Electrical safety
ELECTRICITY CAN KILL, 240 VOLTS IS DANGEROUS.
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Ensure any electrical item is unplugged from the mains supply, or
the fuse is removed from the switched or unswitched spur before
working on it.
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Never touch plugs, switches or electrical appliances with wet
hands.
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If you do not know where the spur is, do not risk working on the
appliance - call in a professional tradesman.
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Never work on live wiring at any time.
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Always ensure that any appliance you are working on is protected
by the correct fuse in the plug, and where possible on a circuit
protected by an RCD (Residual Current Device).
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Always ensure you wear rubber soled shoes, and a pair of rubber
gloves.
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Major appliances like dishwashers, cookers, and washing machines
should have the casework connected to earth. Check the earth
wire in the plug is sound and properly screwed into the top
terminal of the plug BEFORE YOU START ANY WORK OR TESTING
WITH CASEWORK REMOVED.
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DOUBLE CHECK THE ABOVE - use at least a mains testing
screwdriver to see that any metal casework of the appliance you
are working on is NOT LIVE. Preferably use a meter to check
between the appliance case and a known good earth point.

For checking for broken live (feed) wires in appliances, or failed
mains leads, use a non-contact AC VOLTAGE DETECTOR.
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When you buy electrical appliances, look for the BEAB seal of approval.

Switch off and unplug electrical appliances before inspecting or
cleaning them.
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Avoid using adaptors and never plug one adaptor into another.
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If you fit a plug yourself, make sure you wire it properly and always fit
the right size fuse1 see below.
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Use short, undamaged flexes. Never join two pieces of flex together.

Check plugs and flexes regularly. Look out for damage and loose
connections and get any faults put right at once.

Heaters, especially including those that are controlled by a timeswitch,
should always be kept clear of curtains and furnishings.
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Never hang anything over convector or fan heaters.

If you have an electric blanket, make sure you follow the
manufacturer's instructions carefully. Do not use it when it's damp, or
when it's folded or creased.

Do not use electrical equipment outside if it's raining.

Use a qualified electrician for any repairs.

From time to time, you may need to monitor, say your washing
machine, after replacing a drive belt, with the cover off. You must
ensure that you are not exposed to, and do NOT TOUCH any exposed
wiring or contacts.
Plugs

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Never overload a socket with too many plugs or adapters, and make
sure they are correctly fused.
When going on holiday be sure to unplug all appliances
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Outside

Use an RCD if working outside and particularly when using dangerous
appliances such as lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, chainsaws, drills and sanders.
These cut the mains electricity connection when a cable or flex is cut, or an
electrical tool malfunctions, reducing the risk of electrocution.

When using electrical equipment in the garden special care must be
taken. Make sure that cables run behind lawnmowers, you must never
cut towards a flex, or cut the lawn using an electric lawnmower in wet
conditions.

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Never clean or adjust electrical gardening equipment while they are
still plugged in, make sure they are switched off first. Never wash
electrical gardening equipment with water.
Never work with electricity in damp or wet conditions.
RCD (ELCB) PROTECTION:

RCD = Residual Current Device. These used to be called Earth Leakage
Circuit Breakers. You should have one on your consumer unit. If you
have a utility room, with appliances like washing machines or dryers,
the should be on a plug ring protected by the RCD, usually rated at 80
AMPS, with 30ma leakage trip current.
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They should all have a test switch. You should test it occasionally. Note
that it will not always switch back on and click home first time, so try a
few times. Some have a round knob that turns clockwise half a turn,
others have the traditional circuit breaker trip-lever.
Garage/Workshops should ideally have a separate RCD, but many
garages only have a small fused isolator. To increase protection when
working in your garage, either fit one “in-line” between the fuse unit
and the fused feed, or get a “plug-in” version, that goes into each
plug. Note that if the power goes, or you plug these in for the first
time, you will need to press the RESET button.
Electric Lawn-mowers are probably one of the most well-known and
popular items to protect with an RCD. Certainly with the likelihood of
slicing through the cable and damp grass etc, a separate plug-in RCD
greatly reduces the risk of shock hazard.
Trouble shooting

If a small appliance, such as a kettle or toaster has stopped working,
that is, no power light shows when switched on, the first thing to check
is the lead or plug. If it is the normal type of plug, take the plug-top
off, and check that all three conductors are in the appropriate place
(not pulled out of the terminals), and the screws are tight. If the plug
type is MOULDED, you will not be able to check this, just the fuse, see
2 below.

Remove and check the condition of the fuse. It is best checked with a
basic meter, but you can put your suspect fuse into, say a table lamp
that is known to be working, and if it does not come on, then the fuse
has gone. To remove the fuse from a MOULDED plug, you will need a
small screwdriver, to lever out the small red plastic carrier between the
pins,that it sits in. They can be quite tight.
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IF IT IS THE FUSE, ONLY REPLACE WITH ONE OF THE SAME RATING.
JUST DO THIS ONE TIME ONLY, IF IT GOES AGAIN, THEN THE FAULT
MUST BE RECTIFIED. Note that high current devices like kettles and
room heaters, can be running close to the 13 AMP rating of the fuse,
and over time, weak fuses that are a bit under spec, can blow when
there is no over-current. Hence the fact that you sometimes need to
replace these when the appliance itself is not faulty.
If you have eliminated the plug and fuse being faulty, the problem is
either the device itself has an internal fault or the mains lead has a
break somewhere.
DISMANTLING and REMOVING WIRES and MULTI-PLUGS: always make
a drawing of what wire goes where, and what part goes where before
removing ANYTHING from an appliance. Also back this up with a few
shots with a digital camera.
WIRING
Standard colours for UK are: BLUE = NEUTRAL, this goes into the LEFT,
BROWN = LIVE, this goes on the right, with the insides facing you. The
GREEN/YELLOW striped one is the EARTH wire, and this always goes to the
top. NOTE: not all appliances have, or require earth wires.
FUSE INFORMATION1
The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994, states the following:
Typical fuse ratings for 220-240 voltage equipment:
- up to 750 watts - 3 Amp
- up to 1250 Watts - 5 Amp
- over 1250 Watts - 13 Amp
FUSE REPLACEMENT
A new plug will nearly always come with a 13 amp fuse fitted.
If you are replacing a kettle plug, or heater, or ANY APPLIANCE OVER 1200
WATTS, THEN THE 13 AMP FUSE IS THE CORRECT ONE.
If the item is an iron, or toaster, or other appliance rated at between 700 and
1200 watts, then fit a 5 amp fuse.
If it is a small low wattage appliance, like a table lamp, radio, DVD player,
Video recorder etc, then a 3 amp should be fitted, provided it is rated at less
than 700 watts.
The reasons I have stated 700 rather than 750 watts, is firstly that the PAT
testing sites and manufacturers use this simplified “threshold”, and secondly,
that if your supply is a bit “peaky” for long periods, i.e. closer to 250 than
240 volts, you would be running your 3 AMP fuse at exactly 3 AMPS. A HiFi
receiver for example may show, say, 550 watts on the rating plate, but if it
also controls a CD player, and tape player through its power control, the
switch-on surge might still blow a 3 AMP fuse. In these circumstances, it is
perfectly safe to use a 5 AMP fuse if required.