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[Lizzie Zoom]

I have just watched the latest episode of Repair Shop (Friday 17/05/19) which is a great show.  However, I am very concerned about one item that was "repaired".

I watched as a mains electric gramophone and wireless from 70 years ago was restored,  But no electrical testing was done before the 'expert' plugged in the devices and managed to fuse the lights of the repair shop. He apparently eventually got the devices going, but it appeared that at no stage was the mains cable or the wires within the wireless replaced,  It appeared that the old brown mains cable was kept judging by what was shown, and at no stage was there any mention of electric testing by a qualified electrician. 

Now I remember that old brown cable well, and the rubber sheathing eventually perished, exposing just the bare wires that made a lovely flash, bang, and used to blow the lights.  The wires within a 70 year old electrical appliance would also be brittle.

Now I wonder if what I saw was the case, or an instance of poor editing an information giving. But, did the 'customer' who left with the gramophone and radio cabinet take back to her home a fire risk? 

The programme did mention briefly the dangers of old electrical appliances at the start of this repair, but at no stage confirmed the necessary testing and replacement of 70 year old cabling  had taken place.  I have been carrying out electrical work for 50 years, so I do know the dangers of getting this type of thing wrong.

Did anyone else see this programme?  Any comments from the qualified electricians on here?

I have written to the BBC about this, so I will be interested in their reply which, hopefully, will eradicate my fears!

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I have just watched the latest episode of Repair Shop (Friday 17/05/19) which is a great show.  However, I am very concerned about one item that was "repaired".

I watched as a mains electric gramophone and wireless from 70 years ago was restored,  But no electrical testing was done before the 'expert' plugged in the devices and managed to fuse the lights of the repair shop. He apparently eventually got the devices going, but it appeared that at no stage was the mains cable or the wires within the wireless replaced,  It appeared that the old brown mains cable was kept judging by what was shown, and at no stage was there any mention of electric testing by a qualified electrician. 

Now I remember that old brown cable well, and the rubber sheathing eventually perished, exposing just the bare wires that made a lovely flash, bang, and used to blow the lights.  The wires within a 70 year old electrical appliance would also be brittle.

Now I wonder if what I saw was the case, or an instance of poor editing an information giving. But, did the 'customer' who left with the gramophone and radio cabinet take back to her home a fire risk? 

The programme did mention briefly the dangers of old electrical appliances at the start of this repair, but at no stage confirmed the necessary testing and replacement of 70 year old cabling  had taken place.  I have been carrying out electrical work for 50 years, so I do know the dangers of getting this type of thing wrong.

Did anyone else see this programme?  Any comments from the qualified electricians on here?

I have written to the BBC about this, so I will be interested in their reply which, hopefully, will eradicate my fears!

Lizzie....you are of an age to be familiar with Nipper the dog.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I'm pretty good with Corsa electric's.

.......an expert on the battery.

[Lizzie Zoom]

I have just watched the latest episode of Repair Shop (Friday 17/05/19) which is a great show.  However, I am very concerned about one item that was "repaired".

I watched as a mains electric gramophone and wireless from 70 years ago was restored,  But no electrical testing was done before the 'expert' plugged in the devices and managed to fuse the lights of the repair shop. He apparently eventually got the devices going, but it appeared that at no stage was the mains cable or the wires within the wireless replaced,  It appeared that the old brown mains cable was kept judging by what was shown, and at no stage was there any mention of electric testing by a qualified electrician. 

Now I remember that old brown cable well, and the rubber sheathing eventually perished, exposing just the bare wires that made a lovely flash, bang, and used to blow the lights.  The wires within a 70 year old electrical appliance would also be brittle.

Now I wonder if what I saw was the case, or an instance of poor editing an information giving. But, did the 'customer' who left with the gramophone and radio cabinet take back to her home a fire risk? 

The programme did mention briefly the dangers of old electrical appliances at the start of this repair, but at no stage confirmed the necessary testing and replacement of 70 year old cabling  had taken place.  I have been carrying out electrical work for 50 years, so I do know the dangers of getting this type of thing wrong.

Did anyone else see this programme?  Any comments from the qualified electricians on here?

I have written to the BBC about this, so I will be interested in their reply which, hopefully, will eradicate my fears!

Lizzie....you are of an age to be familiar with Nipper the dog.

Yes, I used to play his records on my old wind up gramophone

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Nipper must be ' getting on a bit ' these days....

[Lizzie Zoom]

Nipper must be ' getting on a bit ' these days....

Yep, but his company is still (just) going

[dave the builder]

  It appeared that the old brown mains cable was kept judging by what was shown, and at no stage was there any mention of electric testing by a qualified electrician. 

Now I remember that old brown cable well, and the rubber sheathing eventually perished, exposing just the bare wires that made a lovely flash, bang, and used to blow the lights.  The wires within a 70 year old electrical appliance would also be brittle.

Now I wonder if what I saw was the case, or an instance of poor editing an information giving. But, did the 'customer' who left with the gramophone and radio cabinet take back to her home a fire risk? 

The programme did mention briefly the dangers of old electrical appliances at the start of this repair,

Did anyone else see this programme?  Any comments from the qualified electricians on here?

I have written to the BBC about this, so I will be interested in their reply which, hopefully, will eradicate my fears!

I've not seen the program , but I'm sure the the 'customer' has an up to date ,metal CCU with RCD fault current and MCB over current protection, AFDDs , mains interlinked smokes ,fireproof paint etc etc
like all us OOF members 

if not , they can get extra TV content  for "inside the ambulance" and "24 hours in A&E " or "heir hunters" if they get a fatal P155er   

[Lizzie Zoom]

  It appeared that the old brown mains cable was kept judging by what was shown, and at no stage was there any mention of electric testing by a qualified electrician. 

Now I remember that old brown cable well, and the rubber sheathing eventually perished, exposing just the bare wires that made a lovely flash, bang, and used to blow the lights.  The wires within a 70 year old electrical appliance would also be brittle.

Now I wonder if what I saw was the case, or an instance of poor editing an information giving. But, did the 'customer' who left with the gramophone and radio cabinet take back to her home a fire risk? 

The programme did mention briefly the dangers of old electrical appliances at the start of this repair,

Did anyone else see this programme?  Any comments from the qualified electricians on here?

I have written to the BBC about this, so I will be interested in their reply which, hopefully, will eradicate my fears!

I've not seen the program , but I'm sure the the 'customer' has an up to date ,metal CCU with RCD fault current and MCB over current protection, AFDDs , mains interlinked smokes ,fireproof paint etc etc
like all us OOF members 

if not , they can get extra TV content  for "inside the ambulance" and "24 hours in A&E " or "heir hunters" if they get a fatal P155er 

Don't forget 24 Hours in Police Custody for the 'expert' in the show

[biggriffin]

I don't think, they would repair something on TV, and give it back, if it wasn't 100% safe and legal, just imagine if it went bang and killed some fluffy bunnies, or help us a Germany Kylie contestant.

[Lizzie Zoom]

I don't think, they would repair something on TV, and give it back, if it wasn't 100% safe and legal, just imagine if it went bang and killed some fluffy bunnies, or help us a Germany Kylie contestant.

Yes, indeed, I hope that is the case.  But why did they not show wires being replaced and emphasise the crucial importance of making sure the electrical safety of the appliance had been fully established by way of testing.  As I said, the 'expert' first tested whether or not the record deck and wireless were working, after taking them both out of their wooden cabinet, by plugging them into the mains, which blew the Repair Shop's fuses.  Why show someone who is meant to know better behaving in that amatuerish manner?  Regardless of what is the real truth about what was shown, why show youngsters watching at that time of day something you should never do and could kill?  That really is my point, and I am hoping the BBC clarify the situation

[Bigron]

I agree, it was totally irresponsible, from your description. Lizzie.
I was a college lecturer in electronics for 20 years, but also trained young would-be electricians (NVQ) and always, ALWAYS emphasised safety aspects, closely supervising any student working on live mains - I neded to be fireproof in the dock at the Old Bailey!

Ron.

[dave the builder]

I agree, it was totally irresponsible, from your description. Lizzie.
I was a college lecturer in electronics for 20 years, but also trained young would-be electricians (NVQ) and always, ALWAYS emphasised safety aspects, closely supervising any student working on live mains - I neded to be fireproof in the dock at the Old Bailey!

Ron.

did you get the Megger out and give your students a shock   
my lecturer did 

[Bigron]

No, but I had a hard job stopping the buggers from giving one another shocks!

Ron.

[Lizzie Zoom]

I agree, it was totally irresponsible, from your description. Lizzie.
I was a college lecturer in electronics for 20 years, but also trained young would-be electricians (NVQ) and always, ALWAYS emphasised safety aspects, closely supervising any student working on live mains - I neded to be fireproof in the dock at the Old Bailey!

Ron.

Yes indeed Ron.  It is called a "Duty of Care"

[Lizzie Zoom]

I agree, it was totally irresponsible, from your description. Lizzie.
I was a college lecturer in electronics for 20 years, but also trained young would-be electricians (NVQ) and always, ALWAYS emphasised safety aspects, closely supervising any student working on live mains - I neded to be fireproof in the dock at the Old Bailey!

Ron.

did you get the Megger out and give your students a shock   
my lecturer did 

Well, me being a sad person Dave, certainly was shouting at the screen to give the "expert" my advice.  Trouble is he wasn't listening!!

[redelitev6]

It's a T.V. show made for our entertainment , just relax and enjoy 

[aaronjb]

It's a T.V. show made for our entertainment , just relax and enjoy 

I think Lizzie would have been a regular on Points of View; "Angry of <town>"

[Lizzie Zoom]

It's a T.V. show made for our entertainment , just relax and enjoy 

I think Lizzie would have been a regular on Points of View; "Angry of <town>"

Funnily enough aaronjb my father's side of the family were from Tunbridge Wells and certainly did voice their opinions.  So that could be the classical explanation about me, "Lizzie, Angry of Tunbridge Wells"

[Nick W]

It's a T.V. show made for our entertainment , just relax and enjoy 

I think Lizzie would have been a regular on Points of View; "Angry of <town>"

Or from the internet: you're doing that WRONG.
Wait a minute......

[Rods2]

Because of the high voltages with valve equipment nobody should be attempting to repair them unless they know what they are doing. Old valve CRT TVs have plenty of killing zones including the chassis being used for the live mains supply distribution in many 1960-70's models.

Old electrolytic capacitors used in high voltage applications can fail with a nice pop, not that we used to mimic that as apprentices by connecting them to a high variable voltage PSU with the polarity reversed so as we wound the voltage up then went pop & spewed their guts out of the aluminium can, oh no. These were tea break or lunchtime 'experiments' when we were unsupervised by our instructors as part of our unofficial hands-on leaning course on what makes components fail through heat, fire or mini explosions & ideally all three. Convincing the thickest apprentice in our year that the 10A transformer short circuit test where we all had to wind one, that it was a 100A test worked very well in cooking the transformer, wire wound rheostat & an elbow leaning on the AVO 10A cutout button meant that was fried as well. Standard punishment was where we started a 7:40 am except on collage days which started at 9:00, the guilty & caught had to go to work & then on to college. It became an almost standard routine for him.

I'm sure Ron would have enjoyed teaching us.

[dave the builder]

I still have a hand crank Megger (now replaced with modern electricary battery one)
must give myself a 1000v insulation resistance test when I find it from storage 

[Bigron]

Actually, Rods2, I was the one who applied a high reverse voltage to a small electrolytic - maybe 10uF -  and advised my students to take cover.....within seconds there was smoke and a projectile of its innards across the room!
This was, of course, under the mantra of "don't try this at home, children".
As you will understand, it was to demonstrate the folly of placing an electrolytic capacitor in a circuit the wrong way round.
One demonstration is worth a thousand boring words!

Ron.

[Tony H]

Having a poke around our telly back in the 70's when I was about 14 to see if I could get it working under instruction from my Dad I discovered what "live chassis " meant got a "hell of a belt" didn't do that again !!!

[Bigron]

The top cap connections on the older valves were always the grid electrodes, weren't they?....er, no!!!

Ron.

[Lizzie Zoom]

Because of the high voltages with valve equipment nobody should be attempting to repair them unless they know what they are doing. Old valve CRT TVs have plenty of killing zones including the chassis being used for the live mains supply distribution in many 1960-70's models.

I learnt that by listening to the adults in the early sixties, and that is one reason why I was / am so concerned about how the "expert" in The Repair Shop treated the work to be done on the wireless chassis he removed from the wooden cabinet.  He simply put it, and the record deck, on his work bench, without any precautions, connected the old wires up, plugged it in and blew the fuses of the Repair Shop!  I was taught in my very early years not to take that type of cavalier approach if you wanted to live!   

THat approach made me doubt this "experts" understanding of safe working practices, and when he seemed to not replace the old, 70 year old, mains cables and wires,.........................well it made me shout out loud and turn to my keyboard!! .

[Kevin Wood]

The top cap connections on the older valves were always the grid electrodes, weren't they?....er, no!!!

Ron.

I'm currently working on restoring a KW 2000B. The top caps on the 6146s in the output stage certainly aren't grids. They've got about 900 volts on them.