Removing electric fireplace / installing new socket?

dil1976

chris_n said:

What amazes me here is so many people have given advice yet no one has pointed out the bare conductor on the neutral! 

I wouldnt be too worried about hat due to the fact the whole neutral terminal is exposed anyway.

dil1976

housebuyer143 said:

dil1976 said:

housebuyer143 said:

SecondStar said:

First time solo-homeowner (got keys yesterday!), and feeling more than a little overwhelmed. Apologies if this is a stupid question.

I want to remove the big ugly eyesore or an electric fireplace from my living room, but the blooming thing is wired in, and electrics scare the pants off of me.

I turned off all the fuses and had a look under the cover. From these quick and dirty photos, does it look like an amateur could remove the wiring for the fireplace, and possible replace with a functional single socket? Or even a blank plate, as I do have plenty of sockets in that room?

It would be nice to know how to do things myself, and not always be the little woman who has to call a professional in for every tiny job.

Go and turn the fuse board off so there is no power to it and then unscrew the screws holding in the wire. Done! 

YouTube will be your best friend and you will be surprised how many jobs you can do. Wiring a socket and switch are very easy. Just note which wires come out of were and wire them back in the same.

grumbler said:

The safest way to work is to switch off the big separate double swith on the left side of your CU. 
Yes, if the fused switch (not socket) in the room operates the fire it's better to keep it swithched of.

That is terrible advice saying just turn the "fuse board" off, without a tester that is capable of proving it is dead there is no way you will know if the fire will be isolated safely.

I kind of imagined the OP would check the fire was off before disconnecting after turning the fuse board off? Surely that's an easy way to check it.
Same with sockets and switches. Make sure they don't work before you take them apart. 

What if the incoming polarity is incorrect and they only isolate the neutral you are still going to have the line conductor live, that scenario happens alot more than you might think.

dil1976

housebuyer143 said:

dil1976 said:

Simonon77 said:

SecondStar said:

As correctly guessed - local guy says it’d be £60 to replace with either a single socket or a blanking plate.

Will go and find some YouTube videos first, and then see how capable I’m feeling!

You'll be fine honest, it really is a very simple job and as long as you connect the wires to the correct terminals you can't go far wrong

You are correct it is a simple job with the correct knowledge, as the saying goes  a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing

They teach you to wire sockets in school... It's not hard. The most important thing is to ensure the wires are not live.
Switches if you wire incorrectly just don't work. They don't just burst into flames.

Incorrectly terminated electrical connections do catch fire, like I said earlier you aren't paying for time you are paying for time spent learning how to do things correctly.

Mutton_Geoff

housebuyer143 said:

They teach you to wire sockets in school... It's not hard. The most important thing is to ensure the wires are not live.
Switches if you wire incorrectly just don't work. They don't just burst into flames.

I seriously doubt that. You may have learned to wire a plug.

In the OP's case, I would disconnect the whole lot, including the fused spur which, if really needed, can be replaced with a single socket over by the dual gang. Anything else is just bodging a bodge job.

For £60, in the OPs case with little/no knowledge, it's cheaper than a fire or death by electric shock.

grumbler

Mutton_Geoff said:

housebuyer143 said:

They teach you to wire sockets in school... It's not hard. The most important thing is to ensure the wires are not live.
Switches if you wire incorrectly just don't work. They don't just burst into flames.

For £60, in the OPs case with little/no knowledge, it's cheaper than a fire or death by electric shock.

Then another £60 and onother and another...  You have to do something to gain knowledge and this doesn't have to be years of courses for such a basic thing like disconnecting an appliance and terminating the wires.

dil1976 said:

housebuyer143 said:

dil1976 said:

Simonon77 said:

SecondStar said:

As correctly guessed - local guy says it’d be £60 to replace with either a single socket or a blanking plate.

Will go and find some YouTube videos first, and then see how capable I’m feeling!

You'll be fine honest, it really is a very simple job and as long as you connect the wires to the correct terminals you can't go far wrong

You are correct it is a simple job with the correct knowledge, as the saying goes  a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing

They teach you to wire sockets in school... It's not hard. The most important thing is to ensure the wires are not live.
Switches if you wire incorrectly just don't work. They don't just burst into flames.

Incorrectly terminated electrical connections do catch fire, 

Well, this has to be really INCORRECTLY close to not terminated at all.

Troytempest

OP - put all of these negative posts out of your head. It is straightforward and you can do it. Just take your time, make sure the power is off and avoid interruptions.

Section62

grumbler said:

ETA: you don't even need a new plate and a terminal block. Just disconnect the fireplace and screw the existing plate back.

I wouldn't do that before remaking the neutral connection.  Or preferably remaking all the connections because it looks like the previous person working on this fitting didn't know what they were doing.

The professional approach would also involve some testing to make sure all was wired correctly and safely - rather than leaving a nasty surprise for the next victim person.

grumbler said:

The safest way to work is to switch off the big separate double swith on the left side of your CU. 
Yes, if the fused switch (not socket) in the room operates the fire it's better to keep it swithched of.

That would be a long way short of being the "safest" way to work.  It doesn't exclude the possibility this circuit is energised from a different consumer unit.

It isn't safe to work on an unfamiliar installation without testing to prove dead.

This is why it is worth paying someone who knows what they are doing £60.  Not much more than the cost of the equipment and materials to do the job safely.  Much cheaper than a funeral.

Section62

Troytempest said:

OP - put all of these negative posts out of your head. It is straightforward and you can do it. Just take your time, make sure the power is off and avoid interruptions.

On the contrary. The "negative" posts are attempting to keep the OP safe from doing something which could result in a fatal electric shock, caused by advice from people who clearly don't know/understand about the things they are proffering advice on.

Section62

housebuyer143 said:

dil1976 said:

That is terrible advice saying just turn the "fuse board" off, without a tester that is capable of proving it is dead there is no way you will know if the fire will be isolated safely.

I kind of imagined the OP would check the fire was off before disconnecting after turning the fuse board off? Surely that's an easy way to check it.
Same with sockets and switches. Make sure they don't work before you take them apart. 

No. As dil1976 says, that is terrible advice.

Checking the fire is off doesn't exclude the possibility the fire is faulty, or a cable fault, or a blown fuse downstream of the point you intend to work on.

"Easy" is not the same as "safe".

In this case we can clearly see one fault in the way this has been wired.  It is essential to work on the basis there could be others.

SecondStar

Gosh, I didn’t expect half this response this morning - presumed everyone would be watching the coronation or similar 😂

I’ve been suitably terrified enough to get back in touch with the nice professional and swap him £60 for what is probably a 5 minute job.

In the meantime, I’ve moved on to my washer/drier, which needs longer inlet & drain hoses installed. The inlet hose seems easy, but the drain hose has me stumped.

Appreciate any ideas on installing a longer drain hose - at least it won’t electrocute me!