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ELECTRICIANS

An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure. Electricians may also specialize in wiring ships, airplanes, and other mobile platforms, as well as data and cable.

An electrician's license entitles the holder to carry out all types of electrical installation work in Australia without supervision. However, to contract, or offer to contract, to carry out electrical installation work, a licensed electrician must also be registered as an electrical contractor. Under Australian law, electrical work that involves fixed wiring is strictly regulated and must almost always be performed by a licensed electrician or electrical contractor. A local electrician can handle a range of work including air conditioning, data, and structured cabling systems, home automation & theatre, ,LAN, WAN and VPN data solutions, light fittings and installation, phone points, power points, safety inspections and reports, safety switches, smoke alarm installation, inspection and certification and testing and tagging of electrical appliances.

When do I need an electrician?

We all know that electricians install and repair electrical systems. What you might not know, though, is just what kinds of electrical work you’ll need to call an electrician in for.

This is a pretty easy one – in Australia, you’re legally allowed to change your own light bulbs and operate your appliances in the manner for which they’re designed. For pretty much any electrical work beyond that, you’ll need to hire a qualified, licensed electrician.

This includes for small things like:

• installing a power point
• changing the plugs on an electrical appliance from overseas
• installing transformers for down-lights
• fixing a broken fitting

Even if you think it’s basic and that you know what you’re doing, you’ll really need to call in an electrician. DIY electrical work can be really dangerous, and can result in damage, fire, injury or death – all of which you’ll be completely liable for if you haven’t used a qualified electrician.

A good electrician will work safely, to your state or territory's applicable electrical legislation, and to the standards set out in the Wiring Rules (Australian Standard AS/NZS 3000:2007).

How to hire the right electrician

• Find a local electrician - This will be more convenient, and should ensure that you’re not being charged for the electrician to travel to the job.
• Get several quotes - Compare a few quotes, not all electricians will charge the same amount for the same work – but they should be reasonably similar. Check out reviews online, but don’t believe everything you read…
• Check with other trusted contractors – If you’re having a kitchen renovated, there’s a good chance that the builder will know a good electrician who he or she’s comfortable working with. Get it all bundled in the one price, if you can.
• Ask to see the electrician’s licence – Your electrician should have no problem with showing you this – or with you double-checking with the state authority to ensure that the licence is valid.
• Ask whether you will get a certificate of electrical safety – You should receive safety certificates for any work that’s done.If the electrician won’t give you a certificate or show you a licence, look elsewhere! And if you’re not sure about any of the above, get in touch with your local state regulator for more information. They’ll normally be more than happy to help.

Types of Electrical Equipment used

• Conduit Bender: Bender used to bend various types of Electrical Conduit. These come in many variations including hand, electrical, and hydraulic powered.
• Non-Contact Voltage Testers: Lineman’s Pliers: Heavy-duty pliers for general use in cutting, bending, crimping and pulling wire.
• Diagonal Pliers (also known as side cutters or Dikes): Pliers consisting of cutting blades for use on smaller gauge wires, but sometimes also used as a gripping tool for removal of nails and staples.
• Needle-Nose Pliers: Pliers with a long, tapered gripping nose of various size, with or without cutters, generally smaller and for finer work (including very small tools used in electronics wiring).
• Wire Strippers: Plier-like tool available in many sizes and designs featuring special blades to cut and strip wire insulation while leaving the conductor wire intact and without nicks. Some wire strippers include cable strippers among their multiple functions, for removing the outer cable jacket.
• Cable Cutters: Highly leveraged pliers for cutting larger cable.
• Multimeter: An instrument for electrical measurement with multiple functions. It is available as analog or digital display. Common features include: voltage, resistance and current. Some models offer additional functions.
• Unibit or Step-Bit: A metal-cutting drill bit with stepped-diameter cutting edges to enable convenient drilling holes in preset increments in stamped/rolled metal up to about 1.6mm (1/16 inch) thick.
• Cord, Rope or Fish Tape: Used to manipulate cables and wires through cavities. The fishing tool is pushed, dropped, or shot into the installed raceway, stud-bay or joist-bay of a finished wall or in a floor or ceiling. Then the wire or cable is attached and pulled back.
• Crimping Tools: Used to apply terminals or splices. These may be hand or hydraulic powered. Some hand tools have ratchets to insure proper pressure. Hydraulic units achieve cold weaving even for aluminum cable.
• Other general-use tools: screwdrivers, hammers, reciprocating saws, drywall saws, flashlights, chisels, tongue and groove pliers and drills.