Red Kite is an electrical company operating in Reading, Caversham, Sonning Common, Woodley and Henley on Thames and the Chilterns generally. Operated by an electrician with the latest City & Guilds qualifications (2377, 2381 & 2391) relevant to the new 17th edition of the wiring regulations. I am an NICEIC Domestic Installer able to self certify my work under Part P of the building regulations. You can find out what this means for householders and DIY electricians at the NIC web site. I am also an experienced and qualified computer engineer so I can deal with your computer problems or set up a home wifi network for you. Orientated around the needs of the domestic market we can take care of all your home and small business electrical and networking needs; |
 Safety advice |
Rewiring | ||
| Wiring extensions |
New Lighting & Down lighters | ||
| Fuse box replacement |
Data networking, and IT advice and installation | ||
| Internal work |
External work | ||
| Inspections and reports |
Boiler control systems | ||
| Solar photovoltaics |
Portable appliance testing |
An old fashioned re-wirable fuse board like the one shown below contains, as the name suggests, fuses. What is a fuse? A thin piece of wire that literally burns away (or ’blows’) if too much electricity passes through it due to a fault, or if the electric devices on a circuit try to draw more electricity than the cable is designed to supply.
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Any burning process is potentially hazardous, even if it works properly. But it is very easy for the wrong grade of fuse wire to be used. If this has been done the fuse may not ’blow’ when it should. This could lead to more electricity passing through the cables than they are designed to use. This causes over heating in the cables. The cables will be damaged, and it increases fire risk. This sort of damage is shown in the picture below.
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A modern consumer unit, like the one here,
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RCD protection video 2 (alright they don't know what rcd stands for but other wise their demos are great-don't try them at home....)
If your cables are in good condition the change to a consumer unit need not involve extensive re-wiring of your property. It can probably be achieved without huge expense or disruption. It may even save expensive re-wiring bills later. It will certainly improve electrical safety. In the meantime, if you can't get your home rcd protected, the very least you should do is buy yourself a plug in rcd -and make sure you use when using electrical equipment outside. If you have any concerns about the state of your fuse board or the wiring in your house, or would like to discuss what getting rcd protection invloves give Red Kite a call for a free no obligation opinion.
Are you interested in reducing your electricity bills? Would you like to help reduce the UK's reliance on power from fossil fuels? Do you have a pitched south or south west facing roof? Would you like to generate power from an environmentally friendly system that has no moving parts, and will last for decades?
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Do you live on Caversham Park Village? Many of the houses on the Village were built when PVC coating for electric cables was new technology. PVC from this era (approximately 1965 to 1971) contains a chemical which, over time, can begin to break down creating an unpleasant and unsightly sticky green substance -known in the electrical trade as green goo. Shown below is a ceiling rose removed during a recent job in a Village house.
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Correctly installed quality fittings can improve the look of a room and add value to a property. But whilst those down lighters in your local DIY shed may be cheap when they end up looking like this,
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you were probably better off sticking with that ceiling rose. And apart from the cosmetic effects there are two more reasons to avoid them;
Changing the bulb
You will be changing the bulbs in your down lighters for many years, and more lamps means more more bulbs, so it will be a frequent task. Cheap downlighters come with spring clips to hold the bulb in place. You need nimble fingers to remove them and sometimes they fly off across the room when you try and get them out. Sometimes they break too. A missing spring clip is why the bulb in the fitting shown above is hanging at that interesting angle.
Fire safety
Often over looked, but by far the most important reason to avoid those shed bargains. However chic down lighters are they involve cutting holes in your ceiling plaster. Plaster is very good at delaying the spread of fire -but not when its full of holes! But quality fittings like the one shown below contain a fire safety barrier that will seal the gap should a fire break out in your lounge when you are asleep upstairs.
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And the bulbs are held in place with a permanently fitted spring, retained by a screw cap that can be turned easily -even by those whose fingers are not as nimble as they used to be. Red Kite can supply and fit these quality fittings using the latest laser light technology -to ensure that they are all in a straight line!