@@stuartcraigon2003 I agree, that's how it should be, but in reality we have BT engineers, gas engineers, even guys that deliver and fit household appliances are called "engineers" 😉

​@stuartcraigon2003 no, there is absolutely no legal protection for "engineer" terminology in the UK. In other countries, e.g. Germany, there is.

Bout The Royal Engineers?

@@suzyqualcast6269 military engineering is highly respectful entity on its own for sure

I'm a building engineer. But more in the sense that Geordi LaForge is an engineer. I don't hold a degree but I have 20 years of experience doing trades work. I'd never claim to be anything other than a building engineer however because of the lack of degree.

I'm a qualified spark but I work mostly on fire alarms and I cringe when others refer to themselves as Fire Alarm Engineers". Technicians, we are technicians

Lots of US states have laws that prevent the frivolous use of the term "engineer." You must be a licensed professional engineer before calling yourself such.

a "fitter" is not a job for numpties and requires an apprenticeship

They aren’t meter engineers. They’re technicians. Halfords garages don’t have mechanics, they have vehicle technicians and the list goes on.

​@geoffh1 I don't have a PE but do have a degree and my job title is electrical engineer. That being said, my feelings of inadequacy make me hesitant to call myself such. 😂 I have heard that though. I think it's probably most important in civil. I even sign prints or I'd say that would be the one thing you can't do without a PE.

Your mate was telling porkies then if he said he was trained in 2 weeks 😂😂😂

Why would a meter fitter remove earth bonding clamps ?

Your friend I’m afraid is a liar

Grassed! No mate, you prevented a serious incident. Its this kind of incompetence and stupidity that needs called out.

@@stuartcraigon2003 exactly.

Quite true, but then it was a Nationalised and not profit driven mess it is now .Our swear word is ,"Thatcher" 😊

'Time served' is a much miss-used term these days. It used to mean that a recognised indentured apprenticeship had been completed, leading to qualification. Now, it mostly means 'I've been doing this job for ages, Mate.'

@@terencejay8845Sadly so and lots of 🤠have the wrong kind of "time served".

I'm a meter fitter. The standard of work even 10 years ago was horrific. The installs I pull out from the pre 2000s are always a mess with exposed lives etc.

@Priza25 it all started after the regional boards were privatised. Late 80s early 90s As an Electrical Inspector I've generally found the standard dropped considerably from 1995 to 2010. There's many different reasons for this sadly. Lack of proper apprenticeships and profit being certainly major driving forces for this

It's not about being scared of 3 phase I bet he wasn't 3 phased trained and just thought it was a multi rate meter which can look identical and didn't realise until he was too far in unfortunately the supplier's information is often lacking and rather than miss an appointment or call the customer they will send an engineer who can't work on the job but gather info and rebook the job, but to cut the seals before working out if you can start the job and then to leave it unsealed is poor

@@gavin1834 It does say "Polyphase Energy Meter" right on the top. And there's L1, L2, L3 lines. I'm not an electrician at all but I could tell you it's 3-phase. It says "3 x 230 / 400V" by the CE mark toward the bottom too. Three dead giveaways, if I didn't know how to wire 3-phase (and I don't, not being an electrician) I'd walk away without touching it, at least I wouldn't have done any harm.

Absolute nonsense the meter engineer was completely correct, there is no way to isolate the board which meant he would likely pull and install all three fuses on load , dangerous to him and all the appliances etc fed from the board, only issue is he should have resealed the meter and cutout. I am a Mocopa Instructor.

It's 3 phase and it's also a black cut-out. It would be a bit different if it was single phase because less power means less risk. Pulling fuses is a risk within itself especially that amount of power without safe isolation

Just hand your qualifications back in and retire ... u have no clue

No one starts installing meters after only a weeks course 😂 nice story tho

@@bmurdoch85 not a story, this was in 2018 so might be different now. You’re obviously a meter installer and you might have done it differently. But I know what I saw and even asked the lecturer at the college soooo 🤪

@@Beariam24 my point is you made out people arrived on a Monday and by a Friday were qualified to fit meters. Unless they were qualified already and that was their induction it’s not physically possibly. The ACS for gas safe alone takes a week..

@@bmurdoch85 wasn’t gas it was electric

@@Beariam24 DCET/Focus?

It’s perfectly legal to connect a 2.5mm directly to the incomer provided it is adequately protected before any loads are connected, absolutely not the way I would do it but its in accordance with the regs, well maybe not at this distance but over a short distance it is.

Energy suppliers are not responsible for DIYers electrics. The 2.5mm was there before the smart meter installer turned up and therefore he left it safer by installing a double pole isolator.

Think they're 'top jobs'

They even have them for 150mm2 cables, we have one of this terminals in school for show. Its the size of my hand

Stick with Henley Blocks.

​@@derekferguson385screw terminals can vibrate loose causing arcing.

@@T_Perkins yeah they're basically garbage. Plastic junk you can't torque with a screw clamp with the brass barrel. plastic connectors would never work in America UL standards

Thank you.

A front end RCD? That is an isolator as it is double pole. The French use an RCBO as an isolator.

As a genuine, worked my balls of a Tech College, Technician I find the misuse of the title Technician about as annoying as Engineers who suffer the same ignomy when hearing about washing machine 'engineers'.

How do you reverse the polarity of an AC system?

@@mikelucinder3284 line and neutral reversal. In the UK the neutral is often tied to the circuit protective conductor so, whilst the electrical load won't see any difference there are safety implications especially when you consider single pole switching. UK/EU regs regard both legs, line and neutral, as 'hot' and refer to them as phase conductors.

@@davidquirk8097 Doesn't change the polarity though does it.

​@@mikelucinder3284not in any tangible way, but it does (at all other moments but zero crossing, anyway). The above responses are the important ones.

A lot of the big companies use contractors with varying levels of skill. Doesn’t fill you with much confidence knowing that your smart meter install _might_ be bodged.

@@joshuatk59 Using less skilled people to mount meters can be dangerous. If they do not tighten the terminals screw enough, the meter can catch fire. Certainly with the 1 phase installations that are still common in the Anglosaxon world. Some meters come with a sticker that "screws must be tightened to xx nM."

@@joshuatk59Simple don’t get a smart meter ,no body needs one or has to have one fitted .

Dig deeper, Octopus Group are actively involved with the backdoor privatisation of the NHS and even have a lord on their board actively advising them how to go about it. NOT a good company!

​@@maskedavenger2578they never stop the harassing letters and emails about them until you do though.

Is English not your first language?

@uncled39 are your feelings hurt little boy?

Yes, but what does that have to do with whatever this guy is saying? Did he have a point or was he just saying random words?

​@@snorman1911was he speaking cockney slang or are we just dumb? Dafuq. 🙂

😂 some slang, some accent, combined with no context on what is going on, and I really dont know what he's trying to say. ​@rooma2444

Yep. It's like all the "Another shop...." stories on mechanic/auto related channels. Evidently no mechanic anywhere ever has forgotten something as simple as an oil drain plug or otherwise botched a job due to negligence, oversight, or basic incompetence lol. Clearly it has to be the owner who screwed up and doesn't want to fess up. Clearly.

😂sometimes maybe good...sometimes maybe bad😅

Watt are the chances eh. Shocking I say

Thats a load of rubbish alot of the engineers have been dual fuel trained for 14+ years and fully experienced on both fuels

I’ve been out to investigate issues in the industry and find there’s a huge lack of skills in the gas industry. Gaining your ticket these days is a pay your fee and get your ticket. I’ve seen some terrible things over the past few years and there only getting worse. The metering roll out has only made this worse. Some engineers can’t even carry out basic checks. How they passed in a training centre. I will never know.

Yeah I bet. He was probably a bit nervous turning up at a job like that. Then not being used to three phase. Oh dear. If my mental health hadn't been ruined by my last career, I wouldn't mind training as an electrician.

It looks like double insulated meter tails which would be okay

@@conorlanders8401 I would still have the gland made off into a structure rather than have the gland hanging like they have done. Also i still would enclose as much of the exposed tails as possible. It would look better, more professional.

I've never met an electrician who went and became a meter installer lol

​@@christophergallagher3845why would they? It's going backwards

@@Thegardener87 exactly

The guy who came to fit my meters took one look at my gas meter which is admittedly is installed in a stupid place by British gas and just said it couldn’t be done!

I had an emergency call out for a regular customer because the metre installer had said there was a dangerous situation with the meter tails. I got there, and the dangerous situation was he didn't know which conductor was which to prove dead because the tails weren't colour coded 🤦. He looked baffled when I showed him the line was simply the one with voltage to earth when energised and the even bigger clue is the one that runs through the fuse when you trace it back to the source. I'm not s a jobsworth or a grass and try to help people and teach them when possible, but someone who doesn't even know the basics of Safe Isoliton shouldn't be working on main cutouts. He left the best until last as I had to stay and babysit the 'competent' engineer whose version of a polarity test was to plug in a martindale socket tester 😂.

I had a consumer unit replacement done a while ago due to a fire (apparently in the 80's it was ok to frame them in wood...) took one look in the meter cab cleaned it up and fitted an iso for no charge stating he'd send the bill for that to british gas (my supplier at the time) as he was a sub contractor for them and they'd save money not having to send out another person to bring it to code.

Octopus energy taking notes from boeing 737 and legacybox.

No your not because they own the meter, it's their equipment and removal is theft and illegal.

Go to the ombudsman

The wago connectors are effectively the same as a Henley or Lucy block remove it and put an isolator in its place

@@jackwayne2547meter fitters aren’t allowed into wagos because we’re not sparks, but considering he cut the seals and fucked off im surprised he didn’t just swap it for a iso, would’ve been a easy job

If it's anything like my place you need photos before and after. I reckon he was probably concerned that he couldn't check for tightness after manipulating the outgoing tails.

Tune in tonight

@@efixx Will do

If you can chase up our meter replacement. We are still waiting.,

No one would, but British Gas is the name of a company that offers gas and electricity so even their electricians are known as British Gas engineers.

They literally put the spark into being a sparky.

In Switzerland and in the Netherlands, the cut-out fuses are not sealed and can be removed by anyone. Replacing a meter must be done by the DNO, as the connection cover must be sealed and the new serial number entered in the meter reading system.

Gas engineers are not engineers. Their education puts them into the category of technician, not engineer.

@@deang5622 Not taking about gas engineers I’m commenting on meter fixers

@@BerlietGBC Yes, and they are not engineers either. They are technicians. It is quite common for technicians to refer to themselves as engineers, a bit of wishful thinking on their part. But I think electricians do tend to avoid it because they know there are engineers above them in the electrical profession.

Unfortunately engineer isnt a protected term, so anyone can call themselves an engineer. Personally since the industry role they work under is a meter operator, metering operative is a perfectly acceptable term. I generally dont like refering to anyone without a degree in an engineering field as an engineer.

@@branbroken It's crazy. In the UK the job title of solicitor is protected, so the concept does exist here. In France, engineer is protected. It shows how little regard the government (and successive governments over the years) have for engineers. Probably because most politicians are lawyers and don't really have a clue what engineering is about.

BS you can get a back feed especially in flats which may have looped supply via the N return.

That sounds pretty crap and a little dangerous to me. Thanks for the heads up though

Same with EDF they couldn't get to locked fuse box they told to phone the council to unlock it. Absolutely ridiculous why don't you have a key your the electricia?

@@CommanderJ135 because councils now lock the intakes with their own locks (especially in London) you have to arrange for the maintenance team to come and unlock the doors and relock them after the works been carried out.

Direct OES meter installers are issued torque drivers and have to take pictures to prove they’ve used them on every installation. T OE are one of the only energy companies to issue them to staff.

@@picklyplum I wonder if that’s after I complained about it? That was my recommendation to them

@@TheAviation101 it’s been that way for the past 2 years.

@@picklyplum that’s roughly when I got my isolator installed by octopus for safe isolation

That requires training and common sense. Clearly lacking in both.

Because that doesn't achieve isolation. You might argue that it proves isolation if the reading is zero volts but technically if he or anyone else has done nothing to perform isolation somewhere, then zero volts could be the DNO cutting the power somewhere else, and way out of sight, and they could turn it back on whilst the electrician is working on the installation. Or it could be an HV fault. We had that where I live a few months ago Ok, a small chance of that, but the safest action is for the electrician or someone to perform an action to isolate the supply and for that GS38 volt meter to be tested against the installation before and after that isolation action so the electrician can definitely see the power being removed from the installation.

Don’t know probably because it was Monday.

@efixx I mean he got a point.. 😆

Indeed... Can't possibly do something as simple as put together a day or 2 training course for already competent electricians to take and register for doing this work themselves. Only their own lazy window-licking muppets are fit to carry out the work!

Or was a complete tool?

@@dougsaunders8109 Maybe he forgot his Part 2 PPE

A tool still needed to reach live parts, so not unsafe. Just unsecure against tampering.

@@alistair1978utubehow is a tool needed to pull out one of the cutout fuse carriers?

@@sinista.productionsthat’s the case on all British inputs, the live side is always live no matter what.

We are just confused - guy just vanished without a word and we don't have a clue if they are coming back.

I guess there is the back feed worry of solar etc these days

Consider alternate sources of energy like Solar PV or PEN fault. Or it was just any excuse

​@@AndyK.1They are trained to isolate consumer unit at main switch and ask about and isolate solar etc. Guy was obviously not clued up on 3 phase or summet and left 😂

Not uncommon. Even in germany where 3-phase is standard, the feeds from the main busbars (where the Selective RCBO and Type1 SPD are sitting) to the meter and from the meter to the cutout or upper connection panel are usually single color with etched or labled on L1/2/3 identification. Even in the main distribution its usually black or brown for the three pases, since its all covered up anyway and only after the circtuit protective devices phase color matters. But a proper install always has L1/L2/L3 in the proper right field orientation on multigang devices. Any three phase circuit has to be tested for proper rotation, anyhow.

🤭

@@efixx 😉😏

Exactly. Pointless excuse. Anything from the meter is not anyone's business, simple is that.

It's a 3phase meter, there's a lot more to it than "just pulling" a fuse and checking for dead....phase rotation, phase voltage, line voltage, backfeed, dropped phases...these are but a few checks

@@chazzlebazzle69 easy job all cables marked up l1 l2 l3 few easy tests , piece of 🥧. Not for octopus guy obviously

@@LordLorenzo834 necessary tests, and yes easy if you have the know how

I think he was maybe more concerned with confirming tightness on the customer side after manipulating the cables

Double insulated single cables? (e.g. 6183Y or 6181Y?)

I saw that, and isn't 5he incoming neutral single insulated?

That is not a house.

1 day a week is the equivalent of a 10 month FT course

@@PepeLePewPew-qy3en sorry, it's not clear what you are saying, or a poor attempt at some kind of sarcasm

I have seen this several times. Electrician arrives and sees 3 phases and off he goes...

I've had a couple come and say there's "no room" for the new smart meter... which is smaller than the current one and there's slack on the tails so they could move it inside the box. Honestly I think it's because they didn't want to have to wire in the Solar cells and Charging port. I do however have some choice words for my solar fitter who put the Solar isolation breakers in the meter box rather than adding a box beside it.

It's simply in place of Henley blocks. If you go straight into the meter you'd have to cut the DNOs seals. And you'd also have to phone them every time you wanted to isolate your supply.