The smart meter installer arrived, assessed the task, deemed it too complex, and disappeared without completing the job. @OctopusEnergy #smartmeter #smartmeters
@@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" 😉
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.
Back in the old days when we had electricity boards Meters were fitted by meter inspectors. These guys were all time served electricians and were very strict on what they connected. Oh, how we have advanced 😂
'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.'
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
My mate worked for british gas for years doing insualtion. He got a promotion, put on a 2 week residential course at BGs training centre, and was out working as a dual fuel meter fitter the week after... I personally have had first hand experience at work of a smart meter fitter disconnecting 6 earth clamps for the gas bond and just left them hanging in the external meter box. I was pissed as i had just completed all the remedial work following the eicr. Now im not proud of this, but I grassed on him and called up his company to let them know he had left the whole block without main gas bonding. Sorry meter lad but if you are not aware of your mistakes, how can you learn from them 🤣
I think the term 'engineer' is getting used too often when actually not appropriate . A more correct time would be 'fitter' or 'person with a sense of self importance coupled with delusions of adequacy'
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.
@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.
Safe isolation would be done at the cutout anyway. Remove the fuses, test lamp on the live side to prove test lamp. Test on the load side for isolation. Retest test lamp on live side. Safe isolation proved. The meter cover should not be removed until safe isolation proved. Is it that hard, he was scared of 3 phase 😂
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
we had an electric shower installed and so needed an RCD fitting to the circuit (rather than removing the whole consumer unit). a year later someone came from the supplier to install a smartmeter, unfortunately our shower developed a fault a few months down the line and so we called an electrician.. apparently because supplier engineer couldnt fit in the necessary parts for the smart meter so they just bypassed the RCD and never told us, it wasnt until the next electrician came along he pointed out how dangerous this was. good job it didnt fail with someone in it.
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.
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'.
@@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.
@@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
About 2 years ago, my neighbour got a smart meter. I'd a look after it was fitted. About 40 years previously, he'd built a shed at the end of his garden and run a 2.5 t+e from the old meter to a fuse unit in the shed. The smart meter installer put a switch disconnect in his meter cabinet and connected both the 10mm house tails and 2.5 t+e into it....presumably backed up by an 80 amp supply fuse.
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.
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."
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!
Here in the US our meters no wires are directly attached to them but are snapped and screwed into place. The power company connects their wires to one side while the electrian does the other side.
Having worked with systems from 12 volts dc to 11k ac plus I can't say with confidence that working with electricity is perfectly safe if you know what you're doing.
I went to replace a cu that has been poorly 'professionally installed' and found the latest smart meter install not even screwed to back board. Tails flapping etc. pulled fuse, installed meter correctly, tested and video to ensure I indemnify myself as smart meters auto register cover removed
I’m a meter fitter, not 3phase trained tho, to my understanding as long as we could power down @ the main cu the job would go ahead, bit of a strange install tho, could remove the wago and connect the tails directly into the meter, but we aren’t allowed into anything besides a isolator, which that is not, probably why he shit himself On a side note the whole mains head is the cutout and the 3 are fuse carriers And I do believe he is right in sayin whoever installed that wago is a numpty (doesn’t make up for his own shoddy work and laziness), because it’s just 1 more thing going on which isn’t required, get the earth into a block and rip it out
@@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.
Few of the meter installers are restrained meter readers, like caliber had come round "better not leave the scanner on the roof again or I'll get sacked, I've done it twice herr herr 🤪" needless to say he put wrong readings in 🙄
Everything from the cut out to the meter is not your property and is illegal for you to touch. What you have done on your side is terrible work and he was right.
@@adriansmith8213 yep 👍 the only numpty is the man presenting this clip. I know eon fitters and their work is impeccable (from cut out to meter and isolators to consumer unit( which they aren’t allowed to enter).
I'm an experienced mech technician. I had to teach a newbie who had a degree in mechanical engineering that you put the short side of an allen key in the bolt to use the long side for leverage....true.
Better than the last gas 'engineer' that did a meter change for our customer. good job we had ukpn on site to inspect the head, fortunately ukpn man had some spare fuses on the van.😅
I asked Octopus for an isolator to be added to ours. The engineer came, looked inside, told me he is not 3-phase qualified and left. That was a month ago and I have chased them multiple times.
Octopus smart engineer fitter that did our install put the induction loop for the I boost back on the wrong way so it never saw when it should start to heat water..... There's only a big fat arrow on it that makes it clear which side should face towards the consumer unit.....
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 😂.
Octopus energy left us with a faulty gas meter since February 2023, its diaphragm is knackered, is misreading, I opened a complaint after they continually failed to get a standard meter installed, they claimed they aren't made anymore...every builders merchant in the uk states otherwise, complaint got escalated in october, they closed the complaint with no response except a £200 "customer courtesy payment, we're now going to get our own meter installed, because they certainly can't do a simple task.
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.
Crazy man . Anyway About time The DNO or meter provider fitted an isolation device where possible automatically . On that note I was Just wondering why you would fit Wago connectors and not a four pole isolation switch anyway. Iimagine it would have cost less anyway???also no fixings on the tails?
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.
My octopus engineer “left all connections loose” which started a fire. Cutout had to be replaced by the DNO, live. Thankfully he sealed it with his unique ID present on the seal. Mandate smart meter engineers and DNOs to use a calibrated torque wrench please.
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.
@@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.
As a meter fitter the octopus lad probably just couldn’t be bothered with the job, I’ve attended loads of jobs where the previous engineer decided to be slack and abort the job for no good reason
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.
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.
We just moved, and discovered firstly a solar boost water heater installed wrong, which then led to discovering the neutral from our smart meter hadn't been tightened down. It literally fell out.
Wow, in the US we have none of these problems. Hell, the providers have left our tails cut, panel open and drove off without telling a soul they ever visited.
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!
Possibly he was only trained for 1ph meters, I had that on a Friday night meter swap. 1st guy was newly " trained" and couldn't do 3ph. Had to sit on my hands till a 3ph guy turned to make a right bollocks of it.
to do my time i did a 4 year apprenticeship with one day a week at college before i could be called an 'engineer' lol, but it was in the 70's/80's, these days a few months and some vocational training seems to be enough - maybe we were just thicker back then hahaha.
Could someone advise if it is safe to take a power connection from an existing house socket to a new waterproofed fused spur with new armoured cable under path to install new power supply into a detached external garage. Electrical consultant told me it would need a new circuit and small Distribution board installed but this doesnt seem to align with actual electricians advice.
They choose some terrible people to do the domestic visits. That's Scottish gas and E on. Scottish gas threatened to cut off my electric for no reason. E on turned up UN announced to change the meter. Cut off the gas and the gas nextdoor. No trouble with Octopus as yet.
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.
Octopus 🐙 are great, but they keep giving me hassle for a smart meter, and i don't want one. i have ocd and will be checking it all the time and then won't turn the heating on and freeze to death in the winter. Honestly, i don't want to know how much money i am using until the bill comes in. i can panic then and freeze to death.
Are the singles exiting the conduit and going to the terminal box double insulated? I can’t quite tell from the pic. Anyway, these days they are required to be. As I found out when a premise I work in got upgraded from single to three phase.
So are you annoyed at all? 🧐. I can’t quite make it out from the video…… So as a non electrician if you turn everything off at the consumer unit. Pull the three fuses, one from each phase, how would the magic pixies jump across the gap to be non safe…..
@@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 😂
Problem is the energy companies are not prepared to give a decent wage yet make so much profit. I had to remove the fact I worked in partnership with the DNO on a project as the DNO gave me training as they are desperate to get people to replace meters for smart meters. No wonder they cannot hit targets on replacement. The energy companies need to have proper op pay as they will get the money back as not needing meter readers. On 4 occasions I have been called out to be present while meter upgrades 3 did not go ahead on the first visit so frustrating!!!!!! Two did have the old tar tails which was not good but DNO did not want to attend until the meter was changed. A joke here?
It is all about cheap labour, these supply companies didn't want electricians, electricians were looked down on. We were working on the supply network. I worked for Scot Power for 39 years, Scottish power doesn't have electricians anymore. This is why they get such poor ratings for customer service now, but the couldn't care less.
You pull the fuse confirm polarity in the cut out shroud the live , confirm dead at the meter then change the meter. Anything downstream of the meter isn't the meter fitters business they are not electricians
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
I had 6 flats with 100 whlex switch fuses ( 80 amp. ) all neat and tidy then meter boy came but as it was 3 phase he was not trained 😁 2 more came got its on plus goggles and flash mask 🤣 steamed up and left an absolute mess behind 🤮 rough as a butchers dog lol but it did work
Met a gas engineer on the job the other week who was giving it the big bollocks but he recently gained his “qualification” to change meters Extremely worrying what’s going on in the industry right now
I refuse to have a smart meter installed because I have worked with a few engineering apprentices who were ex "smart meter installers" 😂 One of them couldnt tell me the difference between AC and DC (his new job was primarily going to involve 24v DV and 415V AC systems)... i appreciate that all homes are AC, but thats secondary school physics, and this lad could tamper with your gas and mains where your family sleep 🤬 The others were almost as concerning, but I cant think of a particular example. Plus, for clarity, my "dumb" meter is less than 10 years old as is the whole installation, and working fine.
The meter engineer probably was unnerved by so many load side “unconventional “ wiring. Main earth should run direct to MET . Undersized tails on load side. little PVC connectors for a 100 amp !! 3 phase system ?! In a PVC box ?! Tails below in pvc conduit ?!(heat build up calculation?!) Tails below do not appear secured.. if they get a yank those little pvc connectors will take the force ?! Very, very difficult to inspect/ confirm torque on those terminals for starters… arcing risk ?! Side track and reminder….. in event where neutral is lost, main earth steps up to takes its place , in a PME [N and E lost] system that means instant transfer to earth bonding….. either way, if power going through ‘junk’ main earth, or weak main bonding, on a loaded system thats a immediate electrical fire risk…. I have seen an industrial estate lost for that reason. Neutral lost, main earth/ bonding junk😮 Rare, but it happens. Point is cable around service head must be bullet proof. Easy to inspect.
In many countries, term engineer is used for person with academic engineering degree. Others are installers, fitters, operators, etc.
@@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.
Back in the old days when we had electricity boards Meters were fitted by meter inspectors. These guys were all time served electricians and were very strict on what they connected. Oh, how we have advanced 😂
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
My mate worked for british gas for years doing insualtion. He got a promotion, put on a 2 week residential course at BGs training centre, and was out working as a dual fuel meter fitter the week after...
I personally have had first hand experience at work of a smart meter fitter disconnecting 6 earth clamps for the gas bond and just left them hanging in the external meter box. I was pissed as i had just completed all the remedial work following the eicr. Now im not proud of this, but I grassed on him and called up his company to let them know he had left the whole block without main gas bonding. Sorry meter lad but if you are not aware of your mistakes, how can you learn from them 🤣
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.
I think the term 'engineer' is getting used too often when actually not appropriate . A more correct time would be 'fitter' or 'person with a sense of self importance coupled with delusions of adequacy'
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.
I couldn't comprehend anything you said until the very end.
Safe isolation would be done at the cutout anyway. Remove the fuses, test lamp on the live side to prove test lamp. Test on the load side for isolation. Retest test lamp on live side. Safe isolation proved. The meter cover should not be removed until safe isolation proved. Is it that hard, he was scared of 3 phase 😂
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
we had an electric shower installed and so needed an RCD fitting to the circuit (rather than removing the whole consumer unit). a year later someone came from the supplier to install a smartmeter, unfortunately our shower developed a fault a few months down the line and so we called an electrician.. apparently because supplier engineer couldnt fit in the necessary parts for the smart meter so they just bypassed the RCD and never told us, it wasnt until the next electrician came along he pointed out how dangerous this was. good job it didnt fail with someone in it.
RCD? For a shower?
My fusebox isn't that advanced. The shower runs off 32A fuse wire, always has.
@@dlarge6502 Needs a RCD!
@@dlarge6502 How do you protect yourself against current leakage, then? 32A is much more than enough to kill a person.
@@dlarge6502everything should be behind RCDs, but especially anything wet.
Why the hell is the meter installer working on the RCD in your board. That's downstream of the meter.
Electricians acting like there isnt any crap incompetent Electricians about in this comments section
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
I had to point out to the meter "technician" who changed my meter at home that he'd reversed the polarity. 🤦🏼♀️
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.
Never saw wago connectors like those before. Learn something new every day
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
About 2 years ago, my neighbour got a smart meter. I'd a look after it was fitted. About 40 years previously, he'd built a shed at the end of his garden and run a 2.5 t+e from the old meter to a fuse unit in the shed. The smart meter installer put a switch disconnect in his meter cabinet and connected both the 10mm house tails and 2.5 t+e into it....presumably backed up by an 80 amp supply fuse.
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.
Octopus are both great and terrible at the same time
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.
Here in the US our meters no wires are directly attached to them but are snapped and screwed into place. The power company connects their wires to one side while the electrian does the other side.
When we moved into our flat a few years ago all the seals had been cut and Scottish power went mental when they came to swap out the old meter
I cant understand what he's saying for the life of me.
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
I have no idea what you just said, but your demeanour and comfort with nerd language makes me trust you more than the other guy.
Here in the States? You break a seal and are not authorized, its instantly a legal issue.
Having worked with systems from 12 volts dc to 11k ac plus I can't say with confidence that working with electricity is perfectly safe if you know what you're doing.
I went to replace a cu that has been poorly 'professionally installed' and found the latest smart meter install not even screwed to back board. Tails flapping etc. pulled fuse, installed meter correctly, tested and video to ensure I indemnify myself as smart meters auto register cover removed
Man it sure is odd how different everything looks in a residential / home electrical system in a house in the UK vs one in the USA.
That is not a house.
I’m a meter fitter, not 3phase trained tho, to my understanding as long as we could power down @ the main cu the job would go ahead, bit of a strange install tho, could remove the wago and connect the tails directly into the meter, but we aren’t allowed into anything besides a isolator, which that is not, probably why he shit himself
On a side note the whole mains head is the cutout and the 3 are fuse carriers
And I do believe he is right in sayin whoever installed that wago is a numpty (doesn’t make up for his own shoddy work and laziness), because it’s just 1 more thing going on which isn’t required, get the earth into a block and rip it out
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.
To be fair, that is a train smash.
The people who actually fix stuff are the clever ones.
Few of the meter installers are restrained meter readers, like caliber had come round "better not leave the scanner on the roof again or I'll get sacked, I've done it twice herr herr 🤪" needless to say he put wrong readings in 🙄
Everything from the cut out to the meter is not your property and is illegal for you to touch. What you have done on your side is terrible work and he was right.
Agreed, and they clearly cut the meter seals themselves to rewire the neutral, then blame the meter fitter for content, sad
@@adriansmith8213 yep 👍 the only numpty is the man presenting this clip. I know eon fitters and their work is impeccable (from cut out to meter and isolators to consumer unit( which they aren’t allowed to enter).
I'm an experienced mech technician. I had to teach a newbie who had a degree in mechanical engineering that you put the short side of an allen key in the bolt to use the long side for leverage....true.
I'm from California and I have no idea what happened here.
Better than the last gas 'engineer' that did a meter change for our customer. good job we had ukpn on site to inspect the head, fortunately ukpn man had some spare fuses on the van.😅
I asked Octopus for an isolator to be added to ours. The engineer came, looked inside, told me he is not 3-phase qualified and left. That was a month ago and I have chased them multiple times.
If you can chase up our meter replacement. We are still waiting.,
Octopus smart engineer fitter that did our install put the induction loop for the I boost back on the wrong way so it never saw when it should start to heat water..... There's only a big fat arrow on it that makes it clear which side should face towards the consumer unit.....
Why the Wago enclosure and not a REC4 (for example)?
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄Ahhh in the good old days we could tap lose the glass and stick a straw through to stop the wheel 😂
All, and I mean all, failed electricians, oops, I mean meter fitters, make any excuse not to do the job. I've never come across a good one.
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 😂.
Octopus energy left us with a faulty gas meter since February 2023, its diaphragm is knackered, is misreading, I opened a complaint after they continually failed to get a standard meter installed, they claimed they aren't made anymore...every builders merchant in the uk states otherwise, complaint got escalated in october, they closed the complaint with no response except a £200 "customer courtesy payment, we're now going to get our own meter installed, because they certainly can't do a simple task.
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
same collor for all of the faces. nice job haha
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.
Crazy man . Anyway About time The DNO or meter provider fitted an isolation device where possible automatically . On that note I was Just wondering why you would fit Wago connectors and not a four pole isolation switch anyway. Iimagine it would have cost less anyway???also no fixings on the tails?
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.
I wish there would be a non-bias platform to upload content.
I wouldn't have a gas engineer doing any electrical work in my house, why would you ?
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.
My octopus engineer “left all connections loose” which started a fire. Cutout had to be replaced by the DNO, live. Thankfully he sealed it with his unique ID present on the seal.
Mandate smart meter engineers and DNOs to use a calibrated torque wrench please.
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
Fyi, in all cases safe isolation is a must and if pulling service cut out ensures this, it could be argued that this is acceptable
I don't think you should refer to him as an engineer, you should see the mess that made at my mum's last year
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.
As a meter fitter the octopus lad probably just couldn’t be bothered with the job, I’ve attended loads of jobs where the previous engineer decided to be slack and abort the job for no good reason
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.
Scottish power sent a contractor to install a new meter and the guy didn't even have a meter box key to get access to the meter 😂😂
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.
They're a great firm, quickly expanding but this is 1 worker
No ark flash gloves touching energized components?
Can we get an update on Gordon's E7 meter and iso swap out? Could this be the sequel to the Tesla Diaries?
Tune in tonight
@@efixx Will do
We just moved, and discovered firstly a solar boost water heater installed wrong, which then led to discovering the neutral from our smart meter hadn't been tightened down. It literally fell out.
Is that a service entrance? Why is there exposed unprotected wire in a working space?
You are right, safe isolation at the Meter should be enough and he could install a Smart meter. Maybe he wasn't too confident 🤷
I’m a Gas Combustion Engineer and work on everything but Meters. We refer to people who exchange meters as “numpty’s” 😂
Wow, in the US we have none of these problems. Hell, the providers have left our tails cut, panel open and drove off without telling a soul they ever visited.
My wife is a knitting engineer!
5 days of training to change a 3 phase meter is woeful
Just pulling the main fuses on the right hand side then brown things would isolate the power 😂🤯🤯🤯
Numptys everywhere 😝 😊
Where is your isolator ?
Goes to show the whole discussion about sip's and who can cut the tags etc regards it being illegal is all a bit pointless..
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!
Possibly he was only trained for 1ph meters, I had that on a Friday night meter swap. 1st guy was newly " trained" and couldn't do 3ph. Had to sit on my hands till a 3ph guy turned to make a right bollocks of it.
to do my time i did a 4 year apprenticeship with one day a week at college before i could be called an 'engineer' lol, but it was in the 70's/80's, these days a few months and some vocational training seems to be enough - maybe we were just thicker back then hahaha.
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
Could someone advise if it is safe to take a power connection from an existing house socket to a new waterproofed fused spur with new armoured cable under path to install new power supply into a detached external garage. Electrical consultant told me it would need a new circuit and small Distribution board installed but this doesnt seem to align with actual electricians advice.
They choose some terrible people to do the domestic visits. That's Scottish gas and E on. Scottish gas threatened to cut off my electric for no reason. E on turned up UN announced to change the meter. Cut off the gas and the gas nextdoor. No trouble with Octopus as yet.
Light bulb electrician , but only the screw in kind.
Why can’t he just put use his GS38 Voltage indicator on the terminals like any normal Spark ?
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.
Octopus 🐙 are great, but they keep giving me hassle for a smart meter, and i don't want one. i have ocd and will be checking it all the time and then won't turn the heating on and freeze to death in the winter. Honestly, i don't want to know how much money i am using until the bill comes in. i can panic then and freeze to death.
I’m sorry. I didn’t understand a single word of what this guy says 😂
Are the singles exiting the conduit and going to the terminal box double insulated? I can’t quite tell from the pic. Anyway, these days they are required to be. As I found out when a premise I work in got upgraded from single to three phase.
I have to ask: What would be the alternatives with the same or better feature set in the same form factor from a reputable brand?
Was he missing some tools or was he missing some training???? Is this the site with the Solar PV? Eitherway he left it unsafe
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.
😂 isn't "borrowing some electricity" a bit on the illegal side of the law ! 😂
Service technician
So are you annoyed at all? 🧐. I can’t quite make it out from the video……
So as a non electrician if you turn everything off at the consumer unit. Pull the three fuses, one from each phase, how would the magic pixies jump across the gap to be non safe…..
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 😂
Meter guy was out of his depth on three phase 🤦🤦🤦
I have seen this several times. Electrician arrives and sees 3 phases and off he goes...
I mean. If this is true, and he actually came to efix and did this, it was intentional.
Problem is the energy companies are not prepared to give a decent wage yet make so much profit.
I had to remove the fact I worked in partnership with the DNO on a project as the DNO gave me training as they are desperate to get people to replace meters for smart meters. No wonder they cannot hit targets on replacement. The energy companies need to have proper op pay as they will get the money back as not needing meter readers.
On 4 occasions I have been called out to be present while meter upgrades 3 did not go ahead on the first visit so frustrating!!!!!!
Two did have the old tar tails which was not good but DNO did not want to attend until the meter was changed. A joke here?
"borrowed". 😅😂😂😂
🤭
@@efixx 😉😏
25 in a 35. Use the right lane
It is all about cheap labour, these supply companies didn't want electricians, electricians were looked down on. We were working on the supply network. I worked for Scot Power for 39 years, Scottish power doesn't have electricians anymore. This is why they get such poor ratings for customer service now, but the couldn't care less.
Smart meters are a con. If you haven't got one don't.
Removed your smart meter seals ? You are aware that’s not a smart meter right ?
You pull the fuse confirm polarity in the cut out shroud the live , confirm dead at the meter then change the meter. Anything downstream of the meter isn't the meter fitters business they are not electricians
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
Reject smart meters, they are simply data collection devices. YOU are the product, not the consumer.
Octopus just hires private contractors to to their work so it will be a mixed bag.
I had 6 flats with 100 whlex switch fuses ( 80 amp. ) all neat and tidy then meter boy came but as it was 3 phase he was not trained 😁 2 more came got its on plus goggles and flash mask 🤣 steamed up and left an absolute mess behind 🤮 rough as a butchers dog lol but it did work
Did Octopus Energy do this??!!
I had a Sky ‘engineer’ in the house today. What a load of bollox. Engineers my ass.
Met a gas engineer on the job the other week who was giving it the big bollocks but he recently gained his “qualification” to change meters
Extremely worrying what’s going on in the industry right now
Would definitely pull the fuses?? Anyone AUTHORISED to do so should carry replacement seals???
What you get when you employ people whose qualification came from a one day slideshow
These companys are jokes , we should all just stop paying them😂😂
Octopus people can't read, they changed my meter and submitted ridiculously wrong meter readings
Wait, engineers aren't always right?!😲😏. Stay safe y'all
I refuse to have a smart meter installed because I have worked with a few engineering apprentices who were ex "smart meter installers" 😂
One of them couldnt tell me the difference between AC and DC (his new job was primarily going to involve 24v DV and 415V AC systems)... i appreciate that all homes are AC, but thats secondary school physics, and this lad could tamper with your gas and mains where your family sleep 🤬
The others were almost as concerning, but I cant think of a particular example.
Plus, for clarity, my "dumb" meter is less than 10 years old as is the whole installation, and working fine.
no idea what this means....
Knuckle draggers
Like many have said, it’s simple, the Z-bots are reporting your content.
Another reason not to have metered electricity and or gas.
did you say "GAS engineer"... on an electrician's job???
Well you be using that expression on a longer video...🤣
The meter engineer probably was unnerved by so many load side “unconventional “ wiring.
Main earth should run direct to MET .
Undersized tails on load side.
little PVC connectors for a 100 amp !! 3 phase system ?! In a PVC box ?!
Tails below in pvc conduit ?!(heat build up calculation?!)
Tails below do not appear secured.. if they get a yank those little pvc connectors will take the force ?!
Very, very difficult to inspect/ confirm torque on those terminals for starters… arcing risk ?!
Side track and reminder….. in event where neutral is lost, main earth steps up to takes its place , in a PME [N and E lost] system that means instant transfer to earth bonding….. either way, if power going through ‘junk’ main earth, or weak main bonding, on a loaded system thats a immediate electrical fire risk…. I have seen an industrial estate lost for that reason.
Neutral lost, main earth/ bonding junk😮
Rare, but it happens.
Point is cable around service head must be bullet proof.
Easy to inspect.
Just to note, I don't think any of us in America understood a single thing towards the end. You missing out on a whole audience.
Probably not really relevant to you
Probably not really relevant to you
just remember theres 2 seals! which if you do forget you will remember it lol