10 Mistakes EVERYONE Makes When Doing DIY Electrics!💥

DIY Electrics can be DEADLY - so in this video we reveal 10 things that lots of DIY'ers do with electrics that are SUPER DANGEROUS. If you're a DIYer and you're ever in doubt about how to do some electrical work in a safe way, just call a qualified electrician! What's the worst DIY mistake you've ever come across?

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⏱️Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction
00:23 - DIY mistake 1 - A big NO
01:50 - DIY mistake 2 - Classic mistake
02:22 - DIY mistake 3 - This is a problem
04:17 - DIY mistake 4 - Be careful with this one
05:52 - DIY mistake 5 - Get the correct cable for the job
06:10 - DIY mistake 6 - Don’t make such a MESS!
06:40 - DIY mistake 7 - BIG risks
07:20 - DIY mistake 8 - Very common mistake
08:22 - DIY mistake 9 - Stripping back the wire way too far
09:37 - DIY mistake 10 - This could lead to a FIRE

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[petermorris]

Makes me want to do a video about the mistakes I've discovered done by qualified electricians on houses I have purchased over the years!

[SpeederXL]

Fun stuff and so typical mistakes for many DIYers.
But the wound up extention cord running hot, has nothing to do with inductance. It simply the resistance of the cable that cause it to heat up - but being rolled up like a coil, the heat can not escape from the cable very easy (compared to if the cable is rolled out), so the temperature rise quite a lot
As the resistance of copper also goes up by the temperature, this causes it heat up even more in a sort of thermal runaway. This can cause the coil of cable to get toasty, very quickly.

[robhills]

The heat produced in a wound up extension lead is NOT caused by induction. It is caused by conductor resistance and lack of cooling.

[grahamelvis]

Extension leads - Inductance is not the problem, it's the resistance that creates heat. Cable is rated for a situation where air can circulate around it. Winding it onto a reel adds insultation so the copper temperature rises.

[andreasbentz]

Another vital step for #7: Check your circuit testing device for proper operation before you rely on it....

[cjs]

One other thing not mentioned, but something I've not seen done in a fair number of outdoor DIY cabling setups are Drip Loops. Instead you tend to see cables running straight down a wall, right into a junction box with nowhere for the water to go!

[BenHorton]

Wow so that was wrong squared. The induction was not the problem on the extension cord
It was simply the thermal resistance of the cable to air.

[Aspie_Geek_UK]

I'm in my 50's and did a 5 year apprenticeship as an Electronics Technician when I left school. I then became good friends with an Electrician who over the years taught me a lot about household electrical wiring etc. As a result I feel that I'm relatively competent as a DIYer and myself have seem some hacks that were so dangerous I physically shuddered at them. Every bit of work I've ever done on my house electrics, I have an electrician come out and check it. When I built my workshop in the garden 20' x 10', I fitted a 20 socket ring main and 12 light ring. I ran the Armour cable to the CU and had an electrician come check it and connect it up. He said he had no qualms with connecting it and certifying it as the job was good. My point isn't to "big up" my skills and knowledge, but to point out that not all DIYers are terrible, some of us actually go out of our way to make sure we do a good job because we realise that our lives and the lives of our families are very much on the line.

[AlanTheBeast]

Coiled extension has current running in opposite directions (hot ("live") out, neutral back) so induction is cancelled out.
It's simply that with enough current the cable heats and because it's coiled the heat isn't dissipated as it would be on an uncoiled line.

[paulgrep]

Electricians trade is like no other for slagging off everybody else's work except their

[steveb]

Speak for yourself, don’t keep denigrating DIYers who know what they are doing and do better than some of the cowboy electricians that are out there.
As a DIY er I’ve improved the appalling wiring (probably done by the builder who built his own house) in our 1970s house. Single ring for an entire 3bed detached house including immersion as a spur off the ring. It had lots of wire nuts and twisted connections! Borrowed neutrals.
I’d just go read BS7671 and the on site guide and do it properly. Added separate radial for the immersion, which is no longer used but it supplies power to the loft for the digital shower and axial fan, I split the single ring into two rings (proper and continuous), re wired the kitchen, garage and boiler house.
They used to stock the IEE wiring regs in WH Smith’s in town, I used to go read and memorise before doing work.
Only thing I’ve lacked over the years is a MFT. But subsequent PIRs (EICR for the youngsters) have shown the installation to be sound including the fixed borrowed neutrals.
Did have reputable a local spark in to change the CU to full RCBO board 14 years ago and recently had spark in to replace the RCBOs and main switch but kept the enclosure.
Not paying Artisan prices to do something I can do myself to a proper standard!

[sebastiena]

Some of those DIY fails like clipping I've also seen from "professionals" trying to rush a job :)

[Ian-xqrt]

As a DIYer, after seeing this, I feel very competent in my work. I use a very old and reliable Fluke multimeter for various tests, would never dream of all the things you've covered here so I must be in the 'safe' zone (although I have electrocuted myself twice but isn't that to be expected, the first time was as a young child with poking wire in a socket🤣).

After visiting my loft, I can say that it's a mess, clearly the electrician wasn't to our standards.

I have a 10 meter EV charger cable which I always unwind regardless how close the car is, just to me, common sense.

[andyb]

Another common mistake is pushing the wire too far into the terminal so that the screw is tightened onto the outer insulation of the wire rather than the copper, thus no connection. Particularly bad if done to the earth.

[DIEMLtdTV]

As the legendary oil rig fire fighter Red Adair said “If you think that hiring professionals is expensive, try hiring amateurs.”

[okaro]

The cord is not about induction but simply resistance. When it is wound up it cannot dissipate heat and cool. Once it heats up the resistance increases and it heats even more.

All those thermal protections, as well as fuses and circuit breakers are in case an overload happens. They are not some permission to load as much you can and rely on them to cut.

[foogod]

Good call out with the coiled-up extension lead. That is something I don't see enough people talk about, to be honest. (As others have pointed out, it's not actually about induction, it's actually just about not having enough airflow to properly cool the wire, but the main point is still a good one.) And yeah, you had a pretty nice one there with a thermal cutout and everything, but a lot of them don't have that. It doesn't even have to be one of the really long ones with their own carrying spool like that one was, just a plain extension wire that somebody has left coiled up in a loop sitting on the ground can get a lot hotter than it's supposed to if a decent amount of power is pulled through it.

And the reason you don't want extra exposed conductors even inside a box is because sure, it works _now_ but then later somebody comes on and moves something around and something falls on one of them or one of them gets pushed into something else and all of a sudden you've got a dangerous short. It's not just about getting things to work right at that moment, it's also about making sure they won't go horribly wrong somewhere down the line, too.

Oh, and with the screw terminals, one other important point, IMHO: *Always tighten them twice.* Screw them down initially, then move the rest of your wires around, get everything properly in place, and get ready to button the whole thing back up, and then go around and _make sure all the screw terminals are still tight._ It's amazing how often they can become loose just from moving stuff around after you've initially tightened them (part of the reason I much prefer other types of connectors like the WAGOs when they're an option).

[mufuliramark]

I’m a diy enthusiast and became one so many years ago because of what I saw ‘professionals’ do. Poor quality of work was the main reason but also the cost. Over 40 years I have become a jack of all trades, who has high standards way above what some contractors have. Just look at the quality of work put into new builds…. Shocking.

[HAGER]

The whole plugging extension inti extension doesnt really apply here thats why the fuse exists. its actually quite hard to overload ive tried just out of interest. Now all these are common sense i genuinely dont get how people think any of this is ok. Ive seen people do it and my mind just cant comprehend how they think its safe.

[johnh]

It's not inductance that overheats the extension lead as the fields will cancel from live and neutral carrying currents in opposite directions - it's a lack of thermal conduction to circulating air of which three is none when it's tightly wound.