power point both flush and safe. Where conduits are visible to supply lights and power points, it can be hard to fit them perfectly straight because conduits often bend and flex. The use of a laser can resolve this issue and we see that conduits can be installed nicely and importantly straight! Lastly is whether to paint the conduits or not. Personally a can of paint is usually worth no more than $15.00 and can provide that absolute care to the job. Sure the conduit is still visible, but the paint hides the scratches and labels than are an inherent factor when using them. The same can be said of duct, for those that prefer duct over conduit. So is there room for a good finish with in a budget yes. As a contractor who takes pride in a job, working with a client to achieve a great result is much appreciated. However clients should also be considerate of their contractor and agree to work with them on costs and solutions to get the job done quickly and neatly. In the end both parties need to work together to decide the quality of the final outcome. Though cost is always important, sometimes a small addition to the budget can make all the difference. See more

08.01.2022 Being creative. Recently a long-time client pulls out a family heirloom and requests that it be installed as a feature light in their entry area. Lighting can be determined by functionality and/or simply be decorative. Having worked with clients over the years, every now and again I come across an object that has emotional attachment to the client. And the client wishes to see this item placed as a reminder of different times and people. Often these items are no longer fit f...or purpose, i.e. it is no longer safe to install. However as an electrical contractor it is important to find solutions to meet the client’s desire. We contractors have to be mercenary and realistic. The light has to work safely, legally and be installed at a price the client is willing to pay. In the case of this fixture we have a simple shade hand craft by a relative. The original design was similar to the final finish shown in the photos. The shade hung from a chain and the light fitting was a pendant screwed through the shade to power a new LED globe as opposed to the old style globe which would generate large amounts of heat. Removing the heat will result in the fitting potentially lasting longer and ensure the stones are not glazed over time. The new fitting used a double insulated cable as opposed to the single insulated cable, likely similar to speaker wire, very commonly used 40 years ago. The actual lighting design is almost identical to that of old, and as mentioned the globe is now LED and lights the shade at a respectable 7W or there about, different from the original likely 40W-60W incandescent globe from the old days. The client also upgraded the silver rusty chain to gold. Ultimately none of the changes really made any difference and past friends and relatives would likely recognise the light as was installed in the past. For the client, the end result was two-fold; it lit up a dark patch at their entry and allowed them to recycle an item and it now becomes a future memory, with memories from the past entwined. See more

07.01.2022 When not a rat. When working in and around any building there is any number of obstacles and problems to deal with. Some are just a pain whilst others place a life at risk. When we think of animals which can be a hazard, we think mice or spiders, but your home is inhabited by reptiles, insects and other mammals too. Many of my customers have a fear of my secret picture collection, all those dirty pictures and secrets I pretend to have taken and collected. Of behind the f...ridge or oven oh the shame! And often I tell them to get into the roof space and give it a clean, so I do not get so dirty when I get up thereand of course many are embarrassed with having rats and mice in the roof. After working on installing a power point on the weekend, a customer was complaining that a Rat was running around their verandah area, and had obviously been spooked by my work. However after actually seeing the Rat, I immediately identified it a Bandicoot. And with some relief and novelty my client finds that he has a Bandicoot family living in his garden and have built a burrow under his shed. I suspect that these little guys will be well looked after in the future. The little guy seemed to be quite happy to run around and showed almost no fear of humans.here we see him eating a piece of Banana just outside the front door. So please be careful with poisons and other stuff, especially if you live in areas with lots of woodlands, that rat or other pest might simply be a native that has lost their home. If you research your pest it might be possible to co-inhabit and have a nice surprise for visitors at that evening BBQ Good luck little Bandicoot! See more

07.01.2022 I am always humbled by clients who allow me provide pictures to present to the general public. And in this case, photos of the Master Bedroom of a long-time client, who also played T.A. and did all the dirty work of cleaning up at the end of the job. Thank you kind Sir! Here new pendant lights have been installed to replace bench lamps and then multiway switching added to operate the central light from either side of the bed and the doorway. The client also requested a dimme...Continue reading

05.01.2022 On making something look neat..... Customers will often hear me making comments on what makes any electrical job a good one. Mostly people will consider that a good job is one that works as intended, and does not fault for the "lifetime" of the job. They may also mention that safety is important too, or perhaps critical, after all often we are dealing with voltages that are likely to cause some problems if we interact in the wrong way.... I believe the above paragraph highlights only half the job, the other half is presentation. It maybe in the form of making a power point straight on the wall, however those that have seen me work, know that I love to sneak out a laser and use this to ensure work is straight. Presentation can come in many forms, from items being straight on walls, to running cables in a roof space in way that makes it safe for others working in the roof space in the future, or using cable ties behind a switchboard panel. In the job in the pictures below I was asked by a client to tidy some conduits and delete some old timber from the patio of old. Unfortunately my camera did not take all the pictures of "before" that I wanted, but from the one available you can get the drift. It is not always convenient to delete cables and conduits, so in this case I chose to hid them. Unfortunately the picture of the original light is not shown, as part of the work a new light was installed at a much lower level, than the original light to improve the feature of the wall. So when talking with your Electrical Contractor or licensed Electrician, discuss, not only in getting a working and safe job done, but also one that looks great too.

05.01.2022 Besides power points and lights, what else do I do for customers: Power for gate motors, Spa repairs and installations, Hot Water systems repair and installation (electrical only), Sheds/workshops, Design, installation and repairs to PLC and computer assisted machinery, ... Do you need drawings done as part of the work? Happy to work from plans to help design your job.

04.01.2022 There is an old saying: If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys! In the current economy there is a need for bargain hunting, but when should you cut corners and when should you not? It is easy to consider that tradespeople charging you $80/hour are ripping you off. What are you getting for the money when effectively this seems like 3-4times your take home wage or salary per hour? The hourly rate is designed to minimise the confusion between the cost of doing business and the simp...Continue reading