Yesterday, one of our tenants had his fan stop working. My brother, my dad and I went to check there.
When my brother removed the switch plate, he shared “why they used this type of screw “.
Below is the image of Original/manufacturer Screws:
Electrical
How busbar helped in solving low voltage issue
When we were staying at the rental property, one incident happened. I explain that real incident so you can understand one useful benefit of having a Busbar in the meter box.
I have my own online business. I was not going anywhere for job. I was just working from my home with my PC and internet connection.
Everything went smoothly until one day, my computer UPS started beeping.
Customer questions about the electrical system
Got the below question from one of our All-Access Pass Customer:
Hi Arun,
First of all thank you very much for sharing your experience and lessons learned in house construction. I am benefiting a lot after going through your articles.
I am planning to construct a house in Kochi, Kerala. Two floor house for own use. I have a couple of questions about the electrical system.
1. Is Busbar required for home use?
I think you used it because you have different houses for rental. Am I correct ?
2. You have used two electricity meters. May I know why? (Outdoor meter and 3 phase meter)
Regards,
Kishore
I am benefiting a lot after going through your articles.
Ac Installation Things to Know
In this article, I will share all the charges you will pay to install AC and a few things you should be aware of…
In most cases, AC installation is not Free. It’s a chargeable service.
Below are the details of all the costs I paid during my AC installation.
Temporary or Permanent Solution for a AC Issue?
2 days back, I got a price drop alert on an Amazon product in my email.
This is the product I thought of buying after when I started using AC in my home office room. I immediately noticed one mistake I made in my room.
This is not just me who usually does…
This is a common mistake made by almost all users in their homes if they use AC.
Electrical contractors and AC — don’t rely on them
When we were building our first house, we were complete newbies…
We didn’t have many ideas about contractors, labourers, etc.; we simply went with the construction flow.
Luckily, one of our dad’s friends helped in most aspects of our construction.
Everything went well in most cases, apart from the Electrical contractor. We had a lot of issues and verbal fights with the electrical contractor for various reasons.
Electrical Rework for Comfort Issue
On the 14th of this month, we hired our electrician to fix one issue we had been adjusting for several months.
After managing it for a few months, we decided not to adjust and fix that problem.
We hired the same electrician who did our building’s electrical work, so he understands much better about wiring and all…
Moreover, he is an awesome electrician who knows and does only quality work. He never compromises on quality work, no matter who informs him…
AC installation is done — here is what happened
I already hired a private guy to do my AC installation setup who understood the importance of the AC Vacuuming process, even at a higher cost than what I would give for a company installation guy.
Installation was scheduled on Saturday with a private party.
Meanwhile, I also raised a complaint with Panasonic regarding the technician. They also shared a direct contractor guy’s contact number to speak with him this time.
My New AC installation circus
I recently bought an AC online for my home office. I guess it’s already 6 days over…
Still, installation has not yet been done.
After raising a support ticket yesterday, some technicians came but didn’t bring the AC vacuum pump.
I noticed and asked them.
They said, “we hadn’t bought it”.
I informed them not to install the AC without doing the AC vacuuming process.
They left immediately saying other will come and do.
BESCOM penalty + Interest charges
I’m in my wife’s parent’s house in Mysore. I came here to take a break.
This is something my Internet business allows me to do without waiting for someone else permission. And I’m writing this email from her house with limited access to the internet.
Anyway…
A few days back, one of my readers contacted me asking for some solutions to the problems they were facing. I asked our electrical contractor and responded to him.
Below is what the question is:
Dear sir,
My contractor took temporary connection for construction of second floor in April 2021 . After 3 months, the temporary connection was surrendered and the separate meter was handed over to Bescom.
Now after 34 months, Bescom has issued a bill for arrears of Rs.6500/- as audit short claim along with monthly charge of Rs.250/- against my RR number (2 KW). I have paid the monthly charges under my RR number. But I have not paid the arrears yet.
On enquiry Bescom official said that at the time of surrender of temporary connection on 2.8.21, there was arrears of Rs.1500/- which was not paid . So penalty has been charged for 33 days from 30.6.21 to 2.8.21 at the rate of Rs.250/- per 1 KW per week plus interest payment of around Rs.500/-.
It means for so called arrears of RS.1500/-
the penalty plus interest amount is Rs.5000/-.
This is highly ridiculous. This is nothing but harassing a senior citizen by a govt department.
What is your view on this? What is the actual penalty for non payment of temporary connection monthly recurring charges. How they have accepted the meter without recovering the arrears at the time of surrender of meter on 2.8.21.
Can you throw some light.
Regards
Parameshwar.
Basically, his contractor didn’t do his job well, and now this customer is facing a penalty from BESCOM.
This is common.
If users don’t pick the right electrical contractor, this is what is going to happen. And there is no way you can verify all these things yourself until you face an issue.
Because of his electrical contractor’s mistake, our reader must now pay ₹5,000…
In our first building, we also suffered a lot due to our electrical contractor. That’s why I wrote that guide a little early.
If you notice this reader’s email, you will understand how they feel.
We also felt similar… maybe even worse in our case.
I highly recommend choosing the right electrical contractor for your building. If you wrongly select your electrical contractor, you will face issues at the end stage of your house construction.
When building our second building, we took many extra steps to ensure we picked the right electrical contractor. Our project is quite big, and we don’t want to face issues later.
All the extra effort we put in — is it really worth it?
It’s definitely worth it for us.
BESCOM is one of the worst and most corrupt departments you will face. Keep that in mind.
You can google the Bescom Bribery case and notice tons of results. So be prepared for it.
For your information, it is very rare to get caught while taking bribes in Bescom. In most cases, communication happens only between Bescom officials and contractors and contractors to you.
So, getting caught won’t happen normally. Even though you will see a lot of bribery cases if you search online.
I’m not going to guarantee you will avoid paying bribes. But I can say that you will get the right contractor who knows his work, can handle office work efficiently and, most importantly, can complete your work without any issues.
If you want to find such an efficient electrical contractor, I shared my process in my Electrical Work Guide.
You can find more information below:
https://houseconstructionguide.com/electrical-work-guide/
Arun