dropped sockets

[mary68s]

Hi I,m new here so hello to everyone, i had the electricians out today to test the electrics in my house, and it failed on the downstairs ring main, I think the reason is because my wifes ex husband had lowered all the sockets and not wired them correctly and the joining points, my question is thus, do i need a qualified electrician to move them back to their orginal places or can i turn off the power and rip the cables back to where they wre and put new sockets in, the council have said that i need the downstairs rewired and it will be surface and not buried?

 

[ricicle]

Is this a council/housing association property ?

 

[sparkwright]

It will depend how good the wiring that he altered is.

If it is basically a good job with a simple fault that can be put right then no need to rip anything out.

If his work is shoddy but salvagable then it will need rectifying.

If it's a complete disaster area it may be simpler to put it back as it was.

Why were the sockets lowered, and by how much? Is the height of the sockets important to you?

Your electrician should be able to tell you the best options as he has a closer look as he tries to put the fault right.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I think if you know very little about electrics that the safer option would be to get an electrician on board.
Repositioning sockets is not as easy as it sounds. Cables can be to short, damaged or of an age that it is time to replace. The cables may be knackered that's why there is a fault.

 

[mary68s]

its a council house and i know i could rectify the problem but im worried that i may need to get it signed of by a qualified electrician b4 the council come in and test it, its a straight forward put back to how it was

 

[mary68s]

what he has done is dropped a single wire and not continued the loop so putting it back to how it was should sort the loop problem out it just seems pointless to have a total rewire and the council wont put holes in the walls to try and find the original sockets but because i have done the decorating i know wher they are

 

[sparkwright]

If you are saying there are joints buried in the wall, and one of these is causing the fault, then it would be wise to dig these out and have the sockets where they used to be as you suggest.

Screw terminal joints must be accessible.

If you don't mind a bit of redecorating, and can live with the sockets high, then it would be a good idea to put things back as they were.

 

[OwainDIYer]

Are the sockets wired from above or below?

Is the wiring in conduit (metal or plastic tube) or PVC cable buried in the plaster?