Coming up on this week's news, the authors of the wiring regulations reveal the final draft of Amendment 4. A fake NIC member is exposed in London. And a curveball hits the debate raging over whether SPDs need an MCB. Welcome to Electrical News Weekly in association with Sungrow, making every watt count, literally since 1997. Whether you're listening in the van, on site, or down at the wholesale counter, I'm Joe Robinson, and I've been through the best of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble. We're being lit by Flex 7 with their lightning fast pre-wired modular lighting connection system that keeps your installation times razor sharp. And if you think you've spotted the two words that I've been challenged to slip into this week's show, comment with them below for the chance to win this exclusive cap branded with friends of the show QuickWire and Chump Tools. And while you're there, click the links in the show notes to check out what our sponsors offer. The authors of the wiring regulations have unveiled the contents of the latest change to the document. Amendment 4 has been a long time in the making and is designed to match us with European standards. It includes requirements for secondary batteries, generating sets, and power over Ethernet installations. A key addition is section 545, which sets out the procedures for earthing and bonding of computer kit. This passage makes a clear distinction between functional earthing and protective earthing. The IET says this is important so that any interruption of the functional earthing does not impair the protective earthing and includes things like minimum cross-sectional areas and the electrical continuity of bonding conductors and earthing terminals. The Institution of Engineering and Technology says they're a response to fast evolving technologies. The organisation has spent the last year consulting on the changes and assessing their technical impact on installation practice. A new chapter 57 adopts the measures set out in a publicly available standard which was fast tracked by British standards in 2024. Publicly available specification 63100 says that battery packs, which are often connected to solar panels, should never be placed in a roof space. Instead, it'll be recommended that batteries are located outside the property. A new section 716 addresses installations where the power is fed via Ethernet cables. This sets out the design, erection, and verification of these installs. There's also changes to section 710 medical locations. The new wiring regs, including amendment 4, will be officially published on the 16th of April, but you can pre-order it now. We'd recommend to get the most value out of it and in support of independent businesses that you buy yours via Docs Store, the home of compliance documentation, and so much more. If you buy at the link in the show notes, eFIXX viewers will get a free set of chapter flags worth over a tenner. Handy for navigating all those tricky regs. You'll have to stop using the current brown book for new installs by the 16th of October 2026. Despite all the technical changes in the new regs book, one of the most debated aspects is the colour of the cover, orange, or as the book is now being sold for £125. We've decided to call it tangerine. In fact, the IET went as far as hiring influencers Amy Barrett Singh and Jordan Farley of Artisan Electrics to do a big reveal of the colour. The duo let off bright tangerine flares on the balcony of the IET's HQ in central London while overlooking the boats on the Thames. Finally, a date for your diary. We're going to host a special eFIXX TV on Wednesday the 22nd of April to dissect and explain all those finickity changes with special expert guests including Darren Crannis of the ECA and very possibly the debut appearance of our house band. So keep an eye out for that. In other news, a London building firm and its boss have been ordered to stump up £4,000 after falsely using NICEIC stickers on a company van. Heatwave Construction Limited director Gurcharan Singh Chahal admitted the charges of engaging in an unfair commercial practice when he put the distinctive logo on the company's Vauxhall Vivarro. Uxbridge magistrates court heard that trading standards officers wrote to Heatwave in the summer of 2024 informing it that its van was displaying the logos without authorisation. Despite this, the logo was still on the van when Trading Standards visited the following November. The NIC confirmed that Chahal was not and never had been registered with them, nor was he authorised to use its branding, logo, or certification marks. The council was told that the company had been registered as an NIC certified contractor between the 16th of November 2019 and the 4th of January 2024, but were no longer authorised after that date. Chahal was invited to attend an interview with Trading Standards on two separate occasions, but he failed to attend both times. Councillor Wayne Bridges of Hillington Council said the authority was committed to keeping residents safe. It would, he said, always take the strongest possible action against those seeking to deceive people for financial gain. Heatwave Construction Limited was ordered to pay £480, a victim surcharge of £192, and the council's prosecution costs of over £1,600. Chahal was handed a conditional discharge for 12 months, ordered to pay a victim search charge of £26 and prosecution costs of £1,657. And if you're a legitimate spark, then you'll want to install legitimate fire detection. Check out the fantastic range from this week's fire sponsor, Fireangel. They'll keep watch over you and your loved ones even when you can't. Another circulating pump has been recalled over fears of electric shock. The Office for Product Safety and Standards says that 6 meter head pumps with the brand name GBP Flow have a serious risk of electric shock. They should be returned immediately to the supplier. Last November, some 114,000 circulating pumps with the brand name Tucson were recalled across the UK and Ireland over the risk of electrocution to trades people. The Chinese-made pumps were imported by an Irish firm and were popular in both the Republic of Ireland and the UK. The Office for Product Safety and Standards is advising electricians not to touch the pumps under any circumstances. That's because it says the mains cable can be connected to the pump in reverse, allowing the live pin to connect to the earth pin and posing a serious risk of electrocution. The original affected models are the Tucson 5 m, 6 m, and 8 m head models made between 2017 and 2024. The organisation says trades people should check the serial number against its database. The office says that anyone working on heating systems must be very aware of the serious risk presented by these pumps. I'll put a link to the serial number checking tool in the show notes. And if you want to install kit you're confident in, then have a look at LRON's green eye range of smart lighting controls. They'll cut carbon, reduce costs, and help you specify efficient future ready buildings. It's not just green eye, it'll help to make a green you. Meanwhile, a curveball has hit the debate raging over the use of miniature circuit breakers with surge protection devices in consumer units. The trade is divided over whether units with built-in busbar SPDs with no additional MCBs conform to the wiring regulations. But now, French brand Schneider Electric has thrown a curveball into the market. It has launched a surge protection device for the commercial market that connects directly to the busbar, but doesn't need a dedicated MCB. These new SPDs include internal protection that's designed to operate before any upstream protection device, provided the upstream device is 63 amps or greater. This new generation of SPDs means there's no need for a dedicated MCB and no danger that the latter could be inadvertently turned off, removing the surge protection. There's no need for an external enclosure or expansion boards. The units, which are available in both single and three-phase, are also backwards compatible, so they can be added to existing boards. Other brands innovating in this product class include Lewden, which says it's developed SPDs with built-in fault protection, which they say don't need an additional MCB. Meanwhile, some other manufacturers insist that their surge protection devices do require an MCB to be compliant. We'll keep you posted of developments in the guidance when we get it. Now, how about this for a bright idea? It's time for the Paul Russell's lamp of the week. And kicking us off is this beauty. This decorative lamp will bring warmth and character to any hospitality or residential project. It's got a distinctive spiral filament inside a special amber glass. It looks energy hungry, but because it's LED, it draws just 4 watts. That's equivalent to 25 watts in old school incandescent technology. Its output is 250 lumens and it has a contemporary E27 base. For more on the full range, visit paulrussells.com. In promo news, it's time to win big with BG. They've teamed up with Knipex to bring you a competition with two World Cup tickets on offer. You get to go to a group stage match in Miami with travel and hotel all laid on. Simply buy 20 worth of BG products, upload your proof of purchase, and play the BG penalty shootout game. If you score a goal, you'll win one of 300 instant prizes. You'll also be automatically entered into the draw for the two hospitality tickets at Miami Gardens. I'll put a link to this top competition in the show notes. In education news, our very own Gary Hayes visited ECK Dover College where a group of former students is cutting its teeth on an exciting project. The recently qualified youngsters are helping refurbish one of the country's premier events and wedding venues, the historic Maison in Dover. Their work includes rewiring the building, installing new fire and intruder alarm systems, upgrading lighting and emergency lighting, and fitting modern kitchen electrics and lifts. The project is part funded by a 10.5 million pound national lottery grant. The engineers are Martin Thomas Associates. Thanks to Martin Crowther for the heads up. He says it's a great example for students on the challenges, complexities, and joys of working on a grade 1 building. Arena Training Centre in Sheffield has announced that it's just received funding for adult skills education from the local authority, beating some of the competition from larger colleges. The cash grant will allow it to offer electrical courses for residents in South Yorkshire and should help out some qualified Sparks who've been hit by the updated EAS specs. These will include level two and three diplomas in electrical installations and level threes in BS7671, periodic testing, small solar, battery storage, and EV chargers. Head honcho Peter Monty Montford wanted to let his staff know how proud he is of what they've achieved. There's a link for more information in the show notes. Now, it's that great moment where we get to celebrate the sterling work being done by the next generation. Our learner of the week slot is brought to you by Viperclip for rapid, secure, and fireproof installations of cabling. And our learner this week is Chris Knight who's at Cheshire College in crew. He's been nominated by lecturer Nathan Lundy. Knights is a mature learner on the school's level two electrical installation course. Lundy says Chris is exceptionally driven and highly committed to his development. He's completed no fewer than 15 eFIXX CPD modules to deepen his theoretical knowledge and understanding. He regularly practices workshop tasks at home to consolidate his learning and further refine his practical skills. And Chris routinely helps other learners showing patience and a genuine desire to support their progress. So all in all, a worthy recipient of recognition. Congratulations on all you've achieved, Chris, and most of all on being the eFIXX learner of the week in association with Viperclip. And now to the lighter side of the electrical news. Yes, it's time for a tea break with QuickWire in its range of incredibly rapid electrical connectors. Belfast electrician Dale Lee has just saved the life of a man who was having a heart attack in the city centre. Lee had been on a first aid course last summer and had begun carrying a mobile defibrillator in his van. Little did he know he'd have to use it within 6 months of getting it. Lee spotted pedestrian Jonathan Burns, who had collapsed in the street while suffering a cardiac arrest. Lee checked for a heartbeat. Couldn't find one, so he put the pads on and let the defibrillator do its work. When the paramedic arrived, he said the Spark had just saved a life. Not bad for a day's work. Lee says other electrical contractors should carry defibrillators, too, because they're out and about in people's houses and can be in the right place to help when things go wrong. It's quite ironic that we spend our entire working lives making sure that people don't get electric shocks, and yet doing just the opposite made Lee a hero. Top work, Dale. That's the lighter side of the news in our tea break with Quickwire and their range of incredibly rapid electrical connectors. Click the link in the description to check them out for yourself. Now, just before we get to your favourite bit of the show where I reveal last week's challenge words and winners, we want to thank our premium partners. We couldn't make the news without you. First up, they're like having an Italian Star Striker in your premiership team. It's Lewden Palazzoli. And the best thing to come out of Yorkshire since Stainless Steel, the home of EV Ultra and other groundbreaking and quality products, it's Doncaster Cables. Click the links in the show notes to find out more about these great brands. If you think you know the words I've smuggled into this week's show, pop your guess into the comments. We'll take all the correct guesses and select one at random to be the winner of an eFIXX goodie bag prize. Answers submitted after about lunchtime on the Thursday after release will not be entered into the draw. Now, let's reveal the winners of last week's challenge word competition. Last week's words were Mosquito and Flummoxed. And the first name to come out of our electronic hat was Timbo Sparks, who I think has won before. But to be fair, pretty much all the people who saw through my cheeky double bluff last week were previous winners, too. Maybe I'm getting predictable. We'll see. Anyway, Timbo, click the get involved link in the show notes to claim your prize. This week, we've been lit by Flex 7 with their lightning fast pre-wired modular lighting connection system that keeps your installation times razor sharp. Don't forget to click the links in the show notes to find out more. Thanks for listening to this episode of Electrical News Weekly in association with Sungrow, making every watt count, literally since 1997. Make sure you subscribe to receive the next update. Thanks for listening and until next time, have a great week. Stay safe out there and remember there's no such thing as a torque calibrated arm.