Electrics & Plumbing - What Am I Allowed To Do?

[juan]

Well this one is definately going to draw a lot of replies.

As an electrician I would naturally advise do any thing that does not involve connecting wires. OK to change the light bulbs.

Plumbing well that is of interest to me too. I rang the Office of the Technical Regulator on four occassions to clarify what I could and could not do as I like to play by the rules. I got replies like.. "not sure" "I will have to ask someone else" "Do u mind holding they should be back soon" "Could u ring back later" "U can not do anything I think" "U can connect cold water only" "U can connect cold water if it is less than 25mm pipe and not connected to hot water" "I will get someone to ring u back" That was 3 weeks ago and I am still waiting for them to ring back.

I paid a plumber to install a new sewer, gas main and water main and am still fighting for a Certificate of Compliance 2 weeks later despite asking for it on 2 occassions. Interestingly this was a large job with 50m of trenches and located quite near their office but they did not attend despite an inspection being booked by the plumber. Mind you it was a Friday arvo.

Good luck and if you find out anything on plumbing let me know because the Office of the Technical Regulator has not got a smick.

[silentC]

And your 'Yes' reply to my plumbing question. So I'm not allowed to fit a new bathroom suite? Or a kitchen sink? A plumber has to do it Is that what you're saying? Even if I use the existing connections?

It doesn't seem to be as clear cut for plumbing as it is for electrical. I know that plumbing is also a protected trade, in as much as you can't do it in a commercial situation without a license. I'm not sure exactly what you can and can't do in your own home though, although I'm pretty certain that you would not be allowed to connect anything to the sewer, gas or water mains without a ticket.

I've heard people say you're not allowed to change a tap washer. That to me would be a bit over the top but, as I say I'm not sure. I had a brief look for the legislation but couldn't find anything relating to householders that would be similar to the Electricity Act that we have in NSW.

[DavidG]

Pass me another slice of pizza please.....

[zeroseven]

Sounds like I might need to make a few phones calls then to find out. Had the plumber around yesterday to fit a new pressure release valve on our hot water tank. Just been outside to check it and it's dripping where he connected it to the tank.

So I pay $200 for the professional to come round to fix it in 10 minutes and he can't even get that right. And soon I'll have to open my house up to other professionals, I just can't wait.

[chrisp]

it's dripping where he connected it to the tank.

It takes years of training and experience to make it drip just so...

[zeroseven]

It takes years of training and experience to make it drip just so...

Just rang them, they're not sorry, but they are coming back to sort it. I don't think it's the training or experience, it's the 14kms of tape he put around it before tightening it up. "Just a bit of tape" he said, 15 minutes later he was still winding the tape around.

[jags]

i love this topic .....the argument has so many holes in it insurance companies must be loving it .
"sorry sir we believe that the person before the person before you that brought the house you now own or should i say did own before it burnt down installed the points himself and as a result 10 year down the track (now) it has shorted and burnt your house down so we are not paying .''

I feel if you know what you are doing do it ,if not get somebody that does or do what i do work around the problem ....see pic .. screw paying $3000 to remove the wall and then on top of that having to get a plumber in to disconected the water and a sparky in to disconect the power ...


Rob

[silentC]

I feel if you know what you are doing do it ,if not get somebody that does or do what i do work around the problem ....see pic .. screw paying $3000 to remove the wall and then on top of that having to get a plumber in to disconected the water and a sparky in to disconect the power ...

Go for your life, mate. No-one is stopping you. Good luck with it.

Just a question though. How do you know that you know what you are doing?

[Ruddigar]

Is there any garlic bread left?

[chrisp]

How do you know that you know what you are doing?

How does any one? Seems this one is a bit of a paradox to me - there is always more to know.

[silentC]

Sorry, I was being a bit facetious. Spending too much time arguing on other threads.

I guess there are people around who think they know, and others who really do. The only way to know you know is to have the bit of paper I suppose, although that doesn't necessarily prove much, but I suppose it's better than open slather. Isn't it?

[jags]

<TABLE class=tborder style="BORDER-TOP- 0px" cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR title="Post 557931" vAlign=top><TD class=alt2>Just a question though. How do you know that you know what you are doing?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=thead colSpan=2>2nd Aug 2007 01:58 PM</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

i think you confused my point ..

But it's called learning the same reason you go to school the same reason tradies do an appreticeship . That 's how i know what i know . If a sparky or plumber comes and does a job and i think that in the future i could do that then i will watch and ask him question about how he did it .

i think if you ask all the people on this forum how they learnt the answer will be the same ...

if you look at the pic i attached i have not touched the water or light switch . hens knowing what i don't know .

The trouble starts by not knowing what you don't know ..

rob

[silentC]

I don't want to get into all this again. There's another thread on here that goes into great detail on all this. I'll leave it up to you whether you read it or not...

[JDarvall]

just be aware that what you are doing is illegal and if someone dobs you in, you will cop a fine and have to pay a sparky to certify/fix what you have done.

oh, get real banana peal. . Like to read the stats on that.

I won't do something(and get a pro instead), not because of some kind of completely unrealistic chance of getting caught, but because of a good chance I might stuff it up.

[MrFixIt]

Hi

I love this subject too

Essentially, in Australia you are not allowed to do ANYTHING if you don't have a license.

In the UK things are quite different, maybe they think that home owners have a few brains! (I came from Liverpool UK) 44 years ago, aged 14. At that age I had already changed some electrical plugs/fittings for my dad.

I have NOT stopped since. As I have stated in previous posts elsewhere in this forum, if I feel comfortable about doing the job, whatever it is, I do it myself. After sooo many years of DIY'ing and learning soo much about different trades most of the general DIY around the home is simple.

So, IMHO, if you have the experience then do it. IF you need a little knowledge, like how close to a sink can you put a powerpoint then ask, BUT IMHO if you NEED to ask such a question then maybe you're just not quite cut out to do the work as most of this is common sense stuff.

I have done all my own plumbing and electrical work for years. Do it correctly and there are no problems.