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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think there's no such thing as weak electricity?

24 replies

punypower · 13/12/2023 16:59

We had hired a mobile repair van to repair a scratch on our car. We had agreed the price ahead of time.

The man showed up, and was a little unfriendly, but you know, I didn't need to be besties with him. He said, "I'm going to need power for my machine." I checked he had an extension lead and he said he did, and I said I'd open up the garage so he could get power.

He said that he needed to run a cable from the house as the garage electricity is "too weak" for his machine. I said we couldn't do that as we have a dog who would run out of the house if we left the door open. I said that the electricity in the garage was the same as the electricity in the house. He said "the wires in the garage are thinner and it'll trip your house circuit."

I felt he was talking bollocks to me, but I stayed polite and said not to worry and if the house tripped, I could un-trip it with a flick of a switch. At that point he told me to fuck off, called me a cunt and drove off.

So that escalated.

However, I've been left doubting myself. Is there such a thing as weak electricity in garages? We are in a new-build and happily run a tumble dryer, freezer and all normal stuff off the garage circuit and have also charged friends' cars without trouble in the past.

AIBU to think there's no such thing as weak electricity?

OP posts:
Couldyounot · 13/12/2023 17:03

He sounds like a fuckwit. If the sockets are rated and fused for 13A then it's all good.

glassyhag · 13/12/2023 17:04

Yes, he was dumbing it down for you but some appliances absolutely SHOULD only be plugged into the mains and never ever used with an extension lead. A hot tub is one of them. Electric heaters another. They can melt the cables and are very likely to trip the circuit

BMW6 · 13/12/2023 17:04

Lol I've not heard of weak electricity 😅 🤣 😂

PinkflowersWhiteBerries · 13/12/2023 17:07

Assuming he was going to need his extension cable wherever he was running power from, he’s an idiot. I get that the extension cable itself could cause a problem but that’s on him.

Anyway, interesting sales technique he’s got there.

BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn · 13/12/2023 17:08

glassyhag · 13/12/2023 17:04

Yes, he was dumbing it down for you but some appliances absolutely SHOULD only be plugged into the mains and never ever used with an extension lead. A hot tub is one of them. Electric heaters another. They can melt the cables and are very likely to trip the circuit

But that's utterly irrelevant to whether the end of the extension cable is plugged into the garage (as OP wanted) or house (as he wanted).

It's not a mains vs extension question.

LittleGreenDragons · 13/12/2023 17:10

I said we couldn't do that as we have a dog who would run out of the house if we left the door open

I wonder if he had a "mate" that was going to sneak in and steal. Where did you find him, Facebook, that neighbourhood app thing or newspaper?

margotrose · 13/12/2023 17:10

glassyhag · 13/12/2023 17:04

Yes, he was dumbing it down for you but some appliances absolutely SHOULD only be plugged into the mains and never ever used with an extension lead. A hot tub is one of them. Electric heaters another. They can melt the cables and are very likely to trip the circuit

If the extension lead is the issue (which is fair enough) then why would it matter whether it was plugged into the garage or the house? Confused

DoraSpenlow · 13/12/2023 17:11

Not quite the same but a few years we had 'weak electricity' but it was the whole house. It usually happened first thing in the morning. When we got up and put the light on it would be very dim and it would take the kettle half an hour to boil. They had to put a new transformer in down the road.

TeacherPlease · 13/12/2023 17:13

We had to upgrade the fuse and cabling to put an electric car charger in our garage… so I don’t think it’s weaker electricity but you can overload a circuit (I think…) and not all circuits are built equal (we definitely have higher ampage for our kitchen appliances than say our ceiling lights).

SurelySmartie · 13/12/2023 17:14

How utterly bizarre. Why was he so angry and what did he really want? What an overreaction. Something sounds very not right there.

BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn · 13/12/2023 17:16

A car charger - like a cooker or a powerful electric shower - needs higher capacity wiring than a standard 3-pin plug socket.

But again that is irrelevant in this case. He was going to use a standard 3-pin plug socket with standard wiring, regardless of what wall the socket happened to be attached to.

LivingDeadGirlUK · 13/12/2023 17:18

No he's talking utter rubbish there and PP talking about extension cables has missed the point as he had an extension cable of his own. In a new build with an internal garage the sockets are probably on the same ring main as the rest of the downstairs of your house.

It was quite the over reaction and I do wonder if PP has it about him being on the rob.

AngelicInnocent · 13/12/2023 17:19

Older properties that did not have electricity to the garage originally, have had the electricity "extended" to include the garage and its been done on underrated cables which can be quite easily overloaded. However, if yours is a fairly new build, this will not be the case.

More likely as a pp said, his mate was waiting around the corner to sneak in.

LivingDeadGirlUK · 13/12/2023 17:21

DoraSpenlow · 13/12/2023 17:11

Not quite the same but a few years we had 'weak electricity' but it was the whole house. It usually happened first thing in the morning. When we got up and put the light on it would be very dim and it would take the kettle half an hour to boil. They had to put a new transformer in down the road.

That's a drop in voltage, its why they don't have kettles in America because they use 110V compared to our 230V.

SnowsFalling · 13/12/2023 17:23

I mean there is lower voltage electricity. But unless you are going to drip feed that the house is in the UK, and the garage is in the USA on 110V, it's totally irrelevant.

Garage and house electricity will all be the same, and he was talking crap.

Find a new mobile repair company.

Frasers · 13/12/2023 17:38

Actually this is correct. It is about the wiring from the house to the garage, ours is absolutely weaker and certainly machinery trips it. Where as if I plug it in the house, it is fine. We have a heavy duty power washer, the current is too much for it and blows the switch. Same with the log splitter. But we can use both in house. He would have learned from experience.

however what a horrible man, you dodged a bullet there.

RafaistheKingofClay · 13/12/2023 17:44

Are you in a new build though Frasers?

madeinmanc · 13/12/2023 17:46

At that point he told me to fuck off, called me a cunt and drove off.

I know customer service has taken a turn for the worse recently but that really takes the biscuit.

Fieldofbrokenpromises · 13/12/2023 17:48

He was an utter bellend but voltage does drop over distance. That has nothing to do with current draw or earth leakage that might trip the circuit breakers though (well not directly).
As someone else said, 13a is 13a (although there is a lot more to it involving 30a ring mains etc). It's very hard to imagine him as anything other than an ignorant tosser who doesn't actually know anything about electricity though.

newnamethanks · 13/12/2023 18:03

Very sensible to not let him into your house.

Original poster
punypower · 13/12/2023 18:36

I don't think he was on the rob. My husband was at home anyway! I think it was a sexist thing. He could tell I didn't buy his bullshit about weak electricity and it offended his manhood that my B grade in GCSE physics meant I didn't immediately scurry and carry out his instructions.

He came highly recommended by several people on our local Facebook group. Perhaps they hadn't committed the crime of being female / non-compliant.

OP posts:
Original poster
punypower · 13/12/2023 18:43

Though I should add, for completeness's sake, it's not an internal garage, it's detached at the bottom of the garden, but built at the same time as the rest of the property, and the garden is small, so it's very close to the house.

OP posts:
LivingDeadGirlUK · 13/12/2023 20:31

Frasers · 13/12/2023 17:38

Actually this is correct. It is about the wiring from the house to the garage, ours is absolutely weaker and certainly machinery trips it. Where as if I plug it in the house, it is fine. We have a heavy duty power washer, the current is too much for it and blows the switch. Same with the log splitter. But we can use both in house. He would have learned from experience.

however what a horrible man, you dodged a bullet there.

Thats not 'weaker electricity' thats most likely your garage socket being wired on a radial circuit with a circuit breaker that cant handle the start up current of those machines. If you look at the switch it will have the rating in amps (16A or 20A) and say eitther Type B Type C or Type D. I expect you have a type B switch, a type c or d could stop it tripping.

TowerRaven7 · 13/12/2023 20:35

We use kettles in America! Honestly…

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