In article , Max Demian
wrote:
On 12/03/2019 12:50, wrote:
On Tuesday, 12 March 2019 11:42:12 UTC, Max Demian wrote:
On 11/03/2019 21:42, tabbypurr wrote:
On Monday, 11 March 2019 14:39:20 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 11/03/2019 13:52, Bill Wright wrote:


I think there's too much reliance placed on stickers. The sticker
is only a sticker. From what I've seen of PAT testing it's largely
a box ticking exercise. I've seen some utterly silly decisions by
PAT testers.. I'd rather rely on my own judgement and experience
than on that of some half-trained kid.

Sadly that does seem to be a common problem with many "trained"
testers. Over reliance on the "I connect to tester, push button, it
says ok, must be good" school of thought. Whereas in the case of
something like an extension lead the proper visual inspection is
worth as much or more than the electrical tests.

I've seen the results of that, speaker wire used as mains wire etc.
More common are testers that have done a course but are still
ignorant of a fair range of gotchas. Old equipment especially often
requires more subject understanding than you'll get on any PAT course.

Surely speaker wire doesn't have the same colour coding as mains wire.
Usually just a black stripe down one side so you can get the phase
right.

It's been available in a wide range of colours over the century. But
what's that got to do with it?

If it's not red/black or brown/blue, it's not mains cable.

It isn't now - but it was then.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle