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Ben Smith, Electrician: Posted on Wednesday, November 02, 2011 4:00 PM
 ''Electrical accidents in the home and in the garden happen more than you would realise. All too often I walk in to a home to carry out a periodic inspection on an older property only to find an instant fail because the consumer unit is out of date and ther are no RCDS's fitted, a standard requirement now for every home. But these are preventable, and I'm here to tell you how''.... At this point, you may be asking yourself 'What is an RCD?'. Well, it's a life saving device designed to prevent you getting a fatal electric shock if you touch something live, such as a bare wire. It's a level of personal protection that ordinary fuses and circuit breakers cannot provide. If you are worried about your own home and family and whether you are protected, then go to your consumer unit and check whether you have built-in RCD protection. You need to look for devices with a push buttonmarked 'T' or 'Test', and a label stating 'Test Quarterly'. If you see them, it's likely you are already RCD protected. If however you are missing these buttons, or simply want to be reassured then call us today. A new consumer unit through us doesn't cost as much as you might think - we are running a special offer until the end of 2011 - check out our special offer pages for costs and more info. And remember kids, stay safe out there. Call in the professionals, don't try and fix anything yourself that you are unsure about! Ben |
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Ben Smith: Posted on Monday, February 07, 2011 12:50 PM
 Of course we all dream of a world where energy is free and unlimited. Its not an advert we see on TV like the ones major phone companies promote, and a lot of the time if we do see an advert from one of the major energy suppliers, we remain skeptical, just like we would if someone offered a free monthly rental contract, with an iPhone included and £100 cash back among the trimmings for switching suppliers. The simple fact is that as the mined resources dry-up we will have to look for new ways to run our homes and business on. Ideally, there would be wind turbines springing up on every hill and mountain as far as the eye can see - gleeming in all their green glory, sweeping giant circles and filling our money pots with the pennies we didn't have to throw in the direction of the electric or gas meter. Sometimes your hear about communities clubbing together to purchase their own wind turbine and sell the electricity back to the suppliers. I know that I am not part of one of these extremely pro-active communities, and I wish I had the time to look in to these options - which is what i suspect most of you feel momentarily when you hear of such a story on your local radio or TV News station. I also know that I never seem to qualify for these schemes to activate solar panels on the roof of my home - I am not 'South-facing' at the reverse of the house or the grant the government had been offering to people has just run out. I'd love to know if anyone has done this by the way! Ok, it probably wouldn't cover the full cost of running an average home.... but it's all 'hope', isn't it? Take Electric Cars as an example... Wouldn't it be great if someone would just hurry up and invent one that actually stood a chance of competing against the ones we have grown accustomed to - 0-60 in 6.4 seconds, and charging the battery once a week not once a mile would suit me just fine thank you - Ooooh - and a scrappage scheme of 'like for like', well, er, where do I sign??? - wouldn't we all do it, hmm? Truth is, we all have our part to play in acting responsibly with fuel and energy consumption. It's up to us to work together to change our ways and yes, expect to pay out now for a new way of life that will pay itself back in the long-run. We do live in hope - take heat source pumps for example. And opting for underfloor heating, drained from the heat to the ground reclaimed from our back yards, underground... and smaller turbines, designed for individual turbines, to power perhaps the lighting in the home. And as a really small, but financially beneficial change - start using LED lighting in the home. It costs more initially, but within time, it pays for itself. We can manage our own homes with these resources, and, ok - it may cost as much as that new extension we would all like, but it's time to re-evaluate how best to spend our savings and improve our homes as assets. Are these changes the assets of our future? I like to think that if I made my home virtually self-sufficient, that I would have added a sizeable amount to it's value. Perhaps the banks when lending would take this in to consideration? Note to self... ask the bank manager! Maybe this reward is our incentive to look at being more energy conscious and open to ideas, and ensuring that in the end - we make a better life, for if we can implement this 'hope' now, our children and our children's children will have that hope for their future too. |
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