Preparation Week 11
I’ve posted about testing procedures before, but I’ve never really delved into what happens when something goes wrong on the tests, simply because I haven’t had the chance to experience it that much. But as luck would have it, over the past few weeks there has been a whole bunch of faults that needed fixing, so I wanted to break down a selection of the faults we have had to remedy.
To clear things up, generally 90% of the time only two tests or categories of faults can really appear: a continuity testing fault or an insulation testing fault. A continuity fault in essence means that there isn’t a continuous wire of live (hot) and earthing wire to your distribution board, while an insulation fault means that the wire insulation is broken or there is somewhere current can follow an unintended path in the circuit.
To start us off, I was testing a flat and I got a bad insulation reading on a socket circuit. This was probably the easiest fault to find this week since it was something plugged in (an unintended path) that I forgot to take out. The reason this brings the reading down is because the tester detects the integrity of the wire insulation, usually ranging in the millions of ohms of resistance, while a load typically has very low resistance, which sticks out and shows a bad reading on the testing kit.
Later that same day, I was testing and had a continuity reading showing high resistance, meaning the wiring was continuous but the integrity of the joints or wiring was not satisfactory. A high resistance reading almost always points to a loose screw; non-tight joints have higher resistance due to a smaller area of contact. Essentially it acts like a bottleneck for the electricity to travel through. Ideally we want it to be a consistent size.
I really enjoy problem solving so it’s pretty fun when a fault comes up while testing. It’s almost like a challenge to try and find it, although sometimes a fault comes up where you aren’t able to do anything about it. For example, last Friday a really unconventional fault came up where, when measuring voltage between live and neutral, the reading came up as 128 V. This is really concerning since the average readings in the UK should range between 216.2–253 volts. The fault was most likely caused by a high resistance neutral on the supplying cable that had to be fixed by the power company, but this is definitely one of the more unexpected faults you’ll find working as an electrician.
I think one of the most important things that I’ve come to grasp, especially problem solving with fault finding, is that anything can be overcome with enough insight into the situation and effort. There is always a way to solve a problem or remedy it if enough effort is applied to it. I’d definitely say this is my top pick for transferable skills in my preparation just because of how universally well it can apply to anything. It’s really empowering knowing that somehow there is a way to do what you put your mind to.
As a separate note, I’ve decided to start training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I’ve trained for a few years but until recently I’ve not been training at all, but I think it’s important to do because it develops a strong will for fighting and it’s another skill that could be useful if needed, and to top it all off it’s a bit of fun every week.
German
Honestly, I’ve been pretty slack with my consistency in German since I last posted. I’ve picked it back up again now, but it’s not been the best of weeks. All I can do is learn from my mistakes and not repeat them again though!
I’ve finished the series I was watching, Extr@ auf Deutsch, and I’m about halfway through rewatching it again. I think rewatching content is really good since it gives you more time to absorb things you’ve already heard and just makes understanding what you are watching a lot easier.
Reading :
Started reading the “Agriculuture Course” by Rudolph Steiner - the beginner course to the biodynamic method of farming.
Thanks for reading!
-James Harrison