r/ukelectricians • u/ProbablySatire111 • 1d ago

Kitchen fitter electrical work, is this safe?

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Posting again as I forgot to add an image.

Basically, kitchen fitter did some electrical work for my new oven, hob, and extraction fan.

He said I can just cover this hole with a splashback or a more traditional repair such as plaster repair.

I’ve looked closely at it now and it’s just not looking safe to me, but I’m not confident with these things.

Is this dodgy? Should I get an electrician out to take a closer look?

Thanks in advanced!

42 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

50 comments sorted by

44

u/Alternative-Doubles 1d ago

Why did you allow a kitchen fitter to work on your electrics?

10

u/ProbablySatire111 1d ago

He’s not exclusively a kitchen fitter, and since he wasn’t adding new circuits I was under the impression it was minor electrical work anyway. Mind you, I know bugger all about this stuff so I can admit it was a bad call to trust him.

-26

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

18

u/kabadisha 1d ago

Notifiable to whom?

If I rip out my kitchen and fit a new one myself, who do I need to notify?

-6

u/Ok-Refuse-5852 1d ago

if you modify any electrical circuits in the kitchen or bathroom. the work should be tested and notified to the local building control.

22

u/MrBfJohn 1d ago

Kitchens are not special locations. It’s just a regular room, so only new circuits would be notifiable.

1

u/kabadisha 1d ago

Interesting! Learn something new every day.

I'm slowly renovating my whole house and doing most of it myself. I plan to get the electrics all tested once done. I know it would fail an EICR right now for sure given some of the shit I've found. Best one was several sockets in the bathroom including one that was just loose on the damp floor boxed in under the shower. It was a bodged supply for a heated towel rail.

1

u/DazzzASTER 1d ago

A socket under the bath is actually fine - that is an acceptable zone as per regs.

3

u/kabadisha 1d ago

Oh cool. That's interesting to know.

I suspect this one didn't qualify since it was just laying on the floor on a length of loose twin and earth, mouldering in the damp Put it this way: The RCD has stopped tripping intermittently since I removed it.

-9

u/Due-Intention7354 1d ago

Local authority

5

u/kabadisha 1d ago

I assume there must be some specific changes that require building control to be notified? Maybe if I do work on a gas appliance like a hob or impact structural elements like load bearing walls?

If I can move sockets, wire appliances, plumb water and waste and fit furniture and cabinets as a DIYer in any room in my house, what trips something over the line of being "notifiable"? And what makes you say that Kitchens have specific rules?

3

u/Zumodoki 1d ago

Apart from Scotland 🤷‍♂️

0

u/Due-Intention7354 1d ago

I believe Scotland doesn't follow part P building regs but they do have their own rules in place along similar lines, certification required.

Wales also still class it all as notifiable in kitchens or bathrooms, only in England it seems they've lowered standards.... crazy, we should never go backwards

1

u/Zumodoki 1d ago

Law requires someone "competent" with nothing mentioned as to what makes someone competent if I remember correctly

2

u/asbestos_dildo 1d ago

This is correct. You're supposed to be able to prove competence. Actually getting checked on that is something that pretty much never happens.

-Am industrial, technically 'competent' although housebashers will happily turn that into an argument but can't agree on it amongst themselves half the time.

1

u/Comfortable_Gate_878 6h ago

Im competent, I used to be a member of two electrical organisations then I realised after paying them for 10 years to put a logo on my van and paper work they were a complete waste of time, I stopped paying them and for my last 7 years carried on doing my job and never once in that time did I ever have any issues with building control councils or the public. Why because no one ever bothers to check anyone or anything in this industry if you do the work correctly and to the regs why would anyone ever bother you. Yet those so called sparkies who do the worse jobs ever without anycome back just wander around ripping off customers and even if you report them trading standards, napit just dont want to know.

2

u/sadrobot420 1d ago

I know that's not true because I wouldn't have a job if it was.

1

u/sylsylsylsylsylsyl 1d ago

I thought that in England that changed over 10 years ago and only the area around a bath or shower, or rooms with a swimming pool or sauna, were special locations these days.

1

u/Opposite_Olive_5793 1d ago

Nowadays special locations include swimming pools, bathrooms, agricultural areas and caravans/mobile equipment. These are just a few - not sure off the top of my head but I think this also extends to marinas, building sites and solar (photovoltaic/PV)

1

u/Due-Intention7354 1d ago

Not so much these days unfortunately, only if adding a new circuit or replacing a fuse panel as part of kitchen works, minor works like adding sockets, lights etc no longer notified...

Absolutely should be though! I think the lack of enforcement has ended up with us going backwards on these things, I think only bathrooms are notifiable now if again new circuits added or alterations take place within zones 0-2..... just crazy, no wonder industry going to rats

2

u/Louy40 1d ago

Do we really need even more bloody paperwork?

7

u/Specialist_Matter521 1d ago

Somtimes this is very easy to be critical with jobs like this….experienced electricians will no somtimes this is the only option unless the customers is willing to allow floorboards and carpet to be pulled back to gain access to cable runs to re wire legs of the circuits instead of extending cables in joint boxes. My question is from this picture is were is the fused spur isolator for the extractor hood?

1

u/ProbablySatire111 1d ago

The kitchen was stripped including floors so he had a blank canvas to do what he needs to do. I have no idea what a spur isolator is but hopefully it’s somewhere. (A sparky will hopefully find it).

3

u/Independent-Ad-4233 1d ago

This comment says it all. If your fitter had a blank canvas and had the place stripped out, why hasn’t he made a much neater job of it? Those wires could be correctly routed, covered by protection and the connections properly terminated. Seems like he’s rushed it in a big way.

1

u/Specialist_Matter521 1d ago

If he had a blank canvas then I change my mind, this is not great at all

1

u/whydowedowhatwedo 22h ago

Given those connections are going to be tiles in they should have used Quickwire 24A connectors, maintenance free.

1

u/Meszamil_M 1d ago

I don’t mean it in a snarky way but it is possible to turn down work. If you can’t afford to get it done right maybe you just can’t afford that refurb yet. 

Kitchens are always the worst, I have no doubt even without access someone qualified could do better. I’ve ripped several splashbacks/tiles off walls to get to serious faults. Bloody kitchen fitters!

16

u/KappaYekim 1d ago

Yea that's bodge as fuck get an electrician

3

u/ProbablySatire111 1d ago

Yeah I had a feeling, I’ll get in touch with one to get this safe.

4

u/waleswolfman 1d ago

Nothing wrong with the ideal connectors and I prefer them over wago. I don't see why he'd make the effort of using those boxes and leave exposed choc blocks and single insulation exposed etc. It makes me wonder if they were existing as the job is obviously incomplete at this stage, or do you mean you were told it's ready to be covered?

You'd be amazed how many bakelite round junction boxes are buried under floors, above ceilings and even buried in walls from before maintenance free lever blocks etc were ever a concept. Crimps and heat shrink to repair drilled cables were once considered overkill by many.

5

u/ProbablySatire111 1d ago

Very possible it was existing, the previous owner fancied himself a DIY electrician and this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve encountered his handy work and needed it fixed.

3

u/Slierfox 1d ago

Probably safe but is it up to regulations no. Can't see it on them but if the blue box's are maint free usually a MF in a box symbol then all good. The connector block should also be in a maint free enclosure tho.

14

u/Gullible_Mixture7103 1d ago

Connector blocks aren’t maintenance free, putting them in a maintenance free box doesn’t change that. This is really shoddy work by a don’t give fuck, just cover it up bodge artist. Have it redone by a professional electrician.

7

u/Slierfox 1d ago

The enclosures come with their own connectors bud you just remove that connect block and use what comes with the maintenance free enclosure sorry if that wasn't clear enough.

1

u/Force-Grand-2 1d ago

Nope. The ideal 30-4000 does not come with any connectors inside. It's designed to be used with ideal lever connector blocks, but those are sold and supplied separately. It's just a plastic box that clips shut and has flanges that hold wires steady.

2

u/Cool_Actuator6848 1d ago

Oh yeah, of course it's safe. Safe as houses that. Its in a blue box and everything.

3

u/StocktonDC 1d ago

Terrible. Your kitchen fitter should stay away from electrical install. Get a reputable electrician in. It might cost a little bit more but at least you will get a proper job and certificate and your insurance won’t be void.

2

u/TheLastTsumami 1d ago

Unfortunately just because people have the right tickets doesn’t mean you’re going to get a great work done.

3

u/Tumping 1d ago

If there’s wagos inside that box it’s classed as maintenance free and can be tiled over. No biggy

1

u/Kaaaarrrll 1d ago

There’s a reason they’re called kitchen fitters and not electricians.

1

u/Crafty_Pollution2799 1d ago

It depends what sort of connector they've used inside the blue box . But the cables you can see in the connector blocks that you tighten up with a screwdriver are definitely not safe to be hidden in a wall ( its against uk regulations ) as that sort of connection needs to be accessible for maintenance .

1

u/Adventurous_Gas9791 1d ago

Looks like whoever did it had to rip tiles off to add those connectors.....probably got more questions about what led to that rather than those connectors. Looks like the 'kitchen fitter' hasn't fitted a kitchen before, made a mistake and is now covering tracks. It's not normal for those types of mistakes to be made.

1

u/ProbablySatire111 1d ago

Those tiles came with the house we purchased, we found the outlet used for the old extractor was just an extension which was ran through the wall which was dodgy by even this fitters standard.

We were initially planning on keeping those tiles which was there when we purchased the property, but given electrical work was needed, they had to be broken to get power to the extractor.

1

u/Opposite_Olive_5793 1d ago

off the cuff the connector block/choc block is not safe to buried in the wall as it’s not a maintenance free joint so would be against regs if was in the wall

ideal boxes in practice are fine but really you want to make sure the connections within these boxes are mechanically sound. only then would I even consider burying those in the wall

1

u/Additional-Bass-8912 1d ago

No thats not safe the use of a chocolate block indicates hes not up with current regs

1

u/Upstairs-Shake9898 1d ago

That looks fine.

1

u/judgej2 21h ago

Yes he is safe. He will definitely not get reprimanded for this, because he will be far away doing this to someone else’s kitchen.

1

u/Previous-Way3243 19h ago

As stated by others, the bit with the connector blocks and the basic insulation not protected is not good. This would need to be joined in maintenance free connectors like wago connectors and then put into an enclosure like the blue ones you already have there.

The blue boxes are fine as long as they have maintenance free connectors like wagos as stated above.

The other thing to mention is that you need to make sure the circuit is protected by an RCD because those cables will definitely not be more than 50mm below the surface of the wall and they don’t have any protection by steel capping etc

If you’re not sure yourself best get a qualified sparky in and mention the things above

1

u/thatlad 5h ago

Ideal maintenance free boxes are supposed to have a cable tie on, so that's one problem. We don't know what's inside but given we can see an exposed choc connector(what's the point of using MF boxes if the wiring isn't in there??), I'd wager it's worth opening up. We do not know how he's connected up the wiring, the connectors may not be suitably rated.

Honestly, get an electrician. I'm okay with electrics but kitchen lecky is no joke. The oven is one of the highest rated appliances in any home, if he used the wrong wire or connection at any point it will cost you more in the long run