Getting Handy in 2013 - Man Skills

[EvilPie]

Everybody needs to make sure your house has one of these:

Edit: that google images search was shocking. Let's get another one....

Click to see full-size image.

.

This isn't just a fuse box, this is has something called an RCD in it. (cue someone knowing what they are talking about telling me what it's supposed to be called.

With one of these it's incredibly difficult to kill yourself with mains electricity*- in millidonks's case, it would turn the electricity to the house off so fast that not enough electricity can go through you to kill you.

Although millidonk has been lucky, you stand a pretty good chance of surviving a 240V shock- it's not an instant death sentence.

* not to be taken as a challenge

Pedant time I'm afraid...... It isn't a fuse box. There aren't any fuses in it. It's called a consumer unit.

An RCD is a residual current device. The RCD is the bit with the yellow button on it. It's been so long since I was at college I can't remember exactly how they work. Basically though it detects a difference between the electricity going in to it and the electricity coming back out. (Electricity flows through the live side, round the kit it's powering, then back out the neutral). If the in bit is different to the out bit then the missing bit (known as the leakage current) might be trying to kill someone so it switches off ridiculously quickly. 30mS is the maximum allowable time by the regulations and it should operate with a leakage current of no more than 30mA. 30mA isn't enough to kill so you'll be all good.

The problem with RCDs is nuisance tripping. The picture shown is what is known as a 'split load' consumer unit. There are 2 RCDs covering 2 separate sets of circuit breakers. The split is usually between lighting and power but doesn't have to be.

It doesn't take much to trip an RCD. Something simple like a lamp blowing can actually set them off. If the RCD goes then you lose everything that's fed from that RCD. If your fridge or freezer happened to be on the same RCD then it's GG to your food.

Ideally you want a consumer unit with separate RCDs for each individual circuit. It's no safer than the other option but it eliminates nuisance tripping. Unfortunately it's a lot more expensive but such is life.

[EvilPie]

Useful RCD tip that not everybody knows.

If you have a power outage it's often difficult to identify a 'tripped' RCD. This is because unlike a circuit breaker the switch doesn't flip completely to the off position. It'll usually still be pointing in the same direction as 'on' just not fully in position.

To reset it you have to first push the switch to the fully off position to reset it and then switch it back to the on position.

If it won't reset then you may have an electrical item with a permanent fault which is causing the 'trip'.

Turn off all appliances which are fed from that RCD. You should now be able to reset the RCD thus restoring power. Now turn the appliances back on one at a time.

When the RCD trips you've found your faulty appliance. To restore everything else just leave the faulty appliance switched off, reset the RCD and turn everything back on again one at a time.

Note that with a split load board you should first switch off all the individual circuit breakers from the affected RCD, reset the RCD then turn the breakers on one at a time. This will allow you to narrow down your search for the faulty appliance as you'll see which circuit trips the RCD.

If the RCD just resets straight away following a trip then it's most likely a lamp that's blown. The blowing lamp causes the trip but once it's blown the faults gone so it'll reset no problems.

[EvilPie]

Does a plug not control how much power goes into it?


Edit: feel free to answer like you would to a seven year old.

The amount of power going in is purely down to how much the electrical appliance needs to run.

If the item needs 3000W to operate it'll pull that much from the supply. The type of plug on the end of it is irrelevant in that respect.

The reason different items have different types of plugs is that if an appliance uses more power there will be more current flowing through the plug. If the plug isn't rated at the appropriate current it will just overheat and melt.

The higher the power rating of an appliance, the thicker the cables will be, the bigger the plugs will be, the bigger the consumer unit will be etc..

[Tal]

Everything you've typed in the last three posts makes such sense it seemed completely obvious...

... and yet it was all new information to me.

[EvilPie]

Everything you've typed in the last three posts makes such sense it seemed completely obvious...

... and yet it was all new information to me.

Happy to spread the knowledge

Can you please head over to the chess thread. I'm in a pickle.

[Mohican]

Flat pack furniture disassemble

 . Gl with that!

 

This is the only tool you need to disassemble flat pack. Disassembling is permanent though.

[david3103]

Flat pack furniture disassemble

 . Gl with that!

 

This is the only tool you need to disassemble flat pack. Disassembling is permanent though.

You can do it with these too

[vegaslover]

Cracking thread this one. thought I was pretty bad at man skills till I read some of the stuff on here...
Anyway would agree with other posters re: getting a DIY book. I got one for something like £6 from WHSmith, then supplement that with youtube vids, just a case of trying things after that.

Tools- My view is that whilst the expensive, quality tools are way better, for the very occasional Diyer they just aren't cost effective.

Time - One major thing I noticed with the stuff I have done is that they take me wayyy longer in time than the books/forum suggest. Nothing better than finishing something yourself though and doing a decent job in the process.

[DaveShoelace]

Have an interesting problem ahead. My petrol cap on my Ford Focus (balla) is stuck. I tried filling it up today and it would not open, I presume it was due to the freezing cold weather. I eventually managed to prize it open, but upon closing it and driving off, its now stuck again. I have a full tank of petrol, so no major rush to fix it, and I presume it is prizable again. Its set to get a bit warmer tomorrow so I am going to take a proper look (lol) tomorrow.

Click to see full-size image.

Its the little door-y thing, not the screw on petrol cap (The pic isnt mine, Im not near my car atm, thats just a stock photo)

Anyone had this sorta problem before?

As a last resort, a general mechanics would be useless right? Its more of a bodywork thing, possibly for a main dealer? Or would you say best course of action is to buy the part myself and have a crack at doing it myself?

[Mohican]

Have you tried any of this?-
 http://www.talkford.com/topic/99493-fuel-cap-wont-open/

I f you go the WD40 route, it comes with a straw that fits in the nozzle which should make application to the mechanism easier.

[DaveShoelace]

Have you tried any of this?-
 http://www.talkford.com/topic/99493-fuel-cap-wont-open/

I f you go the WD40 route, it comes with a straw that fits in the nozzle which should make application to the mechanism easier.

Good point, and one of the few bits of kit I actually own.

[kinboshi]

Don't heat it up with a blow-torch.  Just saying.

[outragous76]

careful with WD 40 for deicing - the run off turns to water and refreezes - as does some de-icer

Are you sure that picture represents your fiesta. There is no fuel "cap" per se on that model. Do you mean the "door" cover to access the flap is stuck?

[Kev B]

Don't heat it up with a blow-torch.  Just saying.

 

[sovietsong]

careful with WD 40 for deicing - the run off turns to water and refreezes - as does some de-icer

Are you sure that picture represents your fiesta. There is no fuel "cap" per se on that model. Do you mean the "door" cover to access the flap is stuck?

Needs more love