Most electricians are mobile and complete jobs in all kinds of places; therefore, it can be a challenge to ensure you have all the tools for the job when you get there whilst keeping your toolkit as light as possible.
By our reckoning, there are at least 20 essential tools for an electrician; therefore, we are going to cheat a bit in our list of the top ten - and you should too!
Multi-tools
As they deal with floors, walls and ceilings in addition to electricals, electricians share many basic tools with other trades, such as saws, drills, levels, tape measures and pliers, and the Makita P-46517 electrician’s zip case contains all these in one. You will also find all the drill and screwdriver bits you will ever need amongst its 96 pieces, alongside specialised tools such as a stud finder and magnetic reach to retrieve dropped screws.
Mains tester screwdrivers have an insulated handle and an LED that tells you whether a wire or terminal is live. Not only do these provide you with a crucial screwdriver set but also they combine safety features and testing equipment.
Electricians need to test loops and circuits, digital components, and find buried studs and cables. Rather than buying separate instruments, consider buying an all-in-one tester kit combining a clamp meter, digital multimeter and stud and cable detectors in one protective space-saving pouch.
For making professional quality connections, you need pliers, crimpers, cable strippers and benders. Again, you can find tools that combine many of these functions in one. For the majority of your needs, you can’t go wrong with a handy multi-function electrician’s pocket tool.
The Faithfull Hickory Slaters Hammer is a multi-function hammer. You also get a claw and a curved pick, which is useful for freeing old cabling and raking through new.
Safety first
There are no shortcuts when it affects your safety. A Defender RCD plug/socket to protect both you and electrical equipment from shock, shorts and surges is essential kit.
You will want an extension reel, and the Jegs 10m cable reel is a compact solution providing four sockets and a thermal cut out.
Another necessity is a portable light source. The Defender LED floor light houses 64 high-quality LEDs in tough ABS with an anti-shock base.
A soldering iron is crucial for many jobs and we are counting it as number nine on our list. For electrical work, you can safely save a couple of pounds by using a reel of ordinary lead-based solder.
Our number 10 is cable-ties. These may be simple but you simply must keep a bunch in your tool bag. Mixed colours are useful for identifying cables.
Our last items are so obvious that we are not counting them - a mobile phone and coat-hanger. On how many call-outs do you not need your phone? As for the coat-hanger - you can obviously hang your coat up, and they are also handy for hooking cable through oddly- shaped wall cavities.