Chased wires in kitchen wall - does this look right??

[bertles01]

Hi all,

Last year I had someone in to completely redo my kitchen. The old washing machine has now packed up so moving it out to put a new one in tomorrow, but not sure about the state the wiring has been left in behind the machine.

Attached a quick photo - I have zero electrics knowledge/skills but thought if you chased wires into a wall they need to be plastered over... is this a botch job?

Cheers for any help/opinions.
Bert

Untitled

• bertles01
• 9 Apr 2015
• 1

 

[Iggifer]

you would normally backfill the chase if the wall was to be skimmed/rendered

BUT

a) doesn't really matter under a sink
b) because those cables are not in a safe zone, they would not comply if they were plastered.

They're clipped (I can see one clip) so they're not going anywhere (hopefully).

If you wanted them chasing in and plastering over the two that come up from the floor would need to come across to go straight up to that socket - or add a box + blank plate on that right angle with the cable passing through the box

 

[sparkwright]

The bottom left vertical part of the chase is a bit questionable.

HOWEVER, since at the very bottom of this chase the cable can be seen emerging out of the wall, it may be ok.

Technically, both the cables have to be visible at the bottom, but it looks like only one is.

If this is the case it's not ok, if you plaster, if we are going to do this by the book.

The reason for mentioning all this is the cables have to be in 'safe zones' when buried in a wall.

This means that one can logically guess where cables may be concealed, so they are less likely to get drilled through or damaged some other way.

Iggifer's point about an additional box would certainly improve the situation.

 

[gman76]

Is that a piece of T&E connected to the earth clamp (exiting to the right)?

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Not particularly great, I can't see a reason way this could not have been done correctly.
But as one of the legs comes out at the bottom and takes a right, it does ID the safe zone. I suppose strictly speaking, if cable chase was to be filled in, it would be non-compliant to horizontal/vertical zones of accessories.

As above the cable connected to the pipework to right looks like T&E?

//www.diynot.com/wiki/Electrics:walls

 

[DaveHerns]

Washing machine "U" bend is a bit dodgy. How do you take it apart to clean it?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Hopefully the whole assembly changes to push-fit where it goes through the wall?

 

[bertles01]

Thanks to everyone for the info on this - put my mind at ease a bit but think I'll still get someone to tidy it up a bit.

The cable off to the right is an earth rather than T&E - it's yellow and green just a bit dirty and looks grey in the pic. Off to the right hand side goes behind a base unit with a fixed back so can't see what's going on - maybe ignorance is bliss!

And Dave yeah I was a bit surprised by the U-bend myself - first time I'd seen it when I took the washing machine out yesterday! Think I'll just hope it doesn't get gunked up for a while.

Thanks again