In an ideal world, everyone would use a a registered electrician to carry out any electrical work in your home but some people are keen to have a go themselves. A lot of call outs I get to DIY electrical work is from people who have tried to replace a light only for the light not to work, all the other lights don't work or every time you turn the light it in goes 'pop' and trips your fuse. 

Choosing an electrician, or any tradesman for that matter can be quite a daunting task. You want someone who's going to do the work they quoted for and someone who will treat your home with respect and this ultimately all boils down to trust. You need to be able to trust your electrician so with that in mind, whether you're thinking about having some bathroom spotlights installed or you need new mains powered smoke alarms or even a fuseboard upgrade, here are 5 things you should check before hiring an electrician. 

Checking their registration

If they have stopped working then it could quite simply be something like resetting the thermal overload switch. A thermal overload switch is an essential safety switch that works by monitoring the temperature and cutting off the power supply to the elements if they exceed their set limit. 

1. One we bang on about a lot which is check your smoke alarms! Smoke alarms should be replaced every 10 years, batteries changed yearly, have the dust hoovered out every 6 months and the test button pressed every month! 
 

If you're having some electrical work carried out at your home in Bath or West Wiltshire, it is generally a good idea to hire a professional, registered electrician to perform the work. Electrical work can be dangerous and should only be performed by trained and qualified individuals (In the wiring regulations these are called 'skilled' people). A professional electrician will have the appropriate knowledge through specific training, skills, and tools to safely complete the work.

Yes it's true. Much like the halogen light bulbs that start being phased out a few years ago, fluorescent lights are also being phased out and by September 2023 you won't be able to buy any more fluorescent light bulbs and your electrician will be installing only new LED lights. 

We should all be moving over to new LED lighting and properly disposing of the old fluorescent light bulbs. Did you know 1 fluorescent tube can contaminate up to 30,000 litres of water if disposed of incorrectly?