# Direction for 60 year old electrician?



## johnno09 (21 Mar 2009)

Would anyone have any ideas what direction a 60 year old self-employed electrician (currently with no income) could move towards now that there isnt any work in the domestic wiring area, without significant re-training (& exclusing Building Energy Rating).


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## AlbacoreA (22 Mar 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*

Rewiring electrics to be more effecient. Replacing old CH timers with better timers. Putting the water heating on a seperate circuit to the CH. Auto off lights, things like that. Installing monitors that track power usage. Things like this. Seen all these in Germany decades ago. In Ireland we're still putting in manual timers, and simple on/off switches on new builds.


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## Caveat (22 Mar 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*

Are you in any way 'handy' in a general sense? E.g. tiling, carpentery etc - your skills could be useful when applied to a wide range of DIY stuff maybe if you sell yourself as a handyman who is also a qualified electrician.


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## johnno09 (4 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*

Any more ideas


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## AlbacoreA (5 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*

Auto electricians are always busy.


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## johnno09 (5 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*

Thanks for the response, how does one go from electrician to auto electrician exactly?


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## AlbacoreA (5 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*

No idea. Maybe theres a course in Bolton St or through FAS. Maybe ask an auto electrians?


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## newyork (15 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*

Has to be general electrical work, try advertising at a low rate, low income is better than no income.


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## dinjoecurry (17 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*

I think B & Q employ  tradesmen for their shops ,you could try that if its your sort of thing


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## chrisboy (17 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*



dinjoecurry said:


> I think B & Q employ  tradesmen for their shops ,you could try that if its your sort of thing




True, and at the grand old age of 60 would be a lot handier than doin the hard labour involved in most electrical work. All ya do there is give out advice to customers..


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## blueoval (25 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*

well i dont want to seem checky but a 60yr old self employed sparky should not have to worrie about no income sparkeys were making a fortune when the boom was in full flow


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## MrMan (25 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*



blueoval said:


> well i dont want to seem checky but a 60yr old self employed sparky should not have to worrie about no income sparkeys were making a fortune when the boom was in full flow


 
Well over a lifetime the boom hardly stretches to cover a house and family etc not to mention all of the rising costs that occured, and its not what the ops looking for.


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## johnno09 (25 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*



blueoval said:


> well i dont want to seem checky but a 60yr old self employed sparky should not have to worrie about no income sparkeys were making a fortune when the boom was in full flow


 
Never made a fortune nor anything like it, had a 2 person operation struggling to meet equipment costs, prsi, tax etc before living costs. So take off the Nikes and stop jumping to assumptions. Thanks


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## D8Lady (25 Apr 2009)

Is there a logical move to more green technologies? e.g. solar power, wind power - or is that still too small?

Or using your experience for maintenance of older systems in building e.g. hospitals, factories? Younger guys wouldn't know about the older stuff.

Call up everyone you have ever worked with, get the word out that you are available. 

And try find the people who could never find a tradesman during the boom - all those smaller domestic jobs still need doing.


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## g1g (25 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*



blueoval said:


> well i dont want to seem checky but a 60yr old self employed sparky should not have to worrie about no income sparkeys were making a fortune when the boom was in full flow


 
This sort of comment really annoys me.  Not everyone made a fortune in the boom and it's wrong for people to assume so.


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## thehill (27 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*



blueoval said:


> well i dont want to seem checky but a 60yr old self employed sparky should not have to worrie about no income sparkeys were making a fortune when the boom was in full flow


Pathetic, if I'm reading it right blueoval has 3 posts, so he/she went to the trouble of registering here to type in sh1te like that, actually no it's not pathetic, pathetic is an aspiration for people like that (sorry for hijacking the thread)


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## Caveat (27 Apr 2009)

*Re: Direction for 60 year old electrician ?*



dinjoecurry said:


> I think B & Q employ tradesmen for their shops ,you could try that if its your sort of thing


 
I think that's a great idea.  As far as I can see, the average age profile seems to be appropriate for the OP too.


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## DavyJones (27 Apr 2009)

Something worth looking into is lecturing with FAS or private companies. I would like to do this at some point in my career.


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## krissovo (27 Apr 2009)

How about going down the home automation route?  Wire the home for CAT6 data, speakers, link up heating/lights and ventilation systems so that they can all be controlled remotely. 

Ok that is at the extreme but could be done using baby steps i.e. start installing lights that have remote controls or that come on/ turn off automatically if they detect  movement.

Been looking for a tradesman to wire up my new build but none of them are aware of the technology.


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## chrisboy (27 Apr 2009)

krissovo said:


> How about going down the home automation route?  Wire the home for CAT6 data, speakers, link up heating/lights and ventilation systems so that they can all be controlled remotely.
> 
> Ok that is at the extreme but could be done using baby steps i.e. start installing lights that have remote controls or that come on/ turn off automatically if they detect  movement.
> 
> Been looking for a tradesman to wire up my new build but none of them are aware of the technology.




Smarthomes.ie is a good site for this type of thing.. I know companies in Dublin that do it but unfortunately not in Cork!


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## Welfarite (28 Apr 2009)

This predicament requires thinking outside the box. At 60, you have so much experience it couldn't be bought. What about approaching FAS? Not to get training but to give training to all the unemployed apprentices out there that are baying for it?


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## johnno09 (28 Apr 2009)

Thanks for taking the time to reply. How would you go about getting training for the smarthomes systems would anyone know. This is appealing.


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